Who or What Got You Into Boxing ?

my father...big boxing fan

 

Yes,mine too.He hooked me into the sport and I have never looked back.I am an addict.

 

My dad was a big boxing fan, he sparked my interest. One day a teacher of mine assigned a book report and I picked out a biography on jack dempsey after that I was hooked. I wanted to box ever since i was 7 or 8 but i didnt get to start till I was around 16 because my parents thought I'd get my face cut up and brains rattled but after time there wasn't much they could do to stop me

 

Difficult to say - just always been mesmerised by the whole thing, the prefight build up, the face off, the opening round, the shock victories, the new champions, the fallen heroes... I'm fascinated by how these prime machines go into the ring looking menacing and invincible, and one comes out so much smaller in perception.

First it was Tyson, and the Bruno fight particularly... Then the Eubanks and Benn era. Then the Naseem Hamed phenomenon that drew me into the smaller weights. Then Lennox Lewis and his ups and downs... Barrera, PacMan, and of course throughout the whole time reading about the glories of previous Heavy Weight champions, Marciano, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, I read their auto biographies back to back.

Thrilling.

 

No. It seriously was that.

 

I honestly dont know and its something that Im always asked. I just woke up one morning and wanted to box.

The first fight I seen was Calzaghe vs Bika, and I loved every second. The atmosphere everything. And my fascination became obsession

 

Doing it? The opportunity to hurt people without any comebacks.
Watching it? The opportunity to do it vicariously through others.

 

did you get to know Seelig, what were his veiws on then vs now (the time you knew him), who did he like or say were the best?

also what was his ability/capabilty given his advancing age and more importantly his attitude, was he a hard shrewd old boy or of a more passive nature?

just curious because I've known a few fighters from the 30s onward to recent times and some of them just had that "Hard Times" manner.

 

Born in '53, Dad was a big boxing (and sports) fan. Had me putting together a scrapbook of basketball, football, baseball newspaper articles from the time I was 6. He and my uncle went to the Patterson-London bout here in Indy in May 59. Always told me what a great champ Floyd was, how he was a humble man and carried himself with dignity. Woke me up in 62 after Floyd was humbled by Liston in their first fight to tell me the result. I cried myself to sleep. Gillette fights in the early sixties (what memories!) Friday nites, Dad would have friends over to watch and I was allowed to stay up. Wide World of Sports bouts on Saturday afternoon. World Championship bouts sans closed circuit! Closed Circuit bouts at our local venues from 69-74. Going back, haircuts at the barbershop in the late 50's-early 60's with my Dad which had a Ring Magazine on the table for everyone to read! Only ONE champ, every division. I live in the past, this thread brings tears to my eyes to just read it.

 

id been a fan for years before i started boxing and that was 36 years ago

 

The buildup to Ali/Frazier 1. Frazier the recognized champ, and Ail who never lost his belt. There was such a powerful divide, Ali or Frazier ?? The seventies were the absolute golden years of boxing ...

 

Tyson

 

My dad watched all the Hatton fights so i was aware of it all... Then David Haye got me into watching boxing and reading all I could about it. James DeGale was on the rise and had just beaten Smith around then, he became my favourite. Then I discovered Erik Morales and I was hooked, it's gone on from there.

 

For me it was Sugar Ray Leonard, easily. All of his fights especially the championship ones were huge must see events whether they were on regular television, CBS, NBC, ABC, or premium cable, HBO, or most certainly C.C.T., even if it meant that I had to wait until the morning after to find out if he won and how he won back in those days given that I was between the age limit of 10-16.

His first retirement in 1982 really depressed me even though I was just 12-years old at the time. It left an emptiness that took time for me to get over and an emotional feeling that wouldn't in any way be rivaled until 11-years later when as a 23-year old I had to deal with Mr. Number 23 himself Michael Jordan's first retirement from the Chicago Bulls in the fall of 1993.

But the thing that I still think about most going back to Sugar Ray Leonard's first retirement was the fight that he was originally scheduled to defend his at that time Undisputed World Welterweight title against challenger Roger Stafford. I always think about how that particular fight would've played out had it went down as scheduled. But it shows just how much that every last one of his fights in his prime were all highly special main events to me now matter how big or small, and they're never were really any small ones to begin with including his pro debut win over Luis "The Bull" Vega where Ray made an at the time pro debut record breaking $40,000 for the fight. Ray was a creature of television who in the post eras of Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali opened the door for all the superstar fighters beneath the heavyweight division for major television exposure.