Fighters who were hindered by their trainers ?

[JMac]

As for sparring, I do remember watching Qawi sparring Spinks and Jerry Martin who could fight also. There was always good sparring going on but that was many years ago and I forgot who many were.

[JC]

My trainer was a guy named Sam Hickman. Great guy, fun to talk to. As a trainer he was ok. I was a 19 yr old college kid with no experience. He taught me the basics but I quickly realized I was in a gym full of great boxers, many who had really good trainers. After 5:00 pm the gym was packed with pros who had to work real jobs to make money. I used to go in when I was done classes which was earlier. That was the best time because not as many people and the ones there were the better pros and some amateurs like me.
I watched Jimmy Young everyday training for the Foreman fight. He had a big 290lb sparring partner and Young was practicing rope-a-dope like Ali did. I told everybody I knew to bet on him. Most said I was crazy but I knew. Funny thing is I didn’t bet because I didn’t have any money in those days but the few friends that did thanked me. lol
I used to see the Spinks brothers every day. I would talk to Michael about the Olympics because that was my unrealistic dream. He was cool but Leon was like talking to a wall. You couldn’t understand a word he said. Bennie Briscoe was there every day. He was friendly to me. Marvis and I used to talk a lot. He went to high school with my cousin. I went to the golden gloves to watch him fight at the Blue Horizon. It was a great place for boxing. I used to be amazed watching a young Meldrick Taylor. He was like 13 but you could tell he was going to be a star. A story for another time but I ended up as a substitute teacher in Philly schools and I went to Meldrick’s high school many times. At that time, I was no longer boxing but had got into R/J’ing amateur boxing and would see him at local shows. During the summers, I would work as a tour leader taking foreigners around the US on camping trips. I happened to be in Vegas at the same time as the Olympic box-offs when Meldrick made the team. He had no family there and we hooked up after the banquet they had and went out for food and sat talking until late in the night. He was just 18, made the Olympic team and had nobody from home there with him.
My trainer was looking for the next pro and I wasn’t going to be it so he didn’t spend a lot of time with me. I learned more by watching the great boxers and listening to the other trainers if I could get close enough without them telling me to piss off.
There’s other stories, one I’ve mentioned before like when my trainer put me in with Dwight Qawi for sparring before my 1st amateur fight. Watching Joe Frazier hit the heavy bag was scary how hard he hit. I used to think how can another human take that punch.
As for pros like Bobbick and Tex Cobb, I saw them but not regularly. They may have trained earlier in the day. If I knew then what I know now about trainers like Benton and Futch, I would have paid even more attention.
Fun experience in my life.

Thank you for the post. I absolutely loved reading that

Sounds like a lot of great memories. You can't buy that sort of stuff.

[Expug]

My trainer was a guy named Sam Hickman. Great guy, fun to talk to. As a trainer he was ok. I was a 19 yr old college kid with no experience. He taught me the basics but I quickly realized I was in a gym full of great boxers, many who had really good trainers. After 5:00 pm the gym was packed with pros who had to work real jobs to make money. I used to go in when I was done classes which was earlier. That was the best time because not as many people and the ones there were the better pros and some amateurs like me.
I watched Jimmy Young everyday training for the Foreman fight. He had a big 290lb sparring partner and Young was practicing rope-a-dope like Ali did. I told everybody I knew to bet on him. Most said I was crazy but I knew. Funny thing is I didn’t bet because I didn’t have any money in those days but the few friends that did thanked me. lol
I used to see the Spinks brothers every day. I would talk to Michael about the Olympics because that was my unrealistic dream. He was cool but Leon was like talking to a wall. You couldn’t understand a word he said. Bennie Briscoe was there every day. He was friendly to me. Marvis and I used to talk a lot. He went to high school with my cousin. I went to the golden gloves to watch him fight at the Blue Horizon. It was a great place for boxing. I used to be amazed watching a young Meldrick Taylor. He was like 13 but you could tell he was going to be a star. A story for another time but I ended up as a substitute teacher in Philly schools and I went to Meldrick’s high school many times. At that time, I was no longer boxing but had got into R/J’ing amateur boxing and would see him at local shows. During the summers, I would work as a tour leader taking foreigners around the US on camping trips. I happened to be in Vegas at the same time as the Olympic box-offs when Meldrick made the team. He had no family there and we hooked up after the banquet they had and went out for food and sat talking until late in the night. He was just 18, made the Olympic team and had nobody from home there with him.
My trainer was looking for the next pro and I wasn’t going to be it so he didn’t spend a lot of time with me. I learned more by watching the great boxers and listening to the other trainers if I could get close enough without them telling me to piss off.
There’s other stories, one I’ve mentioned before like when my trainer put me in with Dwight Qawi for sparring before my 1st amateur fight. Watching Joe Frazier hit the heavy bag was scary how hard he hit. I used to think how can another human take that punch.
As for pros like Bobbick and Tex Cobb, I saw them but not regularly. They may have trained earlier in the day. If I knew then what I know now about trainers like Benton and Futch, I would have paid even more attention.
Fun experience in my life.

Thank you for the post. I absolutely loved reading that

Sounds like a lot of great memories. You can't buy that sort of stuff.

Great stuff. I think no matter how far you climb in the boxing world, some of the best memories are in the gym.
Most of the time you don’t realize it until long after you’ve hung the gloves up.

[gilgamesh]

I've even heard bands say that some of the most fun they ever have playing is when it's just band practice, and the pressure is off and you can just kinda try whatever.

[Caractacus]

here's one,
(far right side of newspaper page-
an interview with Richie Giachetti, when asked about Gerry Cooney
Holmes Isn't Worried
-1980-
https://google.com/books?id=6SxVAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA6&dq

[Nile4000]

Ace Miller, John Tate for a couple of fights, and Bernard Taylor.

[Riddick Bowie]

[quote=JMac post_id=6217333 time=<a href="tel:1786208671">1786208671</a> user_id=13001]
[quote=JC post_id=6215575 time=<a href="tel:1785356825">1785356825</a> user_id=2596]
From what I’ve read, Marvis Frazier might have been better off with someone other than Joe as head trainer. His Dad tried to make him Smokin’ Joe MK2 instead of focusing on the boxing skills that had make him effective as an amateur.

I was training in Frazier’s gym when Marvis started as an amateur. George Benton was his trainer and he had Marvis boxing good not I like Joe because he had a different build than Joe. At that time Frazier’s gym was the Mecca of boxing gyms. Boxers were coming from all over the country to train there. To name a few, Spinks brothers, Duane Bobbick, Tex Cobb, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Jerry Martin and others. Joe got greedy and up the fees for all boxers and trainers. As a result, several trainers like Benton left Frazier’s and opened their own gyms. That’s when Joe took over training Marvis and changed his style to one that did not suit him.

That must have been a great experience. I imagine you must have seen a lot of top-notch sparring there. Who was your trainer? Did you get to see Benton's training much?
[/quote]
My trainer was a guy named Sam Hickman. Great guy, fun to talk to. As a trainer he was ok. I was a 19 yr old college kid with no experience. He taught me the basics but I quickly realized I was in a gym full of great boxers, many who had really good trainers. After 5:00 pm the gym was packed with pros who had to work real jobs to make money. I used to go in when I was done classes which was earlier. That was the best time because not as many people and the ones there were the better pros and some amateurs like me.
I watched Jimmy Young everyday training for the Foreman fight. He had a big 290lb sparring partner and Young was practicing rope-a-dope like Ali did. I told everybody I knew to bet on him. Most said I was crazy but I knew. Funny thing is I didn’t bet because I didn’t have any money in those days but the few friends that did thanked me. lol
I used to see the Spinks brothers every day. I would talk to Michael about the Olympics because that was my unrealistic dream. He was cool but Leon was like talking to a wall. You couldn’t understand a word he said. Bennie Briscoe was there every day. He was friendly to me. Marvis and I used to talk a lot. He went to high school with my cousin. I went to the golden gloves to watch him fight at the Blue Horizon. It was a great place for boxing. I used to be amazed watching a young Meldrick Taylor. He was like 13 but you could tell he was going to be a star. A story for another time but I ended up as a substitute teacher in Philly schools and I went to Meldrick’s high school many times. At that time, I was no longer boxing but had got into R/J’ing amateur boxing and would see him at local shows. During the summers, I would work as a tour leader taking foreigners around the US on camping trips. I happened to be in Vegas at the same time as the Olympic box-offs when Meldrick made the team. He had no family there and we hooked up after the banquet they had and went out for food and sat talking until late in the night. He was just 18, made the Olympic team and had nobody from home there with him.
My trainer was looking for the next pro and I wasn’t going to be it so he didn’t spend a lot of time with me. I learned more by watching the great boxers and listening to the other trainers if I could get close enough without them telling me to piss off.
There’s other stories, one I’ve mentioned before like when my trainer put me in with Dwight Qawi for sparring before my 1st amateur fight. Watching Joe Frazier hit the heavy bag was scary how hard he hit. I used to think how can another human take that punch.
As for pros like Bobbick and Tex Cobb, I saw them but not regularly. They may have trained earlier in the day. If I knew then what I know now about trainers like Benton and Futch, I would have paid even more attention.
Fun experience in my life.
[/quote]

Wonderful post. Thank you for writing it.

[goose 5]

Do you have any stories or memories of Jerome Artist ?

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Lamon Brewster was blind for his klitschko rematch and buddy mcgirt told brewster to outbox him.

[JMac]

Do you have any stories or memories of Jerome Artist ?

No I don’t. If he trained at Frazier’s, it was probably a different time from when I was there.

[JMac]

One more story from my time training at Joe Frazier’s gym….two things happened that were cool. I have my first fight in the mid-Atlantic AAU novice tournament. I was like the 15th fight that night. I was able to figure out who I was fighting. We were in the same dressing room. He had all this USMC gear. I’m thinking crap, I’m fighting a Marine. This is in ‘77 and my hair was kind of long. Headgear was optional those days. I wore the headgear to keep the hair out of my eyes. I’m the first guy to wear headgear that night. A bunch of my friends came to see me fight. The crowd was probably half black and half white. The whites cheered for the white boxers and blacks cheered for the black boxers. That’s just the way it was then. So I come out with the headgear and there was a lot of laughter about that. My friends said when the black guys sitting near them realized they knew me, they were like let’s bet on this fight. My friends said they were embarrassed and didn’t want to bet. Well I was nervous but I was fit and strong back then. The bell rang, we came out both throwing punches, got into a clinch and after the ref broke us up I threw a 1-2 and my opponent disappeared. I looked at my trainer and he just pointed me to the neutral corner. KO 32 seconds. Back in those days, the gloves were horsehair and the ring only had a felt mat over the wood floor. I hit the guy hard and his head hit the floor hard. They raised my hand and I went and got changed and when I came back into the arena, he was just getting out of the ring. You couldn’t give me a drug to equal the high I was feeling.
The next day at the gym, one of the other boxers was at the fights. He was telling everybody how the whiteboy KO’d his opponent. Everybody came up and congratulated me, even the big name pros. It was a pretty good feeling.
The guy that was there was nick named 9th St Slim. When he used to shadow box, hit the bag, he was so slick. I used to say to myself that I wouldn’t want to spar him.
Well my trainer said “get ready” which meant I was sparing. I asked who am I going with? He said, 9th st. I’m thinking damn. Well that day I learned about how much psychology plays in boxing. I went to throw a right hand and he flinched. I faked another right hand and he flinched again. I’m thinking, wow 9th st is afraid of me after seeing my KO the night before. Crazy sport.

[Caractacus]

was Mike Koranicki training at Joe Frazier's gym too when you were there ?

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/2204

[JMac]

was Mike Koranicki training at Joe Frazier's gym too when you were there ?

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/2204

I recognize the name but I don’t think we crossed paths. I only trained there for like 8 months. When I boxed in the AAU tournament, there was a magazine that came with the program. It was called amateur boxing. I still have it. There was an article about college boxing. The NCAA dropped boxing after the 1960 championships and a boxer died. In the 70’s a few schools in California and Nevada started it up again and they joined up with some eastern universities mostly in Philly and other close by schools. In 1976 the national collegiate boxing association (NCBA) started. I didn’t know about it but when I read the article I thought damn that sounds like something I want to do instead of getting whooped up by pros. So I reached out to the President of the NCBA and asked if I could start a team at my community college. He said no but encouraged me to transfer to a 4 year school and start a team. That’s what I did. I transferred to a college upstate and got a team going and boxed for them.

[Flump]

Pepe Correa was totally wrong for Lennox Lewis, evidenced by how much better he was under Steward's teaching. That and Correa's advice to Lewis just before Oliver McCall knocked him out "Forget all I told you and knock this mfer out"

I mean, who the hell says that?!

[Flump]

- Mike Tyson after crooked Don King became his manager who appointed the trainer his first fight who was such an idiot that absent the ubiquitous Endswell, they had to use either rubber gloves or condoms filled with ice water.

Moreover, King had him on experimental psych sedatives that had him looking like a punch dummy zombie eating Buster Douglas' best punches. Nonetheless, later in the fight Mike came around to drop Buster for a 14 count that's a certified KO by the rules, but fornicate Boxing Rules. So Buster gets up and floors him again and gets the KO win.

The background was press was reporting that Tyson was looking shyte in sparring, floored by McCall resulting in most every Bookie in the world refusing to take bets because the fight was so fixed.

It never got any better for Tyson who managed to hang on a long time on sheer talent and physiology.

So, just a few things I wanted to check with you BRR...can you provide any credible sources that Don King had Mike Tyson on "experimental psych sedatives"? Tyson did drop Buster for a long count, granted. And the Mexican referee also gave Tyson the same long count. Douglas got up in time, Tyson didn't. Had the sedatives kicked back in by then?

Floored by Page in sparring, but never mind. "most every Bookie in the world refusing to take bets because the fight was so fixed." Once again BRR, can you provide a source for this? I mean, it's a long time ago, but my clear memory if this was that every bookie here would take a bet on any boxing match, and they certainly were for that one. Where were they not taking bets, because the fight was "so fixed"?

[keithmoonhangover]

King had him on experimental psych sedatives

Do you have any evidence of that?

[keithmoonhangover]

- Mike Tyson after crooked Don King became his manager who appointed the trainer his first fight who was such an idiot that absent the ubiquitous Endswell, they had to use either rubber gloves or condoms filled with ice water.

Moreover, King had him on experimental psych sedatives that had him looking like a punch dummy zombie eating Buster Douglas' best punches. Nonetheless, later in the fight Mike came around to drop Buster for a 14 count that's a certified KO by the rules, but fornicate Boxing Rules. So Buster gets up and floors him again and gets the KO win.

The background was press was reporting that Tyson was looking shyte in sparring, floored by McCall resulting in most every Bookie in the world refusing to take bets because the fight was so fixed.

It never got any better for Tyson who managed to hang on a long time on sheer talent and physiology.

So, just a few things I wanted to check with you BRR...can you provide any credible sources that Don King had Mike Tyson on "experimental psych sedatives"? Tyson did drop Buster for a long count, granted. And the Mexican referee also gave Tyson the same long count. Douglas got up in time, Tyson didn't. Had the sedatives kicked back in by then?

Floored by Page in sparring, but never mind. "most every Bookie in the world refusing to take bets because the fight was so fixed." Once again BRR, can you provide a source for this? I mean, it's a long time ago, but my clear memory if this was that every bookie here would take a bet on any boxing match, and they certainly were for that one. Where were they not taking bets, because the fight was "so fixed"?

Hey Mr Flump. The bookies were definitely taking bets in England.

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- Mike Tyson after crooked Don King became his manager who appointed the trainer his first fight who was such an idiot that absent the ubiquitous Endswell, they had to use either rubber gloves or condoms filled with ice water.

Moreover, King had him on experimental psych sedatives that had him looking like a punch dummy zombie eating Buster Douglas' best punches. Nonetheless, later in the fight Mike came around to drop Buster for a 14 count that's a certified KO by the rules, but fornicate Boxing Rules. So Buster gets up and floors him again and gets the KO win.

The background was press was reporting that Tyson was looking shyte in sparring, floored by McCall resulting in most every Bookie in the world refusing to take bets because the fight was so fixed.

It never got any better for Tyson who managed to hang on a long time on sheer talent and physiology.

So, just a few things I wanted to check with you BRR...can you provide any credible sources that Don King had Mike Tyson on "experimental psych sedatives"? Tyson did drop Buster for a long count, granted. And the Mexican referee also gave Tyson the same long count. Douglas got up in time, Tyson didn't. Had the sedatives kicked back in by then?

Floored by Page in sparring, but never mind. "most every Bookie in the world refusing to take bets because the fight was so fixed." Once again BRR, can you provide a source for this? I mean, it's a long time ago, but my clear memory if this was that every bookie here would take a bet on any boxing match, and they certainly were for that one. Where were they not taking bets, because the fight was "so fixed"?

- We hashed all this out on the old AOL forums. Our Moderator was on them, and this was indeed early experimental pyschotropic sedatives like I used to hand out when working the psych ward where I was a mental health worker on the night shift to put myself through College.

Bring up the Oprah interview with a zombied Mike and his witchy wife Robin Givens. King also had a team of minders to keep Mike from slipping out for a good time on the town to generate more lawsuits..

Of course there were miscellaneous wagers for the Buster fight, but most of the big gaming houses passed on this fight because it was literally a fight to nowhere. Pretty sure even now Mike is still on something besides weed.

Saying Buster deserved the win because he made the 14 count is why boxing is dying. Refs, judges, Commishes, they all a bunch of crooks. Biggest fight in boxing history grossed $$$800 Million that generated massive lawsuits because Boxing couldn't deliver the Manny vs Floydy fight to all they paying viewers.

Moreover, after the Floydy was announced the winner, they had to altar their scorecards that showed both winning so the bets could be properly paid out, just pitiable.

[gilgamesh]

I saw a fight recently where a guy was being outboxed thoroughly, and his corner said "You gotta stop getting hit with them right hands?" And he said "Well what should I do?" Looking for some advice.

The cornerman just said "FIGHT BETTER"

I couldn't believe that sh*t. Certainly hope that fighter sacked the guy immediately after the fight.

Pretty sure this happened to Trevor Berbick actually. I forget who he was fighting though

[Caractacus]

-April 1980-

[Flump]

I saw a fight recently where a guy was being outboxed thoroughly, and his corner said "You gotta stop getting hit with them right hands?" And he said "Well what should I do?" Looking for some advice.

The cornerman just said "FIGHT BETTER"

I couldn't believe that sh*t. Certainly hope that fighter sacked the guy immediately after the fight.

Pretty sure this happened to Trevor Berbick actually. I forget who he was fighting though

I remember during the Berbick v Tyson fight, Angelo Dundee wasted valuable time looking for a sponge. Not that it would have made much difference.

[Flump]

- Mike Tyson after crooked Don King became his manager who appointed the trainer his first fight who was such an idiot that absent the ubiquitous Endswell, they had to use either rubber gloves or condoms filled with ice water.

Moreover, King had him on experimental psych sedatives that had him looking like a punch dummy zombie eating Buster Douglas' best punches. Nonetheless, later in the fight Mike came around to drop Buster for a 14 count that's a certified KO by the rules, but fornicate Boxing Rules. So Buster gets up and floors him again and gets the KO win.

The background was press was reporting that Tyson was looking shyte in sparring, floored by McCall resulting in most every Bookie in the world refusing to take bets because the fight was so fixed.

It never got any better for Tyson who managed to hang on a long time on sheer talent and physiology.

So, just a few things I wanted to check with you BRR...can you provide any credible sources that Don King had Mike Tyson on "experimental psych sedatives"? Tyson did drop Buster for a long count, granted. And the Mexican referee also gave Tyson the same long count. Douglas got up in time, Tyson didn't. Had the sedatives kicked back in by then?

Floored by Page in sparring, but never mind. "most every Bookie in the world refusing to take bets because the fight was so fixed." Once again BRR, can you provide a source for this? I mean, it's a long time ago, but my clear memory if this was that every bookie here would take a bet on any boxing match, and they certainly were for that one. Where were they not taking bets, because the fight was "so fixed"?

- We hashed all this out on the old AOL forums. Our Moderator was on them, and this was indeed early experimental pyschotropic sedatives like I used to hand out when working the psych ward where I was a mental health worker on the night shift to put myself through College.

Bring up the Oprah interview with a zombied Mike and his witchy wife Robin Givens. King also had a team of minders to keep Mike from slipping out for a good time on the town to generate more lawsuits..

Of course there were miscellaneous wagers for the Buster fight, but most of the big gaming houses passed on this fight because it was literally a fight to nowhere. Pretty sure even now Mike is still on something besides weed.

Saying Buster deserved the win because he made the 14 count is why boxing is dying. Refs, judges, Commishes, they all a bunch of crooks. Biggest fight in boxing history grossed $$$800 Million that generated massive lawsuits because Boxing couldn't deliver the Manny vs Floydy fight to all they paying viewers.

Moreover, after the Floydy was announced the winner, they had to altar their scorecards that showed both winning so the bets could be properly paid out, just pitiable.

It's good that you have a knowledge of sedatives and all that BRR, but you still haven't evidenced that whatever he was on during a chat show 3 years earlier affected Tyson during the Douglas fight. Was he on them when he won all those fights too?

Again, who are all these bookies? It was widely available in the UK, Douglas was a very long shot. Who profited from Tyson losing? The WBC? Don King? The Abominable Snowman?

No he deserved the win because he made the referee's count, the only count any boxer is ever advised to pay attention to.

What the hell has 'Floydy' got to do with anything? Are you sure you didn't take some of those sedatives home instead of handing them out?

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

So, just a few things I wanted to check with you BRR...can you provide any credible sources that Don King had Mike Tyson on "experimental psych sedatives"? Tyson did drop Buster for a long count, granted. And the Mexican referee also gave Tyson the same long count. Douglas got up in time, Tyson didn't. Had the sedatives kicked back in by then?

Floored by Page in sparring, but never mind. "most every Bookie in the world refusing to take bets because the fight was so fixed." Once again BRR, can you provide a source for this? I mean, it's a long time ago, but my clear memory if this was that every bookie here would take a bet on any boxing match, and they certainly were for that one. Where were they not taking bets, because the fight was "so fixed"?

- We hashed all this out on the old AOL forums. Our Moderator was on them, and this was indeed early experimental pyschotropic sedatives like I used to hand out when working the psych ward where I was a mental health worker on the night shift to put myself through College.

Bring up the Oprah interview with a zombied Mike and his witchy wife Robin Givens. King also had a team of minders to keep Mike from slipping out for a good time on the town to generate more lawsuits..

Of course there were miscellaneous wagers for the Buster fight, but most of the big gaming houses passed on this fight because it was literally a fight to nowhere. Pretty sure even now Mike is still on something besides weed.

Saying Buster deserved the win because he made the 14 count is why boxing is dying. Refs, judges, Commishes, they all a bunch of crooks. Biggest fight in boxing history grossed $$$800 Million that generated massive lawsuits because Boxing couldn't deliver the Manny vs Floydy fight to all they paying viewers.

Moreover, after the Floydy was announced the winner, they had to altar their scorecards that showed both winning so the bets could be properly paid out, just pitiable.

It's good that you have a knowledge of sedatives and all that BRR, but you still haven't evidenced that whatever he was on during a chat show 3 years earlier affected Tyson during the Douglas fight. Was he on them when he won all those fights too?

Again, who are all these bookies? It was widely available in the UK, Douglas was a very long shot. Who profited from Tyson losing? The WBC? Don King? The Abominable Snowman?

No he deserved the win because he made the referee's count, the only count any boxer is ever advised to pay attention to.

What the hell has 'Floydy' got to do with anything? Are you sure you didn't take some of those sedatives home instead of handing them out?

- Prozac was first introduced to the public then, and a little later Xanax. Don't know what he was on for his first Ophra interview with him and Givens, but clearly Zombied.

The Floydy/Manny reference was specifically couched as the ultimate illicit Boxing event.

Mike was coming off his failed Foreman fight after the US closed off China because of the Tiananmen Square Massacre where a 50-50 split of S42Mil purse put up by the Chinese Government was agreed upon. This was Mike's last bout with Bill Cayton as the last member of his HOF team of mgrs.

So, King took him to Tokyo where he had complete control over him to fight the mightily derided Buster Douglas for considerably less $$$ who was much better than his critics, a deflation bout. Mike comes out looking like a zombie walking into punches left and right with his new Trainers so inept they had to use a rubber glove filled with ice water for an Endswell substitution until he finally puts down Buster for a 14 sec count that the illicit Mexican Ref transmongrified into a 9 count, ie fight over with Mike the loser.

The US news coming out of Tokyo was exceedingly limited to him looking bad in sparring, getting KDed by McCall in sparring with the gaming houses mostly refusing to handle the fight.

Net result was King got him into the lockers of Ms Black American Contestants where he took one to his room that resulted in a rape trial with King using his business lawyer to represent him in a Felony Criminal trial. Guilty as charged, off to the clink, and when released, he returns to find out King has looted his $50 Mil Retirement Fund, so he has to fight and was never the same fighter.

[Caractacus]

there was talk that Gerry Cooney was being manuvered through the pros just to get a big 'payday" by his handlers.
They didn't appear to be really interested in Cooney developing as a fighter lets put it that way.
I wonder if Gerry Cooney had ever been approached to be trained by Ray Arcel and Freddie Brown
or maybe Gil Clancey when he had decided to turn pro in late 1976?

[Nile4000]

That's a good question.