Guys I Wish Loved Glory More

[marbleheadmaui]

I almost could have but this in the thread about guys I wish I had seen more of but for me it would be Kirkland Laing.
So much talent, so many problems. What could he have done if he wanted the glory more than the drink? Unfortunately a really sad story has followed his retirement.

Care to fill that in a lttle? I don't know the story.

[ryanman]

I almost could have but this in the thread about guys I wish I had seen more of but for me it would be Kirkland Laing.
So much talent, so many problems. What could he have done if he wanted the glory more than the drink? Unfortunately a really sad story has followed his retirement.

Care to fill that in a lttle? I don't know the story.

Sure. You mean what has happened since his retirement? I presume you do.

Well, to go back a bit first, after beating Duran in 1982 he went missing and only reappeared after blowing all his money on drink, drugs and women. He fought on for several years finally retiring in 1994(?) at 40 following a knockout loss to Glenn Catley.
By all accounts he then became more and more alcohol dependent with spells of homelessness. Steve Bunce made a documentary about him about 7 years ago and he looked in a really bad way and was homeless. Shortly afterwards he suffered a fall from a balcony and several spells in rehab for his alcoholism followed. Last I heard was that he was alive but not well. I hope things have improved for him since.

He had so much talent but his demons robbed him of the career (or he robbed himself) that he could have had. He was before my time really but I have always been really interested in his story probably because my dad (who wasn't particularly passionate about boxing) seemed like a boxing fanatic when talking about Kirkland.

[marbleheadmaui]

I almost could have but this in the thread about guys I wish I had seen more of but for me it would be Kirkland Laing.
So much talent, so many problems. What could he have done if he wanted the glory more than the drink? Unfortunately a really sad story has followed his retirement.

Care to fill that in a lttle? I don't know the story.

Sure. You mean what has happened since his retirement? I presume you do.

Well, to go back a bit first, after beating Duran in 1982 he went missing and only reappeared after blowing all his money on drink, drugs and women. He fought on for several years finally retiring in 1994(?) at 40 following a knockout loss to Glenn Catley.
By all accounts he then became more and more alcohol dependent with spells of homelessness. Steve Bunce made a documentary about him about 7 years ago and he looked in a really bad way and was homeless. Shortly afterwards he suffered a fall from a balcony and several spells in rehab for his alcoholism followed. Last I heard was that he was alive but not well. I hope things have improved for him since.

He had so much talent but his demons robbed him of the career (or he robbed himself) that he could have had. He was before my time really but I have always been really interested in his story probably because my dad (who wasn't particularly passionate about boxing) seemed like a boxing fanatic when talking about Kirkland.

Thanks very much. Very, very sad. I didn't know about the drinking. I could never figure out how he could beat Duran and then fight very credibly against a pretty good Fred hutchings and then just sort of faded away. At least from here in the states. I watched that fight against Duran several times shortly after it happened and while Duran wasn't in great shape Laing handled him awfully well. I thought he won more clearly that then judges did. I would have thought he could have gotten at least one more big fight.

Thanks again.