Joe Savage...

[Robinson]

I suppose this is a question to the Britons here, but how credible are any of
his claims that he was a 42-0 bare knuckle champion ?

Is their footage available of any of his so called under ground bouts ?

I am interesting to know what ever you care to share about him...

Thanks again.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=jF79w3ASXS4
This is all I really know about him...his first round destruction at the hands of past
it Bert Cooper.

[Flump]

I know nothing of his street history but I remember he was due to fight in the heavyweight tournament that was eventually won by Tony Tubbs but was bashed up in sparring by Bonecrusher Smith and advised not to try boxing, Cooper reinforced the point by sparking him in less than a minute.

[Expug]

I believe, that Savage was going to participate in a heavyweight tourny in the eighties that involved Bonecrusher , Tubbs, Tucker etc.
Savage was coming in as a curiosity as he was supposedly some bareknuckle champ.
Shortly before the tourny started, he witnessed a sparring session between Tubbs and Bonecrusher.
He stood there watching as the two swapped bombs.
After one of the rounds, Bonecrusher looked at Savage and said,"This aint no street crap Joe, this is what we do".
Savage withdrew from the tournament shortly after with a "hand injury". Or some other malady.

[Robinson]

Thanks guys.

How often do you have tough guys that have inflated street
fight or 'street match' records and when they are in the
gym or god forbid in the ring get creamed.

MMA is terrible for these types...every one is a You Tube
star but when they come to the gym they are horrible.

[zojo]

Robinson, you bring up a very good point. This is the exact reason why I was so bothered by the Kimbo Slice /Kevin Fergusson hype. The man made his name by beating up a bunch of "tuff guys" on youtube. I was concerned that youtube would become some bizzaro farm system of people trying to become famous just like Fergusson by beating up some random guy on the street or putting their buddies in the hospital hoping that would make them famous.

It would be not too different than if a guy came here on boxrec's forums and spouting off a bunch of venom, make a fool of himself on youtube and then get in a real fight with someone else on this forum who has actually been in the ring as a professional. I mean, someone could seriously get hurt....

[Robinson]

And they do often get exposed.

Take Kimbo...under his own rules he was defeated by part time MMAer and Cop
Gannon in an ugly fight.

Then he converts to MMA, gets some wins against near non MMA fighters. He then
loses to a LHW who takes the fight on a whim. By KO in Rnd 1.

'street fighting' gets so much credit by many in the public its scarey. They elevate
thugs and bullies to a level that is terrible, I think it is because these people
walk amongst us and the average person wants them to do well so as to justify
their intimidation.

Also martial arts for years has built up 'the street fighter' because one can tout
these mythic credentials to sell your secrets or for credibility. Every thing in
martial arts is about fighting these super fighters of the streets, when in reality
they miss the whole point.

So long as their is ignorance and fear, these guys will make a name for themselves
and garner interest amongst the easily excited. BUT...they shall always be exposed
by those that invest in hard work and talent.