anyone bumped into or met any boxers? were they what u expected?
i met amir khan in london (not by accident) hes a cool guy, very down to earth and he has time for everyone. :boxing:
I’ve met quite a few and all were very nice guys.
Mike Tyson, Hopkins, Wepner, Cooney, Holmes, Teddy Atlas, McGirt, Gatti,Golota, McCline, Moorer, Evander, Oscar, Emile Griffith,Jimmy Archer, Lou Duva, Briggs,Mercer,Grant and quite a few more just can’t remember them all... most I’ve actually met at my old gym and some at dinners, functions or fights.
All were very nice and some I’ve spent a lot of time with at the gym and were great to hang and talk with and get pointers from.
Long long time ago I've met both Klitschkos in the dressing room. I and Wlad were fighting at the same regional championship as amateurs. Vit always supported his brother even during local events. At that time Vit was champion at kickboxing and big star in Ukraine but he had time for a small talk with me.
I sat next to Evander Holyfield at the Georgia high school state track meet one year. His sone ran for a local school and we talked track a bit. Never mentioned boxing once. He was really cool.
I was walking down the street in Vegas after the Mayweather vs Cotto fight and Roy Jones was walking in the opposite direction with a woman. I regret the fact I didn't ask him for a photo but it looked like they'd been arguing.
I have met
Juan Diaz
Rocky Juarez
JMM
B-hop
Shane Mosley
DLH
Mayweather
Robert Guerrero
Katsidis
Jorge Barrios
Paul Malignaggi
They were all cool and down to earth. Paul is the only one that was kinda annoying.
Isn’t that just his voice?
I have met quite a few boxers that would later become world champions when I younger. Met most of them in the amateurs or in the gym. I was still in my teens at the time and most I have never actually talked to but I remember seeing then at certain gyms or tournaments.
Rigondeaux (short and really thin), Lara, Charlos (tall and really thin/competed at 147 I believe), Prograis, Juan Diaz, and Donaire (really thin). I am sure there are more but I would have to actually take the time and go through everything to jog my memory.
I stay in the gyms so I meet Alot of the boxers. Most are down to earth people.
The ones that are straight up Ass - holes ( IMO ) are Abner Mares , Terrance Crawford and Jorge Linares.
I've met a lot of them at fights, if you go to live events it's just going to happen. Malignaggi, Sergio Mora, Chad Dawson, Del la hoya, GGG, Shawn porter, Dirrell, Spence, a lot more as well as trainers
Roberto Duran at the Miguel Cotto/Muhammad Abdullaev fight at Madison Square Garden (2005)
Funny story I met cotto after the weigh in and he looked like a skeleton at 140 and then at the hotel I was staying at I ran into Abdullaev in the elevator. Wish them both good luck.
I’ve met so many fighters in my life, to me as much crap boxing gets....the fighters are really fan friendly and love when they speak with a fan that knows the sport.
Most notable stories
Ricardo Mayorga smoked almost half of my brother Newport cigarettes in a local miami card at miccosukkee casino. We told him that we were at MSG live to see Trinidad vs him and I ask why he let Tito unload 4 left hooks when he exposed his chin on purpose and he laughed and said “I was in the moment and I wanted to show the public he couldn’t hurt me” 160 was too much for him.
Met Kassim Ouma and he was cool and we went to play blackjack after a local card. Nobody knew who he was and we made good $$. Very nice humble guy
Partied with a bunch of PBC fighters and personalities at a Miami strip club and it was a blast after a card in Miami.
Funniest one was I met Kendall Holt in Colombia and I translated for him when he gave a interview for the local paper in Barranquilla when he fought Ricardo Torres. He gave me tickets press row tickets, nobody will remember this fight but Holt was dominating Torres until Torres stopped Holt in the 11th round nothing but beer cans, whiskey bottles and beer bottles were thrown in the ring. It was nuts, I saw him afterwards and he wanted to go back to jersey ASAP.
I got so many stories not to brag and people would say I was lying. Hopkins bought my family dinner in some NYC diner after Tito-Mayorga. I hated Hopkins after he derailed the Tito train but when i met he was a cool cat. Paid our tab which was about $100, stand up guy
I ran into Tim Bradley at Turning Stone when he was doing a broadcast there. Unironically his bald head stands out in a crowd plus he's smaller then you think he is.
I sat next to Roger “The Dodger” Leonard at a fight. He was awesome. I didn’t want to bother him, but he was more than accommodating and friendly, open to talking. Let me try on Rays championship ring. It was such a pleasure. I didn’t bring up Ray once lol. I’m sure anyone who has ever sat beside him had the same experience. Class act. I took a pic with Chop Chop Corley also. I’m sure sum guys are great and sum aren’t. It’s funny though, if ur a hardcore fan, almost every fighter has sum of ur money.
I am based in Australia - know most of them Down Under although up n comers less so as I backed off from the sport around 2010.
The interesting thing that I've noticed is the difference between TV 'iden******' and the real person. I guess this is more a TV thing, but some people with lovely TV personas are flogs to meet in person, or worse, while some of the less liked people are lovely.
While this is more of a local Australian thing, I've met World champions who fell into the same bracket.
Moral = never trust anything that can be edited - including TV productions.