Famous Celebrities Who Tried Their Hand at Boxing

banjo
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Post by banjo »

british comedian lee evans was decent amateur
tboy100
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Post by tboy100 »

Wasnt singer/actor Chris Issak an amateur boxer at some point? Might have had a few probs with the headgear tho lol!
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Post by T.M.K »

Billy Joel (yes, the piano man)

Terrence Trent D'Arby..... honestly, "cross my heart" ;-)

TV presenter Bob Mills.

Joe Jackson - father of the Jackson 5 siblings...


"T.M.K"
chesh
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Post by chesh »

Frank Sinatra, soul singer Jackie Wilson and British comedian Lee Evans also boxed.
granberry
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Post by granberry »

chesh wrote:Frank Sinatra, soul singer Jackie Wilson and British comedian Lee Evans also boxed.
Frank Sinatra "boxed" by having two of his bodyguards hold you while he punched you.

A real "tough guy."
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Post by Jaclem »

..granberry..i know more about sinatra than you or anyone on this forum. your post is another of those attacks with no LEGITIMATE source. if you do have a source....and i mean legitimate send it in...and i will check it out.
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Post by granberry »

Jaclem wrote:..granberry..i know more about sinatra than you or anyone on this forum. your post is another of those attacks with no LEGITIMATE source. if you do have a source....and i mean legitimate send it in...and i will check it out.
Jaclem

You know as much about Sinatra as you know about Barbados Joe Walcott.
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Post by Collins2000 »

Jaclem wrote:..granberry..i know more about sinatra than you or anyone on this forum. your post is another of those attacks with no LEGITIMATE source. if you do have a source....and i mean legitimate send it in...and i will check it out.

Gosh, you mean Crankberry is just regurgitating crap again?

:TU:
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Post by granberry »

Buzz' butt-boy Collins shows up on cue

eager to demonstrate his compulsive FIXATION one poster.

Buzz' butt-boy Collins eagerly sifts through boxrec until he finds an opportunity to demonstrate his FIXATION.
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Post by Collins2000 »

granberry wrote:Buzz' butt-boy Collins shows up on cue

eager to demonstrate his compulsive FIXATION one poster.

Buzz' butt-boy Collins eagerly sifts through boxrec until he finds an opportunity to demonstrate his FIXATION.
If I can coax you into posting more of your fantasies like the 'Eddie Futch is a traitor' classic, I will consider it a job well done.

It's therapeutic for you to talk about your fantasy world and a good laugh for me to read about it.
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Post by Jaclem »

..sinatra's father boxed for a while under the name of marty o'brien because the irish were a bigger draw where he fought...

..siantra never really boxed..though he did spar inthe gym a lot..and was a backer of tami maurielo..

...cranberry..still waiting for the documenation...and if ther are any legitimate questions about sinatra ask me them here....i
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Post by granberry »

Jaclem wrote:..sinatra's father boxed for a while under the name of marty o'brien because the irish were a bigger draw where he fought...

..siantra never really boxed..though he did spar inthe gym a lot..and was a backer of tami maurielo..

...cranberry..still waiting for the documenation...and if ther are any legitimate questions about sinatra ask me them here....i
Jackal,

Hang around some mob people of the time.

They will give you all the 'documentation' you are going to get.
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Post by Seamus »

Sinatra once saved my life. 4 big guys were kicking the hell out of me in an alley, and Frank said "That's enough boys, he's had enough"

Shecky Greene
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Post by granberry »

Seamus wrote:Sinatra once saved my life. 4 big guys were kicking the hell out of me in an alley, and Frank said "That's enough boys, he's had enough"

Shecky Greene
Give the man Seamus a prize.

Best post I've seen in a long time.

Seamus, did you see jaclem claims Sinatra "did spar inthe gym a lot."

WHO did he spar with, jaclem?

Ike Williams? Lew Jenkins?

What gym was it?

The local YWCA?

.
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Post by Jaclem »

..cranberry..i hung around with more mob guys than you've read about. the shecky greene quote has been tossed around for years, and it is funny. later when shecky needed some help sinatra was the one he went to.

when sinatra walked into the club where don rickles was working, rickles , who had never met him, said "don't just stand there, frank. punch somebody." sinatra nearly collapsed with laughter and rickles was a close freind until the day sinatra died.

but this is not a sinatra forum, it's a boxing one, so i'm not going to add any more words about sinatra to the ones i've written over the decades.
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Re: Famous Celebrities Who Tried Their Hand at Boxing

Post by Brute »

dagosd2000 wrote:I aways tried to imagine what Lou Costello looked like as a boxer. He boxed under the name of Lou King to hide his identity from his mother. Redd Foxx was another one. Hard to imagine. I read were Bob Hope fought under the name of Packy East as an amateur. George Reeves(TV's Superman)was said to have quite some potential as an amateur. Just before his mysterious death,he was lined up to fight an exhibition with Archie Moore. How about Victor McLaglen posing beside Jack Johnson? McLaglen looked pretty fit. Come on you guys,come up with some more names.
Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg) of the Three Stooges was reported to have boxed for a short time as a lightweight. I do not know what named he used, but his father is said to have encouraged him to do other things. He was probably a better comic than boxer, but it would have been fun to see what he would have done to Moe Howard if they got serious.

Victor "Sharkey" McLaglen did box as a Heavyweight, winning 10 out of 18 fights, mostly by KO. He also boxed exhibitions with Jack Johnson and Jess Willard.

What a shame he had to let John Wayne beat him in that stupid "The Quiet Man" movie. :roll:
Last edited by Brute on 20 Dec 2007, 23:45, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by granberry »

Jaclem wrote:..cranberry..i hung around with more mob guys than you've read about. the shecky greene quote has been tossed around for years, and it is funny. later when shecky needed some help sinatra was the one he went to.

when sinatra walked into the club where don rickles was working, rickles , who had never met him, said "don't just stand there, frank. punch somebody." sinatra nearly collapsed with laughter and rickles was a close freind until the day sinatra died.

but this is not a sinatra forum, it's a boxing one, so i'm not going to add any more words about sinatra to the ones i've written over the decades.
jackel,

I never "hung around" with mob guys.

That would not be a healthy thing to do.

But I came across them constantly in being involved with boxing.

When the mob was heavily involved with boxing the fighters were in shape, well taught, had expert cornermen in the corner during a fight, and excellent fight plans and adjustments during a fight. One could learn a huge amount by observing them.

That all went to hell once the black muslims got more and more involved.

To the point where the "fighters" were/are often fat and not in shape, not taught anything, the corners are so incompetent they are embarrassing, and boxing became a joke as compared with what it had been.

I had rules I followed strictly around mob people. I never went to anyone's home. I never would go to a hotel room, although I might come across them in a hotel restaurant.
Gyms and other public places were the only places I would be around them.

If a little, sickly, pasty faced old man came over to talk to me in a gym, I always looked around to locate the younger punks lounging near the front door on the spectator seats who were his "drivers." I could tell they were with him by the way they watched while he talked to me. And by the way they jumped up and went with him when he left the gym.

I was always one step ahead of those people and they could never figure me out.
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Post by Jaclem »

..cranberry.....very wise, very well told....and I am not being sarcastic. :TU:
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Post by Brute »

Tony Danza has already been mentioned, but it is worth mentioning that all bar one of his fights ended in KOs. He won nine fights, all by KO (six in the first round) and lost three (KOed twice).

He liked to go home early. :roll:

Anthony Quinn had one losing fight as a heavyweight, as did Jack Palance.
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Post by Jaclem »

..oops..when i complimented cranberry on his shrewd comments about "the mob" i must have missed his decison about boxing being better when the mob handled it before the black muslims took over. that part..well....let's just say i disagree with the assumptions in that statement.
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Post by dagosd2000 »

Jaclem wrote:..oops..when i complimented cranberry on his shrewd comments about "the mob" i must have missed his decison about boxing being better when the mob handled it before the black muslims took over. that part..well....let's just say i disagree with the assumptions in that statement.
I've been reading the exchange between you two,and I've hesitated to make a statement because I was struggling a little to put something together. It's a matter of record that Jim Norris and Carbo had intense influence on boxing during the 50's often determining the outcomes. But looking back on that era there were more boxing gyms with good trainers who taught their fighters sound boxing skills.

The feds tried to clean up the sport,but I think it went into a similar direction. The Norrises and Carbos are gone,but some of these big time promoters like King and Sulieman haven't brought any integrity to the sport. As far as the quality of cornermen there has been less and less competant guys working with fighters. It must be noted that in the U.S. neighborhood kids (especially African American kids) try their hand at football and basketball. The Italian,Jewish,and Irish neighborhoods that used to spawn a lot of talent have practically disappeared.

Living in San Diego there used to be boxing gyms that had good prospects handled by good knowledgable trainers. There was a good weekly card in San Diego,LA,and Tijuana. Lots of contenders and champions fighting locally. You needed guys that knew what they were doing to train these fighters. Now many of these trainers are gone or have retired. Their gaps haven't been filled enough. The weekly cards are gone and many of the arenas are dark. All I see in my area are these Ultimate Combat Gyms that have instruction in all areas of combat:Karate,Wrestling,Judo,Tae Kwan Do,and Boxing. I don't know much about the other sports,but the Boxing end of it is minimal to say the least.

As far as the decline attributed to mobsters or Black Muslims,I think it has to do with young people's interests. If there aren't as many fighters,there isn't a demand for trainers either.
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Post by Jaclem »

dagos...so much good stuff in your post that i'm going to print it out and read it with the interest it deserves. doubt if i'll have anything to add...but...alas...one never knows....
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Post by dagosd2000 »

Jaclem wrote:dagos...so much good stuff in your post that i'm going to print it out and read it with the interest it deserves. doubt if i'll have anything to add...but...alas...one never knows....
Thank you for an unexpected Christmas gift.
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Post by Jaclem »

..dagos....thanks, but let's call it a christmas exchange....your post was the first gift of the two...
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