By Cliff Rold
On Wednesday night, at Medieval Times in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, veteran Cruiserweight Bobby Gunn (20-3-1, 17 KO) will close in on his second decade as a paid professional fighter.
Gunn hasn’t been a fixture on magazine covers.
He hasn’t been a pay-per-view star.
But Bobby Gunn is a fighter and one with stories to tell. He’s also been a world title challenger and would like one more chance to fulfill a career dream.
Gunn’s opponent at mid-week is Brad Gregory (11-2, 9 KO). He’s not a household name either. Together though, they are the type of fighters who make up the foundation of the sport. They throw punches, take them, put on a good show.
There’s only one Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, or of course one Ricky Hatton.
There are many Bobby Gunn’s.
They are the fighters who, even aging, don’t give up on the dreams that brought them to the gym as kids. Gunn is an interesting story because his was a career in two parts. Born in Virginia but reared in Canada, Gunn came through the amateur ranks at the same time as fighters like Lennox Lewis. Turned pro in 1989, Gunn would compete through 1993 and then suffer over eleven years off the radar.
“I had a lot of promotion problems and manager problems at the time.” Gunn explained of his time out of the ring, sprinkling in regular helpings of the term “My Pal” as he recounted. “To tell you the truth, I fought a lot of unsanctioned fights. I wasn’t never really out of it ever. I turned pro at fifteen, going on sixteen years old. I was a baby. I grew into my actual weight and I seen an opportunity the way Boxing is today. Figured I’m gonna’ give it another go here and it’s turned out pretty fun.”
Gunn, like many fighters, was introduced to the game as a family passage. “It’s in my blood. I was raised in to it. All my family were pro fighters and it never stopped. Even when I was away for eleven years, I was never really away from it.” Reflecting more on his roots, Gunn continued, “I was an amateur champion many times over. I fought for the Commonwealth championship in the amateurs. All my family are from Ireland and Scotland. I’m related to the Hilton family in Canada, Henry Wharton in England who fought Chris Eubank…all those guys are my cousins.”
At 35 years of age, Gunn might already have reached his highest career peak. On April 7, 2007, he traveled to Cardiff, Wales for a shot at then-WBO Cruiserweight titlist Enzo Maccarinelli. He was stopped in the first round, Gunn says too fast and on his feet. “I thought I was really done badly over there. When you fight for a World Championship, let me go out on my shield. I’m a man. If I’m gonna’ lose, let me lose fair and square. Don’t stop a world title fight for a gash on my nose. That’s what’s keeping me going.”
There could be something else. Gunn turned pro at Jr. Middleweight during a hot time for the weight area. While he didn’t face the best under the brightest lights, he shared rings with them in the moments that get fighters there, sparring many rounds with some of the modern legends. It isn’t lost on Gunn that many of the men who he came up with, who turned pro at the same time as him like Lewis, are gone from the scene as he treks on into another second generation of the fight game.
“It’s been a great experience for me to even see those guys. They motivate me and my success. I know if I would have had a good break like those fellas had I would have been talking to you, like, retired. I never did but there’s an old saying, whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
“I feel very happy for the experience I have, all my years of Boxing. I had over 200 amateur fights. I boxed over 30 World Champions. I was a sparring partner for Mike McCallum and Julian Jackson when I was seventeen, eighteen years old. Top guys in the world: James Toney, Michael Nunn, Prince Charlie Williams, Nigel Benn. I fought every one of them.”
Asked for more insight into those obviously memorable rounds, Gunn reflected on the best of them. “The best all-around fighter, probably so underrated it’s pitiful, is Mike McCallum. He was an all-around great technician. You don’t realize how great he was until you really get to box him. As far as punching wise, Julian Jackson. Hit like a mule. Right hand….freakish in sparring. He’d try to kill ya’. He hit me so hard one day with the right. You ever get a Slurpee and get a brain freeze? That’s what it was like. It was beyond a knockout punch.”
“Just to be in the ring with those guys, that’s what I take to my fights. Experience. Not just a one time deal but a sparring partner to them. I boxed McCallum over a hundred rounds when I was young. Julian Jackson same thing. Even Roberto Duran in Miami, Florida. I had the privilege of working with him at the end of his career.”
“He showed me greatness. He showed me many things.”
Comparing those men to the field he sees today, the opportunity he sees as he continues his career, Gunn stated, “I’m thankful to God for it because I grew up in that era and got to see that. You really want to be truthful about it, the old fighters are gone.” Not that Gunn doesn’t see a future as he took the time to plug the prospects of what he referred to as a young “terror,” 13-year old Bobby Jr.
The game continues to pass through the family record.
This Wednesday’s bout with Gregory will be contested for two smaller titles, the WBC USNBC and WBA NABA belts. Gunn hopes those straps can position him eventually for that one more big chance he hopes for. He understands it might not happen. He continues because, in Boxing, you never know. Asked if he could walk away satisfied if the only shot was the disappointment in Wales, Gunn answered with pride.
“It feels good. It’s still there for life on my record. I was there. For however long it was, for whatever happened, I was still there.”
“But I’m not done yet.”
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
