Famous Sparring Encounters

[Joey Giardello]

Any one know if the stories of james toney and gerald mccellan sparring early on in there careers's or charley burley running marcel ceden out of the gym after a spar are true? any one know of any good sparring encounters over the years?

[Heavy Bag]

There's been so many. Dempsey/Greb, Louis/Walcott, Pryor/Leonard, Clay/Johansson, Ali/Holmes, Frazier/Norton, Qawi/Briscoe,
De La Hoya/Chavez, Johnson/Wills and so on & on. There just a few....

[1 HitterQuitter]

I think hearns and mcclean sparred. It is on youtube

[young_robbed]

Liston and Foreman. In the late 60s.
Also Ali and Ellis

[Steward]

This isn't famous or even verified, but the guy at the centre of the "resurrecting a champ" scandal, claiming to be Bob Satterfield. He said that he actually sparred with Marciano and landed a punch that caused Marciano's nose to bleed, this recurrent injury was a reason for his retirement. I think that's quite monumental should it be true... he was an imposter though.

[JAB5239]

Any one know if the stories of james toney and gerald mccellan sparring early on in there careers's or charley burley running marcel ceden out of the gym after a spar are true? any one know of any good sparring encounters over the years?

Charley Burley knocking out heavyweight Elmer "Violent" Ray when Ray tried to take liberties and embarrass Burley who was only a middleweight.

In Larry Holmes autobiography he tell of a sparring match between Ali and Roy Williams after returning from the Rumble in the jungle. Williams wanted money he thought he was owed because he was supposed to fight on the undercard but was bumped due to time constraints and let Ali know in no uncertain terms how he felt cussing and telling Ali he would kick his ass. Ali ordered a ten round sparring session with both giving as good as they got. The next day Williams was mouthing off again and Ali ordered another ten rounds of sparring and things went pretty much the same as the previous day with neither getting the upper hand. Williams wouldn't let it go so finally Ali gave him what was owed and kicked him out of camp.

[Tiozzo]

There's been so many. Dempsey/Greb, Louis/Walcott, Pryor/Leonard, Clay/Johansson, Ali/Holmes, Frazier/Norton, Qawi/Briscoe,
De La Hoya/Chavez, Johnson/Wills and so on & on. There just a few....

it would have been nice if you could have developped a bit on these...

[joseph5620]

Any one know if the stories of james toney and gerald mccellan sparring early on in there careers's or charley burley running marcel ceden out of the gym after a spar are true? any one know of any good sparring encounters over the years?

I read where Hearns broke Marlon Starling's jaw preparing for his first fight with Leonard. Also, Tua-Holyfield was rumored to be a good one.

[joseph5620]

Charley Burley knocking out heavyweight Elmer "Violent" Ray when Ray tried to take liberties and embarrass Burley who was only a middleweight.

In Larry Holmes autobiography he tell of a sparring match between Ali and Roy Williams after returning from the Rumble in the jungle. Williams wanted money he thought he was owed because he was supposed to fight on the undercard but was bumped due to time constraints and let Ali know in no uncertain terms how he felt cussing and telling Ali he would kick his ass. Ali ordered a ten round sparring session with both giving as good as they got. The next day Williams was mouthing off again and Ali ordered another ten rounds of sparring and things went pretty much the same as the previous day with neither getting the upper hand. Williams wouldn't let it go so finally Ali gave him what was owed and kicked him out of camp.

That's a good one jab. I haven't read Holmes book but I might have to check it out now. I did read Foreman's and he said Sonny Liston was the only fighter that never took a backwards step against him. I know Foreman was only 19-20 at the time but I still would have loved to see it.

[JAB5239]

That's a good one jab. I haven't read Holmes book but I might have to check it out now. I did read Foreman's and he said Sonny Liston was the only fighter that never took a backwards step against him. I know Foreman was only 19-20 at the time but I still would have loved to see it.

It would be great to see some footage of George and Sonny sparring. Old bull vs young bull.