I know this may only apply to guys who have fought before. If you have not fought in the ring before, what about the street? As for me, I fought in the PAL National Tournament in Dallas, Texas back in '95. I fought at 139 lbs. (Shit, I'm 208 now and that's after coming down from 226!). I fought this cat who claimed to have won all of his amateur fights by ko! He was selling wolf tickets in the lobby of the hotel that we used for workouts and eventually the weigh-in the morning before the fight. This cat would size people up and if they looked to be in his weight class, he started talking shit. One of his biggest fronts was, "They can't even find sparring for me anymore because I knocked everyone out!". Yeah, this, from a 139 pounder. I'm sure they could not find any middleweights.opcorn: Anyway, I fought this guy and yes, that motherfucker could hit! This dude hit me so hard that I saw the laces on the BACK of my helmet from one punch. I eventually lost by one point, and he left the ring bloodied. He later told me that I hit him harder than he's ever been hit. Luckily, I lost the fight. The next day, he fought Chantel Stanciel from St. Louis (Do you all remember that dude?). Stanciel beat the living shit out of him and stopped him in the second round. I believe in my heart that I would not have gotten stopped, but I don't think I could have avoided a beatdown. By the way, Floyd was there, he was 17 years old at 125 pounds and I even said it back then, "He's the best fighter in this whole joint!". Antonio Tarver, Lamon Brewster, Zab Judah, Zahir Raheem and Brian Adams were there as well, just to name a few. Anyway, that was a hard ass shot. I caught a few of them. Ironically, one made me light headed and I countered with a shot that buckled his knees.
Andy Ganigan in Wahiawa, Hawaii, circa 1981. He was preparing for a fight that he wound up losing a controversial decision. His brother and another guy trained him, and we were using the big gloves in the gym, the Reyes ones where you didn't have to make a fist and keep the gloves closed like you did Everlast. He hit me with a left after I had dropped and tattooed him for a round and a half.
The hardest I was ever hit was in sparring with a young heavyweight prospect called Talmadge Griffis, about 13 years ago maybe? Before you smartasses chime in - no he wasn't a particularly hard puncher for a heavyweight... but in my defense I was only about 170 pounds at the time. he hit me with a left hook right on the temple and all my vision went to green. i couldn't see anything and it was like a green blanket had been put over my eyes... hard to explain but i was unsure what was going on and thought that i was just walking around while i couldn't see turns out i went down to a knee and tried to get up multiple times but stumbled back to my knee over and over again.
i distinctly remember getting caught with a straight left from a southpaw that had me literialy dreaming on my feet. I came to quickly and put my hands up and ended up doing good.. but that single occasion probably improved my defense more than anything!
I got hit the hardest in the nose. I literally quit the fight. I thought I had it broken in two. It hurt for a few days but gladly there was no fracture or anything. I also got hit hard in the liver. It just sucks the air out of you. I was on my knees for a minute or two.
What is ironic with me was, I was 139 and I sparred with middles and heavyweights on occasion. I know the heavyweights did not go all out, but they did throw some real shit at times. One guy in particular, I used to bloody his lip all of the time. He had a defective mouthpiece, where there was like a pointed piece on the tip. I think he may have cut off his football mouthpiece or something and used it for boxing. Anway, I used to bloody his mouth because of that piece. He would always say, "it's the mouthpiece!" and I would tell him he was full of shit and that I had made his mouth bleed because of my power. That dude would get mad and bash me from time to time. Luckily, I could see his shit coming because he was pissed at me. I don't care how good my chin was. This cat was about 215-220, if it landed flush, I would have had no say so in the matter. LIGHTS OUT!!
My bad, it was '95! October 30th-November 4th...... The winner of each weight class had gotten an automatic bid to the '96 Olympic Trials. And to think, I really thought I was going to get a chance to fight Zab!
Not quite in the spirit of the thread, but I was gripped from the flank of the head (from behind) & had it buried into a brick wall. No punch has ever hit me as hard as that. Had I passed out (& I was definitely seeing stars), I don't want to think what would've happened.
I got hurt super bad with a kick to the head, i didnt go down but i had no idea what was going on Never got hurt badly taking punches
I was kicked in the Solar Plexus during a Lau-Gar tournament in College. Thankfully, my opponent was from the USSR and graciously allowed me to climb to my feet after a few minutes, unmolested further.
Why have I always had the nagging feeling you're the type who's never been in a fight which didn't involve turning on your PC? LOL.
Did kick-boxing and regular boxing in College. Got my nose badly lumped up doing the boxing- I weighed 144lbs at the time and the other guy weighed 158 or something. It was my first serious amateur fight. They even gave me a card for it, with my name and record. I don't come here to fight, I merely respond to stuff.
Bad Brad Wilson back in the early 90s. Super Heavyweight champion of Ontario (Don Cherry gave him his medal---and Brad was naturally about 210). He also later won the Washington State Golden Gloves and had a ton of other fights. I think he was even pro for a bit. He fought a guy in my hometown who was a black belt and a son of an international weapons and board breaking champion. Brad hit the guy with a left hook that broke the guy's jaw. The guy hit the ground so hard and awkwardly that his leg also broke. The guy could never take a punch after that, and when he played beach volleyball with his jaw wired shut, he got a bunch of sand in his mouth and made clenched-jaw spitting sounds as he tried to get the sand out. How's that for a warning? Anyhow, being 20, I had to see what it was like to spar this guy. I was young, fearless, and loved to fight. We went down to the laundry room in my building with headgear and cheap Canadian Tire Motomaster boxing gloves. Jesus Christ. He hit me with a literally crunching left hook. It crunched because my nose broke really badly. After years of taking right hands in sparring and street fights, that one left hook almost completely straightened my nose out.:: Unfortunately it also pierced a shitload of soft tissue inside my nose. My nose bled for at least five minutes and it was like someone turned a tap a third of the way on. We both laughed while it bled because as soon as he hit me, he stood back and had a look, and it ran like a faucet. End of sparring. To my credit, I didn't go down, but that's probably because he didn't follow up with the right hand. If he had, I might have been knocked out for the first time ever. Most likely, I would have remained conscious but gotten shot out of the laundry room like a champagne cork and landed on my ass or head. I had serious nerve pain in my nose for the next 5 years or so. Having your nose scraped across your face really readjusts a lot of nerves. Even thinking about this, I'm getting a fucking headache. Time for Advil. We're still friends and he had a bunch of fights on tape that I didn't have back then, like the RJJ-Antoine "T" Byrd fight. We'd watch fights and then go do windsprints. One of his favorite ways to get psyched for fights was to have his girlfriend be a bitch to him for 3 or 4 days before the fight. He wouldn't say a word back, but come fight time, he would lay it on the other guy without an ounce of compassion. I'm glad I was only 160 back then.
Hardest i was hit was in a street fight in College years. Massive 200lb Essex lad cracked me on the side of the jaw. Dude had a neck like Mike Tyson. I started to see Galaxies and Nebulas and all the mysteries of the universe. ::
