BoxRec

How about

Joe Frazier - Ken Norton
Nigel Benn - Roberto Duran
Bennie Briscoe - Matthew Saad Muhammad
Ray Lennard - Aaron Pryor.

Any other sparring sessions you've heard about and wish you could have seen?

Or maybe you have been lucky enough to see some classic sparring sessions.

Any info, stories etc, fight fans? 8)

KOJOE90 wrote:How about

Nigel Benn - Roberto Duran

I've got this one on tape. Duran was grossly out of shape, he looked like an egg-on-legs. Benn was lean, hungry and looked like he could have taken Duran's head off.

Yet, six months or so later Duran beat Barkley for the Middleweight title!

Supposedly Tyson and Lewis sparred at D'Amato's when they were kids.
I would have loved to have been there.

I would've loved to been at the Liston - Foreman sparring session. I've heard that Liston landed a good jab to Foreman's ribs, which caused Foreman to get pinned against the ropes and he had a helluva time getting off them. And this was when Sonny was 37 years old.

Boxerdog wrote:Supposedly Tyson and Lewis sparred at D'Amato's when they were kids.
I would have loved to have been there.

Can somebody confirm they can see the pic I just posted of Lewis and Tyson as teenagers.

bennie wrote:Can somebody confirm they can see the pic I just posted of Lewis and Tyson as teenagers.

I right clicked on the image then clicked properties and at the end of picture's filename was: ?bcmi7v_AqnfErNNH You might wanna try and delete that part of the filename and re-post it.

bennie wrote:Can somebody confirm they can see the pic I just posted of Lewis and Tyson as teenagers.

Cant see it.

I wish I was there to see these ones:

Muhammad Ali vs. Roy Williams, apparently Ali took a beating in these.

Muhammad Ali vs. Ken Norton late 1960s. Norton claims that he dominated Ali. Ali was never in fighting shape during his exile, I don't doubt Nortons claim. Also he beat an in-shape Ali later.

Muhammad Ali vs. Ingemar Johansson while the latter was champ. Johansson quit in disgust after being dominated an taunted by a novice Ali.

Earnie Shavers vs. Jeff Merritt. Merritt broke Shavers jaw, causing the formers fight with Jerry Quarry to get postponed.

Joe Frazier first sessions against Ken Norton and Larry Holmes prior to Ali II fight. Frazier KO'd Norton and broke Holmes' ribs. Jimmy Young was the only one that didn't get hurt that day.

Sonny Liston vs. George Foreman for reasons listed in earlier post.

Mike Tyson vs. Oliver McCall, the one in which McCall KO'd Tyson.

Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson as amateurs. Lewis went through the ropes the first day, but solved Tyson's style the next. For some reason D'Amato cancelled the last sessions.

Anything with Matthew Saad Muhammad.

James Toney vs. Gerald McClellan in early 90s, Toney claims to have it on tape that he got the better of McClellan.

Mike Tyson vs. Maurice Harris, prior to Tyson's second fight with Evander Holyfield. Harris, who then sported a 7-7 record, got fired from camp for making Tyson look like a fish out of water.

Oscar De La Hoya vs. Genaro Hernandez while Oscar was sitll an amateur. Sopposedly, he handled Hernandez well already at age 18.

Joe Louis vs. Jersey Joe Walcott. Heard stories that Walcott was fired for making Louis look terrible.

Alister
Alister

What about the 14 year old Tony Ayala Jr sparring then Welterweight Champion Pipino Cuevas.

Reports are that Ayala took him apart.

knockout artist wrote:What about the 14 year old Tony Ayala Jr sparring then Welterweight Champion Pipino Cuevas.

Reports are that Ayala took him apart.

Yes, Cuevas went back to his corner muttering, "My God! My God!"

Don King's first ever fighter was Jeff 'Candy Slim' Merritt, who at 6'5" and 220 pounds had a deserved reputation as a dangerous puncher and, like King, had done a stretch in jail. He took out Ernie Terrell in one and was then brought in as a sparring partner for Earnie Shavers by Earnie's trainer at the time, Archie Moore.
'The Acorn' was preparing for his Madison Square Garden headliner with Jerry Quarry. Their fight was scheduled for the summer of 1973, until Merritt shattered Earnie's jaw in sparring and the fight was postponed until December. It was reported that Shavers's jaw was resting on his chest.
Quarry was furious. "Merritt isn't someone you get in the ring to spar with. You don't get in the ring with him unless it is for money, real money." Quarry insisted Moore was incompetent as a trainer and that he wished he was still a fighter because, "I would love to knock him out." This caused lasting bad blood between the two of them.
Unsurprisingly, Shavers's management fired Moore because of the incident. Quarry went on to destroy Shavers in the first round that December at the Garden. As for Merritt, drug problems continually plagued him, and, after stopping Ron Stander in his first fight after Terrell, he was knocked out by the light-hitting Henry Clark and then by Stan Ward. He now shows up at big fights in Vegas begging for money.

Mr Pickalini wrote:I would've loved to been at the Liston - Foreman sparring session. I've heard that Liston landed a good jab to Foreman's ribs, which caused Foreman to get pinned against the ropes and he had a helluva time getting off them. And this was when Sonny was 37 years old.

Good one, I've read a number of times that George says Liston was the only man he could never back up.

Another sparring session that would have been interesting to see was Ken Norton - Jimmy Young. I think Young was brought in to help Kenny prepare for the 3rd Ali fight. Apparently Kenny couldn't handle Young and throw him out of camp.

Harry Greb - Jack Dempsey

Ali vs Holmes -Yeah, they fought as pros, but I heard they had better sparring sessions.

Foreman vs. Liston

Carl "The Truth" Williams vs. Mike Tyson -Again, I heard their sparring sessions, only two, were better than their fight as pros.

Shane Mosley sparred with guys liek Azumah Nelson, J.C. Chavez, and others when he was a teenager.

Mike McCallum and Thomas Hearns, apparently McCallum used to give hearns absolute hell, and that is the reason Hearns wanted no part of McCallum in the pro ranks.

I think McCallum would have KO'd hearns had they fought at any weight.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Mike McCallum and Thomas Hearns, apparently McCallum used to give hearns absolute hell, and that is the reason Hearns wanted no part of McCallum in the pro ranks.

I think McCallum would have KO'd hearns had they fought at any weight.

Yeah, the headgear they wear in sparring might take the edge off the headshots, but even a really high body protector wouldn't help much against a rib-breaker like McCallum.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see the then amatuer Light-Heavyweight Joe Louis sparring with Eddie Futch at the Brewster Recreation Centre, Detroit.

Thet would have been special.

My grandfather "Nipper" Pat Daly's sparring session with legendary middleweight Mickey Walker, which took place in 1927 while Walker was preparing for his fight with British champ Tommy Milligan.

*Alex* wrote:My grandfather "Nipper" Pat Daly's sparring session with legendary middleweight Mickey Walker, which took place in 1927 while Walker was preparing for his fight with British champ Tommy Milligan.

Cool.

Was your grandfather ever able to pass on any stories to you about Mickey Walker?

KOJOE90 wrote:

*Alex* wrote:My grandfather "Nipper" Pat Daly's sparring session with legendary middleweight Mickey Walker, which took place in 1927 while Walker was preparing for his fight with British champ Tommy Milligan.

Cool.

Was your grandfather ever able to pass on any stories to you about Mickey Walker?

He wrote about the sparring with Walker in his memoirs. Apparently Walker and Jack Kearns were very impressed with him, so much so that Kearns wanted to take him to America to fight the cream of America's fly and bantams, but his manager (who he was contracted to) wouldn't allow it. Two years later at the age of 16, when he had beaten some of Europe's finest fighters and was receiving recognition in the American press, Kearns again contacted my grandfather's manager offering him a shot at the world featherweight title against newly crowned champ Battling Battalino. But again his manager wouldn't allow it, most likely for fear of losing his "golden goose".

*Alex* wrote: But again his manager wouldn't allow it, most likely for fear of losing his "golden goose".

Somethings never change do they?

Thanks for the feedback.

KOJOE90 wrote:

*Alex* wrote: But again his manager wouldn't allow it, most likely for fear of losing his "golden goose".

Somethings never change do they?

Thanks for the feedback.

It certainly wasn't out of concern for his young fighter, putting him into well over 100 punishing contests before he'd reached adulthood! Greed always has and will motivate and corrupt people.

It's good to hear from someone with an interest in pre-war British boxing!

For those who haven't seen it yet. This pic was posted a while back