What actually made you interested in boxing?

[Mimmy]

I remember back in the 70's when I lived in a pit village in Doncaster called Edlington. I remember one Sunday afternoon very vividly and I was around 8 or 9 years old and I was walking with my dad up the shops. This old guy was walking down the raod walking a dog and my dad said to me , 'Thats Bruce Woodcock, he was a boxing champion'

Then in 1983 I went to the cinema (I used to go to the flee pit every week by myself as it only cost a quid) and I watched a movie that changed my life forever. For 90 minutes I was stunned, I had never seen anything like this movie in my life, it beat Flashdance, Fame and The Black Hole, it was of course Rocky 3. I was 13 years old and was struck by lightning.

Thats how I was hooked onto boxing.

Anyone else?

[handsofstone]

I dont actually remember any one defining moment,ive just always liked it for as long as i can remember,my dad and his family boxed so i think thats where the seed was first planted but iv always just LOVED watching a boxing match and used to watch all the big fights growing up in the 90s,the first big fight i remember seeing was the Benn/Eubank rematch and my dad lying on the floor watching on his front and having carpet burns on his elbows with throwing the punches with the fighters(i remember him raging that Benn only got a draw) i was 8 at the time or maybe 9 depending on when in 93 the fight took place :?? and iv always watched all the big fights all my life since then but it was only since 2006 i started to REALLY watch it,people might not believe me but i havent missed a single fight,every undercard included on UK TV since 2006(not inc Eurosport) and i do mean EVERY fight,a couple of times its maybe not taped but i dont rest until i find it on the net,sad bastard i know,its my OCD

[banjo]

Rocky III also.

[Mimmy]

I dont actually remember any one defining moment,ive just always liked it for as long as i can remember,my dad and his family boxed so i think thats where the seed was first planted but iv always just LOVED watching a boxing match and used to watch all the big fights growing up in the 90s,the first big fight i remember seeing was the Benn/Eubank rematch and my dad lying on the floor watching on his front and having carpet burns on his elbows with throwing the punches with the fighters(i remember him raging that Benn only got a draw) i was 8 at the time or maybe 9 depending on when in 93 the fight took place :?? and iv always watched all the big fights all my life since then but it was only since 2006 i started to REALLY watch it,people might not believe me but i havent missed a single fight,every undercard included on UK TV since 2006(not inc Eurosport) and i do mean EVERY fight,a couple of times its maybe not taped but i dont rest until i find it on the net,sad bastard i know,its my OCD

Reading that actually makes my hairs stand on end as this was a bit like myself. I bet there is no man in England now who can say they sit on the carpet like you do! It wont happen again the era of boxing (I mean real boxing, action, real characters and adrenaline running through your veins boxing)

[damianhucker1]

Not sure which was first , the emergence of Mike Tyson or the Benn/Eubank rivalry .

Either way would have been one of those 2 reasons as i dont remember watching boxing before those , Maybe the odd bit of Bruno but again im not sure if that was before or after .

[handsofstone]

I dont actually remember any one defining moment,ive just always liked it for as long as i can remember,my dad and his family boxed so i think thats where the seed was first planted but iv always just LOVED watching a boxing match and used to watch all the big fights growing up in the 90s,the first big fight i remember seeing was the Benn/Eubank rematch and my dad lying on the floor watching on his front and having carpet burns on his elbows with throwing the punches with the fighters(i remember him raging that Benn only got a draw) i was 8 at the time or maybe 9 depending on when in 93 the fight took place :?? and iv always watched all the big fights all my life since then but it was only since 2006 i started to REALLY watch it,people might not believe me but i havent missed a single fight,every undercard included on UK TV since 2006(not inc Eurosport) and i do mean EVERY fight,a couple of times its maybe not taped but i dont rest until i find it on the net,sad bastard i know,its my OCD

Reading that actually makes my hairs stand on end as this was a bit like myself. I bet there is no man in England now who can say they sit on the carpet like you do! It wont happen again the era of boxing (I mean real boxing, action, real characters and adrenaline running through your veins boxing)

Amen to that

[rm1]

i think if you grew up in the eighties there were so many good fighters and it was a mainstream sport then and on TV. Benn, Tyson, Hearns and Kirkland Laing stand out for me as people who just made you love boxing and want to do what they did which most of us quickly discovered we couldn't. Now kids are pretty ignorant of boxing as its not mainstream and that can't be good for the future of the sport.

[palooka]

Holmes v Cooney was on the telly and I watched it with my dad; I thought it was a bit strange that people would want to hit each other and that they didn't seem to mind being hit. A couple of years later we moved across town and Bomber Graham was on stickers telling people not to rip the seats up or write grafiftti, Herol was 'local' = the next big city along from Doncaster there was the big Hagler v Hearns bout in 85 and that was it, I started buying boxing news in 1987 around the Pazienza v Haugen bout.

[Bleak]

Gomez V Arthur

[Mimmy]

Holmes v Cooney was on the telly and I watched it with my dad; I thought it was a bit strange that people would want to hit each other and that they didn't seem to mind being hit. A couple of years later we moved across town and Bomber Graham was on stickers telling people not to rip the seats up or write grafiftti, Herol was 'local' = the next big city along from Doncaster there was the big Hagler v Hearns bout in 85 and that was it, I started buying boxing news in 1987 around the Pazienza v Haugen bout.

Several years ago we moved house. I had over 20 years of BN and never missed a week. I just could not take them with me so threw them out for the dustbin man. Worse mistake of my life.

[palooka]

Holmes v Cooney was on the telly and I watched it with my dad; I thought it was a bit strange that people would want to hit each other and that they didn't seem to mind being hit. A couple of years later we moved across town and Bomber Graham was on stickers telling people not to rip the seats up or write grafiftti, Herol was 'local' = the next big city along from Doncaster there was the big Hagler v Hearns bout in 85 and that was it, I started buying boxing news in 1987 around the Pazienza v Haugen bout.

Several years ago we moved house. I had over 20 years of BN and never missed a week. I just could not take them with me so threw them out for the dustbin man. Worse mistake of my life.

I had to leave all mine behind as well; I used to be so protective and proud of them I've since bought a couple of bound editions off ebay - they've got 6 months of them in each binder. There're in the upstairs lav which is the only place I get any peace and quiet.

[Londonirish]

Father and Family it's a thing that all Travellers just do..

[dookus]

5 main things:

1. My late great uncle, who'd been watching boxing since the 30s and always used to blare on at me in his unsettlingly unhinged broad West Cornwall drawl about the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis

2. Watching a repeat of McGuigan-Pedroza as a 6-year-old a few years after the fight and being thrilled to the core at the energy and spectacle, not to mention the brutality of the contest (which doesn;t seem any more real than cartoon violence when you're that age)

3. All of the early 90s ITV coverage, most especially following Hamed to the European title (before he fucked off to Sky - I remember listening to his fight with Robinson on 5 live) and most vividly of all the Benn-McClelland fight

4. Spending almost the whole of summer 1994 trying to beat my own records on Punch-Out!! on the NES

5. Learning that there was this near-mythical heavyweight called Mike Tyson who'd gone to jail a couple years before I started to watch boxing, who was one day going to come back and reclaim his crown...

[REEVE]

watching naz from 95 onwards...there must be a load of kids got into boxing in the 90s watching the guy

[junior pepa seed]

All the law suit action and legal proceedings.

80s...in a caravan....little hampton...raining...small black n white tv...Barry Mc and Lloyd h v Don currey

[Dan Dares]

watching Hagler v Minter

[Mimmy]

5 main things:

1. My late great uncle, who'd been watching boxing since the 30s and always used to blare on at me in his unsettlingly unhinged broad West Cornwall drawl about the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis

2. Watching a repeat of McGuigan-Pedroza as a 6-year-old a few years after the fight and being thrilled to the core at the energy and spectacle, not to mention the brutality of the contest (which doesn;t seem any more real than cartoon violence when you're that age)

3. All of the early 90s ITV coverage, most especially following Hamed to the European title (before he fucked off to Sky - I remember listening to his fight with Robinson on 5 live) and most vividly of all the Benn-McClelland fight

4. Spending almost the whole of summer 1994 trying to beat my own records on Punch-Out!! on the NES

5. Learning that there was this near-mythical heavyweight called Mike Tyson who'd gone to jail a couple years before I started to watch boxing, who was one day going to come back and reclaim his crown...

The name McGuigan make me feel sick these days.

I remember Barry took up the job of creating a boxing union (Does it still exist?) Well I wrote to Mr McGuigan giving him support by saying it was a great idea etc etc (I had just watched F.I.S.T) well I asked him for a job and as it wa sonly an idea of his at the time he agreed and said ok get in touch with him if it comes off. I was over the moon!

When it took off and he was everybodies man he forgot his promise!

[semtexreilly]

listening to my old mans tales of muhammad ali,watching his interviews before and after fights as well as watching videos of the actual fights themselves,champions forever and aka cassius clay were classics

[youngrell]

Benn v Eubank 2 and Benn v Mclellan are my earliest memories. After Naz I kinda lost touch for a few years but then started following Calzaghe and got my love for the sport back. I've since filled the gap thanks to the awesomeness of YouTube.

[stevieb_8006]

My old man let me stay up late to watch Harding vs Andries

[n1ebf]

I just got really sick of getting made to do the truffle shuffle all the time....

in seriousness I would say Rocky. The one where he was jumping the park benches...I, II? My dad had bought us bop-bags and gloves but it wasn't a hobby or anything.

First interest in professional boxing would have been Eubank- Benn I imagine....I tipped Eubank as it seemed the natural choice - I only found out a few years ago that in fact it was Benn who was the solid favourite.......so even from a young age I was always "spot-on" when it came to the boxing

And of course Bruno but I was always in bed when he fought. I never really saw any actual boxing until 11 or 12 really.

[DMA1987]

Been mulling this and I'm still not really sure.

I THINK it was the Bomber Graham vs Brewer fight. I think.

Still fucks me off he never got a world title.

[SNG]

Benn v Eubank 2 and Benn v Mclellan are my earliest memories. After Naz I kinda lost touch for a few years but then started following Calzaghe and got my love for the sport back. I've since filled the gap thanks to the awesomeness of YouTube.

Pretty much exactly this, I used to watch Benn with my uncle when I was a kid, Lewis and Naz too. I lost interest for a couple of years after Naz and Lewis retired, I followed Hatton's career in the paper because I didn't have SKY and I didn't drink so I never went to the pub to watch him either, but I caught a Calzaghe fight in a bar I worked in and that reignited my interest. Hatton then fought Tszyu a few months later and I was hooked again.

Amir Khan turning pro and ITV showing regular boxing again helped get me interested again too.

[dr_devious]

Watching Hagler v Hearns and Hagler v Mugabi in the mid 80s.

[ajwesty13]

my first fight where i remember falling for boxing was watching robert durant v iran barkley...