Mad.aboutboxing

🥊 The 1984 USA boxing squad which from a team of 12 only one would not be awarded a medal,that man being bantamweight Robert Shannon who had also qualified four years previously but with the USA boycotting Moscow it left a bitter taste in the mouth of Shannon. The rest of the 11 team members accumulated an astonishing 9 gold medals,1 silver and 1 bronze…
106lbs: Paul Gonzales, Los Angeles, Calif. – Gold Medal.
112: Steve McCrory, Detroit, Mich. – Gold Medal.
125: Meldrick Taylor, Philadelphia, Pa. – Gold Medal.
132: Pernell Whitaker, Norfolk, Va. – Gold Medal.
139: Jerry Page, Columbus, Ohio – Gold Medal.
147: Mark Breland, Brooklyn, N.Y. – Gold Medal.
156: Frank Tate, Detroit, Mich. – Gold Medal.
165: Virgil Hill, Williston, N.D. – Silver Medal.
178: Evander Holyfield, Atlanta, Ga. – Bronze Medal (he got robbed).
201: Henry Tillman, Los Angeles, Calif. – Gold Medal.
+201: Tyrell Biggs, Philadelphia, Pa. – Gold Medal.
The Olympics give us fans the chance to see future stars and champions before they turn over to the paid ranks…… the 1984 team is one of the best ever….and produced a champion or two….or three….or more

#1984

🥊 Kevin Rooney was asked when he thought Mike Tyson was at his prime best as a fighter.
This was his response….

“When he beat Michael Spinks. He just wiped him out. Before that he beat Tony Tucker and Tyrell Biggs, the main fighters back then. He wiped out Tony Tucker – he won a 12 round decision, I mean, he kicked his ass. Then he knocked out Tyrell Biggs. He knocked out Larry Holmes. Then he fought Tony Tubbs in Japan – he starched him in two rounds. Then he knocked out Michael Spinks in 90 seconds. 90 seconds. It wasn’t a joke. I mean, he knocked him out. So I think that fighter, in my opinion, could have and should have probably beaten anybody that was in his path. Anybody including Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali. Well, I’ll give Muhammad Ali and Rocky – well it could have been different, I mean, Rocky punched like hell. Muhammad punched like hell. Rocky had beat everyone. Muhammad had heart and was hard to hit. The fights would have been interesting. But I believe that Mike would have come out the better. Because he punched very hard [laughs]. Mike…I believe that Mike is one of the hardest punchers in history. He punches harder than Rocky. Punches harder than Joe Louis. Punches harder than George Foreman.”

🥊 “This is,erm..when I watch somebody like Ali or when I watch someone who’s really the real deal you know and I say ‘whoa’ then I know I’m not great. I wanna believe that I’m that guy,my ego tells me that but the reality of it is I love this life that I have I might not want to give this up just to prove that I’m a tough guy,but Ali would. I always like to think that I’m a bad mother fu**er,a vicious mother fu**er but er,that’s a part of Ali that’s where he overshines me cos I can’t understand a man that’s really just really willing to die. You know that I talk this s**t but he’s really the real deal,he’l die for this s**t. I’m not willing to die for that. Ali will fight you until he die you have to kill him. I just know I’m not him,I know greatness i know what real greatness is…I know what real greatness is. When you see greatness then you know that’s not me…his punches are coming from nowhere ‘pow,pow,pow-pow,pow,pow’ and in the fifteenth round he’s still pumping ‘pow-pow-pow-pow-boom-boom’ he’s gonna steal that belief from you. Ali’s a giant,there’s no way anybody can match him. He’s really mean and tough and determined and competitive,he’s really game. Why,what makes him that way-he just goes beyond himself and understanding,Ali goes to the level where I’m afraid to go.
He’s not like us….he’s a different breed of person.’

Mike Tyson speaking about ‘the greatest’ Muhammad Ali

🥊 Bobby Chacon AKA “school boy” stands at an incredible arms length away from pro wrestler Andre the Giant who literally was an enormously big man.

Chacon did only stand at 166cm tall though which is 5 feet 5 and half inches tall.

🥊 “You know, boy, the heavyweight division for a Negro is hardly likely. The white man ain’t too keen on it. You have to really be something to get anywhere... And you got to listen to everything I tell you. You got to jump when I say jump, sleep when I say sleep. Other than that, you’re wasting my time.”
Jack ‘Chappie’ Blackburn speaking to Joe Louis before agreeing to train the talented youngster.
Chappie knew all too well what it was going to require to have a man of color contest the heavyweight title, none had done so since the reign of the first black heavyweight world champion, Jack Johnson.
Following on after Johnson’s reign 22 years would pass between a black man even challenging for the heavyweight title.
Those years between Johnson reigning and much later Louis eventually challenging the title we saw many white holders in Jess Willard, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Max Schmeling, Jack Sharkey, Primo Carnera, Max Baer and James J Braddock all hold the title…they were also all white.
Joe Louis would not only be the first man of color since Johnson to contest boxing highest honour he would go on to hold it for almost 12 years making 25 successful defences.

His trainer, Chappie saw him rise from a young man with a dream to conquering a world that generally offered little if any hope for the black man, as heavyweight champion, Louis sat as king.
Chappie died while Louis was sat upon his throne during his era of domination as the heavyweight champion.
The above quote by Chappie came good with Joe listening to everything he was told to…yet the ‘white man ain’t too keen on it’ bit fell by the wayside as Louis was adored by his American countrymen both black and white. The times had changed right in front of Chappies eyes before he had drew his last breath. Boundaries were well and truly broken with the reign of Joe Louis,a fine man and champion. Helped by a former boxer himself, a felon previously charged with murder who had a drinking problem and a habit for being involved in violence,Jack Blackburn.

Unlikely partners.
Different characters.
Legendary status.

🥊 Eddie Futch attends to Smokin Joe Frazier during the 1976 second meeting between the now ex champion Frazier and the man who had once ripped the title from him with a relative ease, the walking wrecking ball BIG George Foreman.
Foreman would again for a second time of asking pulverise and dismantle Frazier who would last almost 5 rounds.
He is seen pictured here with a shaven head which was an impulsive decision made only a few hours before the fight itself.

🥊 Who’d bet on Patterson beating me!
Who’d bet on Ernie Terrell beating me!
I told ya I be floating like a butterfly and stingin like a bee!

🥊 “Sometimes I feel a little sad because I can see how some things I said could upset some people. But I did not deliberately try to hurt anyone. The hype was part of my job, like skipping rope.”

Muhammad Ali was speaking in 2004 about his thoughts on what sort of a boxer he was when looking back on his career.

🥊 Did you ever see a ‘Bear’ with such balance…

Charles ‘Sonny’ Liston pictured above showing off his agility and upper body strength while utilising a basic bench as his apparatus.

It’s easy to imagine when he got down and off the bench that he would leave visible indentations in the timber from those notoriously infamous hands of his.

It’s fair to say that the Bear had a serious set of paws on him.