What year did you start watching boxing?

[Zaryu]

How did you find the transition? I've seen some martial artists struggle to the point they had to leave, and others transitioned flawlessly.

The transition was pretty easy for me. Even though I used to watch some MMA too and really liked it, boxing was always number one for me, and as soon as I started practicing it, I loved it more than practicing Kung Fu.

People used to ask me if I ever felt the need to kick, knee or elbow while sparring, but I'm not sure why I never felt the need to. The only thing I can come up with is that I was thinking and practicing specific things while I sparred, so I never felt like I needed to throw anything but punches.

On the other hand, I feel like my physical toughness increased dramatically while boxing. I think this also contributed to me enjoying boxing training more. We used to spar and hit the punching bag in my kung fu class too, but the consistent, more individualized, training in the boxing gym made a huge difference for me.

[Willy Wanker]

Around 1987.

Hagler-Leonard was the first fight I remember watching as a young kid.

I'm sure I watched boxing with my dad before that, but Hagler-Leonard is as far back as I remember.

[TBear]

I grew up watching boxing. So somewhere in the 1900's.

[Eff Pandas]

Summer of '88 seriously. The USA Boxing Calvin Grove vs Jorge Paez fight got me down the boxing rabbit hole for good. And it wasn't even that good of a fight, but the ending was f#cking nuts with Paez needing 3 KD's or a KO to win going into the 15th rd or stated as such by Sean O'Grady. I don't think I missed a fight for literally years after that fight. If I wasn't watching them live I'd tape them (actually I used to tape all the fights) & watch them at my leisure. Used to have a insane collection of VHS tapes.

But I remember watching boxing before that during casual fan big fight type events. I know I knew who Larry Holmes was when I saw his KFC ad back in the day & had seen him fight. I think I saw some of the HBO Boxing HW tournament. Don't recall what the exact first fight I ever saw was.

[4truth]

mid 60's...I remember watching Ali on Wide World of Sports and seeing Richard Steele upset by Johnny Featherman, who fractured a number of Steele's ribs in the process.

[Cobra Curry]

1986.
Saturday cartoons on London Weekend Television replaced with Witherspoon Vs Bruno from Wembley.
Being 6 years old I was sure that the real-life He Man would beat the tubby guy who looked like he'd hardly trained. Wrong!
I can still see Witherspoon's 11th round "can opener"; right hand around the guard and down goes Bruno.
The nation mourned; my thoughts were he must be useless to lose to someone who didn't even train!

[Beercules]

I can't really say.

I started watching with my dad in the mid 90's. So like 1995,1996

[BM dnobagaV]

First fighter I ever heard about was Pacquiao-ODLH. In Vegas for that one as a young pre-teen playing a pop warner game

First actual fights I streamed? Floyd-Canelo, Pacquiao-Marquez 4, Bradley-Márquez

First fight I ever watched? Bute🇷🇴-Pascal
Been hooked since that one basically.

[KillaCamNZ]

2000 - David Tua v Lennox Lewis

[club fighter]

1970 Ali on the comeback on Wide World of Sports leading up to his first defeat in the Fight of the Century. What a time it was.