What are some surprising family ties between boxers?

[Ambling Alp II]

Fritzie Zivic had four brothers who were also boxers.

[Expug]

Frank Sinatras father was a pro who fought under the name Marty OBrien.

[Caractacus]

At one time, Micheal Nunn and San Francisco 49er Roger Craig were half-brothers. Then the story changed to them being cousins. After Nunn was arrested in drug charges, Craig said they were not related at all.

Funny how that works isn’t it?

Success has a hundred fathers
Failure is an orphan

Yeah, I remember when Tommy Morrison was really coming up the ranks after ROCKY V and just before he fought Mercer.
A lot of the publicity surrounding him was that he claimed to be the "grand-nephew" of John Wayne.
Patrick Wayne(John Wayne's actor son) had been asked about this and he said nobody in the family had ever heard of it,
but if he does win the HEAVYWEIGHT championship of the world "We'll claim him " he said.

[scorpio83]

LL Cool J did one of those ancestry shows and it turned out John Henry Lewis was his great uncle.

That was from the PBS show "Finding Your Roots" from a decade ago and just like you, LL Cool J (Sam Hanna from NCIS: LA)'s biological great uncle was former World Light Heavyweight Champion John Henry Lewis as Lewis' bro Christy Lewis who was LL's biological maternal grandfather who was also a boxer and gave his mother up for adoption. When the DNA revealed LL's biological maternal family to be John Henry Lewis' family, I paused the video and check JLH's birthplace that matched the former World Light Heavyweight Champion's birthplace which I never believed that was related to LL Cool J.

[JC]

LL Cool J did one of those ancestry shows and it turned out John Henry Lewis was his great uncle.

That was from the PBS show "Finding Your Roots" from a decade ago and just like you, LL Cool J (Sam Hanna from NCIS: LA)'s biological great uncle was former World Light Heavyweight Champion John Henry Lewis as Lewis' bro Christy Lewis who was LL's biological maternal grandfather who was also a boxer and gave his mother up for adoption. When the DNA revealed LL's biological maternal family to be John Henry Lewis' family, I paused the video and check JLH's birthplace that matched the former World Light Heavyweight Champion's birthplace which I never believed that was related to LL Cool J.

It’s cool given his biggest hit was Mamma Said Knock You Out

[Caractacus]

WBA HW Champion Ernie Terrell was the older brother of Jean Terrell ,who was famous for replacing Diana Ross in the Supremes in 1970.

[Caractacus]

HW Champion Ingermar Johansson of Sweden was a cousin of Tor Johnson (of Stockholm)

[Ambling Alp II]

James J. Corbett had a brother who was a baseball pitcher who once won over 20 games in a season.

[Caractacus]

Cus D'Amato claimed to have been related (somehow) to Napoleon Bonaparte.
(on his mother's side).

[Ambling Alp II]

I guess anything is possible. D'Amato was a nut job so who knows.

[Caractacus]

yeah, I read that in Mike Tysons book IRON MIKE.
To be clear, the book just mentioned that Cus D'Amato had claimed to have been related to "Napoleon".
(It could have been Napolean "Dyno-mite" for all we know.)

[Ambling Alp II]

Jimmy Connors' grandfather was a boxer during Joe Louis' time.

[Controversial]

Tommy "The Duke" Morrison was the "grand-nephew " of John Wayne aka "The Duke".

He wasn’t, well not biologically anyway, that was just marketing to get Tommy publicity. Tommy's mother was adopted into the Morrison family, it was her adoptive parents who were distant relatives with John Wayne but obviously as she was adopted there's no blood link with him.

[Caractacus]

Pro Basketball player and Hall of Famer-Darryl Dawkins aka Chocolate Thunder"
maternal uncle was Candy McDaniels who had fought Joe Louis in a 5 round exhibition
in Orlando Florida February 1950
https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/207410.

[goose 5]

Lou Ambers and Marty Servo-cousins.

[Ambling Alp II]

Good one. Never heard that one before.

[prewarboxing]

Jack Matthews of Hanley was a top class feather and lightweight boxer in the UK before the First World War.

His son was the all time great footballer, Sir Stanley Matthews.

His grandson, and Sir Stanley’s son, was the 1962 Junior champion at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis championships and, as a professional, took part in all four of the Grand Slam events.

Miles Templeton

[Caractacus]

Jim Kelly aka "Black Belt Jones' (from Paris Kentucky)
was Muhammad Ali's (from Louisville Kentucky) cousin.

[Ambling Alp II]

Looks like a classic!

[Ambling Alp II]

Jack Matthews of Hanley was a top class feather and lightweight boxer in the UK before the First World War.

His son was the all time great footballer, Sir Stanley Matthews.

His grandson, and Sir Stanley’s son, was the 1962 Junior champion at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis championships and, as a professional, took part in all four of the Grand Slam events.

Miles Templeton

That is some interesting stuff.

[giacomino]

I still think the oddest family tie in boxing is that former featherweight beltholder Gary Allen Russell Jr is the older brother of two boxers named Gary Antonio Russell and Gary Antuanne Russell. He has two other brothers named Gary Russell too, after their dad, who is/was their trainer. Some serious narcissism on the part of the dad

[Caractacus]

Oh yeah ?
Then what just about everyone in Big George Foreman's family having been named "George" too?

[Caractacus]

Not a surprise here, but actor Peter Sellers(1925-1980) had long claimed to have been the great-great grandson of
the famous Bare Knuckled British HW Champion Daniel Mendoza (1764-1834)

[giacomino]

Oh yeah ?
Then what just about everyone in Big George Foreman's family having been named "George" too?

If that’s true, it’s the same, although he didn’t have three sons who became somewhat prominent fighters

[scartissue]

Lightweight champ Rodolfo Gonzalez and bantamweight champ Jose Becerra were cousins.