i met
peter marciano- this was a true honor, rocky is my favorite fighter and I always wanted to meet one of rockys brothers.
ron borges- boxing writer for boston globe
goody petronelli
tony demarco
kevin mcbride
joe denucci
dana rosenblatt
and none other than bert sugar
it was quite a great event
i came early with my dad, and we were waiting outside the venue and i look next to me none other than kevin mcbride (HUGE) was standing to my left. I said hello and we got into a nice conversation for about 45 minutes.
mcbride was a funny ass drunk irishman. mcbride told me "tyson hit so hard that I though leprechauns were playing drums in my ear"
the guy mcride was with(i think his manager) was popular super middleweight champ steve collins' brother. he told me mcbride is going to try to get a fight with valuev sometime soon.
mcbride also told me he in sparring with ruiz, he landed a hard right on ruiz sending him across the ring and when the sparring session was over, norm stone gave him $ 100 and told him to scram.
it was a great honor meeting tough as well welterweight champion tony demarco. he was a tough bastard and a classy guy. his wars with carmen basillio will always be remembered. tony had huge fists even as an old guy, i would not want to get hit by his right hand.
but above all, the best was shaking hands with peter marciano. later on, well we were waiting in line for food, a guy asked peter marciano a question he didnt know( it had to do with a marciano opponents name) and I told the guy right on the spot. peter was impressed and asked how old i was. It then formed into a 20 minute convo with me and peter marciano and I was honored to be talking with rockys brother. later on, peter marciano called me over the table saying to the people next to him "this kid knows more about rocky than anyone I know." i then shook hands with rockys nephews and some other people. but for peter to do that was a real honor for me.
a big thing i learned was i asked peter marciano about the controversial tiger ted lowry first fight.
peter said "one of the biggest myths is the first lowry fight was close. thats all lowry did was fight to survive, he hardly threw any punches."
peter marciano also told me rocky said his toughest fight was the 1st jersey joe walcott fight.
I talked with joe denucci. he talked about the fight with florentino fernandez and how he was weight drained for that fight, joes a family friend of my dad anyways.
then we all sat down and watched the super fight with people actually getting into it. they showed behing the scenes events and it actually showed a clip of boxrec poster enrique getting interviewed. then it ended and experts took the stand to debate about marciano and ali.
then all of a sudden I saw none other than bert sugar with his goofy hat and cigar.
sugar said some good things,but also said some bullshit things. sugar said "if were talking about p4p then i favor marciano. but if were talking about prime weights its difficult. i mean ali was 6'4 226lb. "
i was like
alis prime size was 6'3 210lb, not the 6'4 226lb giant sugar thought he was.
then sugar said "moore and walcott were 38 and past there prime."
In front of a huge crowd, i immediately stood up raising my hand wanting to refute sugars statement. i had the facts all in my head and I was ready to refute the famous bert sugars statements. however much to my dismay, the ceromony ended right there with no more questions being allowed. peter marciano later told me he was enraged when sugar said that and wanted to call me up here to argue that fact.
I however after walked up to bert saying hello telling him i want to be a boxing historian and I told him that walcott and moore were in there primes when he fought marciano. i told him walcotts prime was from the first louis fight-marciano fight.
he told me "no fighter is in there prime at that age. walcotts prime came during his early years and the only reason he lossed was because he wasnt training and taking the fight on days notice. walcott was finished when he got to the louis fight. the fact he did so well later on just shows u how great a fighter walcott was."
defintley a little bullshit by bert sugar there like walcott being finished when he got to the louis fights.
sugar said some interesting stuff. he said "marciano and ali were the two greatest heavyweight champions of the last 50 years, and i wish we had more people like them that would come along."
i spoke to goody petronelli, he was a classy man. it was an honor to meet him.
i spoke with ron borges boxing writer who gave me some valuable tips.
i
but overall great night tonight, and the marcianos were the classies people u will ever meet. it was an honor of peter calling me over and introducing me to people and having old guys ask me boxing questions and when i answer they say " how old are u, how do u know that much at ur age"
i also spoke with the head of newenglandringsider and he is going to set me up with a boxing job, so I got a lot out of this night.
it was a great night where not only did we get to discuss the careers of two of one of the greatest heavyweight champions, but also meet famous figures.
