Strange events during fights - "Fan Man", etc.
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crooked nose
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Strange events during fights - "Fan Man", etc.
Can anyone think of bizarre events that have interrupted or stopped fights? Of course, there's the truly stupid act of "Fan Man" (R.I.P.) at the Bowe-Riddick bout. I also recall some jackass jumping into the ring in round 1 of the Zarate-Zamora. He was quickly subdued by LA's finest. And I remember an Albert Davila title fight on the beach in Miami during a tropical storm. Davila manuevered his opponent so the rain was in his face and won the fight.
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crooked nose
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Rattlesnake? Those were some imaginative fans. Didn't Alfredo Escalera enter the ring with a snake draped around his neck?
I recall an incident in South Africa a few years ago when some stick up men decided to rob the ticket booth during a fight. Shots rang out, I think someone was killed, and everyone, especially the fighters, ducked for cover.
I recall an incident in South Africa a few years ago when some stick up men decided to rob the ticket booth during a fight. Shots rang out, I think someone was killed, and everyone, especially the fighters, ducked for cover.
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MightyWarrior
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Yes I remember all those ones - the man who jumped into the ring in the Z Boys fight started going into Kung Fu mode, before the police dragged him out onto what looked like it was going to be a serious beating!
In the UK we had a British champ, Tony Wilson, on the ropes taking a beating, before his mum leapt onto the ring apron and proceeded to hit his bemused opponent over the head with her shoe! Chaos broke out and the fight was stopped. That was in the 1990's.
That Bowe fight in NY got pretty surreal too, with Rock Newman getting a neck hold on his opponent.
A similar thing happened in a J C Coggi fight too I think..
In the UK we had a British champ, Tony Wilson, on the ropes taking a beating, before his mum leapt onto the ring apron and proceeded to hit his bemused opponent over the head with her shoe! Chaos broke out and the fight was stopped. That was in the 1990's.
That Bowe fight in NY got pretty surreal too, with Rock Newman getting a neck hold on his opponent.
A similar thing happened in a J C Coggi fight too I think..
During a fight in South Africa a few years ago, a gunman came in to the arena and robbed the cashier. He let off a shot, which reverberated around the main hall, and the two fighters in the ring (one of whom was a Brit), dived from the ring so quickly it was genuinely comical.
I myself was at an amateur show in 1990 in Birmingham between Robert McCracken and Geoff McCreesh (both of whom later became British champions). There was a lot of needle in the fight, which spilled out to the crowd and some of McCracken's supporters attacked McCreesh's dad as the two fighters were sitting on their stool in between rounds. Seeing his dad under attack, McCreesh literally jumped off his stool, clambered on to the top rope, balanced himself, and then dived on to the melee of people involved in the ringside fracas. The Sun newspaper ran the headline: "Fighters dives from the ring like Superman!"
And, honestly, that's exactly what it was like.
Incredibly, McCreesh was back in the ring, sitting on his stool, before the start of the third and final round. But the referee disqualified him for leaving the ring.
I myself was at an amateur show in 1990 in Birmingham between Robert McCracken and Geoff McCreesh (both of whom later became British champions). There was a lot of needle in the fight, which spilled out to the crowd and some of McCracken's supporters attacked McCreesh's dad as the two fighters were sitting on their stool in between rounds. Seeing his dad under attack, McCreesh literally jumped off his stool, clambered on to the top rope, balanced himself, and then dived on to the melee of people involved in the ringside fracas. The Sun newspaper ran the headline: "Fighters dives from the ring like Superman!"
And, honestly, that's exactly what it was like.
Incredibly, McCreesh was back in the ring, sitting on his stool, before the start of the third and final round. But the referee disqualified him for leaving the ring.
Don't think that's exactly right. I think Earp had his Colt confiscated before the fight after a lawman suspected he had carried it into the ring with him.
It was a world title fight in 1896 between Tom Sharkey and Bob Fitzsimmons where Sharkey went down to a suspected low blow and Earp disqualified Fitzsimmons. After that there was chaos and Earp was castigated by the half the press as a cheat and the other half as a blind buffoon who imagined it.
I believe that was his last stint as referee.
It was a world title fight in 1896 between Tom Sharkey and Bob Fitzsimmons where Sharkey went down to a suspected low blow and Earp disqualified Fitzsimmons. After that there was chaos and Earp was castigated by the half the press as a cheat and the other half as a blind buffoon who imagined it.
I believe that was his last stint as referee.
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Eric the Viking
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crooked nose
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Speaking of firearms in the ring, that reminds me of a story about Jimmy Lennon Sr., the late great ring announcer. Lennon's brother had been shot and killed on a So. Cal. golf course. Police were not sure if it was random or connected to the victim's daughters, the singing quartet on the Lawrence Welk Show. Jimmy began packing a pistol for his own protection. During post-fight chaos at the Olympic Auditorium, the pistol fell out of Jimmy's pocket and clattered around the ring. Unphased, one of the handlers picked up the piece and said, "This yours, Jimmy?" and Lennon calmly repocketed his six-shooter.
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Sweet Scientist
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Mr Pickalini
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While updating some records for South American fighters I found this fight report published in Ring Magazine June 1983 issue:
This is in the undercard of Venezuelan bantamweight Jovito Rengifo vs. Siony Carupo (Phillipines) at the "Poliedrito" in Caracas:
The fourth and final bout of the evening, scheduled for 4 rounds was a light heavyweight bout between Felix Medina and Fermin Chirinos, Falcon, Venezuela. After a quiet first round and a rough second round, Chirinos, who strongly resembles ex-WBA heavyweight champion John Tate, scored a clean knockout in the third over the multi-tattooed Medina. While the referee, Nicolas Ascanio, was counting over the fallen Medina, a fan jumped into the ring, ran across, stumbled through the ropes and went sprawling across the judge's table providing the fans with a smile on their way out after an entertaining evening of boxing.
Incidentally, this is the same Chirinos who would later in his career face names like Mike McCallum, Roy Jones, Charles Brewer, Sven Ottke, Mario Veit, Nigel Benn, Lindell Holmes (all losses) and who was robbed in a draw against Mathew Hilton some years later.
This is in the undercard of Venezuelan bantamweight Jovito Rengifo vs. Siony Carupo (Phillipines) at the "Poliedrito" in Caracas:
The fourth and final bout of the evening, scheduled for 4 rounds was a light heavyweight bout between Felix Medina and Fermin Chirinos, Falcon, Venezuela. After a quiet first round and a rough second round, Chirinos, who strongly resembles ex-WBA heavyweight champion John Tate, scored a clean knockout in the third over the multi-tattooed Medina. While the referee, Nicolas Ascanio, was counting over the fallen Medina, a fan jumped into the ring, ran across, stumbled through the ropes and went sprawling across the judge's table providing the fans with a smile on their way out after an entertaining evening of boxing.
Incidentally, this is the same Chirinos who would later in his career face names like Mike McCallum, Roy Jones, Charles Brewer, Sven Ottke, Mario Veit, Nigel Benn, Lindell Holmes (all losses) and who was robbed in a draw against Mathew Hilton some years later.
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Eric the Viking
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Chirinos' career is um, interesting. He was 11-4-1 coming into the Hilton fight, and one of those losses was a controversial UD against Lindell Holmes earlier in that same year. 9 months after the draw robbery vs. Hilton, he got KOed by Steve Collins, and 8 months after that, in his next fight, got a KO win over the 8-0-1 (but soon to be forgotten) Keith Providence. So at this point he's 12-5-2, and much of that is against high-quality opposition.
Then, Chirinos starts on "the streak:" in the next 2 years (from November '91 to November '93) he fights, in succession, supermiddles Tony Thornton, Mike McCallum and Roy Jones (this was Jones' 2nd fight at supermiddle, and came 6 months after his winning the vacant IBF Middleweight Title vs. Hopkins.) Loses all 3 of those by 10-round decision, and proceeds to lose 20 of his final 21 pro fights, beginning with the aforementioned trio. This span includes losses to many top guys at 168. I just find it interesting how guys like Chirinos go from being contenders to "durable opponents" for other contenders and up-and-comers, especially when the change occurs in such a short time span as here.
Then, Chirinos starts on "the streak:" in the next 2 years (from November '91 to November '93) he fights, in succession, supermiddles Tony Thornton, Mike McCallum and Roy Jones (this was Jones' 2nd fight at supermiddle, and came 6 months after his winning the vacant IBF Middleweight Title vs. Hopkins.) Loses all 3 of those by 10-round decision, and proceeds to lose 20 of his final 21 pro fights, beginning with the aforementioned trio. This span includes losses to many top guys at 168. I just find it interesting how guys like Chirinos go from being contenders to "durable opponents" for other contenders and up-and-comers, especially when the change occurs in such a short time span as here.