Stanley Kitten Hayward

[klompton]

I just spent two hours on the phone with Kitten Hayward. What a character! He was a lot of fun to talk to with some great stories. He's always been one of my favorite fighters so it was a real honor to speak with him. Some of the highlights were his talking about his first fight with Briscoe: "Man, I kicked his ass for seven rounds." and Freddie Little "That was one of the worst fights I was in. He ran the whole fight. I got cut by a headbutt and still have the scar. It went the distance and thats how you know it was a bad fight. If you cut a guy like he cut me wouldnt you go in there and try to stop him on cuts? He just ran the whole fight and I didnt want to get stopped on cuts so I played it safe. It was an awful fight." The best though was him talking about his alter ego Cornelius. I had never heard about this. "People dont know this but I wasn't a fighter. Cornelius was the fighter. My mother named me Stanley Cornelius. The Kitten liked people, loved the ladies, and liked to have a good time. But when Cornelius came out it was another story. Thats what happened to Curtis Cokes. He knocked me down and went from being the Kitten to Cornelius and knocked him out. Joe Shaw was another one. Did you see the Joe Shaw fight? No? Joe Shaw made me mad and Cornelius came out and gave him a beating. You ever see my fight with Jose Stable? Cornelius came out for that late in the fight and I almost knocked him out in the last round." On Emile Griffith. "Griffith was a great fighter. I respected him and he respected me. They tried to get me to say all of this personal stuff about him to hype the fight and make him mad but I respected him. I didnt care about any of that other stuff. You had to be in great shape to fight Emile because he was always in great shape." On his loss to Cyclone Hart. "Hart was the one guy I would have come out of retirement to fight. I could beat him. They stopped it too early. He hit me and knocked me down and I was out. I got back up and he hit me and it woke me up, but they stopped it."On fighting in Europe. "You couldnt win over there unless you killed the guy. I beat Bouttier. Knocked him down and they called it a slip. The one guy I beat over there (Leveque) I damn near killed. I fought a guy in Italy (Juan Carlo Duran) and beat him too but they gave it to him." On Deer Lake: "You ever hear of Deer Lake? The training camp? Where Ali trained? I discovered that. I knew a guy who was a mink farmer up there and thats where I went to get in shape. I never trained. If Id made more money I would have but I liked the ladies too much. I train more now than I did then. I stayed out of the gyms because theyd ruin you. A lot of good fighters were ruined in Philadelphia gyms. Youd go in there and some guy would be waiting for you. Trying to make a rep by beating you. You had to fight believe me. I sparred Sonny Liston just after turning pro if you can believe that. He didnt try to kill me or nothin but you had to take care of yourself. Its how you got confidence. If you spar Sonny Liston and then have to fight some guy with a hanful of fights you arent going to be worried." On his second fight with Emile Griffith. "I drove a Cadillac in those days. I wanted to arrive in New York in style so I rode in the back seat all the way to New York with the converitible top down. I caught a cold, fought the fight sick, and lost." On his fight with Gypsy Joe Harris. "I didnt want that fight. I hadnt fought in about a year and this guy was fighting every couple of months. I told my manager at the time, a guy name George Katz, I needed to go train to get into shape. Katz was cheap and knew how to hang on to his money. He says 'what are you scared of him?' Then Cornelius came out. Cornelius said 'Scared? Ok, if its like that I'll kick this guys ass.' I lost that fight. I try to keep Cornelius under control now. He's the fighter, not Kitten."

[Expug]

Great stuff thanks.
Ive always been interested in those Philly fighters of that era. The gym wars are legendary and always have been.
Imagine the lineup of guys that a fighter could work with day in and day out. Man it was sink or swim Im sure...

[klompton]

No kidding. He reiterated that you saw better fights in the gym than in the ring, despite not taking part in many of them. I was blown away that he sparred with Liston. He had a lot of very interesting stories to tell, some of which I cant repeat out of respect for him, respect for other fighters, and not wanting to get sued LOL. But all in all he was a very humble, down to earth guy, who was just happy to know that he made an impact on somebody today and still had fans. He was sharp as a tack too. Youd never know he was a 73 year old ex boxer.

[Expug]

We are familiar with the bigger name fighters that came through those gym wars during that era,but I wonder how many guys over the years had careers cut short by engaging in all those wars.
Still,what a great period in boxing history that was.

[Rover]

About Cornelius:

Great stuff.

[evrenb]

Never seen this thread before. What a great story. Damn he sounds a character. And in the time honoured tradition of proud ex boxers, he never lost a fight because his opponent was superior ; there was always a damn reason lol. I understand that though, these guys are still so macho and proud even in old age!
What a golden era he spanned. salute to you sir

[Cutman Scabbers]

Love the stories -- more, please!