BoxRec

What was the first boxing match you remember watching?

What was the first match you deliberately made a point of watching? (This is not necessarily the same answer)

What was the first match you attended?

For me:

1) Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno 1. I was in school at the time and pretty much everybody had watched it on terrestrial TV on the Sunday morning on a delay. Everyone was buzzing about it in school, reckoning that Bruno "almost had him" and he'd win a rematch, "easy".

2) Chris Eubank-Nigel Benn 1. I was 13 at the time and quite into wrestling and these two guys seemed to have a genuine grudge going on and were also real "characters". The fight and the combatants were not much different from the theatrics of wrestling in terms of how it was promoted. I was really intrigued as to what would happen. It was a fantastic fight and the one I credit with getting me into boxing as a committed fan.

3) Chris Eubank-Sugar Boy Malinga. Up in the gods with £20 tickets that my dad had bought as a treat for me and a bit of a bonding experience for the two of us (he didn't care much about boxing but saw I was well into it by then). The fight seemed better than it was because I was just so excited as a teenager to be at my first boxing bill and to see the superstar Eubank in the flesh, albeit a tiny version of him because our seats were so far back!

Mine are less prestigious

1) Frank Bruno vs Jesse Ferguson (one round blow out on the BBC)

2) Nigel Benn vs Gerald Mclellan (on ITV, made a huge impression)

3) Johnny Armour vs Nathan Sting (in Brentwood Leasuire Centre) Interestingly Albert Sosnowski was on the undercard and certainly did not look like a future title challenger at that stage in his career.

What was the first boxing match you remember watching?

The Thriller in Manila

What was the first match you deliberately made a point of watching? (This is not necessarily the same answer)

Holmes - Ali (I was 10 years old)


What was the first match you attended?

Leisure Centre, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom Saturday 24 November 1984
Bobby Crabtree L Rodney Frazier KO 1 10x3
Glenn McCrory W Mike Perkins PTS 8 8x3
Andy Straughn W John Joseph TKO 2 8x3
Bert Cooper W Ian Priest TKO 1 6x3
Gordon Stobie D Bobby McDermott PTS 6 6x3

Smokin' Bert in the north east of England!!!!!

ali vs holmes

hagler vs hearns-i was the only one in my class who was convinced tommy was going to batter hagler,my school mates thought otherwise

local show at preston guild hall,don`t know the fighters but they were all battle scarred!!!

1. George Foreman vs. Michael Moorer, 1994 (I was 10. It made me a devotee of Foreman and the sport for life)

2. Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan, 1995 (Four months later in early-95, I still recall taking it all in)

3. Kostya Tszyu vs. Jesse James Leija, 2003 (More memorable for an amazing road trip to Melbourne than the bout itself, but it was great for my first time to be watching a fine champion like Tszyu do his thing )

The first match that I really worried about was Little Red Lopez vs Tury Pineda in 1972. I was 8 and had seen them both fight and was worried that Lopez would lose. But he won.
The first fight that broke my heart was Chacon vs Lopez in 1974. I held that grudge for many years. I have never forgiven Salvador Sanchez.
I first fight I saw was in 1968, when my mother took me to the Olympic Auditorium. I've always assumed it was an Armando Muniz fight, I even told him that when I met him, because my mother thought he was good-looking. However, he didn't start fighting until 1970 (as a pro), so now I don't know.

first bout remember watching on tv was the louis marciano bout when i was 6 years old. my mother and father took me to st.nicks arena almost every monday night starting in 1955, the first bout i saw in person was paddy demarco winning over libby manzo in a fouled fill bout. they did not call demarco the brooklyn billygoat for nothing. the most exciting bout i remember as a child was danny nardico and charlie norkus in 1954, they belted each other non stop.

Duran vs DeJesus I and II.

elmersalsa wrote:Duran vs DeJesus I and II.

Love at first sight?

DaveBoyMorrison wrote:

elmersalsa wrote:Duran vs DeJesus I and II.

Love at first sight?

I wonder how many people in his village he killed as they read out the decision for the first fight.

Ali - Spinks II

My dad used to tell me all about Ali and Frazier (of whom he was also a big fan), as he used to go to the movie theatre's to watch Ali fight when he was younger.

So you could say I was initially intrigued and then capitvated (I was 6).

A rerun of Ali-Frazier 1 (how awsome is it that they periodically used to replay this fight).

Same as above

A very minor pro fight fought in a high school gymnasium between two guys that nobody ever heard of and who probably never fought again.

1. First fight remember watching was Ali-Quarry I, I was 8.
2. Don't remember but probably an Ali fight.
3. First attended was Mancini-Bramble I

first fight i remember watching ali - frazier 3 i was 6
first i remember getting excited about before it happened was ali - spinks 1

first big fight i went to was ali - berbick
been to several club shows before this but could not recall a single fight
of any significance

naming ali in all 3 is kind of funny.ali is not even my all time favorite
and i guess it just shows the impact he had to bring non-fans to fanatics

Odd…

I’d watched many fights before. I know I watched some Alan Minter fights but I can’t remember anything about them. I trawled through boxrec looking for that first fight I remember watching. The first one I have a clear memory of is Joe Bugner v Marvis Frazier.

The first fight I remember people discussing was Holmes – Ali. The one after that was Holmes – Cooney. But I didn’t watch them at the time. It was Hagler-Hearns that caught my imagination. I’d seen both men fight and so I knew they were both top class.

The copy of The Ring with them both back-to-back was the first time I ever saw the magazine in England.

I went to Italy for a week and set the fight to record. Managed to not hear the result. Was in awe having watched it on my return.

First live fight? As a kid I watched many, many amateur fights at Brierly Hill Civic Hall. We followed a local boxer called Lester James. Great days.

Drayton-Hilton in 1987: First title fight attended.
Boxing on CBS weekend afternoons were probably my first fights watched. Mancini was a regular.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

DaveBoyMorrison wrote:

elmersalsa wrote:Duran vs DeJesus I and II.

Love at first sight?

I wonder how many people in his village he killed as they read out the decision for the first fight.

Oh, I know that you got a village around the corner...Was Hector Thompson your neighbor?

The first figh tI watched was Roy Jones vs Reggie Johnson back in 1999. Even as a wee lad I couldnt helped be awed by the mans talent.

What was the first boxing match you remember watching? One of Kid Gavilan's fights on the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports. I remember my dad let me sit up with him and watch the fight. No idea was the opponent . . . Didn't know what a "bolo punch" was, but it sounded cool.

What was the first match you deliberately made a point of watching? (This is not necessarily the same answer) Clay/Ali v. Patterson . . .

What was the first match you attended? A Pat O'Grady boxing show in Oklahoma City, but the early ones are a blur, so I don't remember which one exactly, and I'm too lazy to look at the records and try to figure it out. It was in the 1970s.