Lou had a heck of a stable back in the day; especially back in the '80s [[boxing's last great hey day, IMO). My brother, who is a huge boxing fan, was not a huge of Lou. He used to refer to his gym as "Lou Duva's Meat Wagon".
RIP.
I remember when worked with Holyfield. He was one of the icons in Boxing.
Holy was my boy. I liked Sweetpea and Meldrick Taylor as well. To my brother's point about his lack of appreciation for Duva, he managed Taylor through a dominant performance against Julio Cesar Chavez but told him that he needed to take round 12. Taylor comes out, tries to bop, and gets dropped for a last round knockout. Duva would always be remembered as That guy on the heels of that.
Yeah, after Angelo Dundee, Manny Stewart and Lou Duva are the next most respected managers over the last half century.
I'm jealous. Kronk was important for Detroit in and out of the gym. His stable was stout, too. The only reason Hagler vs Hearns is not the greatest fight of all time is the fact that there was no way somebody could survive it to the distance. At some point, both realized that it was "kill or be killed" and they went all in.
Yes! Kronk was the sheet! LOL! We use to party with Tommy Hearns all time after he quite boxing and became a security guard. Yeah Mr. Stewart use to tell me I looked like Evander Holyfield to HIM back in the day LOL! He had a chop house restarurant/nightclub in downtown Detroit. The biggest fight in my lifetime after Ali-Frazier in '71 was Hearns-Leonard in 81'! I was in college then and my best friend and I listened to it on the radio. My buddy was from D.C. as was Sugar Ray Leonard and I was from Detroit as was Tommy Hearns so you can imagine how heated the situation was surrounding that fight and us! LOL!!!!
That's how it was between my brother and me when Hagler and Leonard fought. Watching it 2,000 miles away, he scored it for Sugar Ray 116-114. I had it the same for Hagler. Of course, we argued about it. A week or so later, he came home on furlough and we watched it together. Him: 116-114, Leonard. Me: 116-114, Hagler.
We don't even talk about it any more because it doesn't make any sense to beat that horse. He won't convince me and I won't convince him. That's what used to be special about the sweet science.
I doubt that it will. When every fight was pay-per-view, average fans found other things to watch. I remember watching most of Larry Holmes' fights on CBS or HBO. I saw Ali fight Ernie Shavers and others on ABC. Jimmy Young broke George Foreman down in Puerto Rico on FREE TV. SMH, they killed the goose that laid the golden eggs and now, UFC has it.
But I'll never forget when Holmes fought Gerry Cooney on PPV. There were huge racial implications associated with the last of the Great White Hopes. When I drove home at 2:00 am, brothers were literally dancing in the streets of some neighborhoods. I can't name five current champs.
Robert Easter Jr. is causing a bit of a stir:
http://www.toledo.com/news/2016/09/1....-with-parade/
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