What is your favourite Boxing memory?

I was at that Barclays fight as well.

 

This one is very easy for me. In the early 80s, I went to the old Felt Forum- now the Theater at Madison Square Garden- to see Chava- Bazooka on closed circuit tv. The atmosphere was electric, but myself and a Salvadoran friend that I attended with were the only ones on for Sanchez that we could see. The fight began and Sanchez started out with a bang, dropping Gomez early. The energetic crowd went silent. Sal continued to control the fight, and then the audio, but not the video, went out. It didn't matter as long as we could see the fight, and a couple of rounds later, Sal finished Gomez off. My friend and I were ecstatic, jumping for joy and hooting and hollering even though nobody else in our vicinity was happy. That is my best fight memory ever.

 

Great thread and great responses, Lads

 

My first amatuer fight with chicanito. After signing 100 autographs and taking 100 pics we went in a back room for privacy. While wrapping my hands he says, Now robert, hes black and your white. You know what that means? I didnt know what he meant. He says, he doesnt respect you. He says, i want you to take the center of the ring and just sit there and wait. He said dont worry about the crowd, just wait and he will come. As soon as he comes in range i want you to hit that muthafuka with the hardest jab youve ever thrown and youll know what to do after that.

We were fight number 4. I just got wrapped and somebody came in that back room saying i was gonna be dqd unless i went out there. Apparently the first 3 fights fell thru and we were up. So we go thru the doors and every ranchero pisa from the area musta heard chicanito was there with a fighter. It was alot of pressure, i didnt want to **** up. I just remember focussing on relaxing and breathing and doing what i was told.

Bell rings, i take the center of the ring and wait, crowd starts getting restless, booing, i just sit there. Finally he comes, i dug in, threw the hardest jab i could throw. Lands right on the tip of the chin. Guy buckles, i follow him to the ropes, dropped him to the body. Guy gets up i throw 6 1,2s and they waive it off. 33 sec fight.

RIP LEGEND

Chicanito was a real g who didnt sugar coat ****. He told you the way it was. On camera he was well spoken and articulate, off camera if you knew him he was a G. I came to several of his sparring classes to teach lessons to guys taking advantage of beginners. I gladly whooped fools for him. Once i saw him spar a student who was always calling him out to spar. All he did was sit there and jab. at the end he took off his shirt that had blood all over it and said, mannnnnnnnnnn, you owe me a new shirt.

 

Muhammad Ali was a hero of mine too, great champion and man.

 

Sort of a follow onto this.. I met Smokin Joe Frazier at some Black tie fights in Dallas years . As we shook hands the guy with Joe said " Hows it feel meeting the great Smokin Joe"? I said "Its great for me I'm shaking the hand of the man that dropped Ali" Joe grinned & said "No Sir it was my other hand the left" Just imagine the great Smokin' Joe Frazier calling me Sir!!!!!!

 

Joe Frazier was also a great man and champion too. Thanks for posting.

 

What was wrong with Foreman? That was one of the worst performances I'd ever seen by a losing champion. He could barely lift his hands after a mere 4 rounds!

sloppy sloppy sloppy

 

Thank you for posting this. You reminded me of my most cherished boxing memory.

I’ve been to nine heavyweight championship fights in person and dozens of other shows. Nothing matches this:

Some years ago now, I got an email at work from a name I didn’t recognize at first.

The note was from a father of a son who had passed away. I trained that son for one amateur fight, which he won handily. His name was Teddy and he was deaf. He was from a poor family and was always getting into fights so they brought him, age 14 IIRC, from a nearby small town to our boxing gym.

Teddy would come three days a week after school. He had a right hand from hell, just some natural power, and it took me a bit of time and patience to communicate with him by demonstration but he did every single thing I ever asked and picked up on what I wanted. He was still crude, of course, but tore into his opponent like a demon and beat him down over three rounds to win. I trained quite a few amateurs and pros but I don’t think anyone smiled any bigger when he got his hand raised.

Teddy kept coming and he was improving and we were close to taking him to his second fight, might have been the novice state golden gloves. And one day he shows up with his dad (who always drove him) who explained that Teddy’s grades had dropped and he was going to hold him out for a month — if his grades improved, he’d be back after 30 days. But he had to do his schoolwork if he was going to box. I agreed and told Teddy (who could read lips pretty good) that I wanted to see him back but I wanted him to get good grades and I looked forward to seeing him in a month.

I never saw Teddy again.

The email told me that Teddy rebelled at being told to get his grades up and ended up flunking out and later dropping out of school. He became an alcoholic and had a rough life and died very young — this would have been in his 20s, I think maybe in a drunk driving accident ... I do not recall.

But his father said his time in boxing was one of the few happy things in his life. He never stopped talking about how he had been a boxer and how proud he was of his fight and how much Coach _____ meant to him.

I have to admit I cried like a baby when I read it. I’m crying now.

RIP Teddy.

 

Well, I guess we could always argue about this: my aortic valve has never been replaced!

 

You are too young to have this issue, no need to argue, you do your thing my friend, I will do mine. I live on Social Security, I do not get stimulus money. I am 62.

 

I suppose so. What could we argue about?

 

Take care of yourself my friend.

 

The 1st time I sat and watched an entire fight was in 76" a replay of the Thrilla in Manila on ABC'S Wide World of Sports, I was Heavy into Isshin Ryu Karate at that time and was just amazed at the brutality of the fight and why Karate was superior in my very limited and young mind( Yes I was that dumb) .
But ONE of my favorite moments of watching the sport of boxing and when I finally started to understand the technicalitie of the sport, and got past the brutality, and saw the beauty of it was The Leonard vs Benitez fight in 79".
The skills demonstrated in that fight hasn't been duplicated since. Two out of this world and prime talents , at the Peaks of their physical abilities for 15rds. This is the fight I began to fall in love with boxing and Karate became the side chick lol.

 

Thanks my friend.