By Scoop Malinowski

Status: Hall of Fame boxing trainer/manager and HBO ringside analyst.
DOB: July 7, 1944 In: Welch, West ******ia
Childhood Hero: "Floyd Patterson. I've never told him but we sat side by side many times. I read everything about him. A classy person. I used to walk like him, talk like him, eat the same foods he ate - pork chops, yams and sweet potatoes! Ray Robinson as well, naturally."
Hobbies/Interests: "I'm very limited, believe it or not. My favorite hobby is being alone. I like to be alone. I also like dancing, fishing, playing poker sometimes and vegetable gardening - corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, I have a big garden every year."
Nicknames: "Sonny. Manny - which I don't like. Don King and Howard Cosell mainly called me that."
Favorite Movies: "Rocky III - I don't usually like boxing movies, they're not realistic. But I liked that one.
Days of Wine and Roses with Jack Lemmon. It was just realistic about how one thing leads.
Some people fall victim to something bad and then some have the willpower to get out of trouble. Great movie."
Musical Tastes: "Motown, country and western."
Favorite TV Shows: "Dukes of Hazzard - Boss Hog had me laughing, naturally funny. Wild Wild West. The Red Skelton Show."
Childhood Ambition: "When I was a little kid I wanted to be an artist or a painter. But once I got into boxing, all I wanted was to box."
First Job: "Selling popsicles in Detroit (age 13). I had my cart going up and down the street all day long. I made enough money to buy a car."
Early Boxing Memory: "I started boxing when I was eight. I enjoyed when I could hit someone and they couldn't hit me back. It was like a game for me. The feeling of knocking someone out. My first knockout victory was when I was ten. He went down and his nose started to bleed, so they stopped it."
Favorite Meal: "Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, tomatoes."
Favorite Breakfast Cereal: "Fruit 'n Fibre, Mueslix."
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Strawberry or vanilla."
Pre-Fight Feeling: "Very nervous. You never know what's going to happen. It's a really tightly detailed day because what happens that day is gonna be something we're all gonna have to live with for the rest of our lives. This is it. This is history.
The state of mind of a fighter is so important. I don't like to see a fighter stay locked up in a room. Sometimes it works against them. They think and they worry.
They dwell, sitting in that dark room. You come back and they're psyched out. I like to see boxers eat and then walk, mingle with people. You have to have a certain amount of movement.
Stay active. If you stay locked up in the room all day, the brain cells actually become dormant, become dead, so to say. They're the same guys that come out in the first round and can't even get started, can never wake up. The brain cells are still sleeping. I like to get to know the fighter, like to see where he lives. I went fishing with Julio Cesar Chavez in Mexico. I spend time with Lennox in Canada. He's a quiet guy. He liked to spend time with his Canadian friends, one day they'd play baseball and tennis, another they're all going swimming or he was taking his girl down to Jamaica."
Greatest Sports Moment: "Winning the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Chicago (1963). That was the greatest. (Who did you beat?) A guy named Frank Glover, who was a big favorite to knock me out. He was like Mike Tyson - knocking everyone out. I was only 18 (bantamweight). I lost the first round then won the last two real big in order to pull it out. That was the biggest win of my life probably. That same Golden Gloves Larry Hazard was representing New Jersey as a middleweight. That's how long we've known each other."

Status: Hall of Fame boxing trainer/manager and HBO ringside analyst.
DOB: July 7, 1944 In: Welch, West ******ia
Childhood Hero: "Floyd Patterson. I've never told him but we sat side by side many times. I read everything about him. A classy person. I used to walk like him, talk like him, eat the same foods he ate - pork chops, yams and sweet potatoes! Ray Robinson as well, naturally."
Hobbies/Interests: "I'm very limited, believe it or not. My favorite hobby is being alone. I like to be alone. I also like dancing, fishing, playing poker sometimes and vegetable gardening - corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, I have a big garden every year."
Nicknames: "Sonny. Manny - which I don't like. Don King and Howard Cosell mainly called me that."
Favorite Movies: "Rocky III - I don't usually like boxing movies, they're not realistic. But I liked that one.
Days of Wine and Roses with Jack Lemmon. It was just realistic about how one thing leads.
Some people fall victim to something bad and then some have the willpower to get out of trouble. Great movie."
Musical Tastes: "Motown, country and western."
Favorite TV Shows: "Dukes of Hazzard - Boss Hog had me laughing, naturally funny. Wild Wild West. The Red Skelton Show."
Childhood Ambition: "When I was a little kid I wanted to be an artist or a painter. But once I got into boxing, all I wanted was to box."
First Job: "Selling popsicles in Detroit (age 13). I had my cart going up and down the street all day long. I made enough money to buy a car."
Early Boxing Memory: "I started boxing when I was eight. I enjoyed when I could hit someone and they couldn't hit me back. It was like a game for me. The feeling of knocking someone out. My first knockout victory was when I was ten. He went down and his nose started to bleed, so they stopped it."
Favorite Meal: "Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, tomatoes."
Favorite Breakfast Cereal: "Fruit 'n Fibre, Mueslix."
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Strawberry or vanilla."
Pre-Fight Feeling: "Very nervous. You never know what's going to happen. It's a really tightly detailed day because what happens that day is gonna be something we're all gonna have to live with for the rest of our lives. This is it. This is history.
The state of mind of a fighter is so important. I don't like to see a fighter stay locked up in a room. Sometimes it works against them. They think and they worry.
They dwell, sitting in that dark room. You come back and they're psyched out. I like to see boxers eat and then walk, mingle with people. You have to have a certain amount of movement.
Stay active. If you stay locked up in the room all day, the brain cells actually become dormant, become dead, so to say. They're the same guys that come out in the first round and can't even get started, can never wake up. The brain cells are still sleeping. I like to get to know the fighter, like to see where he lives. I went fishing with Julio Cesar Chavez in Mexico. I spend time with Lennox in Canada. He's a quiet guy. He liked to spend time with his Canadian friends, one day they'd play baseball and tennis, another they're all going swimming or he was taking his girl down to Jamaica."
Greatest Sports Moment: "Winning the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Chicago (1963). That was the greatest. (Who did you beat?) A guy named Frank Glover, who was a big favorite to knock me out. He was like Mike Tyson - knocking everyone out. I was only 18 (bantamweight). I lost the first round then won the last two real big in order to pull it out. That was the biggest win of my life probably. That same Golden Gloves Larry Hazard was representing New Jersey as a middleweight. That's how long we've known each other."
Comment