Boxing History
Joyful Birthday Mark Breland – the two-time welterweight champion turns 60
One of the sport’s truly good guys, former two-time WBA welterweight champion Mark Breland, turns 60 today. One of the greatest American amateur boxers in history – Breland, from Brooklyn, who compiled a remarkable amateur record of 110-1(73), won Olympic gold in 1984 and gold at the 1982 World Championships – the elegant fighter was widely expected to be the next superstar.
Although he had a good career, Breland ultimately suffered a setback, and his loss and draw in the fights with Marlon Starling could have been Breland’s defining fights. After hanging up his gloves in 1997, with a good record of 35-3-1(25), Breland became a trainer – a decent, truthful and caring trainer. We saw that in the work Breland did with Deontay Wilder; Breland was fired for doing the right thing and saving Wilder from further punishment in his second fight with Tyson Fury.
Breland was indeed unceremoniously fired by Wilder for saving his career, if not his life. Always an elegant man, Breland had almost nothing bad to say about Wilder. In a press release a while back, this writer was fortunate to have the affable and incredibly well-spoken Breland for a miniature interview.
Here’s what Breland had to say about the key moments of his ring career:
On his best night in the ring:
“The biggest thing for me is winning the Golden Gloves in 1980. When I was seven years elderly, I went to see Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight, and ever since then, it’s been my dream to fight in Madison Square Garden. When Ali and Frazier came out, a beam of airy followed them all the way to the ring, and that’s what happened to me in the Golden Gloves. I don’t even remember the name of the guy I beat that night.
On two tough fights with Marlon Starling:
“Before the first fight with Starling, I injured my ribs in training and I wanted to pull out – Starling was very good at hitting the body. But I was winning the first fight before I got so tired. In the second fight, the rematch, he was very defensive, but he still threw a lot of punches. I think I had the advantage then, but they called it a draw. It was a bad night for me because I think I won. When the scores were read out, I was like, ‘Wow.’
On Thomas Hearns’ sparring:
“Tommy Hearns is without a doubt the best fighter I’ve ever sparred with. I first sparred when I was 17 and Tommy taught me a lot about the jab and the right hand. When we first sparred I was a little embarrassed by Tommy; later on it was more technical sparring. Tommy was much more experienced than me at that time.”
On the hardest punch that ever broke the camel’s back in a ring, sparring or real fight:
“Aaron Davis was great, he was scratchy, but I was more exhausted than anything (when I was stopped in the ninth round of the war). But I think I would say Davis was the hardest puncher I’ve ever been in a fight. Marlon Starling hit difficult and had that awkward style. But I have to say the hardest puncher I’ve ever been in the ring with was Tommy Hearns. He was a killer puncher.”
On any regrets he may have about his ring career:
“I don’t regret the way my career has turned out. I wouldn’t do anything different because I’ve done everything I set out to do. I’m joyful. I’m joyful that I’m training fighters now. I left the ring at the right time and I’m joyful. I’ve seen what can happen to fighters who fight too long. I’ve done things that no one can take away from me.”
Who was in the top ten boxing pound-for-pounds in the 1920s?
Welcome to Part 4 of the 13th newest boxing poll series, which will survey volunteers to determine the best pound for pound boxers from each decade. This particular poll, which focuses on boxers from the 1920s, involved a total of 20 volunteers. Each volunteer submitted a chronological list of 10 to 25 names to vote on for the best boxers of the 1920s.
The 1920s were an extraordinary and fascinating time in boxing history, with the popularity of boxing growing dramatically as the rules were modernized in a way that up-to-date fans could understand. Among the biggest stars of the era was the great Jack Dempsey, a national hero whose popularity rivaled that of American baseball icon Babe Ruth. However, it was a wealthy era of boxing, with many talented boxers competing during this period, many of whom are considered legends of the sport.
Among the great legends of all the teams that competed during this decade, one of the most notable honors was the man, the myth, the legend – the great Harry Greb, The Pittsburgh Windmill. Greb was an American boxer known for his incredible stamina and, as his nickname suggests, he had a relentless offense that he was always looking to throw, as well as being powerful and rapid with an unmatched will to win. Greb won the World Middleweight Championship in 1923, which he defended until his defeat in 1926. Greb fought 16 other Hall of Famers during his illustrious career and is widely considered one of the greatest boxers of all time.
So who were the top ten pound-for-pound boxers of the 1920s? And where is Harry Greb?
This edition Rummy Corner will try to answer this question based on the results of Part 4 of this Survey, in which 20 volunteers participated. Please watch and enjoy the video. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).
They say boxing is a strange mix of brutality, beauty and – for those who can do it at the highest level – perfection. And so it was that on this day in 1957, the boxing world witnessed a single punch, a magnificent one-punch knockout, an essentially flawless display of punching without being hit, that showed how, one night, this sport we all love so much can deliver all three: B, P and B, if you want it to.
How was the fight, KO?
It was on this day, in rematch for a lost fight, that the one and only, truly incomparable Sugar Ray Robinson, faced the tougher than tough Gene Fullmer. In a sold-out stadium in Chicago, the one and only boxing Sugar gave us the BEST KO of all KOs.
To this day, the great boxing trainers (perhaps a dying breed – but that’s another article altogether) show a brilliant example of pure poetic violence that was literally unleashed, not in the split second at best, on their students. Indeed, it was “The Perfect Punch.” Try as they might, no boxer has ever managed to replicate the brilliance of Sugar Ray, his superhuman blend of balance, timing, and explosively correct power. All delivered in one punch.
Fullmer went down the previously seemingly bulletproof Fullmer and never got up again before the count of 10. Fullmer was knocked down by a punch that left everyone who saw him (and Gene, by his own admission, never saw the unstoppable projectile coming) in absolute awe.
So what was the punch that did this?
Sugar Ray, who was 36 at the time, was already in his prime (or so it seemed, as it turned out, very wrongly) combing his hair back, uncorking the greatest left hook he had ever thrown – that anyone in this sport had ever thrown and thrown the country. Fullmer, who had been transported to another orbit by a divine shot from hell, instinctively tried to get up, but fell on his face, his right glove searching for the world as if it were pinned to the canvas. That was the end. But it will never be forgotten.
We’ve seen some exceptional knockouts over the years, many of them from our favorite and biggest stars. However, at the risk of making the repetition tiresome, there’s never been a knockout captured on film that was/is as epic as the one born Walker Smith Jr scored on this day 63 years ago.
How many times have you watched and admired this KO? youtube!
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