remember when that football player gave Ali a fight?
- Thread starter Kvolcom
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2003
- Messages
- 21,630
- Reaction score
- 7,374
ya, interesting backstory too, Alzado thought he'd make a killing so he put his house up to finance the event, it was an easy payday for a shot ali but it wasn't very successful and Lyle had financial problems. Lyle would be plagued by financial problems for the rest of his life which compelled him to comeback to football and to attempt to come back to football in the late 80's/early 90's. Only about a year later he was dying of brain cancer, he blamed it on roids but the whispers that he had aids have been around ever since he died.
still, i was surprised by how well lyle did against a pro fighter, even though ali was in his final days as a serious fighter, it's surprising how competitive it was. Yes lyle had some amateur experience but that doesn't mean that much at that level of the game. Still impressive, the biggest problem other athletes have when they box is that stamina, and lyle looked to have no problems with it.
still, i was surprised by how well lyle did against a pro fighter, even though ali was in his final days as a serious fighter, it's surprising how competitive it was. Yes lyle had some amateur experience but that doesn't mean that much at that level of the game. Still impressive, the biggest problem other athletes have when they box is that stamina, and lyle looked to have no problems with it.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2003
- Messages
- 21,630
- Reaction score
- 7,374
yes he was, whether he was at that point, late 70's? who knows, but he admitted steroid use later on during his ill fated comeback. He was also not very well liked, when he went broke, he held a benefit for himself and no one showed up. Kindness may seem so trivial sometimes but it's always my advice to people to just be kind to others. I've known too many people to die or lose business' or get into near fatal car accidents and people laugh about it. Just a little kindness makes a big difference.
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2018
- Messages
- 4,243
- Reaction score
- 3,186
Ali didn't train at all and deliberately came in out of shape, because he didn't take Alzado serious. Probably already suffered from Parkinson at that time, and still toyed with Alzado, which he even announced he would do before the fight.
Alzado himself said that Ali had a chance to knock him out and chose not to.
Ken Nortons success in boxing is really impressive. Started boxing in 1963 at the age of 20,... At that time Ali was already a gold medalist, and on his way to dethrone Sonny Liston as the world heavyweight champion. Fast-forward 10 years - Norton is on par with Ali and defeats him.
Alzado himself said that Ali had a chance to knock him out and chose not to.
Ken Nortons success in boxing is really impressive. Started boxing in 1963 at the age of 20,... At that time Ali was already a gold medalist, and on his way to dethrone Sonny Liston as the world heavyweight champion. Fast-forward 10 years - Norton is on par with Ali and defeats him.
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2019
- Messages
- 1,394
- Reaction score
- 391
That's against the odd's but I raise you Rocky Marciano, story of his first amateur fight;
While home on furlough from the Army in April, 1946, at the age of 22, Rocky learned of a local fight club offering money for amateur bouts. A friend of his talked him into giving it a shot and for $30 he signed up. He was assured he'd be put in with someone of his level of experience, but the night of the amateur boxing show he was informed the only heavyweight available for him to fight was Henry Lester. While this was Rocky's first fight, Lester was very experienced, having been a Golden Gloves Champion three years in a row and runner-up in the New England Amateur Championships in 1945. Shrugging off the one-sided nature of the bout, Rocky elected to fight anyway.
Not only was Marciano not a trained boxer, he was also smoking heavily and much overweight. The mismatch showed a slow, bloated, Rocky wheezing his way around the ring, trying to land his wild punches against a polished fighter. Driven against the ropes, completely done in, Rocky lifted a knee in protection as Lester pummeled him. He caught Lester in the stomach, resulting in a disqualification. A knee to the belly doesn't sound bad enough to some folk, so it was reported that he'd kneed Lester in the groin. (Untrue, as Lester's son himself told me the knee was to the stomach).
Though a humiliating loss for the young Italian-American, Rocky learned a valuable lesson. As he told his younger brother, "I learned something from this fight. if I ever get into the ring again, you can bet I won't be out of condition."
- Joined
- May 12, 2016
- Messages
- 13,907
- Reaction score
- 10,810
Rocky was paid $30 for a single amateur bout back in the mid 40's? Not bad. After adjusting for inflation that'd be over $400 today. Amateur boxing back then was much closer to the pros than what the ams are today. Too bad he had to be matched up with a three-time Golden Gloves champ though.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2003
- Messages
- 21,630
- Reaction score
- 7,374
cool, never heard that story, like a good fighter he changed his shit up.
also, wonder if the knee thing was just from inexperience. Lots of beginners will involuntarily draw their knees up, can't help it., I've taken some dings that way, in martiall arts and in mma, my sternum never has been the same as when we were doing drills and i came down on a guy on the ground and he lifted his knee right into my sternum, those were the kinds of things that just made me stop working with the guys in my gym, they always would throw in just anyone with anyone and I thought it was irresponsible.
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2019
- Messages
- 1,394
- Reaction score
- 391
I just finished reading a book about him.
It matched with that quote I posted. I knew he was a baseball player and wanted to become a professional but apparently he wasn't going to make it so he switched to boxing in his early 20's. I always assumed he had boxed in his youth but the book makes no mention of it.
The money for that bout matches up elsewhere. He started getting paid decent money as soon as he took up the sport with no training. I guess people really liked going to watch live fights in those days. Nowadays obviously with TV and the internet etc. you can get to a pretty decent level as an amateur or a pro and have little to no interest.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2003
- Messages
- 21,630
- Reaction score
- 7,374
back in those days, no money was suppossed to change hands for amateur sports. One of the more well known athletes that was ruined by this rule was Jim Thorpe who was stripped of his medals in the olympics. However, human greed, being as inventive as it is, there were always work arounds. I think it was Ali who said when he was an ammie, they'd give you a watch for winniing and you'd sell the watch back for cash. Never has been easy making money fighting, you consider a family life and a work life and a lot of men just had to bypass their athletic dreams. The guys like Charley Burley who worked 12 hours in a mill and then went and trained are really incredible. The men back then were way more fatalistic, not necessarily smarter but definitely tougher.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2003
- Messages
- 21,630
- Reaction score
- 7,374
Ya, kenny was a rare case, a great athlete, on the short list of best physiques ever in the sport. Developed a very quirky style, whether that was from a late start or not, who knows, but could be.
In my previous post, i mention how hard it is to work and train, Kenny, in his book mentions how sometimes he felt so useless because he was tired at his job at an auto plant that he felt sorry for the people who got the cars he worked on.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2007
- Messages
- 20,217
- Reaction score
- 7,020
