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You old timers were big even back in them days
Any of you attended that in Kingston? Dukes?

When all this shite about who fraid to fight who these days, I wish we was back in the good, ‘honest’ era of boxing.

In reply to Halliwell
Was in USA at the time and
got my flight dates mixed up from New York and arrived in JA the following day.
Read about it at the Daily Gleaner booth at NWM airport.
Have never got over it. One of the biggest disappointments of my life.
And I favoured Smoking Joe to win too.

In reply to Halliwell

I saw it on a plane last week! That is the George Foreman movie!

In reply to StumpCam

That reminded me to ask for a long time

Was there. !973? 20 years old. Paid $5 that Monday evening. Sat in the southern part of the bleachers behind the goalpost.

The 5th knock-down was because Joe turned to run and George copped him in the back of his head

In reply to Halliwell

I was 2nd in charge of the JBC-tv outside broadcast van (engineering wise) at the time but senior man dem pull rank pon I&I and stick de I in studio dat night. Watched it live in the control room though.

--Æ.

In reply to Halliwell


I had to go and watch that fight again.

Those were exciting days, especially leading up to fight time - the anticipation was overwhelming. Even the days of listening to those fights on the radio elicited its own kind of excitement before the closed-circuit telecasts in a local stadium or cinema had you as if at ringside.

Boxing has lost its allure for me. Who can forget those ABC "Wide World of Sports" bouts on Saturday afternoons? There were great boxing matches shown across numerous weight divisions.

Dem were the days.

I am in awe of these stories
Being part of sports history
Thank you

Dukes too busy with his Real Life to let me know if he was there?
That’s right up his street

In reply to CWWeekes

You were there? Wow, what an experience!

I was a kid in those days, so had to read about it in the Daily Gleaner the next morning.

In reply to Halliwell

Man tek time wid Dukesy bannuh he plaiting his sideburns

Saw the movie AND THE Documentary frasier was truly unapreciated died without with much fanfare and nearly desolate

In reply to mikesiva

Yep was there. Also got to see two of my idols, Bunny Grant and Percy Hayles, perform in the flesh for the first and only time. They were on the undercard and both won their fights. Our middleweight champion at the time, Roy Lee, was destroyed in the first round by Willie "The Worm" Monroe of the US. It was like Willie was in a hurry to catch a flight.

In reply to CWWeekes

I'm pulling a complete blank on Roy Lee (I see his record on-line though). But Bunny Grant and Percy Hayles... yeah!

Tribute to Bunny by Alton Ellis:

And a surprise for me: Sparrow covered his British Empire fight in 1962 against Dave Charnley. Real cool.

--Æ.

My late father was, at the time, the head of National Sports Limited, the local government agency facilitating the staging of the fight - they also promoted the annual Norman Manley Games and several other big sporting events each year - featuring some of the best athletes in the world - the Benson & Hedges table tennis and Rothmans tennis tournaments in the National Arena to name just a couple.

Was privileged to see TT players like Dragutin Surbek, Stellan Bengston and Desmond "The Black Flash" Douglas as well as tennis greats like Connors and Nastase live.

I was ringside at the Sunshine Showdown as a wide-eyed 14 year old.

In reply to JayMor

Roy Lee was around in the 60s into early 70s. He won the Jamaican middleweight title from Belizean Rudolph Bent. I guess the highlight of his career was defeating? or drawing (can't remember) with Jamaican born Bunny Sterling who was the British champion and who had a victory over Emile Griffiths. Might have represented JA in 9th Central American and Caribbean Games, hosted by Jamaica in 1962.

Side note:
If my memory is right Rudolph Bent was at one time involved with Margarita, the dancer who was killed by the great trombonist Don Drummond.

In reply to CWWeekes

Re "Roy Lee ... won the Jamaican middleweight title from Belizean Rudolph Bent" -- I see, except that it wasn't British Honduras that Bent alternatively fought for, but instead it was Honduras.

Right you are, CW. Seems Anita "Margarita" Mahfood was actually married to him before being involved with Don D, and he used to abuse her too. Even the Youtube mount of her only song shows the scar of a long wound on her arm. And the "ungu-malungu man" bit has me postulating theories of her intent, considering who she was.

--Æ.

In reply to newdread

Yup, dems was de days fe real! Re tt, from my JBC-Tv OB days, I recall names as Anita Belnavis*, Courtney Wilson, Orville Haslam and that Guyanese chick, Doreen Chow-Wah.
*[Kymani Marley’s mother. Was she really Maurice Foster's sister as runoured?]

--Æ.

In reply to JayMor
Think Fos' sis was a lil, lil girl when repping JA Ihink she's someone else...Joy
She repped Yard before she was ten

Used to like hear Cozier tell the joke how Fos and The Greatest cricketer ever beat up dem Engish men in TT and collect their beers. Big Cat has told it too.

In reply to Brerzerk

Slight embellishment by Cozier there...Fos has never had an alcoholic beverage in his entire life. If I know Fos, and I know him very well, he was more likely taking their money.

In reply to Brerzerk



--Æ.