Here is the final rundown of career high spots and memorable moments. As I’ve stated, there is no specific order because I wouldn’t even know how to measure it, although they all standout in their own ways.
It’s been some journey. And hopefully there are a few good things ahead.
Almost made the cut
Watching Floyd Mayweather’s mastery against Canelo Alvarez was phenomenal, and being ringside for Carl Froch’s wars with Mikkel Kessler was brutally memorable.
A trip to the International Boxing Hall of Fame with fight historian and friend George Zeleny probably should have made the list, and it’s worth noting I was at Ward-Gatti 1 and 2, as a fan.
Then there was the time I visited light-heavyweight contender James Scott in prison, going to Hopkins-Trinidad at the Garden with Saad Muhammad, and writing War and Peace with Ricky Hatton.
(Me with Benton and Saad)
5. Meeting Joe Frazier and George Benton in Philly
There was a day, in 2001, when I travelled to Philadelphia (from Atlantic City) with light-heavyweight great Matthew Saad Muhammad and a mutual friend in order for Matthew to catch up with some old friends. We started off going to Joe Frazier’s Gym in Philly and cold-called Joe, who saw us in his office. Matthew and Joe talked about people they knew, people who had passed, life after boxing, and Joe then came out and took some pictures with us.
My lasting memory of Joe was that he was a small man – the former heavyweight champion of the world – who kept trying to tell us he was still a heavyweight when he was clearly the smallest man of the group. He repeatedly made references to how big he was, how large his hands were, how broad his shoulders were, and I thought he was playing. But when I, or perhaps it was the mutual friend, pulled him up on it, he was offended and doubled down.
(A 22ish me and Joe Frazier)
