When you first started watching boxing who were the champions ?

I've been watching boxing since about 1999/2000. A lot has changed since then, but some fighters are still around. Best I can remember these were the champions back then:

Lightweight: Stevie Johnson/Jose Luis Castillo ?
Welterweight: Oscar De La Hoya/Tito Trinidad
Middleweight: Bernard Hopkins/William Joppy
Light Heavyweight: Roy Jones Jr.
Heavyweight: Evander Holyfield/ Lennox Lewis

For the sake of memory, as I was only 12 back then, I stuck with just the major weight classes of boxing.

The first fight I remember watching was when Steve Collins beat Chris Eubank in 95, to win the Super Middleweight title.

I was ten.

Jack Johnson was Heavyweight champion of the world....alot has changed since...them were the days


Job Biscuit (can't reach me remote)!!!


eh eh!!!

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Originally Posted by Otley

Jack Johnson was Heavyweight champion of the world....alot has changed since...them were the days


Job Biscuit (can't reach me remote)!!!


eh eh!!!

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I knew you was old mate but not that old. ;D

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Originally Posted by boxingbantz

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Originally Posted by Otley

Jack Johnson was Heavyweight champion of the world....alot has changed since...them were the days


Job Biscuit (can't reach me remote)!!!


eh eh!!!

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I knew you was old mate but not that old. ;D

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further proves the fact that he's senile

Hagler Leonard and Hearns in the early 80's..

Well this thread has stimulated conversation and proved just as insightful as I had hoped...:p

From the year where I started understanding boxing more was around 88/89 and that's because of my uncles. The 2 names I remember most and 2 names whom I memorized were Jorge Paez & JCC.

I started watching boxing more and more around 91/92 so I the champs then were;
The Canizales Bros, Eubank, Nunn, 'Hawk' Jackson, Evander, Norris, Pernell, Esparragoza & Villasana to name some...

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Originally Posted by Hulk

Well this thread has stimulated conversation and proved just as insightful as I had hoped...:p

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It says a lot about you... ;D

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Originally Posted by CutMeMick

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Originally Posted by Hulk

Well this thread has stimulated conversation and proved just as insightful as I had hoped...:p

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It says a lot about you... ;D

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Yes after years of backing Ricardo Mayorga and James Toney, my opinion is held in very high regards on here...

Roberto Duran.....late mid to late 70's and early 80's

Larry Holmes destroying guys like Alfredo Evangelista and Gerry Cooney.

Mike Tyson was the unbeatable monster, everywhere in the media. The guys like Hagler Hearns SRL and Duran were at the twilights of their careers. Newer guys like Meldrick Taylor and Terry Norris were coming up, ODLH too. I liked heavyweights more then because you had Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Tommy Morrison, Razor Ruddock(I actually wanted him to beat Tyson)Holyfield, Moorer , but my favorite was Big George on his comeback. He was knocking people out and it looked like he was in slow motion doing it. Pernell Whitaker was one of the top p4p guys.

Tyson vs Bruno 1 was my first boxing match I watch. So 1989 I started watching it but really didn't love it until around 1992 when I saw Holyfield-Bowe 1. You know when the HW division didn't suck.

Smokin Joe Frazier was champ and I was in 1st grade. Still remember hearing about that fight all the way home from school--guess it was a monday---, things were still buzzing from the previous Im guessing saturday night at MSG.

dont remember any other weight class champs back then. was only 7 years old.

An old Ali, Larry Holmes v Reynaldo Snipes, Big George, Ernie Shavers on ITV Saturday afternoons back in the day, Jim Watt, Charlie Magri, on BBC 1 Saturday nights after the footy, in my late teens Sugar Ray, Duran, Mc guigan early twentys Eubank, Watson, Benn etc. O the good old days lol

Heavy weight - Sonny Liston <-/ Cassius Clay <- Winner

McGuigan

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Originally Posted by erics44

McGuigan

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Barry's fight with Pedroza, that was the first fight I remember sitting down to watch with the family, both mum and stepdad loved boxing and what a great fight to watch and remember as the first. Back in the day when they fought 15rds rather than the pussy 12 nowadays :)

Mid 80's onwards was when i first got into it, remember Terry Marsh being a big name back then and the man to follow on the british scene. Never lost a bout, such a shame about him really :-X

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Originally Posted by No Contest

Mike Tyson was the unbeatable monster, everywhere in the media. The guys like Hagler Hearns SRL and Duran were at the twilights of their careers. Newer guys like Meldrick Taylor and Terry Norris were coming up, ODLH too. I liked heavyweights more then because you had Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Tommy Morrison, Razor Ruddock(I actually wanted him to beat Tyson)Holyfield, Moorer , but my favorite was Big George on his comeback. He was knocking people out and it looked like he was in slow motion doing it. Pernell Whitaker was one of the top p4p guys.

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I think we started around the same time. Douglas was heavyweight champ :) for a minute. Sweet Pea was there, Carbajal was big out here as a local boy. JCC was riding the gravy train. Foreman hadn't even come out with his grill yet.

Just came back to fulfill my bet with you anyway, I'm off again have a good one fellas.

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Originally Posted by Mattyhitman

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Originally Posted by erics44

McGuigan

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Barry's fight with Pedroza, that was the first fight I remember sitting down to watch with the family, both mum and stepdad loved boxing and what a great fight to watch and remember as the first. Back in the day when they fought 15rds rather than the pussy 12 nowadays :)

Mid 80's onwards was when i first got into it, remember Terry Marsh being a big name back then and the man to follow on the british scene. Never lost a bout, such a shame about him really :-X

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i cant really remember which fights they were but i watched a few of his fights in the build up to the Pedroza fight, my dad is irish and mcguigan was massive news amongst the paddys

we couldnt watch the cruz (if thats how you spell it) fight coz we were on a plane going on holiday i think, probably for the best

My mother started taking me to the fights at the Olympic Auditorium when I was 8 or 9, which would have been around 1973. She was a Bobby Chacon and Armando Muniz fan, while I was do-or-die with Litrtle Red Lopez. When he won the featherweight title, it was the first time I got excited about a fighter winning a title. The Muniz-Palomino fights were great fights, too. I remember Zamora and Zarate, and feeling bad about liking them because they had each defeated Alberto Davila, who lived a couple blocks away from me. The fight between them, Zarate and Zamora, was a war as well; it wasn't on television so I stayed up late to hear the results on the local news.
Ali was champ then, after Foreman, and I watched his fights (and whatever fights were on) but mostly he fought bums (Richard Dunn comes to mind, and Leon Spinks) and I have never been too impressed by heavyweights in general. Bob Foster was LHW champ then, at the end of his career, but it was only years later that I watched him. Then it was Mathew Franklin (later Saad Muhammad) and Marvin Johnson engaging in epic wars, and Victor Galindez. Marvin Hagler. Duran.
Mostly, though, my memlories focus on the top-flight Mexican fighters, champions and no, that were fighting around the LA area then. And Andy Ganigan and Randy Shields.

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Originally Posted by killersheep

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Originally Posted by No Contest

Mike Tyson was the unbeatable monster, everywhere in the media. The guys like Hagler Hearns SRL and Duran were at the twilights of their careers. Newer guys like Meldrick Taylor and Terry Norris were coming up, ODLH too. I liked heavyweights more then because you had Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Tommy Morrison, Razor Ruddock(I actually wanted him to beat Tyson)Holyfield, Moorer , but my favorite was Big George on his comeback. He was knocking people out and it looked like he was in slow motion doing it. Pernell Whitaker was one of the top p4p guys.

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I think we started around the same time. Douglas was heavyweight champ :) for a minute. Sweet Pea was there, Carbajal was big out here as a local boy. JCC was riding the gravy train. Foreman hadn't even come out with his grill yet.

Just came back to fulfill my bet with you anyway, I'm off again have a good one fellas.

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Bloody hell mate, thought you'd left the planet !!

Good to see your ok and doing well Killer !!

Mike Tyson, Terry Norris, Michael Nunn, Chavez Sr............. stands out.

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Originally Posted by Pavlik

Mike Tyson, Terry Norris, Michael Nunn, Chavez Sr............. stands out.

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Ditto McCallum, Hearns, Holyfield at cruiser, Galaxy, Chitlada, Moon

PS although remember McGuigan and Holmes v Ali.

My Dad was a big Roy Jones fan and I remember watching Jones fight Julio Gonzalez on ppv and dominating. Later he dominated John Ruiz, whom neither me or my Dad ever thought would beat Holyfield, let alone produce the most boring trilogy boxing has ever seen.

Roy Jones seemed untouchable, no one stood a chance. Then Tarver got that one in a thousand counter shot in...

Muhammad ALI 1978 vs Leon Spinx. Ali threw the slowest 3 piece combo I ever seen. My pops jumped up yelling, thats the old champ, get em champ. Now I know he was just a big Ali fan and couldnt let the old Ali Dreams go. Ali won that fight. Also the build up to Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran. I thought they saying Roberto the Ram. After that fight I thought Roberto the Ram was invincible. 1978 to 1981 is my intro. Saad Muhammad, Dwight Qawi, Marvin Johnson, Mustafa Muhammad were all big back then. Love that era. Watch boxing for free. Wide World of Sports.

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Originally Posted by uwey

Muhammad ALI 1978 vs Leon Spinx. Ali threw the slowest 3 piece combo I ever seen. My pops jumped up yelling, thats the old champ, get em champ. Now I know he was just a big Ali fan and couldnt let the old Ali Dreams go. Ali won that fight. Also the build up to Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran. I thought they saying Roberto the Ram. After that fight I thought Roberto the Ram was invincible. 1978 to 1981 is my intro. Saad Muhammad, Dwight Qawi, Marvin Johnson, Mustafa Muhammad were all big back then. Love that era. Watch boxing for free. Wide World of Sports.

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Those were the days when boxing was free, there will not be as many young fans watching now with less and less people watching the sport.

Remember Jorge Paez all over the networks. Vs Espinosa and Dorsey. Nigel Benn destroyed DeWitt....Simon Brown..Carbajal coming up...Williams vs Czyz....Holyfield on Showtime and Tyson walking through Carl Williams.

Maybe its the age but DAMN I miss the late 80's-early 90's of boxing ;D

Not to mention quality matches were everywhere to be found on the tube!! and not U-tube haha

It's hard to say... Big fights always popped up that I was interested in ever since I was 6 (Tyson Bruno I)

Then there was Benn/ Eubank where in Primary school you would argue over who was best and was only allowed to like on of the fighters. (Nothing changes! ;D )

Then there was Lewis, Prince Naseem, More Tyson... They were the fights you stayed up late for round your mates house while trying to sneak a few bears and girls in because the house was empty.

Then there was BBC fighters like Junior Witter & Esham Pickering, who I used to think was the dogs bollocks.

Then I'd finally heard of Roy Jones Jnr after seeing him batter Clinton Woods.

Then Fight Night 2004 came out and I was like '' Who is this fat dude James Toney :confused: ''

After that I gained access to the Web and all hell broke loose.


But yeah 2004 was the year. Antonio Tarver beating Roy Jones Jnr was the first boxing story I read about.

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Originally Posted by generalbulldog

Tyson vs Bruno 1 was my first boxing match I watch. So 1989 I started watching it but really didn't love it until around 1992 when I saw Holyfield-Bowe 1. You know when the HW division didn't suck.

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This was probably the first one that I remember watching, I had to sneak from my room into my grandad's room to watch that fight as it was past my bedtime, and I had to hide behind the sofa when dad brought my grandad a cuppa about halfway through.

I think I did something similar for one of the Benn Eubank fights, probably the first one, as after those fights Boxing disappeared to sky so I didn't watch much more after that for years.

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Originally Posted by superheavyrhun

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Originally Posted by generalbulldog

Tyson vs Bruno 1 was my first boxing match I watch. So 1989 I started watching it but really didn't love it until around 1992 when I saw Holyfield-Bowe 1. You know when the HW division didn't suck.

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This was probably the first one that I remember watching, I had to sneak from my room into my grandad's room to watch that fight as it was past my bedtime, and I had to hide behind the sofa when dad brought my grandad a cuppa about halfway through.

I think I did something similar for one of the Benn Eubank fights, probably the first one, as after those fights Boxing disappeared to sky so I didn't watch much more after that for years.

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And this is why you are the deliquent we have today. :)