General Boxing Thread

[GBJ]

Anyone ever seen that clip of when Eubank and Benn did some reality TV show from years ago?

The premise of the show, I think, was something to do with gladiators(?) and living like they did?

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it, give yourself a treat...

 

[Ricky Otto]

There was a picture of me next to him in the Essex Chronicle when he arrived.

Alright mate, it's not a competition

 

[Ricky Otto]

Anyone ever seen that clip of when Eubank and Benn did some reality TV show from years ago?

The premise of the show, I think, was something to do with gladiators(?) and living like they did?

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it, give yourself a treat...

Yeah I saw this. Very good!

I know Eubank is a prat but I always preferred him to Benn. Remember their fights on ITV the big fight live as a kid and everyone in my family supporting Benn with me being the lone Eubank supporter.

 

[GBJ]

Yeah I saw this. Very good!

I know Eubank is a prat but I always preferred him to Benn. Remember their fights on ITV the big fight live as a kid and everyone in my family supporting Benn with me being the lone Eubank supporter.

I like him personally, always have done. Also preferred him over Benn.

Let’s face it, boxing isn’t short of its charismatic characters & It’s one of the reasons we love the sport. It’d be supremely duller if they didn’t exist.

Gives me an idea for a quick discussion topic;

You’re top 3 characters* of all time...

*doesnt have to have been a sublime fighter, just a proper character. Someone who made you gravitate towards the sport. Also feel free to include examples.

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

I like him personally, always have done. Also preferred him over Benn.

Let’s face it, boxing isn’t short of its charismatic characters & It’s one of the reasons we love the sport. It’d be supremely duller if they didn’t exist.

Gives me an idea for a quick discussion topic;

You’re top 3 characters* of all time...

*doesnt have to have been a sublime fighter, just a proper character. Someone who made you gravitate towards the sport. Also feel free to include examples.

Hector "Macho" Camacho
Sugar Ray Leonard
Marvin Hagler

 

[Ricey]

I like him personally, always have done. Also preferred him over Benn.

Let’s face it, boxing isn’t short of its charismatic characters & It’s one of the reasons we love the sport. It’d be supremely duller if they didn’t exist.

Gives me an idea for a quick discussion topic;

You’re top 3 characters* of all time...

*doesnt have to have been a sublime fighter, just a proper character. Someone who made you gravitate towards the sport. Also feel free to include examples.

Retired:

Mike Tyson
Ricky Hatton
Prince Naseem Hamed

Current:
Dave Allen - his social media is exceptional
Tyson Fury
Billy Joe Saunders (more for the Nandos style incidents rather than the heroin addict one)

 

[GBJ]

Hector "Macho" Camacho
Sugar Ray Leonard
Marvin Hagler

Great shout on Camacho. I’m sure there was talk about his story being made into a film, but whether it will ever come to fruition is anyone’s guess. I’d suggest most people wouldn’t actually believe it, and think it was creative licence and/or sensationalism.

Number Three - Ricardo Mayorga. When a professional fighter takes a cigarette from Larry Mercant & sparks up during the post fight interview, he has to make it onto the list. Guy was a nutcase.

Number Two - Having read Mike Tysons’ book, it’s hard not to include him in the list. From knocking out fans, to cheating the doping control, to snorting half of Peru before the Buster Douglas fight, his story really is mad.

My Number One - purely for his dedicated and often incessant pursuit of Wladimir Klitschko - Mr. Shannon Briggs.

I’ve seen fighters try and engineer fights before. I’ve seen fighters try & rile opponents before. Never have I seen a man chase another fighter in a speedboat, and knock him off a paddle board.

That period of time, was superbly entertaining to me personally. Eating Wlad’s food in the restaurant, trying to break down the door to Klitschko’s gym, the press conferences, the post fight stuff. He was relentless, and I’d never seen anything like that before. Like a weird sitcom really. And conversely, I Met the guy a few years ago - turns out to be a very friendly & polite man.

 

[Ricey]

Good shout with Shannon Briggs he is the king of being an absolute nuisance. He never did get that fight David Haye promised him.

 

[Ricky Otto]

I had a bit of a hiatus from boxing, loved it as a kid then didn't really follow it (other than big fights) until the last couple of years.

1. Frank Bruno - As a kid he was the 1st guy I remember following and loved his interviews with Harry Carpenter, someone who came across as a really nice guy. Remember him playing in Danny Greaves testimonial game at roots hall as well.

2. Chris Eubank - I was in my early teens at this point and it was just a great time for the super middleweight division, Eubank had this arrogance and a way of annoying his opponents like no one else I have known. I don't think it was theatrics like it is today either. You had some brutal fights in that era and Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan paid heavy price.

3. Dereck Chisora - He was a crazy MF, spitting, chucking tables, fighting at press conferences etc. Totally erratic giving great performance then dire performances. You never knew what you'd get inside or outside of the ring. Was probably the guy who got me heavily back into boxing.

 

[GBJ]

Good shout with Shannon Briggs he is the king of being an absolute nuisance. He never did get that fight David Haye promised him.

I still think a 50% David Haye would have best him.

Briggs had no tank by that point, and would have gassed after 2 rounds. He was out of breath just chatting to the fans.

What we really got robbed of, was seeing Briggs in fight-promotion mode. The press confer mixes would have been fun.

 

[Ricey]

I still think a 50% David Haye would have best him.

Briggs had no tank by that point, and would have gassed after 2 rounds. He was out of breath just chatting to the fans.

What we really got robbed of, was seeing Briggs in fight-promotion mode. The press confer mixes would have been fun.

He’s not fought since the David Haye vs The Cobra undercard. He’s getting on now and needs to give it up.

I agree that would’ve been a hell of a press conference and media circus!

 

[GBJ]

I had a bit of a hiatus from boxing, loved it as a kid then didn't really follow it (other than big fights) until the last couple of years.

1. Frank Bruno - As a kid he was the 1st guy I remember following and loved his interviews with Harry Carpenter, someone who came across as a really nice guy. Remember him playing in Danny Greaves testimonial game at roots hall as well.

2. Chris Eubank - I was in my early teens at this point and it was just a great time for the super middleweight division, Eubank had this arrogance and a way of annoying his opponents like no one else I have known. I don't think it was theatrics like it is today either. You had some brutal fights in that era and Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan paid heavy price.

3. Dereck Chisora - He was a crazy MF, spitting, chucking tables, fighting at press conferences etc. Totally erratic giving great performance then dire performances. You never knew what you'd get inside or outside of the ring. Was probably the guy who got me heavily back into boxing.

Gerald McClellan was a disgusting human being, and frankly he deserved what happened to him.

On a lighter note, Delboy used to be (still is?) one angry, miserable prick in real life.

Met him at ringside before a Groves/Burns double-bill at Wembley Arena about 8-9 years ago. By far the worst boxer I’ve encountered (and I’ve spoken to Jeff Lacy ffs!)

This was before he’d become a “name” and gained that bad boy reputation. Spent about 7 seconds with him, before thinking that I’d rather be medically examined by Harold Shipman.

To balance it out though, I did meet Samantha Janus (or whatever her last name is these days) that night, and she was quite the opposite.

 

[GBJ]

He’s not fought since the David Haye vs The Cobra undercard. He’s getting on now and needs to give it up.

I agree that would’ve been a hell of a press conference and media circus!

Yeah he was banned for using PEDs IIRC.

 

[Ricey]

Yeah he was banned for using PEDs IIRC.

Completely forgot about that.

 

[GBJ]

Completely forgot about that.

Easily done

 

[GBJ]

Saw this yesterday. Made me laugh. Got a feeling it’ll get used in the next few weeks. And the beauty of it is, it’s totally interchangeable. So you can take out The Eubanks & simply pop in The Hearns!!

 

[Ricky Otto]

Gerald McClellan was a disgusting human being, and frankly he deserved what happened to him.

On a lighter note, Delboy used to be (still is?) one angry, miserable prick in real life.

Met him at ringside before a Groves/Burns double-bill at Wembley Arena about 8-9 years ago. By far the worst boxer I’ve encountered (and I’ve spoken to Jeff Lacy ffs!)

This was before he’d become a “name” and gained that bad boy reputation. Spent about 7 seconds with him, before thinking that I’d rather be medically examined by Harold Shipman.

To balance it out though, I did meet Samantha Janus (or whatever her last name is these days) that night, and she was quite the opposite.

Very strong words! I had a google and found some dog fighting stuff? Which is horrible, but to say he deserved what happened to him still seems very harsh to me.

On the Chisora stuff, I have no doubt he is/was a prick. You can tell by some of the things he has done. He's entertained me massively though.

 

[GBJ]

Very strong words! I had a google and found some dog fighting stuff? Which is horrible, but to say he deserved what happened to him still seems very harsh to me.

On the Chisora stuff, I have no doubt he is/was a prick. You can tell by some of the things he has done. He's entertained me massively though.

There’s many stories about McClellan, the dog fighting stuff is the most widely known “controversy” of his, because he would frequently & freely admit it.

It’s well known he loved seeing an animal getting ripped to pieces. Some of which, were family pets that were stolen, tortured & forced into these fights.

There are other allegations surrounding him which I’m not keen to put in the public domain, due to the standard libellous laws.

I’m normally fairly laid back about most things in life, but stuff like this just gives me bad intentions. I can fully understand why you’d see it as harsh, most people probably would aswell. But at the end of the day, to me, he was a disgusting, bullying, sadistic piece of ****. I wouldn’t **** in his mouth if he was dying of thirst.

If that makes me harsh, then so be it.

 

[Ricky Otto]

There’s many stories about McClellan, the dog fighting stuff is the most widely known “controversy” of his, because he would frequently & freely admit it.

It’s well known he loved seeing an animal getting ripped to pieces. Some of which, were family pets that were stolen, tortured & forced into these fights.

There are other allegations surrounding him which I’m not keen to put in the public domain, due to the standard libellous laws.

I’m normally fairly laid back about most things in life, but stuff like this just gives me bad intentions. I can fully understand why you’d see it as harsh, most people probably would aswell. But at the end of the day, to me, he was a disgusting, bullying, sadistic piece of ****. I wouldn’t **** in his mouth if he was dying of thirst.

If that makes me harsh, then so be it.

I didn't know anything about it until a google today and only read one article so would hardly profess to be an expert. I'd agree it is disgusting and inexcusable. I read this part of the article though and did wonder if he had seen the error of his ways?

And then he saw a much gentler side of McClellan when it came to Deuce. When the dog was losing, McClellan screamed to stop the fight.

"He gave the man his money, picked Deuce up and threw him over his shoulder," Johnson says. "He was crying all the way home, petting his dog, saying he would never do it again.

"He was driving a green Mercedes Benz. Blood was all over the car. Deuce's neck was tore out, and you know what Gerald did? He sewed his neck up himself with a needle and thread. And that was the last dogfight I went to with Gerald."

 

[GBJ]

I didn't know anything about it until a google today and only read one article so would hardly profess to be an expert. I'd agree it is disgusting and inexcusable. I read this part of the article though and did wonder if he had seen the error of his ways?

And then he saw a much gentler side of McClellan when it came to Deuce. When the dog was losing, McClellan screamed to stop the fight.

"He gave the man his money, picked Deuce up and threw him over his shoulder," Johnson says. "He was crying all the way home, petting his dog, saying he would never do it again.

"He was driving a green Mercedes Benz. Blood was all over the car. Deuce's neck was tore out, and you know what Gerald did? He sewed his neck up himself with a needle and thread. And that was the last dogfight I went to with Gerald."

If he hadn’t been crippled through boxing, he’d have continued without a doubt in my mind. He had a distinct love for bloodsports, and if it wasn’t this, it would have been something else, to the detriment of another being.

His callousness towards animals was (and still is) clear.

I’ve got no doubt he felt sorrow for his own “favourite” fighting dog, but under no circumstances do I think he showed an ounce of remorse for the rest.

The ones that were brutally tortured and maimed. The ones who were poor fighters, or just too weak to fight, that were subsequently shot dead.

I doubt he cared about the family pets who were stolen to be used as the bait for the fighting dogs. Imagine a beautiful, good tempered, well-loved family pet being stolen, maimed & thrown into a concrete pit, to be ripped to pieces. I don’t suppose he cared about how a young child would feel, after their best friend went missing.

IIRC, his family (mainly his sister I believe) lead a campaign years ago, to stop these stories about his love of this stuff getting out/being published. Some of the videos disappeared, but there’s still enough information out there that tells the story.

To put it mildly, this stuff stirs up a whole spectrum of emotions in me. The only thing that gives me some solace, is knowing the thought that everytime McClellan hears a dog barking, he gets petrified.