Raheem & The MYTH About Philly Fighters

[jabsRstiff]

First...let me say "YOU TOLD ME SO" to those who picked Zahir Raheem to upset Erik Morales.
It was a total schooling....& cong**** to Zahir Raheem.

There is a stereotype/myth about Philly fighters....& that is that they're all warrior-types, brawlers, ready-to-be-brain-damaged cavemen.
Damn, I think history, if you examine it, has shown that the majority of prominent Philadelphia fighters were TECHNICIANS.
Rahhem is actually more representative of a Philly fighter than
Saad Muhammad, Joe Frazier, & Bennie Briscoe were.

Raheem, Hopkins, Jeff Chandler, Harold Johnson, Georgie Benton, Willie Monroe, Jimmy Young, Tyrone Everrett, Boogaloo Watts, Meldrick Taylor (for the most part of his career), etc...

I have trained in a good amount of gyms here, & can first-hand tell you that pure boxing is stressed, heavily, to the fighters here.
A lot of the city's rep as a slugger-factory comes from it's famous gym wars. Yes, those wars take place, but if you witnessed some of them....you'd see that the wars are fought on a very high level in terms of skill. It's just the fact that the city is one of defined neighborhoods, & this creates a ton of inner-city competition & pride.

There have been a lot of legendary sluggers to come out of here, but it's really a city devoted to the SWEET SCIENCE.

[Yogi]

For those who may be interested;

http://www.phillyboxinghistory.com/

As always, Jabs speaks the truth on what he's saying, and one can certainly see by looking over the "Boxers" category on that site that there have been PLENTY of excellant & great boxing technicans that have fought out of that great fight town that is Philadelphia, including three of the very best tactical or outboxers that have ever fought throughout the history of the Light Heavyweight division...Jack O'Brien, Tommy Loughran, and Harold Johnson.

The myth of Philly fighters being "warrior-types, brawlers, ready-to-be-brain-damaged cavemen" is just that and only that. But what isn't a myth with the history of Philadelphia's great number of excellant fighters, is the great heart & great dedication that the VAST majority of them continually showed every single time they stepped foot into a boxing ring.

[realheavyhands]

jabs you from philly

[jabsRstiff]

jabs you from philly

Yes.....I live in the Frankford section. Graduated from Frankford High.

I know you're from Phila., as well....what parts ?

[BiggestBoxingFanEver]

I'm from outside phily. Used to work in the city. Commute was killing me....I don't care If I never never drive the schukill again.

Whats up with blue horizon tix going to for $50. I used to go just a few years ago and they were $15. Maybe they bought toilets now to class up the joint rather than just going in a whole in the ground were a toilet used to be.

[realheavyhands]

Yes.....I live in the Frankford section. Graduated from Frankford High.

I know you're from Phila., as well....what parts ?

south what gym you train at

[jabsRstiff]

I don't train anymore. I boxed out of Harrowgate (in Kensington), when I was younger....& I return there from time to time. Can't beat the $15.00 a month !
I worked out at Joe Hand off & on....I sparred with dudes there like Randy Griffin, LuJuan Simon, & Prince Badi Amaju. That gym was just torn down. It's a shame, because it was agreat facility, & it produced a lot of excellent fighters. Guess they got a nice $$$$ offer for that that primo Fishtown property, huh ?

You ever go to Augie's ?

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

Gym Wars

Philly Gym wars are a myth. I have sparred all over this country and in different countries, too, including many days in Philly and the sparring there is no tougher or rougher than anywhere else.

[jabsRstiff]

I went to a gym called Champ's....just to check it out...back in '87.
I saw Charlie "Choo-Choo" Brown (IBF Lightweight champ a few years before) sparring with a very good local fighter named Sydney Outlaw.
It was truly awesome. I couldn't believe how good these guys were....I saw everything in that matchup. Tons of skills. Lots of beautiful exchanges. To the untrained eye it looked like a war, but it was really just boxing at a high level.
I decided not to train at that gym, because I was intimidated by the guys there. They were that ****in' good.

[Larry Merchant]

Philly Stand Up