The first time I went to see a fight in person was on Saturday, August 7, 1982 at the Spectrum in south Philadelphia. I left my job early from the airline job I had, and made it in plenty of time to see the main event. I paid $25 to see the rematch between Matthew […]
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The first time I ever watched professional boxing match was on February 16, 1970. It was on Wide World of Sports ,and it was Joe Frazier vs. Jimmy Ellis in Madison Square Garden. Joe had been champ since 1968, while Jimmy Ellis had outpointed Jerry Quarry to win the WBA belt Ali had relinquished. Nothing
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Mills Lane was born in Savannah, Georgia on November 12, 1937. He grew up in Massachusetts, and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1956 and after his discharge in 1959, enlisted in the University of Nevada, Reno. He graduated with a business degree in 1963, and pursued a law degree right after. Mills started boxing
Ray Leonard had signed to fight the WBC super-welterweight champ Terry Norris on February 9. 1991 at Madison Square Garden in New York. It would be Leonard’s first fight at the Garden, and it also meant he was fighting at 154 pounds, the first time at that weight in almost 10 years. I personally didn’t
After the less than scintillating win over Duran in December of 1989, Ray was put on the shelf for months. The huge gash caused by the Duran right needed plastic surgery to repair, and Leonard couldn’t make any decisions on a next opponent. Michael Nunn was the middleweight champion of the world at the time,
After the draw with Hearns in June, Ray Leonard signed to fight his arch nemesis Roberto Duran in December. I had softened in my anger towards Ray, and found it easy to vote for him once again because I really couldn’t stand Duran. The fight would christen the new Mirage hotel on the strip in
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It had been nearly 8 years since their first battle in Las Vegas on September 16, 1981, when Sugar Ray Leonard stopped Thomas Hearns on the ropes in the 14th round. Now they were fighting at the super-middleweight limit of 168 lbs., with Ray defending the belt he won against Donny Lalonde. He had relinquished
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Sugar Ray Leonard was signed to fight Donny ‘The Golden Boy’ Lalonde on Monday, November 7th, 1988 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The fight would be at the super-middleweight limit of 168 lbs., and be for both the WBC super-middleweight and Lalonde’s 175 belt as well. This despite the fact the WBC said it
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After the colossal upset of Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard returned to the top of the sport once again. He graced the cover of every boxing magazine, and enjoyed the limelight that came with the huge win. Talks of a rematch never really took hold, and Marvin went into retreat. The fact that he never
It was a cool early spring evening on April 6th, 1987 when I made my way to the Spectrum in Philadelphia to watch the Leonard-Hagler fight on closed circuit tv. I had been looking forward to this fight for months, had ready every article I could read, watched every video I could find and by
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