One of Hearn’s right crosses buzzed Hagler for a brief second. After that, it was lights out.
Since some are sharing their history with boxing, here’s mine while we wait for the Tourney to start. (The selection show announcing the seeding offers no excitement for me. Play the games. Everything else is like watching a soap opera.)
Anyway, my grandfather was a big boxing fan. He was a bartender at the local Elks Club in Belleville NJ. At that time, the Elks Club was the biggest social club in town. The place was huge, banquet rooms, bowling allies, bandstands, dance floors, etc, and they held amateur boxing matches. No head gear and they were brawls. My grandfather took me to a some of them. I watched the Rocky Marciano/Jersey Joe Lewis ll fight with him on his 12 inch TV and I was hooked.
I went to all the big fights shown in theaters and Floyd Patterson became my favorite fighter. When Johansson knocked him out in their first fight, I was in a funk for days. When Patterson knocked Johansson out in the second fight, I was drunk for days.
I would go to Madison Square Garden every year for the Golden Glove Finals. Loads of beer and we bet on every fight not knowing anything about the fighters.....loads of beer. A great night. I paid $30 for nose bleed seats at MSG to see a great card, two championship fights: Emile Griffin/Nino Benvenuti and Joe Fraser/Buster Mathis.
Still a big fan. I watch them all. Joined ESPN+ and DAZN. ShowBox on Showtime is very good. They match top young boxers against each other. No mismatches. Great fights.
I had 3 amateur fights. Won the first two and fought a southpaw in the 3rd. I spent the whole fight wondering where the punches were coming from. I think I accused the ref for hitting me. A career ending experience.