Tony Gardner, the KO King

[tnjohn]

I refereed several of Tony's fights in the Memphis area. Have known him for years. He is living in the Memphis area.

[Dart340]

Thanks to tnjohn, I was able to speak with the "KO King" himself today by phone for almost an hour and a half. Mr. Gardner could not have been a more friendly, charismatic, knowledgeable storyteller and historian. I will be travelling to Tennessee to meet with him in person and do an extensive interview about his years as a close friend of the O'Grady family, career as a world rated fighter, matchmaker for Pete Ashlock in Orlando and trainer for the Abercrombie stable in Houston and will post a link for anyone who is interested. Looking forward to it.

[Shaunabledsoe]

Tony is one of my dearest friends. Just spoke to him a minute ago and he informed me of your interest in telling his story. What a great guy.

[Dart340]

Spent yesterday with Tony and conducted Part One of our conversation. He also entrusted me with the only existing copy of the title fight with Elisha Obed from the Bahamas that I will be converting over to DVD for he and his family members and also uploading to You Tube for interested parties. He said Pat O'Grady's wife taped it and he has the only copy to the best of his knowledge as he believes the fight wasn't even shown locally on TV. Also have his North American defense against Songbird Williams on the same tape where Tony won in 15 rounds and will be uploading that as well.