Boxings zaniest legends true or false?
Boxings zaniest legends true or false?
Some of The fight games craziest legends. Were these true or not? If you have any others give em up. 1 Harry Greb having sex in the dressing room right before fights. 2 Battling Siki walking a lion on a leash down Paris streets. 3 Walker -Greb rematch in a saloon. 4 Alis special Anchor Punch against Liston. 5 Marcel Cerdans alleged affair with Edith Piaf. 6 Battling Nelson taking a bath in the vat of leomanade used for refreshment at the Demsey - Willard fight. 7 Dempseys supposed plaster of Paris hand wraps in the Willard fight. Jack Johnson going in the tank vs. Willard as evidenced by the picture of him shielding his eyes from the sun in Havana while he is on his back. 8 Don Jordan working as a hitman. 9Willie Pep winning a round without throwing a punch.10 Supposedly Young Corbett insulted Terry Mcgovern so badly right before their first fight that when the opening bell rang Terry charged Corbett in a blind rage and was K.O.d shortly after.
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ringsider
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1 Harry Greb having sex in the dressing room right before fights. --
--Don’t know, but it’s probably true!
2 Battling Siki walking a lion on a leash down Paris streets.
--True story! Bob Fitzsimmons walked through New York with his pet lion...though it was more of a cub at the time.
3 Walker -Greb rematch in a saloon.
--Walker talked about it in interviews, but I don’t know if there is any actual proof of it.
4 Alis special Anchor Punch against Liston.
--Bullshit. Ali just landed a straight right.
5 Marcel Cerdans alleged affair with Edith Piaf.
--I don’t know.
6 Battling Nelson taking a bath in the vat of leomanade used for refreshment at the Demsey - Willard fight.
--Supposed fact. They said that Nelson was a very unkempt man who rarely bathed, but wanted to look his best for the bout and he took a bath in the lemonade thinking it was water, which would seem to me that he would certainly smell the lemon. It’s probably true though.
7 Dempseys supposed plaster of Paris hand wraps in the Willard fight. Jack Johnson going in the tank vs. Willard as evidenced by the picture of him shielding his eyes from the sun in Havana while he is on his back.
--Both false.
8 Don Jordan working as a hitman.
--I have no idea.
9Willie Pep winning a round without throwing a punch.
--Plain False. The bout was with Jackie Graves, but nowhere in any of the newspaper reports does it state that Pep won a round without throwing a punch. More so, in the round by round accounts of the fight it tales that Graves landed in each and every round.
10 Supposedly Young Corbett insulted Terry Mcgovern so badly right before their first fight that when the opening bell rang Terry charged Corbett in a blind rage and was K.O.d shortly after.
--True. Not only did he insult McGovern before coming out, he continued to do so in the ring and carried it on over to their second bout as well. Before their third bout they had become somewhat friends and McGovern asked Corbett before the bout to leave the insults out and just have a good, solid bout. Corbett agreed and they fought a close bout. McGovern was a very proud man and would lose his mind, just from insults.
--Don’t know, but it’s probably true!
2 Battling Siki walking a lion on a leash down Paris streets.
--True story! Bob Fitzsimmons walked through New York with his pet lion...though it was more of a cub at the time.
3 Walker -Greb rematch in a saloon.
--Walker talked about it in interviews, but I don’t know if there is any actual proof of it.
4 Alis special Anchor Punch against Liston.
--Bullshit. Ali just landed a straight right.
5 Marcel Cerdans alleged affair with Edith Piaf.
--I don’t know.
6 Battling Nelson taking a bath in the vat of leomanade used for refreshment at the Demsey - Willard fight.
--Supposed fact. They said that Nelson was a very unkempt man who rarely bathed, but wanted to look his best for the bout and he took a bath in the lemonade thinking it was water, which would seem to me that he would certainly smell the lemon. It’s probably true though.
7 Dempseys supposed plaster of Paris hand wraps in the Willard fight. Jack Johnson going in the tank vs. Willard as evidenced by the picture of him shielding his eyes from the sun in Havana while he is on his back.
--Both false.
8 Don Jordan working as a hitman.
--I have no idea.
9Willie Pep winning a round without throwing a punch.
--Plain False. The bout was with Jackie Graves, but nowhere in any of the newspaper reports does it state that Pep won a round without throwing a punch. More so, in the round by round accounts of the fight it tales that Graves landed in each and every round.
10 Supposedly Young Corbett insulted Terry Mcgovern so badly right before their first fight that when the opening bell rang Terry charged Corbett in a blind rage and was K.O.d shortly after.
--True. Not only did he insult McGovern before coming out, he continued to do so in the ring and carried it on over to their second bout as well. Before their third bout they had become somewhat friends and McGovern asked Corbett before the bout to leave the insults out and just have a good, solid bout. Corbett agreed and they fought a close bout. McGovern was a very proud man and would lose his mind, just from insults.
Has anybody read Jack `Doc`Kearns book, The Million Dollar Gate?
If so, does anybody know how much truth was in that?
Doc Kearns couldn`t help but come out with outrageous claims...truly excellent some of them, my fave being how he got Archie Moore when he came back to the corner to wave over in Durelles direction after being bashed about the previous round...thus demoralising Durelle.
And on the sweltering night Maxim fought Robinson, Kearns wore the thickest wooly jumper he had so every time Joey complained about the heat he`d reply, `what heat`?
If so, does anybody know how much truth was in that?
Doc Kearns couldn`t help but come out with outrageous claims...truly excellent some of them, my fave being how he got Archie Moore when he came back to the corner to wave over in Durelles direction after being bashed about the previous round...thus demoralising Durelle.
And on the sweltering night Maxim fought Robinson, Kearns wore the thickest wooly jumper he had so every time Joey complained about the heat he`d reply, `what heat`?
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I haven't read it, but I wouldn't put much faith into it as Kearns made a ton of outlandish and untrue accusations after he and Dempsey split and just from those doozies, I wouldn't believe a whole lot fo what he said. No doubt a lot is true, but a lot is also fantasy. I plan on reading it though.
I read a story years ago in a boxing magazine by Greb's friend who said he was with Harry the whole night,before and after the Walker fight,and they never saw the Mick at all following the fight,I think he went to the hospital but I can't remember for sure.And as Greb's friend said who'd be crazy enough to fight Greb in the street,I'm sure Walker would but I'm equally sure it never happened.
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I would strongly recommend you read it Barry, it is quite funny in his other claims...in Mickey Walkers auto-bio he outlines what the Doc was like and Kearns book fills you in a little more...but he really was a facinating character....with great storiesbarry wrote:I haven't read it, but I wouldn't put much faith into it as Kearns made a ton of outlandish and untrue accusations after he and Dempsey split and just from those doozies, I wouldn't believe a whole lot fo what he said. No doubt a lot is true, but a lot is also fantasy. I plan on reading it though.
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Pete---You have to overlook Decagon. Other than the fact that he is pretty well clueless about most topics concerning boxing...he has a hard time understanding what he reads...he does better with pop-up picture books!
tonyevs---I am going to read it some time. I have most books on Dempsey, but I am lacking that one and also Kid Blackie.
Kevin Smith sent me a copy of Black Genesis which arrived yesterday of which I read half of it last night and will probably finish up today. It is a very, very good read and very solid and grounded in fact. Unlike past writers like Nat Fleischer, Kevin has actually tracked down the factual data, whereas Fleischer would have just made up a tale for effect on something that he did not know about, which as Kevin mentions in the book, is one of the problems with boxing history today. We have characters like Fleischer, who really loved boxing and was a great, great advocate for it, but he would not hesitate to make something that he had no info for into a fictional-fantasy which he would then pass of as fact and unfortunately there are so many people who think that Fleischer is right, just because he is Fleischer, but for all that he did for boxing, he also hurt the history greatly by not staying steadfast in sticking to actual facts. Kevin Smith does not have this problem. I only wish that everyone who decides to write a book on boxing would do as Smith does in his writing and I would certainly very highly recommend any of his books.
tonyevs---I am going to read it some time. I have most books on Dempsey, but I am lacking that one and also Kid Blackie.
Kevin Smith sent me a copy of Black Genesis which arrived yesterday of which I read half of it last night and will probably finish up today. It is a very, very good read and very solid and grounded in fact. Unlike past writers like Nat Fleischer, Kevin has actually tracked down the factual data, whereas Fleischer would have just made up a tale for effect on something that he did not know about, which as Kevin mentions in the book, is one of the problems with boxing history today. We have characters like Fleischer, who really loved boxing and was a great, great advocate for it, but he would not hesitate to make something that he had no info for into a fictional-fantasy which he would then pass of as fact and unfortunately there are so many people who think that Fleischer is right, just because he is Fleischer, but for all that he did for boxing, he also hurt the history greatly by not staying steadfast in sticking to actual facts. Kevin Smith does not have this problem. I only wish that everyone who decides to write a book on boxing would do as Smith does in his writing and I would certainly very highly recommend any of his books.
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[quote="barry"]
tonyevs---I am going to read it some time. I have most books on Dempsey, but I am lacking that one and also Kid Blackie.
quote]
The Kearns book is very much about Kearns, Dempsey gets mentioned but only a little more than Mickey Walker, Joey Maxim or Archie Moore...Kearns did see himself as `the` most important of those listed, they were merely just a part of Kearns past.
I shall give the `Black Genesis `a look through at some time, and it is very correct that much that was written a long time ago has now been taken as truth, and that is whats so confusing...a story gets repeated and exagerated over the years, and even when we do trace back the story to an original account we still cannot be alltogether sure if the account was all together true...because how honest was the original writer
I take most with a pinch of salt.....
tonyevs---I am going to read it some time. I have most books on Dempsey, but I am lacking that one and also Kid Blackie.
quote]
The Kearns book is very much about Kearns, Dempsey gets mentioned but only a little more than Mickey Walker, Joey Maxim or Archie Moore...Kearns did see himself as `the` most important of those listed, they were merely just a part of Kearns past.
I shall give the `Black Genesis `a look through at some time, and it is very correct that much that was written a long time ago has now been taken as truth, and that is whats so confusing...a story gets repeated and exagerated over the years, and even when we do trace back the story to an original account we still cannot be alltogether sure if the account was all together true...because how honest was the original writer
I take most with a pinch of salt.....
What about the story of Duran KO`ing the girlfriend of the fighter he had just KO`ed when she came to have a go at him about it..KOJOE90 wrote:I heard the same about Bob Fitzsimmons.Ezzard wrote:I heard that Jack Johnson did the same thing.ringsider wrote:I have heard Roberto Duran knocked a (cow, bull, or horse) to its knees with a punch between the animals eyes.