BoxRec

Caractacus wrote: ↑24 Aug 2021, 13:06 Andre the Giant looks like he may be using some form of it against Chuck Wepner in 1976.
He was 7 ft tall but had a stocky build.I wonder who trained him for this fight ?

First off, it was a work. I have interviewed Chuck Wepner in the past and he admitted that despite fans believing it to be real it was all predetermined.

Secondly, this has been a subject talked about before on the forum over the years as to whether Andre Rousimoff either had training to be a boxer and/or how well he could have performed as a boxer.

The earliest interviews with him occasionally mentions that he boxed for a year, but there is no further information. Did he receive this training in France? Or was it some venture later down the road?

He certainly received enough combat sports training to have appeared as a "boss" in a karate movie in the late 1960s, and the gym where he received training to become a professional wrestler was also a place where many boxers trained as well.

So it's possible that he did receive some boxing training while still in France--- however, what I discovered was that when Andre went to Japan for the first time he came across Verne Gagne and the wrestling legend tried to convince him to become a boxer.

Why? Verne Gagne was not only a wrestling promoter (AWA) he also promoted boxing matches and had stake in the Bobick brothers and later Scott LeDoux. Verne had the funds, the resources, and the license to turn a colossus into a formidable heavyweight.

Andre turned this proposition down, but I tend to believe that when he finally came to North America working across Canada and later the United States territories that he did possibly test the waters behind closed doors receiving further training under the watchful eye of Verne Gagne to see whether boxing was possible.

As we all know he never did pursue a career in boxing, ultimately because the amount of money he was making as a professional wrestler was insane and he already was one of the most recognizable athletes in the world. It would make no financial sense to go into boxing.

Mind you this was the era in which many NFL and AFL players left football for professional wrestling because the money was better--- sure boxing then as now is the richest sport in the world, but when you do the figuring Andre The Giant was making $400,000 per year in the early 1970s which is like $2 million today.

Also, unlike boxing the careers of professional wrestlers are generally longer than boxers. Andre The Giant basically wrestled through three decades--- so if he ever was to do boxing it would have to be a "one-off" affair for a lot of money.

Then again the fake match with Wepner guaranteed him no embarrassment and a hefty payday so why do the real thing with boxers when you can stage a production?

That being said prior to his acromegalic condition progressing too far, and him living a lavish lifestyle where he drank and ate excessively, he had the athleticism to have been problematic especially in that time frame where many heavyweights were 190, 195, 200, 210, 215, 220 pounds.

yeah, I know it's been discussed here before.
But what was Andre the Giants side of the story ?
I think a lot of it was just "ad-libed" myself.
I've never seen the giant sweat so profusley ever before,
so it had to have been real to some extent.
The giant wanted the fight to end so he ended it,
what if Chuck Wepner had not grabbed to the top rope
(which he did just barely)?
he would have been seriously hurt being flung out the ring.
and what about the fight outside the ring ?
that looked real to to me.

Caractacus wrote: ↑24 Aug 2021, 15:25

I'm confused but what does this have to do with Gene Fullmer?

he fought out of a shell/crab style
( except it wasn't reversed)

I read where Archie Moore was planning to fight Gene Fullmer for a title sometime in 1962.
but it never happened of course.
just like Archie Moore vrs Sugar Ray Robinson a few years earlier.
Archie Moore was pretty much a natural Heavyweight at that point.

Caractacus wrote: ↑02 Sep 2021, 16:04 I read where Archie Moore was planning to fight Gene Fullmer for a title sometime in 1962.
but it never happened of course.
just like Archie Moore vrs Sugar Ray Robinson a few years earlier.
Archie Moore was pretty much a natural Heavyweight at that point.

Nonsense. Moore may have floated that idea as a means of avoiding Harold Johnson but it would never have been seriously considered by anyone. He had been stripped by the NBA two years earlier and only a couple of states still recognized him as champ by 1962. In January of 1962 he was ordered by the New York State Commission to face Johnson or be stripped of all recognition as champ and when he once again refused he was stripped in February. Fullmer wouldnt have fought Moore. The style matchup was all wrong, he was WAY smaller, and he couldnt punch a like to hurt Moore. Nevermind the fact that Fullmer was focused on unifying the MW title which had been ordered to the winner of the upcoming Pender-Downes fight. Unfortunately after having already lost to Fullmer once Pender, despite talking tough, didnt want anything to do with Gene. Instead Fullmer faced Dick Tiger who was the NBA's #1 challenger. When Tiger beat Gene that October and Pender was intent on facing lesser competition all other bodies stopped recognizing him as champ and recognized Tiger prompting Pender to retire. Fullmer's nearly year long quest to unify and ultimate loss would have precluded any possibility of facing Moore and I doubt he would have even had the stars aligned.

Looking at Newspaper reports ,it looks as though the fight was considered in late 1960 and then again in early 1962.

A t the Balboa Park stadium too.
Fullmer would have had the odds stacked against him.
Moore's 'walking around weight was about 220 lbs back then.

Tale of Tape-
Archie Moore ht 5 ft II"-reach-75"
Gene Fullmer ht 5 ft 8"-reach 69 "

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑10 Aug 2021, 10:59 Turns out Gene Fullmer was not that good. He has long been considered a great fighter.

However there apparently is a new school of thought.
Apparently his toughness is now being questioned. Seriously.

Some comments recently:

"He was a spoiler."
"Fullmer was a sorta protype for John Ruiz."
"His hugging HW successor Ruiz had a similar way to the top, when he won the declined Holyfield."

What should we make of these new observations?

didn't think it was my imagination that someone asked this here.