Pick a dead guy to write an autobiography

[Tuan_Jim]

If you could choose one dead guy from all of boxing history to write a tell-all memoir from the grave, who would it be? Could be a fighter, trainer, manager, promoter--anyone.

Total candour too; no fear of lawsuits--the author's dead!

Off the top of my head, Sonny Liston is my pick. I need to know what (if anything) went on in that mind.

[margaret thatcher]

four brekfas, i ate soup

then i punch bag, and man head. man go fall down.

then i lay in mah bed. i sleep.

and cashiz so mean

[goose 5]

My choices are Teddy Brenner, Ray Arcel and Eddie Futch but I can't choose only 1.

[oogiebe]

Emanual Steward. I find him great in every way. Seems like he was an especially good man.

[Seamus]

Kid Chocolate
Panama Al Brown
Davey Hilton
Sonny Liston

[AntonioMartin]

Emanual Steward. I find him great in every way. Seems like he was an especially good man.

I met him in person and yes he was a great man!

[AntonioMartin]

Several but off the top of my head:

Sixto Escobar...Puerto Rico's first world champion
Esteban De Jesus...the murder, jail time, converting to Christianism and AIDS all make for a great story
Salvador Sanchez...I don't even need to explain
Edwin Valero...again the murder, the violence in his case and the brain injury, after which he was allowed to return to boxing, would make for a great read.
Carlos Monzon..again, the violence and murder combined with his success on the ring and the fanatical Argentine and other Latin fans would make for a sensational read.
Angel Robinson Garcia...a very interesting life and a true international boxing star if not a world champion or legend, it would be interesting to read about his life.
Diego Corrales
John Tate...world Heavyweight champion to living and dying in a car...
Benny Paret
Duk Koo Kim

A few others Im sure..

[bwu]

Stanley Ketchel.

[DavidKehler]

My choices are Teddy Brenner, Ray Arcel and Eddie Futch but I can't choose only 1.

Teddy Brenner's "Only the Ring Was Square" was dramatically reduced at the behest of attorneys representing the publisher.

[DavidKehler]

Frankie Carbo

[Tuan_Jim]

My choices are Teddy Brenner, Ray Arcel and Eddie Futch but I can't choose only 1.

You're in luck. Teddy Brenner's book 'Only the Ring Was Square' is a boxing classic!

[goose 5]

I've read it but it's a little superficial for me. Based on the criteria of this tread, Brenner could write a whole lot more.

[Tuan_Jim]

Frankie Carbo

Blinky Palermo would be another one.

[f read]

Emanual Steward. I find him great in every way. Seems like he was an especially good man.

I met him in person and yes he was a great man!

You know Antonio i never met the man. However i got a mixed bag on him from several. My doctor knew him personally said he was great. I knew two others who did not have anything good to say about him. The first guy told me Emmanuel owed him money and he was d***ked over by him. He did not give any details or information. The second guy made him tapes of a fighter one of his proteges was facing he took many hours of his own time and Fed Exed him overnight so he would have it within days. He promised my friend several autographed pictures well all he ended up receiving was a pair of sweaty old hand wraps. Now this is not my own experience with the man but 2 friends who never met or knew each other told unfavorable accounts of him and both are trustworthy credible people who would not fabricate a situation or make up a tall tale.

[DavidKehler]

I've read it but it's a little superficial for me. Based on the criteria of this tread, Brenner could write a whole lot more.

He DID write a whole lot more. The publisher excised a lot of material out of fear of lawsuits. Barney Nagler helped on the Brenner autobiography. Does anyone know how to contact family members of either Brenner or Nagler?

I met Brenner once. Harold Lederman introduced me. In my conversation with him, Brenner was pretty forthcoming. At that time, he was working for Top Rank.

[AntonioMartin]

Emanual Steward. I find him great in every way. Seems like he was an especially good man.

I met him in person and yes he was a great man!

You know Antonio i never met the man. However i got a mixed bag on him from several. My doctor knew him personally said he was great. I knew two others who did not have anything good to say about him. The first guy told me Emmanuel owed him money and he was d***ked over by him. He did not give any details or information. The second guy made him tapes of a fighter one of his proteges was facing he took many hours of his own time and Fed Exed him overnight so he would have it within days. He promised my friend several autographed pictures well all he ended up receiving was a pair of sweaty old hand wraps. Now this is not my own experience with the man but 2 friends who never met or knew each other told unfavorable accounts of him and both are trustworthy credible people who would not fabricate a situation or make up a tall tale.

Well, with me it was the other way around: At the time I was part of a larger group of people who collected autographs and we had members everywhere...I mean everywhere! The airports, all major hotels, even on street corners..( ok not on street corners) we even took to calling ourselves the CIA of autograph collectors. If someone famous was somewhere, someone in our group would share the information down the chain and whoever was interested would go to the place and get items autographed. Many times it was just me and my family, others, like for example the day Axl Rose arrived in Phoenix, you had 10, 15 of our "agents" at the airport.

Anyways so Lennox Lewis hit Phoenix to train for the rematch with Oliver McCall. We found out and went to the hotel he was staying at. This being boxing, and also on a school day morning, no one else from the group showed up that day. I had a glove for Lennox but could not find anything to take for Emmanuel, so when I saw Emmanuel and tried to get him to sign a KO Boxing cards checklist, he saw my sorry excuse for an autograph item, took pity on me and took me and my dad (who was with me that day) to his room, where he took a couple of photos and autographed them on the spot!!!

Then we spoke boxing...man we spoke boxing! I could tell he liked his boxers as he was well aware of the fate of many of the boxers who had trained at Kronk, and told me all about Milton McCrory working at a car dealership and about some of the others.

He was very nice to me and my dad, I'll always remember that from him!

But..man was his room a mess!!!

[f read]

I met him in person and yes he was a great man!

You know Antonio i never met the man. However i got a mixed bag on him from several. My doctor knew him personally said he was great. I knew two others who did not have anything good to say about him. The first guy told me Emmanuel owed him money and he was d***ked over by him. He did not give any details or information. The second guy made him tapes of a fighter one of his proteges was facing he took many hours of his own time and Fed Exed him overnight so he would have it within days. He promised my friend several autographed pictures well all he ended up receiving was a pair of sweaty old hand wraps. Now this is not my own experience with the man but 2 friends who never met or knew each other told unfavorable accounts of him and both are trustworthy credible people who would not fabricate a situation or make up a tall tale.

Well, with me it was the other way around: At the time I was part of a larger group of people who collected autographs and we had members everywhere...I mean everywhere! The airports, all major hotels, even on street corners..( ok not on street corners) we even took to calling ourselves the CIA of autograph collectors. If someone famous was somewhere, someone in our group would share the information down the chain and whoever was interested would go to the place and get items autographed. Many times it was just me and my family, others, like for example the day Axl Rose arrived in Phoenix, you had 10, 15 of our "agents" at the airport.

Anyways so Lennox Lewis hit Phoenix to train for the rematch with Oliver McCall. We found out and went to the hotel he was staying at. This being boxing, and also on a school day morning, no one else from the group showed up that day. I had a glove for Lennox but could not find anything to take for Emmanuel, so when I saw Emmanuel and tried to get him to sign a KO Boxing cards checklist, he saw my sorry excuse for an autograph item, took pity on me and took me and my dad (who was with me that day) to his room, where he took a couple of photos and autographed them on the spot!!!

Then we spoke boxing...man we spoke boxing! I could tell he liked his boxers as he was well aware of the fate of many of the boxers who had trained at Kronk, and told me all about Milton McCrory working at a car dealership and about some of the others.

He was very nice to me and my dad, I'll always remember that from him!

But..man was his room a mess!!!

You know we have our own experiences with people good and or bad. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and find out for myself and the way our relationship is. The fact is we do not know them personally. I let people know that meeting a person one time does not mean you know them personally. I have known a few boxers i will not give names for purpose of anonymity. Yes i did not meet them i actually knew them personally. The two nicest sociable wrestlers i ever met were Dan Severn who i met twice and Ivan Koloff. Not to get to far off the topic but one guy who is dead who you would like to get an autobiography would be Johnny. Owen. He died from injuries sustained in the September 19 1980 WBC Bantamweight title fight against Lupe Pintor. He was a man who dedicated his life to boxing and died because of it. He was 24 years of age and was not even interested in women because it would interfere with his boxing career. He died doing what he loved to do. The man was a warrior and like Deuk Koo Kim had to much guts and courage for his own good.

[AntonioMartin]

You know Antonio i never met the man. However i got a mixed bag on him from several. My doctor knew him personally said he was great. I knew two others who did not have anything good to say about him. The first guy told me Emmanuel owed him money and he was d***ked over by him. He did not give any details or information. The second guy made him tapes of a fighter one of his proteges was facing he took many hours of his own time and Fed Exed him overnight so he would have it within days. He promised my friend several autographed pictures well all he ended up receiving was a pair of sweaty old hand wraps. Now this is not my own experience with the man but 2 friends who never met or knew each other told unfavorable accounts of him and both are trustworthy credible people who would not fabricate a situation or make up a tall tale.

Well, with me it was the other way around: At the time I was part of a larger group of people who collected autographs and we had members everywhere...I mean everywhere! The airports, all major hotels, even on street corners..( ok not on street corners) we even took to calling ourselves the CIA of autograph collectors. If someone famous was somewhere, someone in our group would share the information down the chain and whoever was interested would go to the place and get items autographed. Many times it was just me and my family, others, like for example the day Axl Rose arrived in Phoenix, you had 10, 15 of our "agents" at the airport.

Anyways so Lennox Lewis hit Phoenix to train for the rematch with Oliver McCall. We found out and went to the hotel he was staying at. This being boxing, and also on a school day morning, no one else from the group showed up that day. I had a glove for Lennox but could not find anything to take for Emmanuel, so when I saw Emmanuel and tried to get him to sign a KO Boxing cards checklist, he saw my sorry excuse for an autograph item, took pity on me and took me and my dad (who was with me that day) to his room, where he took a couple of photos and autographed them on the spot!!!

Then we spoke boxing...man we spoke boxing! I could tell he liked his boxers as he was well aware of the fate of many of the boxers who had trained at Kronk, and told me all about Milton McCrory working at a car dealership and about some of the others.

He was very nice to me and my dad, I'll always remember that from him!

But..man was his room a mess!!!

You know we have our own experiences with people good and or bad. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and find out for myself and the way our relationship is. The fact is we do not know them personally. I let people know that meeting a person one time does not mean you know them personally. I have known a few boxers i will not give names for purpose of anonymity. Yes i did not meet them i actually knew them personally. The two nicest sociable wrestlers i ever met were Dan Severn who i met twice and Ivan Koloff. Not to get to far off the topic but one guy who is dead who you would like to get an autobiography would be Johnny. Owen. He died from injuries sustained in the September 19 1980 WBC Bantamweight title fight against Lupe Pintor. He was a man who dedicated his life to boxing and died because of it. He was 24 years of age and was not even interested in women because it would interfere with his boxing career. He died doing what he loved to do. The man was a warrior and like Deuk Koo Kim had to much guts and courage for his own good.

Very true, man ..very true all you said!

[bobcatbox]

Sonny Liston.

[JC]

Jack Blackburn would be interesting.

[writehooks]

Oscar Bonavena, Jerry Quarry ... and George Dixon.

[chrisjs1985]

Manuel Ortiz
Terry McGovern
Sonny Liston
Salvador Sanchez

Off the top of my head.

[Caractacus]

I was going to say Socrates
because he is dead and has been dead a long time.

[Caractacus]

Sonny Liston.

Sonny Liston was scheduled to be interviewed for a chapter in the book IN THIS CORNER
but died just before the author could interview him
(also Dick Tiger was also scheduled)

[Caractacus]

My choices are Teddy Brenner, Ray Arcel and Eddie Futch but I can't choose only 1.

Teddy Brenner's "Only the Ring Was Square" was dramatically reduced at the behest of attorneys representing the publisher.

does the publisher still have a copy of the rough draft in their vaults ?