What guys have you trained with ?

[Robinson]

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hey guys what stories do you have about thos you have trained with or seen in the gym ?

I would really like to hear some stories about the habbits of some the sports top guys


Thanks a heap

[HomicideHenry]

As far as boxing training is concerned, I trained for a while with Brian Paul and some of his fighters under his management [Dean Nichols]. What surprised me most was despite Nichols having a losing record, and being as old as he was, the man was in excellent physical condition; virtually the entire time he ran circles in the ring, jump roped, etc but I could see as to why Brian meant he was durable.

As far as any other training is concerned I trained for a short time with Jody Poff [MMA] when he ran a course in nearby New Bremen.

[Sweet P]

I trained with Daniel Dawson in Kickboxing years ago, He was an absolute machine at Muay Thai. He is 20-1 as a pro boxer but i think he was better at Kickboxing.

[Expug]

Im from Chicago . A big city, so as a result Ive been fortunate enough to have trained with or been in the gym with some good fighters who were fairly well known.
Even though I was just a four round fighter.

James Quick Tillis, I fought on a couple of his undercards also.
Alfonso Ratliff
Leroy Murphy Man Leroy would get BIG between fights!
Lenny Lapaglia
Louie Mateo
Johnny Lira
Johnny Heard
Henry Sims
Randy Smith
William Clayton, he knocked out a guy named Pee Wee Rucker who was being touted
Young Joe Louis- rough gym fighter, I fought on the same card with him also.
Mike Evans-guy was huge

Some of those guys Ive boxed with , some just in the gym with.

Been in the gym with
Roberto Duran
Wilfred Benitez
Carlos Deleon
Frank Bruno
Juan Nazario

[Expug]

WhenI think back now , I remember rounding up about ten friends to go see Leroy Murphy defend his title vs. Young Joe Louis at the Bismarck Hotel in downtown Chicago.
I told my buddies that I knew the promoter , the publicist etc. which I did.
We would get great seats , Gratis.
When we got there, we got seats all right.
Back row balcony.
It was hilarious.
For years those guys were calling me Bob Uecker.

[Robinson]

Impressive guys to sweat with Pug.

Bet you had a lot of interesting memories of them days.

I live in the most backwater city of Adelaide, so no chance of
seeing to many near greats nor greats in this area :P

[VoiceOnTV]

Yory Boy Campas had a weird habit of drinking out of his water bottle, spitting the water straight up in the air and ducking under it to have it hit the back of his head and neck. I asked him about it once and he said it was refreshing. He never did explain why he just didn't squeeze it out of the bottle directly to his neck.

[VoiceOnTV]

I was an amateur in San Diego in the early-mid 90s. At Irish Spud Murphy's gym. Some of the people that trained in there (and thank GOD I never got in the ring with ANY of them):

Orlin Norris, Jesus Salud, James "The Heat" Kinchen, Gilbert Baptiste, Ricky Quiles, Yory Boy Campas, Miguel "Maikito" Martinez, Ramzi Hassan, Lupe Aquino, Paul Vaden, Russell Mosley, Tony "Bazooka" DeLucca. Robert Allen was an amateur at the time and didn't train there but made an occasional appearance.

guys that trained there while visiting town or as sparing partners:
Alex Rodriguez, Hurley Snead, Engels Pedroza.

Because of my friendship with the Norris brothers, I also visited First Fighter Squadron in Campo, where Terry Norris trained, and also befriended:
Rodney Toney, aforementioned Russell Mosley, Jeff Leggett, Richie Evans, former USBA Welterweight Champ Rollin Williams, Griffin Goldman and middleweight contender Ron Collins.

I'm sure I'm missing some, but that was a pretty good list. The San Diego scene was sizzling back then. Not quite like that these days. I can't forget that Archie Moore would hang out there often, as his son Billy Moore was a successful trainer. In truth, he's the biggest dignitary of them all, and I will always treasure the conversations I had with the Old Mongoose.

[Expug]

Impressive guys to sweat with Pug.

Bet you had a lot of interesting memories of them days.

I live in the most backwater city of Adelaide, so no chance of
seeing to many near greats nor greats in this area :P

A few things about some of those guys who Ive boxed with.
Randy Smith,Ive sparred dozens of rounds with him maybe a hundred or so I dont know. if you look up this guys record, he fought from the early 80s until the mid nineties against the best middles supermiddles in the world.
Frank Tate
Iran Barkley
Michael Nunn
James Kinchen
John Scully
Michael Olaijide
Chris Eubank
Mark Kaylor
Victor Cordova
Many more.
Nobody stopped him.
Never lost by k.o. or tko.
His chin was incredible.
I KNOW.I never moved him at all.
Im told Randys no longer with us.
I dont know.
I used to sometimes drive him home after working out.
Randy lived in a BAD area.
I used to tell him theres no way in hell Im lettin the sun set on my ass in this neighborhood so you better get dressed FAST after hittin the shower.
All those big names he fought, he never made any dough I guess.

Henry Sims, a good guy.
He fought Mike Rossman and some other good fighters.
He beat a guy named Doug Sam who had a good reputation.
Another guy I sparred with all the time.
Some guys may not be all time greats but they will have a certain something that will be devastating.
Henry had this odd combination of lead left uppercut to the body followed by an overhand right to the head.
Ya dont see this everyday.
The first time I saw it it broke one of my ribs.
Hard to put into words what that felt like.
It still protrudes a little 20 years later.

Johnny Heard
Ive posted about him before.
Great guy boxed a million rounds with him and he worked my corner a few times.
Boxed into his fifties fought everyone.
Kayoed Marjan Benes in Austria in the first round when he was sent over there as an opponnent.
My brother who is a big fight fan says the best fight he ever saw was me and Johnny goin a few in the gym.
I dont know about that .
Johnny busted my nose though.
I carry that reminder around also.

One more thing about Randy Smith.
He would go out of town , somewhere in the world, and take a fight on short notice.
Hed come back and we'd ask him how he did.
Hed laugh and say he got robbed.
I always figured he was just takin the standard fighter line.
But since he was never stopped and he was a good fighter, now I wonder.
Some of those losses had to be hometown jobs.

[Robinson]

Thank you for that Pug

always interested to hear your experiences.

Ever throw some judo in there when sparring these guys ?:P

[Expug]

Thank you for that Pug

always interested to hear your experiences.

Ever throw some judo in there when sparring these guys ?:P

I wish I had known some back then.
I started that up after boxing.
Man I needed all the help I could get.

[p4p1]

I trained with Daniel Dawson in Kickboxing years ago, He was an absolute machine at Muay Thai. He is 20-1 as a pro boxer but i think he was better at Kickboxing.

i train with daniel dawson he is 29 - 1 as a pro boxer.... i also beleive he is better suited to muay thai/kickboxing but he is still a very good boxer

also train with mark de mori have trained with dom devanna aswell as a few others

[Sweet P]

I trained with Daniel Dawson in Kickboxing years ago, He was an absolute machine at Muay Thai. He is 20-1 as a pro boxer but i think he was better at Kickboxing.

i train with daniel dawson he is 29 - 1 as a pro boxer.... i also beleive he is better suited to muay thai/kickboxing but he is still a very good boxer

also train with mark de mori have trained with dom devanna aswell as a few others

Yeah i agree he is a good boxer, At Mauythai he is a machine.

[Seamus]

I'm not an actual boxer, but in the late 80's I worked out with the medicine ball with Craig Bodzianowski. He had a fitness center near me and I got to know him.

[Boxingnut]

Jimmy Price, Andy Holligan and Franny Hand. It was Franny's gym and if my memory serves Holligan was barred from the gym for not paying his subs (which weren't a lot anyway). This was after Holligan was British champion and had fought Chavez.

[Rick Farris]

Impressive guys to sweat with Pug.

Bet you had a lot of interesting memories of them days.

I live in the most backwater city of Adelaide, so no chance of
seeing to many near greats nor greats in this area :P

A few things about some of those guys who Ive boxed with.
Randy Smith,Ive sparred dozens of rounds with him maybe a hundred or so I dont know. if you look up this guys record, he fought from the early 80s until the mid nineties against the best middles supermiddles in the world.
Frank Tate
Iran Barkley
Michael Nunn
James Kinchen
John Scully
Michael Olaijide
Chris Eubank
Mark Kaylor
Victor Cordova
Many more.
Nobody stopped him.
Never lost by k.o. or tko.
His chin was incredible.
I KNOW.I never moved him at all.
Im told Randys no longer with us.
I dont know.
I used to sometimes drive him home after working out.
Randy lived in a BAD area.
I used to tell him theres no way in hell Im lettin the sun set on my ass in this neighborhood so you better get dressed FAST after hittin the shower.
All those big names he fought, he never made any dough I guess.

Henry Sims, a good guy.
He fought Mike Rossman and some other good fighters.
He beat a guy named Doug Sam who had a good reputation.
Another guy I sparred with all the time.
Some guys may not be all time greats but they will have a certain something that will be devastating.
Henry had this odd combination of lead left uppercut to the body followed by an overhand right to the head.
Ya dont see this everyday.
The first time I saw it it broke one of my ribs.
Hard to put into words what that felt like.
It still protrudes a little 20 years later.

Johnny Heard
Ive posted about him before.
Great guy boxed a million rounds with him and he worked my corner a few times.
Boxed into his fifties fought everyone.
Kayoed Marjan Benes in Austria in the first round when he was sent over there as an opponnent.
My brother who is a big fight fan says the best fight he ever saw was me and Johnny goin a few in the gym.
I dont know about that .
Johnny busted my nose though.
I carry that reminder around also.

One more thing about Randy Smith.
He would go out of town , somewhere in the world, and take a fight on short notice.
Hed come back and we'd ask him how he did.
Hed laugh and say he got robbed.
I always figured he was just takin the standard fighter line.
But since he was never stopped and he was a good fighter, now I wonder.
Some of those losses had to be hometown jobs.

Impressive Pug!

[rugrat]

did not train with these guys but fought on the same fight cards. clyde gray. marvin haglar. spinks brothers. john tate. trevor berbick.

[Robinson]

awesome

that would have bee a great experience.

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

EXPUG...Hey I see you trained and sparred with Randy Smith...I heard he passed away a few years ago?? He had some type of illness...not sure what it was...I last saw him the night before James Toney and Roy Jones fought in Las Vegas, we both happened to be in one of Roy's managers rooms (I am told Randy had previously done some sparring with RJ and that RJ was very impressed with his defensive ability) and I went to speak to Randy but I could tell something wasn't quite right anymore.

Did he by any chance live at Cabrini Green??

ICE

[allworld80]

good stuff

[Expug]

EXPUG...Hey I see you trained and sparred with Randy Smith...I heard he passed away a few years ago?? He had some type of illness...not sure what it was...I last saw him the night before James Toney and Roy Jones fought in Las Vegas, we both happened to be in one of Roy's managers rooms (I am told Randy had previously done some sparring with RJ and that RJ was very impressed with his defensive ability) and I went to speak to Randy but I could tell something wasn't quite right anymore.

Did he by any chance live at Cabrini Green??

ICE

Hello John.
Randy , who I know you fought, lived at Stateway gardens which another housing project on the Southside , not to far from The Fuller Park gym where we both trained.I used to drive him home all the time.Its a rough area.
He was a real good guy and a terrific defensive fighter with a great chin.
Ive heard that he passed away also.

[babyhuey]

i have been around alot of really tuff local club fighters,
but the 2 "name guys" were david banks and steve 2pound forbes, both really good guys,
steve will work with you at your level, and wont beat ya up but,
but when sparring banks you better bring your "A game" in there with you
because FRIENDS OR NOT, its all business with david when the bell rings, he doesent take it easy on anyone.
but hes a cool cat when its over again...

[bennie]

Nice shot of you and Forbes. I hope Stevie does well against Berto.

[babyhuey]

Nice shot of you and Forbes. I hope Stevie does well against Berto.

thanks man, old pic, i hope so too, i thought like alot of people that pound handled d. hopkins,
hopefully he outboxes berto too, in all honesty i would like too see pound go down to 140,
but they keep offering him the big fights at welterweight, but he would be alot stronger closer to his natural weight.

[Robert in NYC]

I would also like to say that Johnnie Heard is a fascinating guy to talk boxing with.