Random Randomness.

[oblong]

 

[Deleterious]

Man, I'm old.

 

[oblong]

Man that was the golden age with those 4 guys.  My best friend is a boxing nut so I rely on him to tell me when to watch.

 

 

 

[Screwball]

Those guys don't have a punch like a Jack Dempsey or Ali, but they will smack the snot out of you before you even knew what hit you. I have a funny boxing story.

Back in 1977 I was working in a local factory in the welding department. They hired a new guy. He was a small black guy, who looked to be in his 30s or 40s. Looked very muscular and fit, but not very big, maybe 150 lbs. He lived in his van in the parking lot. On the spare tire cover on the back of his van it said "there goes so-and-so" from some town in PA, can't remember which one. He was quiet, did his job, didn't bother anyone, and seemed like a drifter going through town.

They picked on this guy mercifully, day after day. It wasn't pretty, but he never said anything and went about his business. One day we were alone on the break room and I said "hey, man, these guys are really dicking with you, why don't you haul off and cold cock one of them. That would probably put a stop to it."  He just smiled and said, don't worry, I'll be fine. OK, I said.

A few days later I was in there again with him alone. He said, "hey, look at this." I walked over and he pulls some pictures out of his lunchbox and shows me a half dozen pictures of him in a boxing ring fighting various people. I said, "wow, what's that all about?" As it turned out, 10 or so years before, he was a professional boxer, or wanted to be. At one time he was the 6th ranked welterweight in the country. He told me he got to spar with the champion and found out he could never beat him, so he chose to do something else, and left the sport. Impressive, nonetheless.

The rest of the story; not long after, one of our local company badasses started in on him again. This time it got uglier then normal. Finally the badass took a swipe at him. Of course he missed, and got his nose bloodied after being hit about 4 times before he knew what happened. That was the end of that - he wanted no more - and for good reason. This dude could have kicked the snot out of anyone there - no matter how big.

Nobody screwed with the guy after that, and he just went about his business. Quit after 6 months or so and went on to somewhere else. Always wondered what happened to the guy. Probably dead now. But that little incident was funny as hell - and the badass wasn't as bad.

[Tiger337]

2 hours ago, oblong said:

Man that was the golden age with those 4 guys.  My best friend is a boxing nut so I rely on him to tell me when to watch.

 

 

 

yeah, those matches were all considered major sporting events.  You heard about them whether you were a boxing fan or not and they were all household names.  Maybe, I'm just not paying attention, but it doesn't seem as if that has happened for years.  

Edited 11 hours ago by Tiger337

[oblong]

9 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

yeah, those matches were all considered major sporting events.  You heard about them whether you were a boxing fan or not and they were all household names.  Maybe, I'm just not paying attention, but it doesn't seem as if that has happened for years.  

Boxing decided to go hard niche and stay with the PPV format.  They have a very strong core following though.

I stayed with it until the early 2000's when it was on HBO every Friday.  Then kids....

 

[chasfh]

Many of my peers and I—and those older than I—remember when some of the biggest boxing matches would air on ABC-TV in prime time, especially if Muhammad Ali was fighting and Costello was calling the action.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

Many of my peers and I—and those older than I—remember when some of the biggest boxing matches would air on ABC-TV in prime time, especially if Muhammad Ali was fighting and Costello was calling the action.

Cosell?

[Screwball]

I'm old, but back when I grew up boxing was quite the sport. I remember sitting in the living room on Saturday night watching a black and white TV using an antenna to watch "fights of the century" with my dad who was a gold glove boxer. Example;

Greatest Fights of the Century - "Louis vs. Marciano, October 1951" (1953)

[Deleterious]

Didn't they broadcast some fights on closed circuit tv in movie theaters?

[Screwball]

I think so. I remember going to a bowling alley (had to look it up) in 1990 to watch George Foreman and Gerry Cooney. They some somehow got the feed. They were packed.

[CMRivdogs]

37 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Didn't they broadcast some fights on closed circuit tv in movie theaters?

They did. I believe the Liston/Clay (Ali) was one.  Ali/Frazier may have been another as well as Ali/Foreman.

All back before pay per view cable was available. 

[Screwball]

A little search will tell us the Thrilla in Manila in 1975 was an HBO first television network to broadcast a continuous signal via satellite. I remember that fight.

[Tiger337]

Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!