Famous Sparring Sessions

[HomicideHenry]

Seen a clip last night of Johnny Nelson saying that at the tail end of his career he sparred with the 16-17 year old Tyson Fury and claimed he couldn't hit Fury at all. Pretty interesting stuff, and I tend to believe it because Steve Egan always said that when Fury was that age he legitimately stopped Mike Perez in sparring.



It made me think of sparring sessions that became larger than life. Probably my favorite is Duran-Benn when the Panamanian was touring Great Britain.

[oogiebe]

Excellent! I would love to find a Foreman/Liston session after hearing Big George talk about it so much.

[HomicideHenry]

Excellent! I would love to find a Foreman/Liston session after hearing Big George talk about it so much.

The two men also had exhibition bouts with each other, I believe in '68.

[oogiebe]

Excellent! I would love to find a Foreman/Liston session after hearing Big George talk about it so much.

The two men also had exhibition bouts with each other, I believe in '68.

I don't know what it is, but watching sparring sessions reminds me of the hurting one feels in the ring more than the fights themselves. I really enjoyed your vid!

[JC]

Hearns/Mccallum


Short clip of Hearns vs end of career Ali


Toney/Mcclellen

[Quantrax]

Bryant Jennings Vs Dereck Chisora, taken yesterday. Looked like a right old tussle.

[Jasonkinsley]

I recall reading that Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez had an impromptu sparring session in a ballroom back when Oscar was still an amateur, just after Julio had fought Meldrick Taylor. I think Julio knocked him down.

Also, I believe Greg Page tire up Mike Tyson before Tyson’s bout withBustet Douglas, knocking him down too.

Lastly, I think the actor Ryan O’Neill sparred with Joe Frazier once and apparently looked pretty good.

[Nile4000]

I wished I could have seen the Whitaker-Camacho one in Detroit.

[Controversial]

Also, I believe Greg Page tire up Mike Tyson before Tyson’s bout with Buster Douglas, knocking him down too.

Yep, about a minute in

[paddy chavez]

Seen a clip last night of Johnny Nelson saying that at the tail end of his career he sparred with the 16-17 year old Tyson Fury and claimed he couldn't hit Fury at all. Pretty interesting stuff, and I tend to believe it because Steve Egan always said that when Fury was that age he legitimately stopped Mike Perez in sparring.



It made me think of sparring sessions that became larger than life. Probably my favorite is Duran-Benn when the Panamanian was touring Great Britain.

My brother went up to spar with Duran when he sparred with Benn apparently word got out that Duran would spar a few rounds with no one certain as who would be his sparring partner , he never got the chance but it would of been a great story to tell

[Syntax Error]

Is there any footage of Ali V Holmes sparring?

Muhammad hired Larry a lot for sparring in the early to mid 70s and Holmes used to dominate the sessions too.

[littlepug]

Who was it that had Ray Leonard on Queer Street when he was getting ready for Hagler ?

[Flump]

Who was it that had Ray Leonard on Queer Street when he was getting ready for Hagler ?

Quincy Taylor

[littlepug]

Who was it that had Ray Leonard on Queer Street when he was getting ready for Hagler ?

Quincy Taylor

Always think it was one of the Weaver triplets for some reason

[dr_devious]

Thoughts on those spars above - Benn was outworking Duran, the Hearns-McCallum spar is as good as you'll see and McCallum was doing very well, Greg Page looked very useful in the spar against Mike Tyson, and Toney looked a notch ahead of McClellan. But I suppose sparring means sh1t when it comes to a live fight.

[Onetimeonly]

Who was it that had Ray Leonard on Queer Street when he was getting ready for Hagler ?

That wasn't sparring though. Full throttle.

[evrenb]

Is there any footage of Ali V Holmes sparring?

Muhammad hired Larry a lot for sparring in the early to mid 70s and Holmes used to dominate the sessions too.

There is some that I have seen from Zaire...there probably is more.

[JC]

Thoughts on those spars above - Benn was outworking Duran, the Hearns-McCallum spar is as good as you'll see and McCallum was doing very well, Greg Page looked very useful in the spar against Mike Tyson, and Toney looked a notch ahead of McClellan. But I suppose sparring means sh1t when it comes to a live fight.

James Tony vs Mike McCallum is an amazing fight to watch, highest level technical skills but with a real determination to go for it. It’s like watching the top fighters from the 50s but in colour.

[Jacopodb]

There are legends, crossing the boxing gyms of Rome, regarding all-time great Carlos Monzon: one of those is about an episode that occurred in some boxing gym in Rome, while the Argentine champion was sparring prior to his oncoming fight vs Benvenuti, I guess: his sparring partner in that session, some obscure Roman boxer, wanted to gain an easy newspaper title as "The man who floored Monzon in sparring" perhaps, so he had the brilliant idea to attack Monzon and try to knock him out cold: Monzon didn't see it coming, but managed to withstand the attack, and then pumped that poor Roman boxer up like a bagpipe and that was the story.

[oogiebe]

There are legends, crossing the boxing gyms of Rome, regarding all-time great Carlos Monzon: one of those is about an episode that occurred in some boxing gym in Rome, while the Argentine champion was sparring prior to his oncoming fight vs Benvenuti, I guess: his sparring partner in that session, some obscure Roman boxer, wanted to gain an easy newspaper title as "The man who floored Monzon in sparring" perhaps, so he had the brilliant idea to attack Monzon and try to knock him out cold: Monzon didn't see it coming, but managed to withstand the attack, and then pumped that poor Roman boxer up like a bagpipe and that was the story.

Love it! Never heard that story, but I love Monzon and could see it happen. He was a mean dude. Not sure why the lad would choose Carlos to attempt to make a statement! Would love to see it.

[Jacopodb]

There are legends, crossing the boxing gyms of Rome, regarding all-time great Carlos Monzon: one of those is about an episode that occurred in some boxing gym in Rome, while the Argentine champion was sparring prior to his oncoming fight vs Benvenuti, I guess: his sparring partner in that session, some obscure Roman boxer, wanted to gain an easy newspaper title as "The man who floored Monzon in sparring" perhaps, so he had the brilliant idea to attack Monzon and try to knock him out cold: Monzon didn't see it coming, but managed to withstand the attack, and then pumped that poor Roman boxer up like a bagpipe and that was the story.

Love it! Never heard that story, but I love Monzon and could see it happen. He was a mean dude. Not sure why the lad would choose Carlos to attempt to make a statement! Would love to see it.

That "adventurous" guy that tried to knock out Monzon, was one of the many that tried the easy way to success, which there isn't any, of course, and boxing is not The Big Brother TV show: the guy wanted it all and now, instead of building up his success day by day, and paid for it.

[Caractacus]

I only read that Sugar Ray Leonard was knocked down in a sparring session by Quincey Taylor (in the book autobiography by Angelo Dundee)

[NateJR]

Gerald McClellan vs. James Toney sparring

[url][url]

[APerno]

Sorry here comes a wet blanket.

I have always deeply, deeply, deeply (have I said deeply enough) hated this concept. If I was a trainer or manager I would always close off my fighter's sparing sessions from on-lookers and would never allow the session to turn into a fight. For what reason? Sparing sessions are a time to learn and fine tune technique, not to prove mettle. The game is already brutal enough, a fighter doesn't need to get beat on (for no pay) so a bunch of self proclaimed, useless experts (useless fat white men with an opinion) can stand around and wax poetically about this or that. Let them buy a ticket. A trainer who lets his fighter get into a gym war needs to be replaced by a man who will protect his fighter.

[Jacopodb]

Sorry here comes a wet blanket.

I have always deeply, deeply, deeply (have I said deeply enough) hated this concept. If I was a trainer or manager I would always close off my fighter's sparing sessions from on-lookers and would never allow the session to turn into a fight. For what reason? Sparing sessions are a time to learn and fine tune technique, not to prove mettle. The game is already brutal enough, a fighter doesn't need to get beat on (for no pay) so a bunch of self proclaimed, useless experts (useless fat white men with an opinion) can stand around and wax poetically about this or that. Let them buy a ticket. A trainer who lets his fighter get into a gym war needs to be replaced by a man who will protect his fighter.

Too many boxers got injured in sparring, not least Gerald McClellan: sparring could easily turn into a macho thing, I know enough about that, so I have to agree with you by every mean.