I felt like All my career It was a challenge.

I didn’t get gigantic breaks, I didn’t get the exhibition that others did. I have always had the highest respect for both Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns and I am sure they had the same for me. Leonard told me that there would be a fight between me and him, and I knew it happened one day.

As for Hearns, I always knew that Tommy was a good warrior with a good right hand. He was statuesque, slender and very cunning. He always had good management behind him. He was a boy No. 1 of Manny Steward. And Manny looked after him very much, preparing for his fight. But I always counted on the day when I and he met.

[The fight should have happened two years before but Hearns pulled out with an injured finger]. I said, “What? I know guys who would take this payment and cut off this little pink. I thought, to be straightforward, he wasn’t sure of the fight because he saw me as a real threat. I thought it was an excuse.

I needed a gigantic fight and someone who was a potential threat to me. Basically, I cleaned my division and needed fresh meat. I needed a up-to-date and other kind of challenge. Someone who people thought can beat me. It sold tickets. But I got better and achieved a perfect number in the right time. He said he was going to reject my bald head. I thought: “Great, it means that it will appear and I will get payment.” But I tried not to scare him in case he didn’t get on the ring with me. I was polite and tranquil because I didn’t want him to run away.

Entering the fight I was a nasty guy. I wanted war. And there was no question of hell that he was going to take my title. I achieved my improvement and I was more hungry than ever. It was thrilling and electrifying for me and I knew it would be a drama.

I tried to keep the pressure on the whole fight. And I had a solution to everything he had. I had to put pressure if it boxes. The first round was too thrilling and too blurred. I was surprised that he could take as many blows as. He tried to fly me. I followed him non-stop.

I was not lucky in boxing, and things do not go in my power because of my politics. And I see it all flashing before my eyes when I was cut. I thought: “They are trying to steal him and take away from me.”

I went to the doctor and he asked: “How do you feel? Do you see? So I said,” Well, I don’t miss him, right? ” So he said, “Go further” and I thought, “Oh, he is [Hearns] I’m going to get it now. I became even more aggressive and the monster left.

I never wanted to kill another man in the ring. But everything could happen if he survived. I thought I would hurt him really badly, the adrenaline flowed so much. You have to imagine it would do it a tragedy. The whole conversation comes out in the ring. I didn’t finish and I was ready for more. I was in such a huge shape. But thank God he was fine, and the fight ended when it happened.

[In the end] It was worth all the fights and sacrifices. I wasn’t the shiny star for all the fights, being a bad guy, having this deadly image. They never looked at my artistic side. I was a switch. I was a complete warrior. I think that at that time it was the climax of my career. People now knew that I was a great warrior. I wanted to be the best and I was. And now people look at me as a legend.

Incredible.

Wembley Arena, London, England – September 27, 1980.

On this day, the demanding -earned coronation of the great warrior as a world champion in medium weight was overshadowed by events that led to the fact that the fight was called “ashamed of British boxing.” Marvin HaglerThe terrifying shaved head of Southpaw from Brockton, Massachusetts, challenged the British hero Alan Minter for the world crown. Before the fight, there was controversy with Minter, who was the second defense of his belt, infamously declaring how “no black man would never accept my title.” After the fight, there was controversy in the form of wicked ugly scenes after the fight. If you could call it a fight. A bloody sculpture can be a more true description of 7 minutes and 45 seconds that lasted.

Hagler, hungry (see starving) and still smart “being robbed” in his challenge from 1979 of the then Champion Vito Antuofermo, and the fight was a draw at the end of 15 exhausting rounds, she was a petite weakness against Minter and decided to break through to the title at that time. Minter, who won the title, deciding about Vito and stopped him in the first defense of the title, had no idea what was for him against his hunger pretender.

From the very beginning, Hagler was a defender’s master, soon opening a nasty cut above Minter’s left eye. Soon blood belonged, the minister suffered a total of four cuts to the end (later needing 15 seams). Hagler was the personification of a warrior who was simply not denied. Minter was arrested on his feet, trying to fight through the blood, and then more slaughter broke out. Minter’s “fans”, most of them drunk, felt that Hagler was knocked down his hero and that his shaved dome caused terrible cuts of the face, not his fists. Soon a bottle of beer and cans was fired on the ring.

Hagler, on his knees celebrating his great win, was protected by a human shield created by his corner men. Commentator Harry Carpenter was not so lucky: “I just hit the head with a bottle,” Carpenter informed the television audience, slightly noticeable in his words. It was a ghostly scene, and later Mickey Duff, the head of Mintera, apologized to “for everyone in boxing in this country.”

Hagler was so indignant that he vowed that he would never return to Great Britain again. Minter was taken to the hospital.

Although his great moment was broken, Hagler was as determined as always, if not more, to maintain a strongly beloved world title – the one who worked so demanding and so long to earn. Indeed, there was a great reign of the title, and Hagler ruled the world for almost seven long years.

Today, looking back, Hagler has respect for Minter and Anddufermo. During a boxing dinner a few years ago, the wonderful Marvin remembered both his unsuccessful title and his successful.

“First of all, I want to talk about Vito Antuofermo,” said Hagler, when he was asked that he finally became the world champion, defeating Minter.

“I Give Antoufermo a Lot of Credit, Because He Was A Little Bull. He was Kinda Tough and at Knew It and I Trained Very Difficult for AntoFermo. And I Tell You, heery And I Had a Lot of Footwork and Movement and I Felt as Though and Beat Him, But at the end, when the smoke Cleared, I Lost and he won because he was [still] master. I thought it was unfair and I thought that a lot of policy was involved. But one thing that was very frosty was when I went down the stairs, Joe Louis, I remember, grabbed my hand and said: “Hey, kid, you won this fight, don’t give up.” I said, “Tough, no, I’m coming back to the gym.”

“So I focused on Alan Minter. At that time I never knew so much about Alan Minter, except that I knew that I should be next in the queue, a return match with Anoufermo. It caught a lot of anger in myself – and you don’t want me to go crazy (laughs). So I think that when the fire started to burn. [the title] And he didn’t deserve it. Every day I ran next to the ocean and dreamed about it by becoming the world champion. I had to go through this water to take what I wanted.

“But to this day I thank Alan Minter for giving me an opportunity. He was a respected master and showed me what a master he was, although he was a three -hand stop. He took a lot of punishment, but he showed me a lot of courage. All the things that happened after I didn’t really blind, because I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content Joyful that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content that I was so content. [policemen]. But these are just a handful of people who made the whole country look bad. “

A really unforgettable day in the British history of boxing. If not for pleasant reasons.

Boxing is a sport of a youthful man. For many years, none of the right thoughts that witnessed the parties and events of fighters, has been questioning it. It is basically recommended that every successful amateur with professional ambitions introduce this movement or risk the loss of a fragment of their unpaid ranks.

However, in recent years we have seen a lot of amateur stars oppose this rule, passing tardy, but still is a rating as professionals. In particular, Golovkin Gennades switched codes to 24, Vasiliy Lomachenko At the age of 25 and Oleksandr Usyk at the age of 26. Recently, British Joe Joyce changed at the age of 32. Some say he left him too tardy, but so far, so good. He is now undefeated in 12 paid workplaces, and in his last fight he put a slip under the rising star of Daniel Dubois. But traditionally, tardy switches were rarely apparent and rarely worked. So, in 1960, when an amateur named Johnny Cooke turned at the age of 25, this movement raised a few eyebrows.

The blonde, born in Bootle Booke’s Boyhood Idol was Merseysider Nel Tarleton, the legendary British featherweight champion, who had two close battles for the world crown. Cooke felt boxing in Robert Contemporary Secondary for the first time before boxing for ST Monica and finally maple leaf. He won the Army titles in 1953-55, reigned as a champion of northern poviats from 1957 to ’60 and boxed several times to England. He was a delicate finalist of ABA in 1958, losing to the great Dick McTaggart. The following year, Cooke reached the finals again, beating McTaggart and Maurice Cullen (later British champion as a professional). This time, Cooke was detained in a half minute cut to go against Paul Warwick from West Ham ABC. He tried again in 1960, but lost in the quarterfinals with this year’s Titlist, McTaggart. “It was such a stinking decision,” said Johnny, “that I decided to try my happiness as a professional. I also had a heart on Rome on Rome [1960] Olympics; I was bitterly disappointed when McTaggart went, not me. “In total, Johnny faced Dick six times, winning two.

Cooke became a professional from Johnny Campbell of Birkenhead in June 1960 and had 22 duels in the first two years. He overtook his cousin, Dave Coventry, to get the delicate Central Area crown in January 1962, and in July 644 in July 644 he made an offer for the British and Empire of glory. Six months later, Johnny defeated a colleague from Bootle Tony Smith at Central Area Welter Crown, and in February 1967 he faced another Merseysider, Brian McCaffrey, for titles released by Curvis.

McCAffrey and Cooke issued an amazing battle at a crazy pace. Anyone who doubted the conditioners of the boxers of that era should look at the fight on YouTube to see how both men are still going on the skin in the 15th round. Their performances both deserved recognition, but Johnny was a worthy winner. Three months later he laid the first cut -out on his lane Lonsdale, defeating Shauna Doyle Barnsley, and in August 1967 he fought for the European Crown, losing to Italy Carmelo Bossi in San Remo. Cooke lost the British titles and the Empire with Ralph Charles in 15 close rounds in February 1968, the verdict he questioned. From then on, Johnny’s ambition was the return and winning the Lonsdale belt for Keeps. It never happened, but he fought until 1971, retiring just before his 37th birthday.

Cooke packed 93 fights (52-34-7) in an 11-year professional career in which he traveled far and wide. He fought in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Guyana, Ghana and Canada. But as a warrior, a visitor was often a fight uphill to win a decision. No wonder that most of his failures occurred in foreign duels.