irish teddy mann

[gladiatorcoach]

any thoughts on teddy the irish mann?

[granberry]

I saw him fight twice at the Philly Spectrum.

[gladiatorcoach]

howd he do?

[granberry]

I forgot I saw him three times.

First against a tall skinny white fighter, Ritchie Bennett, where Mann had a one-sided win.

Then I saw him stop a comebacking Perry Abney.
He looked strong, looked like he may have a future.

Then I saw him lose to an old Bennie Briscoe.

Briscoe and Georgie Benton (Briscoe's trainer) were friends of mine.
I was eating at a motel/hotel in Philly the mob used before the fight.
From the lattice separating the bar from the restaurant area a strong boned, shaved head face kept popping up and staring at me while I sat in the restaurant part.

Then Benton came out from the bar and asked me to bring my food back to the bar area. Briscoe was there. This was an hour before the fight card at the Spectrum started.

I sat at a little table next to the bar and Briscoe sat across from me. He arranged my plates for me, watched me eat. When I picked up a piece of bread he slid the butter dish toward me on the table, saying "Here's your butter."

He was happy to be around someone he knew was a genuine friend and apparently he calmed his nerves by concentrating on me and my eating.

He had a little dish with very thin slices of orange in front of him, and he sucked on the oranges slices.
He also yawned deeply over and over again, which I read as the body expelling toxins before what it knows is a potential emergency.

I asked him what in the world he was doing there in a bar just before his fight, and he said, "People call me up all day before a fight, drive me nuts."

"Why don't you take the phone off the hook?" I asked.

"No, I couldn't do that," he said. “What if it was my mother calling?"

I thought silently to myself that it seemed funny, for someone with such a fearsome appearing, strong-cheek-boned, shaved head face to be talking about his mother calling.

There was tension there because Briscoe was an old fighter and his opponent Mann at that point was undefeated and had been stopping most of his opponents so far. Mann looked like a strong middleweight and apparently a good puncher.

Who knows, maybe Briscoe was taking on someone who could embarrass him badly at this decrepit stage of his own career.

When we were about to leave Benton said, "You'll go with us in the car."

"No,” I said, “I've got my own car here."

On the way to the arena I stopped at a grocery store and got four quart cartons of orange juice.

When the fight took place that evening, Benton had Briscoe do nothing but jab.

Mann couldn’t do a thing but get hit by Briscoe’s jab. Round after round passed that way.

There was no way to know it before this fight took place, but as this fight went on it became clear that Mann just didn’t have the speed to cope with a top level fighter like Briscoe, even in Briscoe’s old age as a fighter.

I remember a burley white cornerman consoling a discouraged Mann in his corner late in the fight. The cornerman smiled at whatever Mann was saying and put a big burly arm around him and hugged him as he sat there. Mann had learned he wasn’t going to make it in the big time.

Briscoe stuck to his plan the whole way. In the final round Mann came out aggressively and tried some right hands, but he had lost every round up to then.

After the fight I ran into Mann walking through the arena and offered him one of my orange juice cartons. “You don’t have a cut mouth?” I asked and he said he didn’t so I gave it to him. He drank the whole thing in a couple gulps.

Then I ran into Briscoe on my way out. I told him about how I always brought orange juice with me, but that I had given the last one to Mann. “He needed it more than you do,” I said to Briscoe.

“I know what you mean,” he said.

What that fight showed is that top level fighters do things at a completely different rate of speed than those who won’t make it near the top.

Mann had strength, stamina, and maybe punching power, but it was at a level which did not enable him to beat the very top level.

He was a nice, affable kid.

That night was the night he learned about where he stood in the overall realm of boxing.

[gladiatorcoach]

thanks. very interesting. i know him and only saw one of his fights on tape. the bobby czyz fight. he used to help us at our gym sometimes, gladiator gym in his home town, forked river, nj.
our site is gladiatorboxing.net.

[granberry]

thanks. very interesting. i know him and only saw one of his fights on tape. the bobby czyz fight. he used to help us at our gym sometimes, gladiator gym in his home town, forked river, nj.
our site is gladiatorboxing.net.

What's he doing now?

I got the impression he was an intelligent guy from the little I saw of him.

I remember he wrote a letter to the Ring magazine (?) a number of years ago answering a writer who had attacked him.

[gladiatorcoach]

i think he is collecting ss for a bad back. what did the guy attack him about?

[granberry]

i think he is collecting ss for a bad back. what did the guy attack him about?

Apparently he was answering either an article or a letter to the editor that was attacking his abilities.

His answer was very well written and made sense.

[fnaprime]

Irish Teddy Mann was trained by my Great grand Father Walter Marler as an amateur.... you read more about him at http://www.njboxinghof.org/cgi-bin/henryseehof.pl?59

He was a very special skilled boxer and many of his losses could of went either way.

One loss was a complete joke. He knocked Hagglers half brother Robbie Sims down twice and because Marvin Haggler was there Sims got the decision.

If Teddy Mann got that one he would of went to fight in Vegas. Anyway I see Teddy around all the time, I just had a beer with him Friday night.

He has had some rough times and is a wild character.

[irishteddy]

When the fight took place that evening, Benton had Briscoe do nothing but jab.

Mann couldn’t do a thing but get hit by Briscoe’s jab. Round after round passed that way.


Referree Ozzie Saddler scored it 43-42, for Briscoe, That's far from a shutout. To say I couldn't do a thing is very far from an accurate assessment of that fight.


There was no way to know it before this fight took place, but as this fight went on it became clear that Mann just didn’t have the speed to cope with a top level fighter like Briscoe, even in Briscoe’s old age as a fighter.

I probably landed two to three punches to his one during that fight. If you don't believe me just check out the fight. It's on my website http://www.irishteddymann.com

I admit Benny landed harder punches,and he was a great fighter, but the fight was closer than you make it sound.I at least hung in there with him.



Mann had learned he wasn’t going to make it in the big time.

When did you learn how to read minds?

Briscoe stuck to his plan the whole way. In the final round Mann came out aggressively and tried some right hands, but he had lost every round up to then.

Not according to the judges.

After the fight I ran into Mann walking through the arena and offered him one of my orange juice cartons. “You don’t have a cut mouth?” I asked and he said he didn’t so I gave it to him. He drank the whole thing in a couple gulps.

Huh?

.

What that fight showed is that top level fighters do things at a completely different rate of speed than those who won’t make it near the top.


Mann had strength, stamina, and maybe punching power, but it was at a level which did not enable him to beat the very top level.



That night was the night he learned about where he stood in the overall realm of boxing.

In 1982 I was fighting on NBC and a world ranked middleweight.

[Giancarlo]

So, granberry made it all up.

Great imagination though.

[bennie]

Granberry nails it again.