BoxRec

I was suprised at what relationship Ali and Frazier had outside the ring. While they weren't neccessarily good friends, Frazier was willing to help Ali out. Which fighters or even opponents you know of who were cool outside of the ring?

Don't know how personally close they were, but Turpin and Robinson gave each other credit in the classiest terms possible after their fight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy2VD5WlmEU

I know Lamotta and Graziano were childhood friends.

Maurice Blocker and Simon Brown were very close friends, even though they fought each other.

Roy Jones & Gerald McClellan, if memory serves, were fans of one another.

The rumour at the time of McClellan's downfall was that Jones visited him in hospital, & came away determined not to put himself in a position within the ropes where such a thing could happen to him. No confirmation on whether all or some of that is true, but I've seen it arise from time-to-time.

Ali and Frazier were on good terms at times, but I'm not sure you could consider them friends. Frazier and Norton were chums.

Following my bout with j'leon love, me and him talked for over two hours watching the rest of the card. he introduced me to his mom and aunt, etc. since then we've kept in contact on facebook. cant say we're friends but we talk and encourage eachother. am also friends with andrew hartley, brian paul, brian strege, and charlie zelenoff.

Hagler and Antuofermo.

Barney Ross was friends with Jimmy McLarnin and Henry Armstrong after he retired.

Gatti and Ward were really good friends outside of the ring.

Ricky Hatton and Bernard Dunne are also close friends.

George Foreman is friends with Joe Frazier.

When Big George was on a UK chatshow (Frank Skinners), they showed clips of Foreman clubbing down Frazier for his title win, and George completely downplayed it, saying he and Joe were 'Great friends'

I heard that Tim Witherspoon and Don King are very close friends.

IKSRTFO wrote:I was suprised at what relationship Ali and Frazier had outside the ring. While they weren't neccessarily good friends, Frazier was willing to help Ali out.

That was before Ali embarked on his cruel crusade against Joe, caling him an uncle Tom, a gorilla and so on. I very much doubt Frazier harbour any friendly feelings towards Ali, quite the opposite I would imagine.

Don't know about now, but Donald Curry and Milton McCrory were friends before they fought.Heard that Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns are real close now, and were on good terms before they fought in 1981.

..joe louis and billy conn became close friends and hung out together when they were in vegas at the same time. in a documentary about louis, conn in an interview refers to louis as a "high quality man."

Ward and Dirrell are really good friends. (not botp but still)

HomicideHenry wrote:Following my bout with j'leon love, me and him talked for over two hours watching the rest of the card. he introduced me to his mom and aunt, etc. since then we've kept in contact on facebook. cant say we're friends but we talk and encourage eachother. am also friends with andrew hartley, brian paul, brian strege, and charlie zelenoff.

i wouldn consider zelenoff a fighter, i havnt seen the rest

jaclem2 wrote:..joe louis and billy conn became close friends and hung out together when they were in vegas at the same time. in a documentary about louis, conn in an interview refers to louis as a "high quality man."

Max Schmeling and Louis also became very good friends.
Max used to help Joe out financially.
Schmeling paid for Joes funeral. Thats a good pal.

Expug wrote:

jaclem2 wrote:..joe louis and billy conn became close friends and hung out together when they were in vegas at the same time. in a documentary about louis, conn in an interview refers to louis as a "high quality man."

Max Schmeling and Louis also became very good friends.
Max used to help Joe out financially.
Schmeling paid for Joes funeral. Thats a good pal.

...And Braddock....I believe they both chipped in.

..actually frank sinatra, who had been taking care of joe louis iin many ways paid for the major part of joe louis' funeral. there are conflicting reports about whether schmeling contributed. i don't know about braddock, but since that report comes from boxbuzz i'm assuming it's true.

BoxBuzz wrote:

Expug wrote:

jaclem2 wrote:..joe louis and billy conn became close friends and hung out together when they were in vegas at the same time. in a documentary about louis, conn in an interview refers to louis as a "high quality man."

Max Schmeling and Louis also became very good friends.
Max used to help Joe out financially.
Schmeling paid for Joes funeral. Thats a good pal.

...And Braddock....I believe they both chipped in.

I don't see how, Buzz. Braddock died seven years before Louis.

good one Ray! But I actually meant posthumously. I thought he had set up a trust of some sort that was of benefit to Joe.

HomicideHenry wrote:Following my bout with j'leon love, me and him talked for over two hours watching the rest of the card. he introduced me to his mom and aunt, etc. since then we've kept in contact on facebook. cant say we're friends but we talk and encourage eachother. am also friends with andrew hartley, brian paul, brian strege, and charlie zelenoff.

Ah yes that fight with J'leon, your pro debut against the ex olympian fighter with 115 wins, where you got accused of taking a dive. Ah yes.

I always thought that moment with u and j'leon reminded me so much of appollo creed approaching rocky in rocky III

I think that with boxing being such a small industry combined with it being a global sport, many of the participants are likely to be friendly acquaintances if not actual friends. They fight on the same cards, spar in the same gyms, etc.

I think at one time, Greg Page and Michael Dokes had a decent relationship.

One of the more famous outside the ring relationships was between Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson. It lasted until Johanssons death.