It may have been a particular fight that got you hooked, though knowing the Brit Forum regulars it was probably a chance encounter with a she-male in the backstreets of Bangkok. In any case, just tell us all your story. For me it was the 1995 first fight between Collins and Eubank; it was just such a classic confrontation, and there was a bit of nationalistic pride involved as well; I just got sucked into the fight and I was completely absorbed in the sport from there on; I had always stayed up late as a kid to watch the Barry McGuigan fights in the mid to late eighties, but that was just to see my dad sitting at ringside; I was actually pretty pissed off when McGuigan and his opponent strayed in front of my dad, thereby blocking him out of camera shot. But, to be totally frank, it was Collins-Eubank I that started me on the road to the Boxing Junky you see today. Whats your story?
my grandad {who raised me}...used to tell me loads of old boxing stories and folklore... joe louis, he had loads of stories about his fights...gallento would come up a lot... grandad also got to meet tommy farr, and this was back in a time when it was very hard to get from ireland to wales...expensive.. he was a big boxing fan...i remember him keeping me up till 2am or something like that for ali v holmes fight..
My late Dad used to tell me about Hagler, Ali, LaMotta etc and I was intrigued and then as a wee boy I used to watch Frank Bruno - I was a kid! Then I watched Benn v Eubank 1 in 1990 and I was hooked and then we had Watson involved and the Mclellan fight and so on and so on. I'm trying to collect them all on dvd so me and my son can watch them when he's older.
My grandad used to box in the army, he used to say he was like naseem hamed haha but i remember the first fight i watched it was Junior Jones v Kennedy McKinney, Hardly a superfight but it got me hooked.
More specifically Tyson v Bruno 1. I remeber watching it with my Dad and our then next door neighbour they made me watch it and i was infatuated with the man. My Grandad always used to talk about Marciano and Henry Cooper but i never took notice.
The first fight I really remember was the second Tyson-Bruno fight. I went to my uncles with my dad at around 3 in the morning to see it. Was probably around 7 or 8 but can still remember it clearly.
I'm from a "fighting family" and really got into boxing as a 9 or 10 year old going around working mens clubs with my grandad watching local fighters on mixed am pro cards. My interest for the sport was cemented after watching Duran v Buchanan...I have loved both fighters with all my heart ever since (not man love :yep ). My only boxing claim to fame is knocking down a British featherweight champion in sparring when I was 16 (I was taking it very seriously, I don't think that he was...teach him to lunge in, chin up :hey )
The old man could sense what was about to happen (it was not hard), so we were out of there, double quick.