Do you guys know any boxing greats that have suffered from Dementia pugilistica? I know Joe Louis suffered from it, but it is said that it was genetic, Floyd Patterson, Meldrick Tayler, and Robinson. It's really sad how the consequences can catch up with you after a legendary career.

Willie Pep suffered from it, too.

A great number, some to different degrees.

Willie Pep suffered from it, too.

I met Pep at a Vinny Pazienza fight at Foxwoods casino in about 2000. He seemed to have all his wits at the time and even sat and joked with us for about 10 minutes. I never knew he had dementia. There must be widely varying degree's of this disease because he seemed to be pretty fit to me, nothing like a Benitez, Chacon or Quarry.

I met Pep at a Vinny Pazienza fight at Foxwoods casino in about 2000. He seemed to have all his wits at the time and even sat and joked with us for about 10 minutes. I never knew he had dementia. There must be widely varying degree's of this disease because he seemed to be pretty fit to me, nothing like a Benitez, Chacon or Quarry.

I think it was around his last few years.

I met Pep at a Vinny Pazienza fight at Foxwoods casino in about 2000. He seemed to have all his wits at the time and even sat and joked with us for about 10 minutes. I never knew he had dementia. There must be widely varying degree's of this disease because he seemed to be pretty fit to me, nothing like a Benitez, Chacon or Quarry.

So nothing wrong with his speech or anything?

So nothing wrong with his speech or anything?
I don't believe it kicked in, at the time.

I read that while he was living at an old folks home, in the last few years of his life, he suffered from it. He died in 2006.

So nothing wrong with his speech or anything?

None that I noticed. He just seemed like a really cool old man. He didn't talk much about boxing and we didn't press him on it. He asked if we were enjoying ourselves, where we were from, what we did for a living and things like that. He cracked a couple of small jokes. I had later mentioned the meeting to John Scully on another board and he said Pep was always pretty laid back like that.

Pretty much every career pro with more than 20 or so fights experiences mental decline to some degree as a consequence of Boxing. Obviously not everyone is a wreck like Taylor or Benitez but there is definitely changes in speech patterns, just a slight drop in sharpness of the mind etc

Taylor is actually one of the worst cases I have seen, the man was slurring very very badly by age 35 or 36, 35 is not old at all, you are still relatively young in the real world at 35, and here Meldrick was sounding like an old drunk.

Benitez is pretty bad too, he was shot by the time he was 25 and was a pro since 15 so he would have been showing serious signs probably by his late 20's even.

That's why I don't like disrespecting fighters a lot on here, they put a lot on the line in this sport.

Pretty much every career pro with more than 20 or so fights experiences mental decline to some degree as a consequence of Boxing. Obviously not everyone is a wreck like Taylor or Benitez but there is definitely changes in speech patterns, just a slight drop in sharpness of the mind etc

Taylor is actually one of the worst cases I have seen, the man was slurring very very badly by age 35 or 36, 35 is not old at all, you are still relatively young in the real world at 35, and here Meldrick was sounding like an old drunk.

Benitez is pretty bad too, he was shot by the time he was 25 and was a pro since 15 so he would have been showing serious signs probably by his late 20's even.

That's why I don't like disrespecting fighters a lot on here, they put a lot on the line in this sport.

Make you wonder how many trail horses and journeyman have ended up with this disease. We only hear about the high profile fighters who have it, imagine how many guys who never made peanuts in their careers have ended up like this? I didn't see Jason Litzau's last fight but I heard he was slurring his words terribly afterwards. 15 years from now he'll be forgotten by most but could possibly end up with this disease as the only thing he has left from boxing, much the same as Taylor but with out the fame and glory Meldrick was able to achieve.

None that I noticed. He just seemed like a really cool old man. He didn't talk much about boxing and we didn't press him on it. He asked if we were enjoying ourselves, where we were from, what we did for a living and things like that. He cracked a couple of small jokes. I had later mentioned the meeting to John Scully on another board and he said Pep was always pretty laid back like that.


That's pretty cool. I guess there's different ways people can suffer from these kind of diseases, like Pep not having problem with his speech.

Pretty much every career pro with more than 20 or so fights experiences mental decline to some degree as a consequence of Boxing. Obviously not everyone is a wreck like Taylor or Benitez but there is definitely changes in speech patterns, just a slight drop in sharpness of the mind etc

Taylor is actually one of the worst cases I have seen, the man was slurring very very badly by age 35 or 36, 35 is not old at all, you are still relatively young in the real world at 35, and here Meldrick was sounding like an old drunk.

Benitez is pretty bad too, he was shot by the time he was 25 and was a pro since 15 so he would have been showing serious signs probably by his late 20's even.

That's why I don't like disrespecting fighters a lot on here, they put a lot on the line in this sport.


Me too, man. It's not easy to step in the ring knowing that one punch can end your life. It really is scary if you think about it.

There's guys that will never suffer because they don't stay in the business for too long, and have a good defense which makes them to not take many blows to the head. Mayweather is a good example, I don't think this dude is going to have any problems in his life because he took blows to the head. Don't ya think?

That's pretty cool. I guess there's different ways people can suffer from these kind of diseases, like Pep not having problem with his speech.
Are you a moron or something? Have you not read anything that I wrote in this thread?

JAB met Pep, in 2000. Pep was still okay, by then. In the last few years of his life is when he suffered from it. JAB might have met Pep in just the right time.

All boxers that some from it have problems with their speech.

Are you a moron or something? Have you not read anything that I wrote in this thread?

JAB met Pep, in 2000. Pep was still okay, by then. In the last few years of his life is when he suffered from it. JAB might have met Pep in just the right time.

All boxers that some from it have problems with their speech.

Listen, I did read what you said, JAP met Pep in 2000, and Pep died in 2006. When Pep died, he was 84 so that's only a six year difference when JAP met him and when he died, wouldn't he already have had some problems with his speech at least? Maybe not as much, but noticeable.

And why can't you have a proper discussion without insulting someone? It's pointless, just f*cking pointless.

Listen, I did read what you said, JAP met Pep in 2000, and Pep died in 2006. When Pep died, he was 84 so that's only a six year difference when JAP met him and when he died, wouldn't he already have had some problems with his speech at least? Maybe not as much, but noticeable.

And why can't you have a proper discussion without insulting someone? It's pointless, just f*cking pointless.

I think everybody is different. Trauma or the inability to do the things you use to do may accelerate it though. My grandfather did hard physical labor until his early 80's. Shortly after my grandmother passed away his mind just seemed to wander off. To me it seemed he had gotten Alzheimers over night. I know this isn't exactly what we're talking about, but I think it has some bearing on it.

Listen, I did read what you said, JAP met Pep in 2000, and Pep died in 2006. When Pep died, he was 84 so that's only a six year difference when JAP met him and when he died, wouldn't he already have had some problems with his speech at least? Maybe not as much, but noticeable.

And why can't you have a proper discussion without insulting someone? It's pointless, just f*cking pointless.
It varies in time. He did suffer from Alzheimer's and I suspect that he had a speech problem, as well. I don't know any boxer who suffered from the disease that didn't have some sort of speech problem.

And it's kinda hard to keep my cool when I've responded to the speech problem issue twice before and people ignored it.

Heres a few who appear to have suffered at the least mild issues that haven't been mentioned yet, whether officially diagnosed or not:

Joe Frazier
Riddick Bowe
Ken Norton (well the car crash wouldn't help either!)
Tunney Hunsaker
Primo Carnera
King Levinsky
Tommy Hearns
Nigel Benn
Leon Spinks


Hell, not everyone can emerge unscathed like George Foreman, Jake La Motta or Barry McGuigan.

[B]

Make you wonder how many trail horses and journeyman have ended up with this disease. We only hear about the high profile fighters who have it, imagine how many guys who never made peanuts in their careers have ended up like this? I didn't see Jason Litzau's last fight but I heard he was slurring his words terribly afterwards. 15 years from now he'll be forgotten by most but could possibly end up with this disease as the only thing he has left from boxing, much the same as Taylor but with out the fame and glory Meldrick was able to achieve.

That's true, and sad too. Boxing is a cruel sport sometimes.

Muhammad Ali
Jerry Quarry
Mike Quarry
James Toney

Heres a few who appear to have suffered at the least mild issues that haven't been mentioned yet, whether officially diagnosed or not:

Joe Frazier
Riddick Bowe
Ken Norton (well the car crash wouldn't help either!)
Tunney Hunsaker
Primo Carnera
King Levinsky
Tommy Hearns
Nigel Benn
Leon Spinks


Hell, not everyone can emerge unscathed like George Foreman, Jake La Motta or Barry McGuigan.
Nigel Benn seems ok to me, off the top of my head Meldrick Taylor, Muhammad Ali and James Toney

It varies in time. He did suffer from Alzheimer's and I suspect that he had a speech problem, as well. I don't know any boxer who suffered from the disease that didn't have some sort of speech problem.

And it's kinda hard to keep my cool when I've responded to the speech problem issue twice before and people ignored it.
To be fair to Pep, when Jab met him he was mid to late 70's.
Once you get to that age a few minor undetected strokes mixed with a liberal dose of alzheimers could explain it?
Difficult to tell, boxing obviously does have an effect as does old age so maybe Pep who looked pretty good in his mid to late 70's maybe isn't the best example.
Not an expert on biology or boxing but getting to be a hell of an expert on old age by the day.

Do you guys know any boxing greats that have suffered from Dementia pugilistica? I know Joe Louis suffered from it, but it is said that it was genetic, Floyd Patterson, Meldrick Tayler, and Robinson. It's really sad how the consequences can catch up with you after a legendary career.

The Quarry brothers. I've never read anything about Joe Louis having it. Louis died from heart problems. Meldrick Taylor has brain damage obviously, but that's not the same thing as pugilistic dementia. You die from that. I do believe this is what Benitez has.

I met Pep at a Vinny Pazienza fight at Foxwoods casino in about 2000. He seemed to have all his wits at the time and even sat and joked with us for about 10 minutes. I never knew he had dementia. There must be widely varying degree's of this disease because he seemed to be pretty fit to me, nothing like a Benitez, Chacon or Quarry.

I don't believe Pep had it either but I could be wrong on that one. But I do know there are various types of brain damage and Pugilistic dementia is totally different from a boxer just slurring his words.

I met Pep at a Vinny Pazienza fight at Foxwoods casino in about 2000. He seemed to have all his wits at the time and even sat and joked with us for about 10 minutes. I never knew he had dementia. There must be widely varying degree's of this disease because he seemed to be pretty fit to me, nothing like a Benitez, Chacon or Quarry.

Damn your lucky LOL

The Quarry brothers. I've never read anything about Joe Louis having it. Louis died from heart problems. Meldrick Taylor has brain damage obviously, but that's not the same thing as pugilistic dementia. You die from that. I do believe this is what Benitez has.



I don't know about greatness though but the brothers
Floyd and Roger Mayweather seem to be suffering from it.
Or it could be drugs?........

i think carl bobo olson is another hall of famer that had it.

The Quarry brothers. I've never read anything about Joe Louis having it. Louis died from heart problems. Meldrick Taylor has brain damage obviously, but that's not the same thing as pugilistic dementia. You die from that. I do believe this is what Benitez has.
Although Joe Louis officially died of heart desease, he was also deteriorating very rapidly due to dimensia.. Not so long ago, someone posted in a video clip of Louis who was in his 60's & paying tribute to Muhammad Ali on an old tv programe (This is Your Life) in which he struggled to string just a few words together..

I've met Terry Downes on a couple of occasions, who looks physically fit for his age, but his speech is terribly slurred, and it can be hard work, trying to understand him..

Although Joe Louis officially died of heart desease, he was also deteriorating very rapidly due to dimensia.. Not so long ago, someone posted in a video clip of Louis who was in his 60's & paying tribute to Muhammad Ali on an old tv programe (This is Your Life) in which he struggled to string just a few words together..I've met Terry Downes on a couple of occasions, who looks physically fit for his age, but his speech is terribly slurred, and it can be hard work, trying to understand him..

Yeah I saw that a while back and Louis did sound bad. It was sad to watch and Ali looked like he was close to tears. Off the subject, it was great to see Joe Frazier on there.

I don't know about greatness though but the brothers
Floyd and Roger Mayweather seem to be suffering from it.
Or it could be drugs?........

Yeah I know I kind of overlooked that.

Yeah I saw that a while back and Louis did sound bad. It was sad to watch and Ali looked like he was close to tears. Off the subject, it was great to see Joe Frazier on there.
Classic viewing!.. Old Henry Cooper gave Frazier a nice wide berth as he sat down next to him lol..
I actually thought it shed a lot of light on the rumours, that they hate(ed) each other..
It wasn't that long after they'd fought, so it seems very strange that Frazier flew all the way to London in order to pay tribute to him.. In fact, they seemed like long lost buddies, and giggled together like school kids.

I've met Terry Downes on a couple of occasions, who looks physically fit for his age, but his speech is terribly slurred, and it can be hard work, trying to understand him..

To be fair to Terry I met him in the 60's and I don't think anyone who lived 3 miles outside stepney could understand him then!

Are you a moron or something? Have you not read anything that I wrote in this thread?

JAB met Pep, in 2000. Pep was still okay, by then. In the last few years of his life is when he suffered from it. JAB might have met Pep in just the right time.

All boxers that some from it have problems with their speech.
Don't go round calling people a moran.
You are a really good poster and a welcome addition to the forums but you seem to have a view that once you have spoken it is the final word on a subject.
We are all people here just giving an opinion, on most of what we talk about there is no difinitive answer

Don't go round calling people a moran.
You are a really good poster and a welcome addition to the forums but you seem to have a view that once you have spoken it is the final word on a subject.
We are all people here just giving an opinion, on most of what we talk about there is no difinitive answer




Good post.

Do you guys know any boxing greats that have suffered from Dementia pugilistica? I know Joe Louis suffered from it, but it is said that it was genetic, Floyd Patterson, Meldrick Tayler, and Robinson. It's really sad how the consequences can catch up with you after a legendary career.

Have no idea am afraid :(