Who is your favourite fighter ever? And why?

Morales is definitely right there near the top for me as well. I like everyone from our generation's Fab Four, and usually struggle in rooting interest whenever they fight each other. But Morales is really the only one out of the lot I'll go out of my way of to see live - for example, just booked my flight for Houston next month.

He's not the most gracious man in defeat, but for the most part is quite humble. Like Trinidad, there's an instant connection the moment the bell rings.

 

This is a two part answer...

I used to go to a ton of regional/local type shows. From that perspective the promotion wasn't bad. The ring was on the stage (it was held in an theatre...I'd say it held 5 thousand...max) so the setup was similar to that of the Telesco fight...there where chairs (the V.I.P. section) on three sides of the ring. The remaining side exposed the ring to the crowd. From the perspective of a regional show, the execution was good. There were large screens on both sides of the stage so if you were sitting in the balcony you'd have a decent vantage point to simultaenously watch the action in the ring. With that said, I'd be shocked if the promoters weren't disappointed in the turnout.

The seat prices were $200, $100, $50 and $25 (balcony seats). I bought a $50 seat which put me square in the middle of the lower seating section. I got there fairly early because I'm one of the nerds that wants to be there before the first fighters get into the ring. Initially I believed the sparse crowd was due to my getting there early and as the evening lingered on it was increasingly obvious attendance would not swell to a sellout capacity.

Overall the card was just okay...ton of setup fights, a few fighters from Roys gym (one in his third fight and was terrible. The other, laughed my ass off when Gabe Brown came out...he weighed in at 354, the guy he fought was 100 pounds lighter).

I'd say at best, the place was half full. That's being generous. Seems most purchased $50 seats as I did. I'd gotten up to grab something to drink and as I walked toward the exit I saw rows and rows of unfilled seats in the back of the auditorium...I don't mean four or five...I'm talking 20...across the span of the entire theatre.

After I returned with my drink, instead of climbing over folks that were oddly packed together, I sat in a seat 10 to 15 rows closer than my previous seat...and had the row to myself.

When Roy came out a ton of folks rushed to the front of the stage to take pictures etc then walked back to their seats. That within itself astonished me considering 75% of the audience was lumped together in the middle two thirds of the theatre. I got up, walked to the front and sat in the 5th row from the stage...and there were perhaps 20 folks sitting near me. I'd approximate the $100 seats had maybe 100 folks. All I could think is what did Roy think when he walked out and saw how sparse the crowd was.

With all of that said...seeing the crowd was congregated toward the middle third of the floor level it felt like a funeral rather than a fight. It was sooo quiet most of the time I could hear their shoes squeek on the canvas...and the ring was NOT mic'd. Throughout the fight a guy in front of me yelled "this guy's a bum, Roy" at least once per round for the first three or four rounds. You could hear and echo as his voice rebounded off the back of the theatre.

Anyway...the fight...judge for yourself its on youtube. After leaving the ring, Roy walked to the edge of the stage to shake hands and sign autographs. Seemed genuinely happy to be there and talk to folks.

The venue didn't fit the event or perhaps the event didn't fit the venue. I have to believe the promoters thought the place would sell out or would be near a sellout. It wasn't.

In fact...during the co-main event (which actually wasn't a bad fight) between rounds I got up to get another bottle of water (mind you this is close to Roy's fight) and the concession stands were shut down, tshirt vendors were packing up and there was a drunk guy in the lobby doing magic tricks for seven or eight people. ::


if you'd scrubbed Roy's name from the top billing I would have said it was a great promotion for local/regional type talent. To have his name at the top of the bill I can't believe it wasn't a failure.

 

Or McClellan...or Toney...or Nunn...

 

It looked like to me that most of the people were in the balcony part up top. The part that you mentioned was empty as hell for the most part. Oh and the co main event was easily the best fight of the night.

 

I'll answer with a few different answers just to be annoying.

Joe Frazier was my first favourite - he's the reason i started watching boxing.

Bob Foster is my favourite in terms of his style (at 175 of course) and ferocious power.

Lennox Lewis is the guy I rooted for more than anyone else in any sport, more than Arsenal, more than Elway with the Broncos, more than the Knicks. My dad told me to pay attention to this Lennox guy when he won the gold medal and I remember staying home on Halloween from Trick or Treating in 1992 to watch him fight Ruddock. Jumping up screaming when he won. And the Rahman rematch...... never a better sports moment for me than that.

 

damn i still have a lump on my head from hitting the ceiling at the end of the first rahman bout.

 

Rock-head wearing the Don King crown as he lay prostrate on the mat was gold ::

 

Was it as big as Rahman's was against your boy Evander? hehe

Opposite ends of the spectrum, my friend. I was in England for that Rahman 1 match, in a pub that had all stayed up until 4 am local time to watch.... the place was like a morgue.

 

McClellan, no problem. Be a brutal fight but I think Collins had the chin to do it.

The Toney that got beat up by Tiberi or Jones, no problem.

Only Benn and Collins fought the good yank fighters, I think only Crawford Ashley fought Nunn.

 

Muhammad Ali is the OBVIOUS Answer for 99.99999% of Brothers Btwn the Ages of 70-35...But Other than Ali, REED's Fave is (Surprise, Surprise) Roy Jones Jr...

REED 1st Came Across Roy @ the '88 U.S. Olympic Trials & was Blown Away by his Talent...Though CLEARLY Influenced by Ali & Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Seemed to Take the GIST of their Styles to a HIGHER Level...There was an Unapologetically ARROGANT & ATHLETIC Base to the Way Ali, Leonard AND Roy Fought, but Roy Possessed even MORE Athleticism & an UNORTHODOXY that Ali & Leonard Didn't...

Even as an Ammy, Roy Jones had a VIDEO GAME Quality to the Way he Fought, Coupled w/a COMIC BOOK Physique...To Be Blunt, it was VERY Easy for a Young, Black, Hardcore Boxing Fan to INSTANTLY Fall in Loooooove w/Roy Jones Jr...

Nonetheless, REED Drifted Away from Roy AND Boxing as a Whole, After Graduating Highschool in '89, & it Wasn't Until Jones vs. Toney, that REED REDISCOVERED his Love for the Sport...

Roy was the Fighter that REED Rode w/During his TRANSITION from Childhood to MANhood...



REED:clapagain:

 

Erik Morales. Because of his huge heart and his exciting fights won or lost.

 

take a wild guess :wack:

 

Mate Parlov?

 

Slobodan Kacar.

Parlov was a Croat. :limp:

 

Petkovic?

Wikipedia says he was born in two places at the same time, this Kacar individual

Slobodan Kačar (born September 15, 1957) is a retired Bosnian Serb boxer, born in Perućica near Jajce in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then SFR Yugoslavia.

 

Parlov was a good fighter

 

:dunno: no it doesen't.

His brother Matija was a silver medalist in the 76 games.

His nephew, Gojko plays as midfielder for Hamburger SV. artie:

 

::

"Gojko" :laugh11:

 

great guy as well.

Yeah, Gojko is considered a funny name even in Serbia.

 

Ha.. That brought back memories. I was at my brother's house and there were trick or treaters ringing the doorbell and we were yelling at them to wait.

 

His fight with Conteh was a good one

 

I'm voting Jones too. His prime was unreal..

The sad part is.. he has fallen so far that I had no idea that he even fought last weekend.

 

Jones is up there for me too, no doubt.

 

Another favorite of mine is Lupe Pintor. The guy had very under-rated skills, but could punch like hell too. Plus he was tough as hell. I'm not sure he loses to Gomez had it not been for all of the low blows. But he gave one helluva an effort either way.

 

There's a Mexican food shop near my bit named after Lupe Pintor :Thumbs:

 

My all time fav fighter is Danny "Little Red" Lopez. Little Red in damn near every fight he had started out getting his ass kicked, then came storming back and won. He is my fav just because he was so much fun to watch fight. Other than Little Red, I gotta go with Ali in his prime, no one, absolutely no one could touch Ali in his prime. He was poetry in motion. Next is Iron Mike just for the sheer power, and ditto for Big George Foreman. Next is Dwight Qwai in his prime, what a great fighter. Matthew Saad Muhammed is next. And of course the great Marvin Hagler. Tommy Hearns is up next. Ken Norton, the great "Hook" machine. And yes in his prime I enjoyed watching Benard Hopkins, and in his prime their was none better than Roberto Duran. I could list another 30 or 40 fighters I liked to watch down through the years, like Bobby Chacon.

But Little Red was the one I enjoyed watching the most. :Thumbs:

 

Dingko Singh.

Oh, what could have been.

 

RJJ in his prime was really something to see. Can't envision any fighter below 175 ever beating him

 

Little Red was astonishing, no one so frail looking should punch so obscenely hard... every fight was life and death and that ridiculous right hand would save the day... Nobody ever went further with less than Danny Lopez... he had balls and a huge punch, that was it... His big brother was much more talented and skillful but never came close to a championship

 

Toney would have beat the shit outta Collins.