Extremely interesting interview with Manny Steward

[boxingbantz]

Marble, serious question. Are you a pro, former pro or just a very knowledgeable fan? You're like a fountain of knowledge.

[marbleheadmaui]

Marble, serious question. Are you a pro, former pro or just a very knowledgeable fan? You're like a fountain of knowledge.

LOL. My in ring experience is limited to sparring at Gleason's with Gold Glovers who whipped my ass in my twenties (man were they FAST) until I started getting marked up (Can't work on Wall Street with fat lips and black eyes) and now acting as a sparring punching bag for the younguns here from time to time. I'd often hang around Gleason's after my workout and watch trainers like Al Certo and Hector Rocha and Tommy Gahllager and Carlos Ortiz work with fighters.

When I was very young (8-12, the early 1970's) my Dad had a friend who collected fight films from all over the world. Every couple of weeks we'd go over and I'd see films of men like Jofre and Olivares and Foster and Masao Obha and Ismael Laguna. Then of course back then we had the advantage of seeing maybe as many as a hundred fights a year on free tv. I've always been a big reader and boxing has always produced great literature.

Then in like 1990, I was living in NYC, and one Saturday on the local access channel some crazy teenager was hosting a boxing show and ranting on about men like Sam Langford and Harry Greb and Joe Gans. I'd never heard of any of them. I thought to myself "No crazy teenager is going to know more about my favorite sport than me." So I began to build my own fight library and watching film for hours and reading book after book and magazine after magazine on the sport. That teenage crazy man? Max Kellerman. (Thanks Max!)

[boxingbantz]

Fair play mate. You're very clued up. You're the type of poster that seperates us and ESB.