Curious to know if anyone here has watched any live pro fights in person. I’m currently at the Benavidez vs Lemieux venue and this is actually my very first live event. The atmosphere is very interesting.
Hope you enjoyed Flo! I've been to roughly 20 fights. All in NY/AC/PA. The vast majority came between 2000-2016. I've only been to two since my son was born. Just not as much time anymore.
What were some high profile fights that you guys have been to? It was a fun experience overall, only wish the main fight itself lasted a bit longer but Benavidez did what he was supposed to do. He definitely made a lot of excitement and the crowd went wild. Initially we all thought they stopped it too early but rewatching the fight on Showtime it looked clear that Lemieux didn't have anything else to offer so the stoppage was a good call. I am definitely excited to go to more live fights in the future. Hoping to see more fighters from AZ make it big, we need more fighters to look forward to here!
Funny enough, one of my friends that I used to party a lot with back in college is actually good buddies with David Benavidez. He even showed me a bunch of pictures of his house, cars, jewelries, and of course some crazy videos of them them partying at the clubs. They would kick it a lot and he's been to his house plenty of times. According to my friend David is a very chill and easy guy to talk to. Only wish we had time to meet with him after the fight but he was very busy. The crazy part was when my friend told me that David's brother Jose has been to plenty of house parties in Phoenix that I've been to back in the day and that I may have even come across him and David at some point without even knowing. I'm obviously way past that partying phase and seldom remember anyone from those days at this point so I didn't really think too much about it. Still interesting to know.
I went to James Toney-Danny Batchedler in San Jose. It was terrible, and yet another example on why it’s a pet peeve of mine when juicing is brought up and people think a guy is clean because he’s not ripped. I had a better physique then than both of them, and they both got caught juicing. I went to that Filipino/Mexican matchup in 2007 in Sacramento Jhonny Gonzalez-Gerry Penalosa Daniel Ponce De Leon-Rey Bautista Z Gorres-Eric Ortiz The Filipinos were winning the first fights, and a Mexican won for the main event. I was pretty relieved because I remember some drunk Mexican fans who looked like they were going to start fighting other fans if they didn’t get one win. I used to go to local shows as a kid in Northern California with my dad. One that I remember was October 1991 https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/8021 https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/5490 I remember being ringside for Eddie Croft’s fight on that card. Seeing up close how spit, sweat, and blood would go flying was quite something. Croft ended up being a top 10 ranked contender but was clearly out of his depth when he fought M.A.B, and took a beating. It was on the undercard for Bowe-Holyfield 3. Years later, he was somehow allowed to fight Erik Morales despite having not fought for years and having serious eye issues. The fight went as you would expect. Also on that card was Maui Diaz-Paris Alexander, the latter who I trained under like 15 years later. Diaz won and also eventually fought Barrera. Again, the jump in quality was just too much and Barrera dominated. I went to another show around that time in Paso Robles. I don’t remember who was fighting, but I remember Jerry Quarry singing the national anthem. He sang pretty decent, and seemed mentally pretty sharp. Not too long later, he was suffering from serious CTE. I went to the Vitali-Arreola fight in Staples Center in 09’, but I haven’t been to many big fights. My coworker went to seemingly most of the big Vegas or LA fights that were on HBO in the 00s, but said the prices eventually increased too much.
I haveva recurring nightmare of bumping into a pro fighter who recognises me from fightbeat and beats me mercilessly. I avoid pro cards accordingly and just get battered at the amateur cards instead.
The most notable fights I've been to are Trinidad-Joppy and Cotto-Judah. The best fighters I've seen live are Trinidad and Bud.
Best fighter I've seen live was jones jr. Although it was a declining version. Vs gonzalez, ruiz, and the first 2 Tarver fights
Not gonna lie, I kinda regret that I'm not gonna be at Barclays on Saturday. This is gonna be the biggest NYC crowd since the pandemic.
I spent some time in Phoenix, in the gym on Van Buren just behind one of the government building. It was called the Central Boxing gym, I think. It has a big mural on the West side of the building. Tyson trained there for at least 2 fights. This was back when George Garcia, the heavyweight, Jesus Gonzalez, the middleweight, were fighting. Rafael Valenzuela was ranked #1 nationally as an amateur but didn't Pan out as a pro. I started going to fights with my mother in 67 or 68 at the Olympic Auditorium. Over the years I guess that I have been to close to 1000 shows, between amateur and pro, and seen God only knows how many rounds of sparring.
