Origins of your interest in Boxing?

[Stuarty]

When did you start becoming interested in our sport? Do you remember why? What's your earliest memory? Either as a fan or competitor, or both?

I was always fascinated with the sport from a very young age. I remember fights from the early 90s when I was 8/9/10 years old. I remember sitting watching Benn, Eubank fights in my livingroom with my dad when I was a boy. Also remember some big heavyweight nights that my papa used to tape. My mum always bought me the magazines. I remember my first night in the gym as well. I loved it. I moved amatuer coaches twice but never for anything personal. My dad and grandpa both boxed as did a few of my uncles...

My oldest boy is right in to it. He's actually out with St.Mirren pro youth football team just now and is doing well but fancies trying his hand at boxing. His mam isn't too kean but I'd have no problems letting him have a crack. A lot of my close friends all boxed as did a lot of guys I grew up with and I could count on my one hand the amount of them that were idiots and liberty takers! It's a great sport to get in to.

[Boxerbeetle]

My mum got me properly into boxing, apparently she used to go out with an aspiring amateur boxer when she was a teenager and got hooked. She took me to see my first ever show when I was about 15, virtually ringside for a Calzaghe fight in Cardiff Ice Rink. Good times.

[Stuarty]

My mum got me properly into boxing, apparently she used to go out with an aspiring amateur boxer when she was a teenager and got hooked. She took me to see my first ever show when I was about 15, virtually ringside for a Calzaghe fight in Cardiff Ice Rink. Good times.

Sounds cool My mum hated me boxing but she was the same with my old man. She still bought me my gear when I needed it lol. My ex wife is a bit of a fanatic because of me even to this day. That rubs off on my two oldest lol.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

76 Olympics and Rocky. I was 7.

[Stuarty]

76 Olympics and Rocky. I was 7.

Who was in they Olympics? Anyone memorable?

[SaadOffTheDeck]

76 Olympics and Rocky. I was 7.

Who was in they Olympics? Anyone memorable?

My favorite was Howard Davis. Also Leonard, the spinks brothers, Stevenson,.

[Old Jack J]

Me Granny liked watching Frank Bruno because of all the "know what I mean harry" stuff and I used to sleep over some weekends when he was on the telly and watch it with her. That naturally led to Benn, Eubank, Watson era and a certain Prince Naz (which my phone autocorrected to Prince Nazi! Wow ) who was a hero to a young kid. It all stemmed from there.

I'm a Yorkshire boy and started following a lot of the Sheffield lads like Naz, Rhodes, Nelson on the telly and followed that with getting to know James Hare through a mutual friend and attending lots of his shows. That led to seeing some great shows including the best fight I saw live which was Brodie vs injinji chi 1 at the MEN arena.

[stu 27]

I've always enjoyed it but didn't really get into until I was 27
A couple of my mates boxed and that time I was drinking too much and just eating shite,considered myself at a bit of a crossroads,either get fatter or try to get fitter,picked the latter and started training with them and loved it,now it's something I'm very passionate about
As has been said earlier,a lot of the people I've met through it aren't liberty takers or idiots

[leejonesjnr]

I happened to pick up a copy of Boxing News in the newsagents near my school.
There was an article about Roy Jones and a picture of him in an ivory 3 piece suit with the quote ‘Who can do it like Roy? Can’t nobody do it like Roy!’
I’d had a passing interest in boxing but only watched the massive fights. I didn’t know who RJJ was until then or even that there was a light heavyweight division.
That was the day my interest was kick started.

[Nightmare Roy]

Ben Eubank

[Mimmy]

I think mine was seeing Bruce Woodcock in our village occasionally walking his dogs back in the late 70's. That was certainly the first 'glimpse' of boxing I got.

I used to have fights with the old fella on the living room floor as a kid too, I got my first pair of 8oz gloves and my dad would wrap tea towels round his hands. He would kneel down and I would have a go. Needless to say the old fvcker always got the upper hand. I think having those 'bouts' gave me the first taste of 'dizzyness' when I got clocked on the chin. It was very rarely I hit the target but did get one or 2 in over the years.

When i got to about 14 I went to see Rocky 3 at the local cinema and shadow boxed on the way home. That was proberly the turning point. I remember watching Tim Witherspoon v Tony Tubbs in 86, then the Bruno v Witherspoon fight. I'm sure i must have watched other boxing at that time of 86 but non sticks in my head at the moment.

Obviously Mike Tyson made much more appearances on tv by then too. I think I left home around 1986 too at age of 16 and got a flat. I also became aware of satellite tv and bought my first dish from a second hand shop by then so I know I watched the Barry McGuigan v Steve Cruz card from America. It was shortly after that I got my first VHS recorder because the first fight I taped was Barry McGuigan v Nicky Perez. I continued taping fights until around 1995 and never missed any action that was on tv or satellite.

I also subscribed to Boxing News from the mid 80's and bought a job lot of 70's Boxing News from the auction room. I think I had every weekly edition from around 1985 to well over 1995 and had most of the mid 70's to well into the 80's

When I got to around 18 I had all the BBBoC year books from the 1980's and wrote off to John Rushton (all boxing promoters and managers addresses where in them books) in Doncaster to see if I could have a trial. This was in the Autumn time and John wrote back to me with a date to go to his gym. I went off to Donny with my girlfriend (wife now) and found his gym in Armthorpe. John made me do some shadow boxing in the ring and some exercises. He was also training up Neil Malpass in the corner of the gym too. I think he was fighting shortly afterwards against Andrew Gerrard. After my trial John gave me some advise and said he would be happy to see me again. He said I had a decent left hand. He also asked me what I was doing that night. I told him nowt as I was staying at my grandmas for the weekend. Well bugger me he invited me along with his Heavyweight Mick Cawdon to go to Newcastle to watch him fight Steve Gee. The main Event was a British Heavyweight title eliminator against John Westgarth v Dave Garside. Man was I excited.

We traveled to Newcastle on a mini bus with about 12 blokes. This was the first live show I had been to. When we arrived Rushton went to see Gee's manager and it seemed that there was a lack of communication somewhere because Gee was scheduled to fight Paul Lister a local Heavyweight from Newcastle. There was a bit of an argument but Mick was ok about it and decided to get pissed instead.

I met Steve Gee and a few of the other lads who were fighting on the show, didnt get me meet Westgarth or Garside though. However many years later with the emergence of Facebook became friends with John Westgarth and spoke to him online a few times and to this day keep in touch with him now and again as I close watch his son Scott.

Over the years ive been friends with several boxers on FB but have deleted them as I have found them 'odd' if you like or quite outspoken about issues. The idols of the ring are not quite the same after they retire and maybe not the person you thought they were.


Anyway that concludes my boxing history.

[dalcumly]

My grandfather used to sit in front of the telly watching amateur boxing internationals and he used to shuffle about in his seat avoiding the punches and snorting - if my granny or anyone else spoke to him he couldn't hear them because he was totally absorbed!!!
My first memory was watching the highlights of the first Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston fight and being terrified of Liston !!!
I also vividly remember listening to the Cooper v Clay fight live ( with 20 million others) on the radio. Some time later, my mother used to remind me, I woke up having a nightmare shouting Cassius Clay - Cassius Clay.

And during that period I used to tell people that when I grew up I wanted to be 6' 1" and 13 stones because that was Henry Cooper's stats. ( he was actually 6'2" and 13.5 stones).

And finally, my grandfather used to tell me that the English speaking boxer I also idolised was actually Scottish. And he was - Dave Charnley !!!

[Counter-puncher]

Barry McGuigan started it, Benn/Watson/Eubank made it a love affair.

[handsofstone]

Ive loved boxing ever since I can remember, my old man boxed and had over 150 fights and he had at least a half a dozen cousins who boxed as well, there was a boxing gym St Francis in the area we grew up so a lot of people in my area tried their hand at it, my old man used to coach as well when I was younger but he had to give it up as he worked away from home, me and my cousins used to go to the gym now and again when we were younger but we used to get kicked out usually for messing about although my older cousin stayed long enough to have 1 fight lol which my dad worked the corner

1st fight I remember watching was Eubank/Benn 2 when I would've just turned 9 and I loved they 2, Bruno and Naz, Tyson was still in jail art this point and I remember him getting released from prison, I mind seeing him in the paper with the muslim cap(?) on his head

It wasn't until about 15 years ago around about the time Scott Harrison was world champ that I got into the sport hardcore and the bug got me, now I'm obsessed but it gives me something to enjoy when I'm not living regular life with family, work etc, boxings also kept me from going on the lash at weekends as i'd rather stay in and watch a boxing card than go out and miss it

My ex used to love boxing but my current mrs hates it, although sometimes I think she just hates me

[Deno1986]

I think it was being brought to the pub by my old man and an uncle to watch Collins - Eubank 1 when I was 8/9.That and a combination of Rocky.

[bigjack]

The first fight i watched was Colin Jones v Milton McCrory,that's where it started for me,then later came McGuigan,Graham etc and i was hooked.

[Noxy]

Barry McGuigan for me. I was a boy in Belfast when he turned pro and I followed him closely, his rise was amazing. I didn’t fully appreciate what a phenomenon he was at the time. Unfortunately I never had any dough to go to his fights in those days, although I did later experience the Kings Hall cauldron atmosphere when Dave McAuley and Ray Close topped the bill there in the nineties.

I remember buying my first KO and Ring magazines on a school trip to London in 1987. I was so excited at getting to read the whole magazine, as until then I’d only had time to read a couple of pages before the newsagent would say - Are you buying that? I read every word in those mags on the train up to Scotland. Starling, McCallum, Hearns. I couldn’t get enough of it.

The first show I went to was McDonnell vs Nelson in London. I was star struck and spotted Frank Bruno at ringside. Lewis, Eubank and Hide on the undercard too. I was lucky enough to bump into Jim Watt after and he stopped to talk for a bit. He‘s a sound bloke. Good times.

[nobleart1978]

1987. Nine years old.
Watching Lloyd Honeyghan.
Got my first Boxing News with Bruno and Chuck Gardner on the cover.
Started an obsession still going today.
I've spent loads on programmes and books.
Train lads at my local ABC now.

Sometimes I question boxing when you see old fighters who are damaged... but I can never see me walking away from it.

[Andrew]

Im a bit younger but has to be everything around Hatton for me, then Carl Froch. Shame Froch is a bit of a nob now I really used to like him.

[Taansend]

Ali, mid 70's. Then Leonard and Bruno and so many others.

I started boxing around 79 but no discipline *

Also there's some legend in my family about a bare knuckle fighter named Dido Plum who was a German bloke based in London who didn't draw the colour line. Probably complete bollocks but my nan and mum believed it. My nans grandad or something.

* that was the year not my age

[TheGman]

I remember watching rocky 1 and 2 as a kid and being fascinated by the theme tune, the training he used to do and the thrill of fight scenes,my auntie was mad on rocky and at the time rocky 3 became available on VHS hs so we all sat there and watched it,absolutely brilliant times. I have an older brother and a younger brother so we used to have competitions on who could do the most sit ups or press ups. I cant remember how old I was when i first watched rocky but I was 9 when I joined my first boxung club (cavendish abc,now known as birkenhead venture) that was back in 1986,I remember pretending I was 10 because a few lads said you have to be 10 to join

[Ruthless-RKO]

Lennox Lewis around 2000.. I was his biggest fan, I was young, didn't know much outside the HW division. But I was buzzing (as a kid), when Rahman dropped him.

I stayed up and watched Lewis-Tyson live. Which was around 5am UK time.

[Stuffs]

Really don't know.

Always been into all manner of sports, so boxing was one of a dozen I'd half pay attention to.

Friends at school used to get together and watch "the big fight"... Tyson, Naz, and later Hatton... The most vivid memory was Corrales-Castillo. Think over a week we watched that about 5 times.

Went off it for a while at one point. My early 20's. Good 5 years where I didn't give a shite. Got too interested in other stuff then a few years back decided to go to a local bout out of boredom and it reignited my love of it.

[PredatorHayds]

I used to stay at my Uncles quite a lot at the weekend. We’d always watch the boxing. I was probably about 8, and it was the early 90’s.

The Benn-G-Man fight got me absolutly addicted.
One of the best fights ever but such a sad ending.
I remember realising how brutal boxing is. And not in a physical or mental strength.

It’s brutal in a historic sense. One bad performance can define your place in history and memory forever. There’s no second chances.

There’s no friendlys. Every fight matters. The dream would to be somehow to get involved in the sport. But with a detached retina and dodgy arm it’s going to be outside the ropes and opportunities are hard to find.

The Sweet Science.

[revporl]

Watching the last few Ali fights with my dad from, I think, Richard Dunn (I remember a white guy getting knocked down a lot so it must have been!) through to Berbick aged between 6-11. I remember both Spinks fights and the Holmes one very clearly, I was really upset at the Holmes fight. Same time watching Leonard V Hearns (we took a break from a shopping trip to watch that in a TV rental shop!) and Jim Watt, Minter vs Hagler (that was complete chaos!), Maurice Hope, Pat Cowdell, Najib Daho, John L Gardner and a few other British fighters. I became obsessed then and carried on watching through the 80's after my dad had died and beyond. I think its a pretty good era now, I'm enjoying Lomachenko, Crawford, Spence Jr and GGG especially, I think they're easily as good as the older fighters.