Porter vs Crawford in November?
Arum Plans To Announce Crawford vs. Porter For Nov. 20 At Mandalay Bay In Las Vegas
Arum Plans To Announce Crawford vs. Porter For Nov. 20 At Mandalay Bay In Las Vegas
Essential The Official Boxing Random Thoughts Thread...All boxing heads ENTER.
- Thread starter Jesus Is Lord
- Start date
reservoirdogs
Superstar
Arum to announce it?
Does that mean it's carried by ESPN PPV or what?
Does that mean it's carried by ESPN PPV or what?
desjardins
Veteran
Interested in seeing what the purses will be and where Arum suddenly found the money to pay for it
Wonder if Arum getting this fight done increases the likelihood of Crawford staying with him
Hope more abcs force these kind of mandatories for matchups ppl actually are interested in
BEST I FACED: TONY TUCKER
TUCKER (RIGHT) ON THE ATTACK AGAINST MIKE TYSON. PHOTO BY THE RING MAGAZINE/GETTY IMAGES
13
SEP
BY ANSON WAINWRIGHT
Tony Tucker holds the ignominious record of shortest heavyweight title reign at just 64 days. However, he still enjoyed a very good career as a top-10 contender in the late-80s and early-90s.
Tucker was born on December 27, 1958 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was the oldest child of three and the son of former amateur boxer Bob Tucker, who trained Floyd Mayweather Sr. and was a close friend of Roger.
“Michigan was a beautiful place to live,” Tucker told The Ring. “I didn’t grow up in the ghetto. I grew up middle class; both my parents had good jobs. My dad worked for [furniture manufacturers] Steelcase; my mom worked for Walter Hagen Golf apparel.
“I boxed because my dad was a boxer and I was a daddy’s boy – it was a connection with my dad. I would never have been a boxer; I didn’t care for boxing, I was a better baseball player and football player.”
Tucker graduated from high school while enjoying a very successful amateur career as a light heavyweight. He won gold at the Pan-Am games and World Cup in 1979 and had very real aspirations of representing his country at Olympics before losing in the trials.
However, then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter declared a boycott of the 1980 Moscow games – due to Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan – so the U.S team elected to fight a series of exhibitions in Europe. Tucker had been scheduled to travel to Poland but was injured the day before the flight and stayed at home. Tragically, the plane crashed, killing all 87 people on board.
“There were two disappointments that year,” Tucker said solemnly. “To find out we weren’t having no Olympics and when all the American boxers got killed. One of the guys who was on the plane, Lemuel Steeples, was a best friend of mine.”
After compiling an amateur record of 115-6, Tucker made his professional debut at heavyweight in November 1980 and scored a third-round knockout over Chuck Gardner.
Tucker was guided by his father, but his progression was slow and he was hampered by a knee injury that kept him out of the sport for 15 months. With the team struggling financially, his father sought investment from boxing notables such as Cedric Kushner, Jeff Levine and Josephine Abercrombie.
Tucker bested former heavyweight title challenger Jimmy Young (UD 10) in September 1984 and, following several more victories, beat James Broad (UD 12) for the vacant USBA title to position himself high in the IBF rankings.
When then IBF-titleholder Michael Spinks refused to defend his title against Tucker, he was stripped. Subsequently, “TNT” was matched against James “Buster” Douglas to fill the vacancy at the outdoor arena at the Las Vegas Hilton in May 1987.
“We knew each other well because we were sparring partners at one time,” said Tucker, who came on strong after a slow start to stop Douglas in the 10th round. “It was funny because his dad trained him like my dad trained me. We both kind of knew what each other had.”
Tucker, famed for his fashionable Jheri curl, didn’t get to enjoy his new status for very long and was quickly matched against WBA/WBA counterpart Mike Tyson in a unification bout in Las Vegas in August 1987.
The self-proclaimed “Invisible Champion” entered the contest in less than stellar condition.
“When I fought Mike, I had one hand, my right hand was broken 10 days before the fight,” recalled Tucker. “When I went to the doctor, he X-rayed it and said, ‘You’ve got a small hair fracture.’ My dad and the doctor went out the back, came back and the doctor said, ‘I looked at it again and I think we can put you in hand therapy. You can’t use your hand for 10 days.’ I’m so focused to get ready for the fight, I’m thinking my hand is going to be alright if I go to this hand therapy, but I’m not using my right hand for 10 days.
“When I finally used it in the fight, I knew it was shot. I hit him and my right hand was broken and I had to do the best I could with one hand. That’s why I did all them antics, shuffling and rolling my arms. I was trying to show Tyson was nothing to me. The world didn’t know my right hand was broke, I’m a right-handed puncher.
“I blamed it on my dad because he was the person I depended on and he let me go in there knowing I had a broken right hand. It disappointed me. He said I should have beat him with one hand. He said Don King would have blackballed me, but Don King wasn’t my promoter, Cedric Kushner was. We had to sign with Don King to get the fight with Tyson.”
Tucker, who made a career high $1.9 million, dropped a listless 12-round unanimous decision, and his life quickly spiraled out of control.
“The next day, I’m thinking it’s a bad dream,” he recalled. “I woke up to reality that I really lost and didn’t know how to deal with that loss. I had to substitute that pain through drugs.
“I was in Hollywood and going to different parties, trying to fill my night up. I saw people going into different rooms and tried it. That feeling I had, everything else went away.”
After almost two-and-a-half-years away from boxing, Tucker returned and stayed very busy, collecting the NABF title by beating future cruiserweight titleholder Orlin Norris and successfully defending it against future heavyweight titleholder Oliver McCall.
Those wins earned him the WBC No. 1 ranking and a fight against newly-minted titleholder Lennox Lewis.
“I stopped using [drugs] for five months and I was in the gym, but it’s hard to erase that and it wears on your career,” said Tucker, who got off the canvas in the third and ninth rounds before dropping a unanimous decision. “It tears you down. I wasn’t at the height of my powers and he was on the way up.
“If I had fought Lennox in top form, it would have been different outcome. My whole thing fighting Lennox Lewis was I wanted to win so I could fight Tyson again.”
Tucker fought on but was a shell of his former self, losing title fights to the younger, fresher Bruce Seldon (RTD 7) and Herbie Hide (TKO 2) before retiring in 1998 with a record of 57-7 (47 knockouts).
“When you use drugs, you age a lot faster.” he said.
Tucker, 62, lives in Dunedin, Florida and has two daughters and a granddaughter. He has been free from his addictions for many years.
“A friend of mine owns a nightclub and I was working there doing a little security work and enjoying retirement life from boxing.” he said.
He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he fought in 10 key categories.
BEST JAB
Buster Douglas: Lennox Lewis had a good jab but I’d have to say Tyson and Buster Douglas. Tyson was shorter but he had a real quick jab, his hands were fast, and Douglas had a fast jab but it was strong and stiff. I’d go with Buster Douglas – he had a good snappy jab.
BEST DEFENSE
Jimmy Young: He was slippery man (laughs). He could get out of the way of punches; he was real slick.
BEST HANDSPEED
Mike Tyson: Buster was pretty quick. Tyson had real quick hands.
BEST FOOTWORK
Lennox Lewis: He was light on his feet; he could move, different angles and I had a hard time catching up with him.
SMARTEST
Lewis: He was very smart. He didn’t fall for a lot of the tricks I was trying to set him up with. I guess he knew them too (laughs.)
STRONGEST
Tyson: Orlin Norris and Tyson. They were shorter guys, they’d plant their feet and wouldn’t move. I’d say Mike, he was very strong.
BEST CHIN
Tyson: I hit him with a good left uppercut that he stood up to. Lennox Lewis took some good shots.
BEST PUNCHER
Lewis: Oliver [McCall] was a helluva puncher and Lennox was a helluva puncher. Lennox dropped me twice, so I’d have to say him.
BEST BOXING SKILLS
Douglas: Tyson, Douglas and Lennox had good skills. Douglas was very sound technically; you saw how he fought Tyson. We fought before him and Tyson and he saw how I did and followed [the game plan].
BEST OVERALL
Lewis: Douglas, Tyson and Lennox. They were the best fights I had; they were title fights. Tyson was short, strong, real quick and he could take a punch. Douglas was as tall as me, good strong jab, good defense. Lennox came out from the amateurs, he was real strong, he had reach and it was a different kind of style. He could move good and he had a strong punch. I would say Lennox, he achieved so much, a very good fighter.
Best I Faced: Tony Tucker - The Ring (ringtv.com)
TUCKER (RIGHT) ON THE ATTACK AGAINST MIKE TYSON. PHOTO BY THE RING MAGAZINE/GETTY IMAGES
13
SEP
BY ANSON WAINWRIGHT
Tony Tucker holds the ignominious record of shortest heavyweight title reign at just 64 days. However, he still enjoyed a very good career as a top-10 contender in the late-80s and early-90s.
Tucker was born on December 27, 1958 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was the oldest child of three and the son of former amateur boxer Bob Tucker, who trained Floyd Mayweather Sr. and was a close friend of Roger.
“Michigan was a beautiful place to live,” Tucker told The Ring. “I didn’t grow up in the ghetto. I grew up middle class; both my parents had good jobs. My dad worked for [furniture manufacturers] Steelcase; my mom worked for Walter Hagen Golf apparel.
“I boxed because my dad was a boxer and I was a daddy’s boy – it was a connection with my dad. I would never have been a boxer; I didn’t care for boxing, I was a better baseball player and football player.”
Tucker graduated from high school while enjoying a very successful amateur career as a light heavyweight. He won gold at the Pan-Am games and World Cup in 1979 and had very real aspirations of representing his country at Olympics before losing in the trials.
However, then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter declared a boycott of the 1980 Moscow games – due to Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan – so the U.S team elected to fight a series of exhibitions in Europe. Tucker had been scheduled to travel to Poland but was injured the day before the flight and stayed at home. Tragically, the plane crashed, killing all 87 people on board.
“There were two disappointments that year,” Tucker said solemnly. “To find out we weren’t having no Olympics and when all the American boxers got killed. One of the guys who was on the plane, Lemuel Steeples, was a best friend of mine.”
After compiling an amateur record of 115-6, Tucker made his professional debut at heavyweight in November 1980 and scored a third-round knockout over Chuck Gardner.
Tucker was guided by his father, but his progression was slow and he was hampered by a knee injury that kept him out of the sport for 15 months. With the team struggling financially, his father sought investment from boxing notables such as Cedric Kushner, Jeff Levine and Josephine Abercrombie.
Tucker bested former heavyweight title challenger Jimmy Young (UD 10) in September 1984 and, following several more victories, beat James Broad (UD 12) for the vacant USBA title to position himself high in the IBF rankings.
When then IBF-titleholder Michael Spinks refused to defend his title against Tucker, he was stripped. Subsequently, “TNT” was matched against James “Buster” Douglas to fill the vacancy at the outdoor arena at the Las Vegas Hilton in May 1987.
“We knew each other well because we were sparring partners at one time,” said Tucker, who came on strong after a slow start to stop Douglas in the 10th round. “It was funny because his dad trained him like my dad trained me. We both kind of knew what each other had.”
Tucker, famed for his fashionable Jheri curl, didn’t get to enjoy his new status for very long and was quickly matched against WBA/WBA counterpart Mike Tyson in a unification bout in Las Vegas in August 1987.
The self-proclaimed “Invisible Champion” entered the contest in less than stellar condition.
“When I fought Mike, I had one hand, my right hand was broken 10 days before the fight,” recalled Tucker. “When I went to the doctor, he X-rayed it and said, ‘You’ve got a small hair fracture.’ My dad and the doctor went out the back, came back and the doctor said, ‘I looked at it again and I think we can put you in hand therapy. You can’t use your hand for 10 days.’ I’m so focused to get ready for the fight, I’m thinking my hand is going to be alright if I go to this hand therapy, but I’m not using my right hand for 10 days.
“When I finally used it in the fight, I knew it was shot. I hit him and my right hand was broken and I had to do the best I could with one hand. That’s why I did all them antics, shuffling and rolling my arms. I was trying to show Tyson was nothing to me. The world didn’t know my right hand was broke, I’m a right-handed puncher.
“I blamed it on my dad because he was the person I depended on and he let me go in there knowing I had a broken right hand. It disappointed me. He said I should have beat him with one hand. He said Don King would have blackballed me, but Don King wasn’t my promoter, Cedric Kushner was. We had to sign with Don King to get the fight with Tyson.”
Tucker, who made a career high $1.9 million, dropped a listless 12-round unanimous decision, and his life quickly spiraled out of control.
“The next day, I’m thinking it’s a bad dream,” he recalled. “I woke up to reality that I really lost and didn’t know how to deal with that loss. I had to substitute that pain through drugs.
“I was in Hollywood and going to different parties, trying to fill my night up. I saw people going into different rooms and tried it. That feeling I had, everything else went away.”
After almost two-and-a-half-years away from boxing, Tucker returned and stayed very busy, collecting the NABF title by beating future cruiserweight titleholder Orlin Norris and successfully defending it against future heavyweight titleholder Oliver McCall.
Those wins earned him the WBC No. 1 ranking and a fight against newly-minted titleholder Lennox Lewis.
“I stopped using [drugs] for five months and I was in the gym, but it’s hard to erase that and it wears on your career,” said Tucker, who got off the canvas in the third and ninth rounds before dropping a unanimous decision. “It tears you down. I wasn’t at the height of my powers and he was on the way up.
“If I had fought Lennox in top form, it would have been different outcome. My whole thing fighting Lennox Lewis was I wanted to win so I could fight Tyson again.”
Tucker fought on but was a shell of his former self, losing title fights to the younger, fresher Bruce Seldon (RTD 7) and Herbie Hide (TKO 2) before retiring in 1998 with a record of 57-7 (47 knockouts).
“When you use drugs, you age a lot faster.” he said.
Tucker, 62, lives in Dunedin, Florida and has two daughters and a granddaughter. He has been free from his addictions for many years.
“A friend of mine owns a nightclub and I was working there doing a little security work and enjoying retirement life from boxing.” he said.
He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he fought in 10 key categories.
BEST JAB
Buster Douglas: Lennox Lewis had a good jab but I’d have to say Tyson and Buster Douglas. Tyson was shorter but he had a real quick jab, his hands were fast, and Douglas had a fast jab but it was strong and stiff. I’d go with Buster Douglas – he had a good snappy jab.
BEST DEFENSE
Jimmy Young: He was slippery man (laughs). He could get out of the way of punches; he was real slick.
BEST HANDSPEED
Mike Tyson: Buster was pretty quick. Tyson had real quick hands.
BEST FOOTWORK
Lennox Lewis: He was light on his feet; he could move, different angles and I had a hard time catching up with him.
SMARTEST
Lewis: He was very smart. He didn’t fall for a lot of the tricks I was trying to set him up with. I guess he knew them too (laughs.)
STRONGEST
Tyson: Orlin Norris and Tyson. They were shorter guys, they’d plant their feet and wouldn’t move. I’d say Mike, he was very strong.
BEST CHIN
Tyson: I hit him with a good left uppercut that he stood up to. Lennox Lewis took some good shots.
BEST PUNCHER
Lewis: Oliver [McCall] was a helluva puncher and Lennox was a helluva puncher. Lennox dropped me twice, so I’d have to say him.
BEST BOXING SKILLS
Douglas: Tyson, Douglas and Lennox had good skills. Douglas was very sound technically; you saw how he fought Tyson. We fought before him and Tyson and he saw how I did and followed [the game plan].
BEST OVERALL
Lewis: Douglas, Tyson and Lennox. They were the best fights I had; they were title fights. Tyson was short, strong, real quick and he could take a punch. Douglas was as tall as me, good strong jab, good defense. Lennox came out from the amateurs, he was real strong, he had reach and it was a different kind of style. He could move good and he had a strong punch. I would say Lennox, he achieved so much, a very good fighter.
Best I Faced: Tony Tucker - The Ring (ringtv.com)
King
The black man is always targeted.
I found this boxing shop in LA.
Gonna cop my first pair of gloves there. I wanna get 14oz but I weigh over 200 so I might just get some 16s. Gonna see what they tell me also ask around to see if they know any good gyms/trainers in the OC.
Gonna cop my first pair of gloves there. I wanna get 14oz but I weigh over 200 so I might just get some 16s. Gonna see what they tell me also ask around to see if they know any good gyms/trainers in the OC.
King
The black man is always targeted.
Damn these MMA “boxing” schools idk I’m getting ehh vibes from em 
So the coach of the beginner classes I’m gonna go to at is a Muay Thai dude who started boxing in 2009
This gym has 2 locations in different cities. The “head” boxing coach is a guy with like 18 years of training amateur and a few pros. But he’s in another city like 10 miles away from the gym I have access to.
I’m tryna learn this shyt the right way, not some half ass BS like that one trainer dude who took my money.
What you thinking? @In Our Angelhood
So the coach of the beginner classes I’m gonna go to at is a Muay Thai dude who started boxing in 2009
This gym has 2 locations in different cities. The “head” boxing coach is a guy with like 18 years of training amateur and a few pros. But he’s in another city like 10 miles away from the gym I have access to.
I’m tryna learn this shyt the right way, not some half ass BS like that one trainer dude who took my money.
What you thinking? @In Our Angelhood
reservoirdogs
Superstar
Damn these MMA “boxing” schools idk I’m getting ehh vibes from em
So the coach of the beginner classes I’m gonna go to at is a Muay Thai dude who started boxing in 2009
This gym has 2 locations in different cities. The “head” boxing coach is a guy with like 18 years of training amateur and a few pros. But he’s in another city like 10 miles away from the gym I have access to.
I’m tryna learn this shyt the right way, not some half ass BS like that one trainer dude who took my money.
What you thinking? @In Our Angelhood
Muay thai has a vastly different approach to punching than boxing because the kicks, knees and elbows playing but there were plenty of good boxers who crossed over from muay thai or kick boxing and became good contenders or champions. Most of the Thai dudes who were and who are currently good at boxing started out as muay thai guys at some point of their career. You don't really see it at them maybe their stance is more square. An dof course most of the time they are tough as fukk
Boxing is a sport that is easy to learn at a basic level but hard to master with that said there were plenty of boxers who became good or very good just with a few years expereince behind their back, so it's not set in stone that you have to do it for x years at least to be this or that good, I guess it depends on dude's natural ability and on how serious he took boxing how good he could become in those 11 years of doing it.
Some ppl progress more in a year than others in 3 because they are just more enthusiastic about it, train more, have better ability, etc...
It's not a sport like swimming that you have to start as a child or else you're fukked. Look at guys like AJ or Wilder, they started boxing at age 18/19 or something.
thats makes more sense considering the nature of his crimes lol....even if he was released, he'd prolly be deported out of this country