Please list any interesting Boxing facts, trivia, legends, stories, etc.

[kingobould***]

In Newark, New Jersey, in 1942, Timmy Larkin entered the ring intensely focused on his bout with Tommy Cross ... so much so that Larkin took off his robe and found himself standing buck naked in the ring.

 

[kingobould***]

The only southpaw to win a world heavyweight title was Michael Moorer who defeated Evander Holyfield in the 12th round in 1994


Muhammad Ali lost to more amateur boxers (7) than professional boxers (5).

 

[ThirdPartyView]

This took a little thinkin', cobwebs had to be shaken out..

Too slow and you got a few wrong due to listing Ali and Liston in a few of those questions (since it's up to 1962).

 

[ThirdPartyView]

The only southpaw to win a world heavyweight title was Michael Moorer who defeated Evander Holyfield in the 12th round in 1994

Sultan Ibragimov was southpaw as well, although he didn't win the lineal claim (which Moorer did by beating Holyfield).

 

[Kid McCoy]

Rocky Marciano was decapitated.


Yup.
And that always pissed me off too.
The fucking Rock, you know?


(Not to put a bummer in this nice old-time sherdog kind of thread).

 

[enswell****]

I'm learnin', I'm learnin'...

The trouble is things don't stick in there as good as they used to.

In Aug 2008, something went wrong with my lungs, and I had tremendous difficulty breathing for 9 months. Dr. gave me puffers, it finally cleared up in May 2009.
I posted a lot at that time, trolled a lot, looked at a lot of Boxing on YouTube because I couldn't do much else. I had trouble just walking the stairs in the house.

Anyway, I definitely became absent-minded then, slower for things to click in, and it's because my brain was basically being starved of oxygen.

The lungs took some damage, but some brain cells had to have died from oxygen deprivation.

I'm back to jogging and exercising regularly during the past year though, that's good.
I didn't think I'd ever be able to run again.


But I'm not as sharp as I once was.



It bothers me that I know that Ali won the Title in 1964, and the test was 1962 and earlier, but I still effed it up.

Oh well, as I once told the Duck:

Of course you f*<ked-up; you're a f*<k-up.
F*<king up is what f*<k-ups do...



.

 

[ThirdPartyView]

Rocky Marciano was decapitated.


Yup.
And that always pissed me off too.
The fucking Rock, you know?


(Not to put a bummer in this nice old-time sherdog kind of thread).

I remember reading about his after fight career when he would jostle various studios that wanted to interview him or have him be a referee or commentator until they gave him a free suit or some other gaudy item because he was too stingy to buy his own (ironically, his family apparently went back into poverty shortly after he died).

 

[enswell****]

Too slow and you got a few wrong due to listing Ali and Liston in a few of those questions (since it's up to 1962).

 

[TheRatman]

lol...

 

[ThirdPartyView]

Good song... :icon_twis

 

[kingobould***]

Depicted on the walls of tombs at Beni Hasan in Egypt, dating from about 2000 to 1500 BC, boxing is one of the oldest forms of competition. A part of the ancient Olympic games, the sport was exhausting and brutal. The Greeks fought without regard for weight differentials and without interruption, a match ending only when a fighter lost consciousness or raised his hand in resignation. Boxers wound heavy strips of leather around their hands and wrists. Under Roman rule, these thongs (the caestus) were laced with metal, ensuring an abundance of blood. Statues of maimed boxers from late antiquity attest to the carnage. After the demise of the Olympics, boxing survived as a common sport. It persisted at local fairs and religious festivals throughout medieval Europe and was especially popular in the west and north of England, where it was often a combination of wrestling and street fighting.

 

[enswell****]

what are those guys back stories for coming up with golden gloves?

They were just starting up an amateur tournament in their respective cities.
There was amateur boxing already, but Golden Gloves was regulated better and avoided mismatches which can destroy young prospects. The fighters had to have a physical which wasn't the case elsewhere.

Harry Greb and Tiger Flowers were bitter rivals in the 1920s.
Both died at 32 years old.
Both died on the operating table.
Both died from complications undergoing eye surgeries.

 

[kingobould***]

The Organization of Boxing

In early 18th-century England, boxing, with the aid of royal patronage in the form of betting or offering prizes, became organized. James Figg, the first British champion (1719-30), opened a School of Arms, which attracted numerous young men to instruction in swordplay, cudgeling, and boxing

 

[kingobould***]

Jack Johnson, also known as Galveston Giant, was the first black heavyweight champ of the world. He claimed that record by defeating Tommy Burns in 1908. Jack Johnson's biggest fight came almost two years later when
he fought James J. Jefferies who came out of retirement in order to "prove that a white man was better than a negro". Jack Johnson won that fight which has be termed the fight of the century.

 

[Kid McCoy]

I'm learnin', I'm learnin'...

The trouble is things don't stick in there as good as they used to.

In Aug 2008, something went wrong with my lungs, and I had tremendous difficulty breathing for 9 months. Dr. gave me puffers, it finally cleared up in May 2009.
I posted a lot at that time, trolled a lot, looked at a lot of Boxing on YouTube because I couldn't do much else. I had trouble just walking the stairs in the house.

Anyway, I definitely became absent-minded then, slower for things to click in, and it's because my brain was basically being starved of oxygen.

The lungs took some damage, but some brain cells had to have died from oxygen deprivation.

I'm back to jogging and exercising regularly during the past year though, that's good.
I didn't think I'd ever be able to run again.


But I'm not as sharp as I once was.



It bothers me that I know that Ali won the Title in 1964, and the test was 1962 and earlier, but I still effed it up.

Oh well, as I once told the Duck:

Of course you f*<ked-up; you're a f*<k-up.
F*<king up is what f*<k-ups do...



.

Wow.

That's alot to go through brother.
I'm glad you are back to form.

 

[Kid McCoy]

Jack Johnson, also known as Galveston Giant, was the first black heavyweight champ of the world. He claimed that record by defeating Tommy Burns in 1908. Jack Johnson's biggest fight came almost two years later when
he fought James J. Jefferies who came out of retirement in order to "prove that a white man was better than a negro". Jack Johnson won that fight which has be termed the fight of the century.

You are crankin' out the factoids you are.
You go bouyyyyyy.

 

[enswell****]

In 1950, Jersey Joe Walcott defeated Harold Johnson in 3 rds.
In 1936, Jersey Joe Walcott defeated Harold's father, Phil Jackson, also in 3 rds.

 

[PJ_Benn]

Naseem Hamed met Chris Eubank in an airport.

He punched him.

There are differing accounts though, but that seemed to be the truth at the time.

 

[Matt Hilton]

The only southpaw to win a world heavyweight title was Michael Moorer who defeated Evander Holyfield in the 12th round in 1994


Muhammad Ali lost to more amateur boxers (7) than professional boxers (5).

Thats disputed, there are like 4 different numbers that get thrown out as his amateur record.

This post though, along with the sparring stories made me remember this story about Ali.

Willie Pastrano was at one time the Light Heavyweight champ who retired with a career mark of 62-13-8. He was trained by Angelo Dundee. Muhammad Ali admired Pastrano, went to the gym where he trained and begged Dundee to spar him (this was just before the Olympics while Ali was still an amateur). Dundee refused because he thought Ali would get killed. Ali hung around and ran his mouth so much that Dundee agreed, mostly just to shut him up, and Ali tuned Pastrano pretty badly. Dundee was impressed and told Ali to look him up when he went pro, and a year (and one gold medal) later, Ali did and Dundee became his trainer.

 

[kingobould***]

If the great Featherweight champion Sandy Saddler and Rocky Marciano
where to fight, Saddler would have a 2 inch reach advantage, 70 inches
to Marciano's 68. by the way Marciano had the shortest reach of any
Heavyweight champ.