If you could spend an hour talking to any boxer in history - Who would it be and why?

[JK1700]

Past or Present. Who would you choose?

I would pick either Ricardo Lopez or Floyd Mayweather Jr. My two all time favorites. It's a hard choice to pick one. I love Ricardo because of his skillset and longevity. He was a truly great fighter throughout his career. Ok his division and opposition werent great but to be champion for as long as he did was special. Imagine if somebody made 22 defences of a belt at Welterweight or Heavyweight. People would be going crazy. Especially if he was American. It's a shame that people didnt really recognise Lopez until the dying moments of his great career. In my opinion he is a Top 30 ATG. He was a flawless fighter in so many ways but he was exciting at the same time. Which is hard to do. I love watching him fight.

Floyd is simular in alot of ways. He's been dominating the sport for about 12 years and still doesn't get the recongition he deserves. Despite the money he gets, it must be pretty dis-heartening that people always discredit him. I think this is one of the reasons why he was so pleasently suprised when he came and trained in the U.K. It just made me think that if he was British then he would be loved over here but in the U.S it's different. You can't buy that kind of feeling. I'd really like to know what he thinks about that and his career. Like Lopez, I expect people will only truly realise his greatness when he retires or is about to retire.

[Spartacus Sully]

John L Sullivan

Id like to learn of his punches and how he defended slipping blocking parrying or all three and more or just nothing at all.

that and reading his biography he just sounds like an awesome person.

[DET. IRONSIDE]

Joe Louis and Marciano.

I'd like to know how he saw himself and the world as an accepted black man in a segregated society. What it was like being a poster boy when there was so much bad going on.

[Greatest1942]

Joe Louis and Marciano.

I'd like to know how he saw himself and the world as an accepted black man in a segregated society. What it was like being a poster boy when there was so much bad going on.

As much as I would like to talk to the above too gentle men the person I will be most interested in talking with will be Sam Langford.

[Barn]

Marvin Hagler, he is my favourite boxer ever but, so little is known about him he keeps himself to himself so I believe you could learn a lot from just 1 hour.

Max Schmeling, so I could find out about how disgusting it must have been for him to be labelled as " Fighting for Nazi's" and how he summed up the courage to stand up to Hitler.

Barney Ross, faced so many battles in his life such as the War, a heroin addiction and all the adversisties he would have been faced with in the ring talking about them would make very enjoyable conversations.

Joe Louis - For reasons already mentioned.

Tex Cobb, for pure comedy.

[Sugarj]

As much as I would like to talk to the above two gentle men the person I will be most interested in talking with will be Sam Langford.

I believe that he was brought in to help Joe Louis regroup from the Schmelling disaster. Old, wise and......in the late 30s blind too, I gather that he was quite a character.

Amazing record too!!

[NChristo]

Without question my first choice would be Alexis Arguello, one of my favourite boxers, 1 hour is just not enough time for me to spend with the man.

Roberto Duran, great man with a good personality, met him a while a go, couldn't really understand much of what he was saying though
Would love to sit down and just listen to his stories or watch a fight with him. Could probably spend an hour just watching him jump rope.

I believe that he was brought in to help Joe Louis regroup from the Schmelling disaster. Old, wise and......in the late 30s blind too, I gather that he was quite a character.

Amazing record too!!

Joe was very fond of Sam from what I gathered, there's a few pictures of them together quite early in Joe's career and Joe always looks so happy whenever he's there, quite a rare sight, most pictures of Joe are usually emotionless especially early in his career and around the time that Max beat him.

[Greatest1942]

I believe that he was brought in to help Joe Louis regroup from the Schmelling disaster. Old, wise and......in the late 30s blind too, I gather that he was quite a character.

Amazing record too!!

I am sorry but i believe you are mistaking Harry Willis with Sam...And if there are any stories like this from a godd source do let me know. Taken from Monte Cox's website "Sam was living destitute in Harlem when newspaperman Al Laney of the New York Herald Tribune tracked him down and wrote a short series of stories on him in 1944. A sportswriter’s fund was established for Sam that cared for him until his death at the age of 72 on Jan. 12, 1956."

Here;s how Laney found Langford in "Langford had 20 cents in his pocket and was subsisting on a few dollars he received each month from a foundation for the blind. Twice a day, two young boys would come by and take him to a restaurant for breakfast and a second meal late in the afternoon. Langford told Laney that he the rest of his time sitting alone in his dark bedroom with only his radio for company.

When he’d gathered the information he needed for his story, Laney went back to the office and banged out the story on his typewriter for the paper. But he didn’t stop there: He was so moved by Langford’s situation that he initiated a drive with a group of New York businessmen and -women that raised $10,892 for a trust fund for Langford. Among the 705 contributors were men fighters Jack Dempsey, Beau Jack, Fritzie Zivic, and Joe Louis, boxing promoter Mike Jacobs, and famed New York nightclub owner Toots Shore. Sam was provided with an initial payment of $125, followed by $75 per month until April of 1945, after which the balance of $9,000 was invested in an insurance company so that Langford would receive an annuity of $49.18 a month for life."

I have read a host of artciles on Sam and I believe you are mistaken here...Louis knew he will dismantle Max, when asked about their rematch Joe said "It got one in it".

You are right though that Sam was a charecter. In 1923 when he was practically blind and needed help from handlers to move around the ring he said “Don’t worry about little Sammy,” he said, “I don’t need to see that boy, I just got to feel him.” He knocked out Kid Savage to become the Mexican Heavyweight Champion. After retiring he went into hibernation and was discovered by Laney as mentioned above.

In a statement attributed to him a few months before his death, he said, “Don’t nobody need to feel sorry for old Sam. I had plenty of good times. I been all over the world. I fought maybe 600 fights, and every one was a pleasure!”

[mickey malone]

Tex Cobb - Funny dude

[Pin Galarga]

Sugar Ray Robinson.
With so many GR8 fights, The stories will never end.