BoxRec

Darren Hamilton was in prison and then homeless. Was known to live in telephone boxes and now British Champion. Who else has had it hard and made something of themselves?
Or to reverse it who had it good and lost everything?

I think my (2nd) favourite boxer - Chris Eubank - got some pretty serious stick off his Dad and older brothers from something he mentioned in his book from memory.

johnny tapia obviously.

Michael Gomez domestically.

in Tapia's case things like that just shouldn't happen, poor chap. RIP.

not sure it gets tougher than tapia.

Another tough life has to be George Chuvalo. Lost 3 sons and first wife.

mcato wrote:Darren Hamilton was in prison and then homeless. Was known to live in telephone boxes and now British Champion. Who else has had it hard and made something of themselves?
Or to reverse it who had it good and lost everything?

Atleast you could allway's get hold of him!!

Tapia sprung to mind first as he witnessed his mothers murder. Duran had a tough upbringing in Panama & abit of a hoodlum as was the columbian Valero.
Anthony dirrell fought cancer .& returned to fight for a world title, that's some story!

Kassim Ouma

Forced to be a child soldier at the age of five!

An odd mention but how about Hyun-Mi Choi. She was "scouted" by the North Korean government to be part of the 2008 Olympics (there was still hope that Women's boxing was going to be in Beijing at the time), she and her family then escaped to South Korea where they have built a new life for themselves.

hurlock wrote:

mcato wrote:Darren Hamilton was in prison and then homeless. Was known to live in telephone boxes and now British Champion. Who else has had it hard and made something of themselves?
Or to reverse it who had it good and lost everything?

Atleast you could allway's get hold of him!!

Tapia sprung to mind first as he witnessed his mothers murder. Duran had a tough upbringing in Panama & abit of a hoodlum as was the columbian Valero.
Anthony dirrell fought cancer .& returned to fight for a world title, that's some story!

I don't think Valero was Columbian. Venezuelan I thought. Didn't know about Dirrell - beat Froch too.

n1ebf wrote:

hurlock wrote:

mcato wrote:Darren Hamilton was in prison and then homeless. Was known to live in telephone boxes and now British Champion. Who else has had it hard and made something of themselves?
Or to reverse it who had it good and lost everything?

Atleast you could allway's get hold of him!!

Tapia sprung to mind first as he witnessed his mothers murder. Duran had a tough upbringing in Panama & abit of a hoodlum as was the columbian Valero.
Anthony dirrell fought cancer .& returned to fight for a world title, that's some story!

I don't think Valero was Columbian. Venezuelan I thought. Didn't know about Dirrell - beat Froch too.

Anthony is Andre's brother.

Loads of boxers will have tough stories. Mathew Saad Muhammad was taken out to the Ben Franklin parkway and left when he was five by his brother because his aunt couldn't keep afford to feed him. He was taken in by catholic social services, the poor bastard.

Femi Fehintola

n1ebf wrote:I think my (2nd) favourite boxer - Chris Eubank - got some pretty serious stick off his Dad and older brothers from something he mentioned in his book from memory.

Yeah and he went from the streets of Peckham to the Bronx so grew up in 2 of the roughest places in the modern world. For all his flashy ring walks and posing, he was one of the toughest boxers we've produced in the the ring.

Lamont and Anthony Peterson were homeless form the age of 10 in Washington IIRC.

hagler had it pretty rough,burnt out of his childhood home,fighting for 50 dollars a time and not getting the any sort of breaks for years

The Booth brothers from Nottingham?

If anyone's since nicky booth lately they'll know what I mean

standing8 wrote:The Booth brothers from Nottingham?

If anyone's since nicky booth lately they'll know what I mean

thought they had got themselves sorted??

Bleak wrote:

standing8 wrote:The Booth brothers from Nottingham?

If anyone's since nicky booth lately they'll know what I mean

thought they had got themselves sorted??

Jason has, don't know about Nicky though, wouldn't surprise me if he hadn't, hasn't boxed in 10 years now, which suggest there's still problems there.

lillywhite14 wrote:Kassim Ouma

Forced to be a child soldier at the age of five!

We have a winner! I heard they were going to make a film about Ouma's life; that would be some story!

Nigel Benn got into quite a few scraps on the street and in the army; but he did have good parents/a good family throughout his life it would appear. His eldest brother died in street fight/fall when Nigel was eight years old.

Kassim Ouma.

Had to check for his name, but Fernando Angulo lived alone in the jungle when he was a kid.

danamba7 wrote:

n1ebf wrote:I think my (2nd) favourite boxer - Chris Eubank - got some pretty serious stick off his Dad and older brothers from something he mentioned in his book from memory.

Yeah and he went from the streets of Peckham to the Bronx so grew up in 2 of the roughest places in the modern world. For all his flashy ring walks and posing, he was one of the toughest boxers we've produced in the the ring.

Lol Peckham?! You got to be joking. There are much rougher places in the world than the Bronx let alone Peckham.

Kassim Ouma, saad Muhammad, Tapia, joe Frazier, jack Johnson, Sam Langford... There's been many.

Was it David Tua who was forced into fighting grown men for money by his father when he was about 13?

Lupe Pintor, was beaten by his violent father and then lived on the streets as a child.

I remember Kevin Lueshing having it tough as a kid.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/grad ... 81773.html

Frank Cedeno had to eat tree bark as a child. I remember that when they brought him over
as Charlie Magri's first defence.

*waiting for the Fury fans to turn up...