BoxRec

Max,

A few questions about your career;

1.) What was your career highlight in your opinion? Was it the 12 round win over former world title challenger Tony Gardner?
2.) Who were some of your influences/mentors in the Florida circuit?
3.) Can you elaborate about some of the opportunities you had to leave Florida and maybe have more exposure?
4.) Is the record on BoxRec pretty accurate/are there fights you remember that are not listed?
5.) Any fights that would have been noteworthy that fell through? (Scott Clark told me he had agreed to fight SRL, but that it fell through)
As a Jax native and being familiar with you back in the day, I've been hoping the opportunity would come up for you to talk about and share some stories about your career for some time.

There was a great feature about you in the Lakeland/Ocala papers circa 1979-80. Wish I knew how to cut and paste it or link them here. Do you remember them?
Thanks in advance,

My best effort was losing to Tony Gardner in a 10 round bout. It was like a Rocky movie. He was pretty much shot around that time or I would have been knocked out.
Most of my opponents were from the correctional institution or from the tough guy contests. My trainer was an ex marine and we drank beer from daylight to dark. My record was actually around 40-21 give or take. I heard that the promoter paid my opponents $25 when they came from the jail ! I did go to the gym in Orlando back in 75 but knew right away that Ross, Clark, Wells, Vincent and those guys were too much for me. All in all I wouldn't trade anything, it was what it was.

Max, thanks for the reply. I think you're selling yourself way short, especially for those of us who would've loved to have had the talent to even rate getting in the ring with top-level pros like Edgar Ross, Gene Wells, and Scott Clark, and bearing in mind that you scored two decisions over world-title challenger Tony Gardner just two years removed from his shot against Elisha Obed.

Bearing in mind that BoxRec is missing a fair number of your fights, I was surprised to see your third recorded fight being against 18-1 Edgar Ross. (Who passed away recently) Can you recall how that fight came about and your memory of it?

The first part of my career should have taken place way after it did. I had no manager and pretty much put myself in the position to fight the Orlando bad boys, one after another. Believe it or not I learned some things from those beatings and actually got better as it went on. I gave a pretty good account of myself against Irish Gene Well but eventually lost in 8.My style was straight ahead with not much defense and I being of German Irish decent cut easily which made matters worse. I had a standing emergency room appointment with Dr. Craig on fight night here in Fernandina.

I appreciate your going into some detail about your career, Max. Wondering if you could relate some of your experience with Tony Gardner and how you managed to fight him three times- two wins, I might add. Finding out he eventually became the matchmaker for the Orlando promotion and ended up managing Joey Vincent- took over the house mic after losing to him and asking to become his manager!- makes me think he was a pretty interesting character.

I was called by a promoter from Tallahassee to fight Gardner. I accepted the fight of course knowing it wasn't going to end up very well. I did run on the beach every day for a month and got myself in pretty good shape, not boxing shape because we didn't have a gym. As it turned out I may have been in better shape than Gardner. I believe he knocked me down 5 or six times and I lost a unanimous decision. Upon returning home I became very sick and was hospitalized with a concussion. I took some time off and fought again several months later. The Tallahassee fight was a great fight for the fans and the local promoter here brought us together two more times, and like the first bout they were non stop action fights and I won both of those here at home. The last bout was held in the High School gym and the temperature was 115 degrees at ringside. I remember Vince Dooley coming back to my dressing room and wishing me luck.

Max,
What are your memories of your fights against the legendary/infamous Simmie Black ?

Simmie was a character. He was with the Tony Gardner stable and fought over 300 times. I believe he is incarcerated now.He would fight a little bit until he got hit hard and then there's no telling what he might do to excuse himself. I saw him fight Joey Vincent and he actually did a kip from the canvas after Joey hit him pretty good, of course the ref disqualified him. I fought him twice and couldn't hardly catch him and we had a "punchers" ring measuring about 15 feet inside the ropes.

Two questions, Max;

Best fighter you saw or fought that no one knows about?
Biggest fight you had lined up that fell through?

And I'm curious about Tony Gardner's "stable". Can you say more?

Thanks in advance

Best fighter I fought was Gene Wells.

Stop it, Duce or Max may choose to kill this thread.....

Max, you were frequently mentioned as "the fighting schoolteacher" in write-ups. Was/Is that your full-time profession during your ring days? What was the boxing scene like around Jax back in the 70's? I think you said back in the day that there was a decent amateur program there and that several of the cards you fought on had a mix of pro and amateur bouts on them?

I did teach school but not anymore. There was no boxing commission in Florida like there is today. Most shows featured local amateur clubs battling each other followed by the pro's on top. In our town when the commission quit sanctioning amateur/pro cads it killed the sport. You simply couldn't afford to pay for 6 pro bouts with an attendance of 500 or so. To this day I still don't understand the logic.
I am not offended at all by the comments about Danza and our very short fight.

max hord wrote:I did teach school but not anymore. There was no boxing commission in Florida like there is today. Most shows featured local amateur clubs battling each other followed by the pro's on top. In our town when the commission quit sanctioning amateur/pro cads it killed the sport. You simply couldn't afford to pay for 6 pro bouts with an attendance of 500 or so. To this day I still don't understand the logic.
I am not offended at all by the comments about Danza and our very short fight.

Sadly Max, the "logic" lies within the feminization of our society.

...."not there there's anything wrong with that"........quote from seinfield

Max,

I'm curious why you might not have taken more overseas fights like the one you had with Louis Acaries? I would guess that you would have been in some considerable demand for promoters pushing local hotshots. Perhaps they might have been wary of you as a live underdog who was not afraid to trade and take chances and that you had better than average power? My trainer/friend Gary Gamble, here out of Indy, said he made exceptional money in that capacity and travelled extensively as a "road warrior".

Also wanted to know your impressions of Scott Clark, whom you fought?

I really thought I would KO Tony Danza. I dreamed about it many times yet when I saw him at the weigh in, he was 2 hours late, I had doubts. He was not the short little guy I thought he was. Probably and inch taller and 12 to 15 pounds heavier than me.Truthfully it sort of psyched me out. It was going to be quick, either him or me and it was him. When I got back to my dressing room my left ankle was swollen so big I couldn't get my shoe off. I think that happened when he shoved me through the ropes and I landed on the judges table.

At the time I fought Acaries I was trying to give it up. I was cut when I went over there and after about a minute into it I was bleeding pretty bad. That guy was nothing compared to some of my opponents.