a cool story about Joe Brown

[chance]

Ok so my dad told me this story a while back and I thought it was really cool so I thought I would share. Of course my old man is the only means I have to verify the story, but he was there, and is usually a pretty reliable source about such things. It was 1968 or so and Joe Brown was training with Bill Gore here in Houston. My old man was an experienced amateur at that time and used to ocasionally spar with Joe. According to my father, Joe Brown was one of the greatest fighters who ever lived, however, By 68 Joe Brown was a shadow of his former self mostly trying to scrape together a living using what was left of his name to get fights. Really just a name opponent for up and commers. Not to say that he couldn't fight anymore, because on a given night he still looked good, but no one really took him seriously as a contender by this point. As the story goes, a manager for a fighter named Graffio comes in looking to find an opponent for his guy to use as a tune up fight for an upcoming big name fight he was about to have. Joe really needed the money so of course he voiced an interest in the fight, but as no one on his team thought he could win, they didn't want to make the fight. Joe insisted that he could win, no one agreed, but they gave him the fight as sort of a favor to an old friend that needed a pay day. Getting ready for the fight my dad says he spared with Joe every week (My old man was a featherweight at the time so they used him for speed work) And according to my dad, he told joe after a particularly sloppy round of sparring "man, you really think you can beat this guy?" Joe replied "Trust me, I've seen this kid fight, he can't whoop no part of me!" Such was Joes answer every time anyone asked. He just knew something, he would say, "I've got anwsers for all his questions, I've got questions he ain't got no answers for" Of course none of the sports writers gave Joe a chance. Fight night came and he was a heavy underdog, but when the fight started every one could see that Joe was right, he had Graffio completely confused and was winning the fight. In the eighth Brown caught Graffio between the eyes with a vicious right hand ending the fight. The beating was so complete that it supposedly ruined Graffio as a fighter and he never fought again. I thought this story was cool because part of me always wants to see the old faded great come back and beat the odds one last time when no one expects it, like in the movies. Unfortunately real life seldom works out that way. But it did at least once upon a time long before I was around to see it in 1968.

[silkov]

Ok so my dad told me this story a while back and I thought it was really cool so I thought I would share. Of course my old man is the only means I have to verify the story, but he was there, and is usually a pretty reliable source about such things. It was 1968 or so and Joe Brown was training with Bill Gore here in Houston. My old man was an experienced amateur at that time and used to ocasionally spar with Joe. According to my father, Joe Brown was one of the greatest fighters who ever lived, however, By 68 Joe Brown was a shadow of his former self mostly trying to scrape together a living using what was left of his name to get fights. Really just a name opponent for up and commers. Not to say that he couldn't fight anymore, because on a given night he still looked good, but no one really took him seriously as a contender by this point. As the story goes, a manager for a fighter named Graffio comes in looking to find an opponent for his guy to use as a tune up fight for an upcoming big name fight he was about to have. Joe really needed the money so of course he voiced an interest in the fight, but as no one on his team thought he could win, they didn't want to make the fight. Joe insisted that he could win, no one agreed, but they gave him the fight as sort of a favor to an old friend that needed a pay day. Getting ready for the fight my dad says he spared with Joe every week (My old man was a featherweight at the time so they used him for speed work) And according to my dad, he told joe after a particularly sloppy round of sparring "man, you really think you can beat this guy?" Joe replied "Trust me, I've seen this kid fight, he can't whoop no part of me!" Such was Joes answer every time anyone asked. He just knew something, he would say, "I've got anwsers for all his questions, I've got questions he ain't got no answers for" Of course none of the sports writers gave Joe a chance. Fight night came and he was a heavy underdog, but when the fight started every one could see that Joe was right, he had Graffio completely confused and was winning the fight. In the eighth Brown caught Graffio between the eyes with a vicious right hand ending the fight. The beating was so complete that it supposedly ruined Graffio as a fighter and he never fought again. I thought this story was cool because part of me always wants to see the old faded great come back and beat the odds one last time when no one expects it, like in the movies. Unfortunately real life seldom works out that way. But it did at least once upon a time long before I was around to see it in 1968.

Nice story... Brown is a favourite of mine, great boxer and very underrated... he was avoided for years before he finally got his title shot and was probably already a little past his peak when he first won the title, which only makes his long and active reign and lengthy career all the more impressive....

[enrique]

One of the great thrills of my life was sitting ringside in New Orleans when he fought Joe Barrientes. I was young and it was the first time I saw a champion in the flesh. He was a shot fighter in his forties but for brief moments he looked very slick. I still have the ticket stub from that fight.