BoxRec

ringsider wrote:They are nothing but Zellenoff types. They have no claim on anything.......

And as hard as it is to say this, Hagler would have killed that street fighting bum.....

Joe Savage was reported to be the undefeated bareknuckle champion of Great Britian. Savage looked the part; shaved head, powerful arms, and numerous tattooes. He claimed the legendary underground title as World Heavyweight Bareknuckle Champion, and boasted a record of 42-0 with 42 knockouts.

According to an interview in a Great Britian newspaper, Savage said he was forced to retire from bareknuckle boxing because his ear had almost been torn completely off. The ear was re-attached, but Savage's no-holds barred career was over.

In 1993, Savage decided to try his hand at professional boxing. He entered the People's Choice One-Night Heavyweight Tournament on December 3, 1993, but pulled out at the last moment.

He did venture into pro boxing a short time later, but was quickly dispatched in the first round by former heavyweight contender Bert Cooper in April 1994. Savage then vanished from the scene.

Savage reportedly works as a bodyguard and a trainer of bareknuckle fighters in Great Britian.

HomicideHenry wrote:

Joe Savage was reported to be the undefeated bareknuckle champion of Great Britian. Savage looked the part; shaved head, powerful arms, and numerous tattooes. He claimed the legendary underground title as World Heavyweight Bareknuckle Champion, and boasted a record of 42-0 with 42 knockouts.

According to an interview in a Great Britian newspaper, Savage said he was forced to retire from bareknuckle boxing because his ear had almost been torn completely off. The ear was re-attached, but Savage's no-holds barred career was over.

In 1993, Savage decided to try his hand at professional boxing. He entered the People's Choice One-Night Heavyweight Tournament on December 3, 1993, but pulled out at the last moment.

He did venture into pro boxing a short time later, but was quickly dispatched in the first round by former heavyweight contender Bert Cooper in April 1994. Savage then vanished from the scene.

Savage reportedly works as a bodyguard and a trainer of bareknuckle fighters in Great Britian.

He sure as hell had balls to step into the ring with Cooper who had over 45 professional bouts in his debut. FFS it's practically on par with Rademacher going up against Patterson, or Jack Finnegan going up against Jim Jefferies. I wonder, if this man retired undefeated as Britain's bare knuckle champion in 1992-1993, who became the next champion?

Never seen footage of this encounter, but I have seen a poor film of Charles Bronson (Michael Peterson) following his short lived release from prison duking it out with some amateur whom I never heard of and beat the man pillar to post before getting disqualified.

tzyuforever wrote:I've seen Mclean's unlicensed boxing matches, but not the bareknuckle stuff. Any footage exist?

Robinson wrote:These guys thrive in Gypsy settlements and other minority group communties
to some it is a cultural sport...to others it is a stamp of man hood and a way
for criminal elements to exercise influence and make money on gambling etc.

Lets not forget that these types, started our great sport. One does not need
to fight the best around to be a champ...but he just needs to fight whomever
is around at the time.

With proper professional sports ie boxing, mma etc these sports are relegated to
fad mediums such as You Tube, under world elements, back yards, gangland
settings or as I above mentioned community groups.

I personally have had two organised ;bare knuckle' fights. Nothing special and
nothing impressive. Tough guys that push more steel than flesh always get it
in there heads that they can beat on others with ease.

Personally training to fight another well trained athlete-fighter in a sanctioned,
open arena is always alot harder than 'bare knuckle' bouts of this nature.

yiddo14 wrote:

Robinson wrote:These guys thrive in Gypsy settlements and other minority group communties
to some it is a cultural sport...to others it is a stamp of man hood and a way
for criminal elements to exercise influence and make money on gambling etc.

Lets not forget that these types, started our great sport. One does not need
to fight the best around to be a champ...but he just needs to fight whomever
is around at the time.

With proper professional sports ie boxing, mma etc these sports are relegated to
fad mediums such as You Tube, under world elements, back yards, gangland
settings or as I above mentioned community groups.

I personally have had two organised ;bare knuckle' fights. Nothing special and
nothing impressive. Tough guys that push more steel than flesh always get it
in there heads that they can beat on others with ease.

Personally training to fight another well trained athlete-fighter in a sanctioned,
open arena is always alot harder than 'bare knuckle' bouts of this nature.

These types didn't start Boxing Robisnon.
Looking at the early practioners of bare knuckle "boxing", these were educated men who often had their own gyms where they trained in other types of combat, most notably fencing.
Also, back in them days bare knuckle was the only option, so the cream of the fighters had no other choice. Todays so called bare knuckle champs choose to stay out of the pro game because they are not skilled enough to be a success.

yiddo14 wrote:

Robinson wrote:These guys thrive in Gypsy settlements and other minority group communties
to some it is a cultural sport...to others it is a stamp of man hood and a way
for criminal elements to exercise influence and make money on gambling etc.

Lets not forget that these types, started our great sport. One does not need
to fight the best around to be a champ...but he just needs to fight whomever
is around at the time.

With proper professional sports ie boxing, mma etc these sports are relegated to
fad mediums such as You Tube, under world elements, back yards, gangland
settings or as I above mentioned community groups.

I personally have had two organised ;bare knuckle' fights. Nothing special and
nothing impressive. Tough guys that push more steel than flesh always get it
in there heads that they can beat on others with ease.

Personally training to fight another well trained athlete-fighter in a sanctioned,
open arena is always alot harder than 'bare knuckle' bouts of this nature.

These types didn't start Boxing Robisnon.
Looking at the early practioners of bare knuckle "boxing", these were educated men who often had their own gyms where they trained in other types of combat, most notably fencing.
Also, back in them days bare knuckle was the only option, so the cream of the fighters had no other choice. Todays so called bare knuckle champs choose to stay out of the pro game because they are not skilled enough to be a success.

HomicideHenry wrote:I tend to lean more in agreement with Robinson on this one. Even today, many of the men of olden times, you cant find all their fights because it was all illegal. It all started with these types, and survived by these types, until modern boxing all but killed it off. Jem Mace wasnt called THE GYPSY for nothing now, and hes considered the father of modern boxing. Still, none the less, personally, I'd rather watch these unlicensed fights than I would a ppv.

They should bring it back to the main stream.

In my own bare knuckle experiences one of the gent's I had the pleasure of
mixing it with was boasting 15 wins to no losses, all by 'brutal KO'...the guy
looked the part...6' 220lbs, arm tat's from wrist to neck..the usual shit...any how
he fell after a few seconds after he ate a right hand...no defence, he had nothing
that resembled an average amateur....he had image and bravado.

Most of these guys build their reps on BS, intimidation, street folklore and
the few bouts they do have.

HomicideHenry wrote:Btw, I seen the Savage fight with Cooper. Savage had to have had at least a hell of a punch, as he did manage to knock Cooper back some several feet, before Cooper came charging back and knocking him out....the bare knuckle guys, the real good ones anyways, I equate to the MMA strikers, who train extensively for focus and to have one punch knock out power, cus you never know when the opprotunity will be there to punch.

HomicideHenry wrote:Bartley Gorman, is an interesting character. Evidentially Muhammad Ali was so impressed with the stories he heard of about the 'King of The Gypsies' he even sparred with him. Gorman was champion evidentially from 1972-1992, though til his dying die he never quite said he was retired, his last fight of note was in 1997. I find it ironic, considering Ali was asked once if he would have boxed in John L. Sullivan's time and he said no, that it hurt too much, or something to that effect.

Its said both Shaw and McLean ducked him. He must have been one hard bastard.

HomicideHenry wrote:Bartley Gorman, is an interesting character. Evidentially Muhammad Ali was so impressed with the stories he heard of about the 'King of The Gypsies' he even sparred with him. Gorman was champion evidentially from 1972-1992, though til his dying die he never quite said he was retired, his last fight of note was in 1997. I find it ironic, considering Ali was asked once if he would have boxed in John L. Sullivan's time and he said no, that it hurt too much, or something to that effect.

Its said both Shaw and McLean ducked him. He must have been one hard bastard.

HomicideHenry wrote:

In my own bare knuckle experiences one of the gent's I had the pleasure of
mixing it with was boasting 15 wins to no losses, all by 'brutal KO'...the guy
looked the part...6' 220lbs, arm tat's from wrist to neck..the usual shit...any how
he fell after a few seconds after he ate a right hand...no defence, he had nothing
that resembled an average amateur....he had image and bravado.

I had a similar experience once. The one thing I notice too often from bar room brawlers, street fighter types, are that every punch is not only written with TNT on it, but can be seen from a mile away, just too wild and drawn too far back, can be easily ducked and/or countered. I boxed a man who was every bit of 6'4" and probably 180 pounds, to my then 5'8" and 160 pounds. He had a reputation for being not someone to mess with, but all his punches were looping and I was able to get inside rather easily and dropped him after a few hard solar plexus shots.