The Called Him Gyspy Joe

[TheGreatA]

There's Gypsy Joe Harris vs Emile Griffith which is not that rare but if you expect to be impressed by Harris you may end up being disappointed. It's all Griffith. I wonder if there's any footage of Harris vs Curtis Cokes.

[TheGreatA]

I can understand collectors who keep their film footage to themselves to a certain extent but I believe all footage of these great fighters should be readily available for any person.

The reason the old time greats aren't always respected by the modern fan is because there's hardly any footage of them. Thus they'll never be able to witness how great they truly were.

Think of it as a favour to the boxers, even if they have passed on. What they did should be remembered. I know that Fritzie Zivic seeked films of his bouts against Henry Armstrong, unsuccessfully so, because he wanted to show people how great a boxer he was.

[mhager91490]

There's Gypsy Joe Harris vs Emile Griffith which is not that rare but if you expect to be impressed by Harris you may end up being disappointed. It's all Griffith. I wonder if there's any footage of Harris vs Curtis Cokes.

I've seen that fight, Harris was real awkward looking, his style in that fight was bizarre to watch.

[sonnyboyx2]

I can understand collectors who keep their film footage to themselves to a certain extent but I believe all footage of these great fighters should be readily available for any person.

The reason the old time greats aren't always respected by the modern fan is because there's hardly any footage of them. Thus they'll never be able to witness how great they truly were.

Think of it as a favour to the boxers, even if they have passed on. What they did should be remembered. I know that Fritzie Zivic seeked films of his bouts against Henry Armstrong, unsuccessfully so, because he wanted to show people how great a boxer he was.

why collect if the footage is going to end up for free to everyone on youtube.. this is the reason why film collectors now keep hold of their most rare fights... an example of what i am saying is Ezzard Charles vs Bernie Reynolds fight i have had in my collection for many years and never had a seen it on anyone elses fight-list or did i know of anyone other than my contact who had that fight, i done a trade around 7yrs ago with a guy for a very rare fight and in exchange i done him Charles vs Reynolds along with some money, we agreed that we would not trade these fights with others and that they was for "our viewing only".. 2yrs later he put Charles vs Reynolds on youtube and today it is in almost every guys fight-list i look at, which in my opinion makes a mockery out of fight-film collecting and honesty.

[TheGreatA]

Well, your views differ greatly from mine so I'm not really even going to argue about it.

I just think that fights like Charles vs Reynolds being out there for everyone to see is a lot more purposeful than only keeping the fight to yourself. For example I've seen a lot of people "get" it about Charles after seeing that fight. He shows great footwork, handspeed and punching power and no one can deny the ability he displays. People seeing this one bit of film of him does more to preserve his legacy than if I made a 1000 word essay on him.

Obviously not too many will want to give up footage they've paid money for, but with the internet growing daily, there probably won't be such a thing as "rare" film much longer. Atleast that's the way I think it's headed, and hope so.

Just about two years ago most people thought there was no existing film of a welterweight Sugar Ray Robinson for example, but several films of Robinson fighting as a welterweight have been made available since then.

[mhager91490]

why collect if the footage is going to end up for free to everyone on youtube.. this is the reason why film collectors now keep hold of their most rare fights... an example of what i am saying is Ezzard Charles vs Bernie Reynolds fight i have had in my collection for many years and never had a seen it on anyone elses fight-list or did i know of anyone other than my contact who had that fight, i done a trade around 7yrs ago with a guy for a very rare fight and in exchange i done him Charles vs Reynolds along with some money, we agreed that we would not trade these fights with others and that they was for "our viewing only".. 2yrs later he put Charles vs Reynolds on youtube and today it is in almost every guys fight-list i look at, which in my opinion makes a mockery out of fight-film collecting and honesty.

I understand your point about the guy you made an agreement with but I just can't wrap my head around why you would cling on to fights and keep them from surfacing. Take the Midget Wolgast fight I posted awhile back, I'm fairly sure that very few people had seen that before I posted it to Youtube, now 275 more people have seen it. That fact doesn't make me enjoy it any less than I did before I put it up there. The point I'm trying to make is why is it so important to be the only one or only letting a select group of people see a fight so important? I'm not trying to be condesceding, I'm just curious.

[sonnyboyx2]

Well, your views differ greatly from mine so I'm not really even going to argue about it.

I just think that fights like Charles vs Reynolds being out there for everyone to see is a lot more purposeful than only keeping the fight to yourself. For example I've seen a lot of people "get" it about Charles after seeing that fight. He shows great footwork, handspeed and punching power and no one can deny the ability he displays. People seeing this one bit of film of him does more to preserve his legacy than if I made a 1000 word essay on him.

Obviously not too many will want to give up footage they've paid money for, but with the internet growing daily, there probably won't be such a thing as "rare" film much longer. Atleast that's the way I think it's headed, and hope so.

Just about two years ago most people thought there was no existing film of a welterweight Sugar Ray Robinson for example, but several films of Robinson fighting as a welterweight have been made available since then.

i think you are wrong and its a case of wishful thinking` when Big Fights Inc. owner Bill Cayton sold his film collection to Walt Disney for over $50 million around 15yrs ago, the boxing fan thought that they would then see all the great fights they had always wanted to see on the Disney owned ESPN Classic boxing channel.. but that has not been the case, they repeatedly show Mike Tyson & Muhammad Ali fights over and over again along with fights which have always been in the public domain, Disney are guarding their investment and will never show the fights of Dempsey, Grebb, Steele, Benny Leonard etc that you are hoping will soon be available.. the only way you get to see very rare fights is if a collector is willing to pay a large amount of money to access the fight and then freely puts it into the public domain, which happens once a decade or so... i agree with you that it improves a fighters legacy if todays fans can freely watch footage of them and make up a judgement on them, but life is not like that, we get nothing for free not even fresh-air or drinking water

[sonnyboyx2]

I understand your point about the guy you made an agreement with but I just can't wrap my head around why you would cling on to fights and keep them from surfacing. Take the Midget Wolgast fight I posted awhile back, I'm fairly sure that very few people had seen that before I posted it to Youtube, now 275 more people have seen it. That fact doesn't make me enjoy it any less than I did before I put it up there. The point I'm trying to make is why is it so important to be the only one or only letting a select group of people see a fight so important? I'm not trying to be condesceding, I'm just curious.

its very similar to stamp-collecting, if you have a penny-black which you paid a substancial amount of money for, the last thing you are going to do is make several thousand counterfiet copies of it and send them to every stamp collector you know

[mickey malone]

Originally Posted by mhager91490
I understand your point about the guy you made an agreement with but I just can't wrap my head around why you would cling on to fights and keep them from surfacing.

Maybe, by not having them in the 1st place..

[sonnyboyx2]

Originally Posted by mhager91490
I understand your point about the guy you made an agreement with but I just can't wrap my head around why you would cling on to fights and keep them from surfacing.

Maybe, by not having them in the 1st place..

Back in the UK now Molone and on this forum from 07.00 to 23.00 Hrs which means you are back living in your mummys back-bedroom awaiting a call from your best buddy Gary Glitter .. you horrible pair of guttersnipes