What boxers have hated...

[Russell]

Their profession? And why did they do it?

Any early fighters that hated the sport but had to do it for financial reasons?

Michael Spinks disliked it, I know that...

[mightyd40]

gene tunney didnt particualarly like it

[Russell]

Hmm, good call.

[Stewbear]

Eubank I think.

[Fab2333]

Mike Tyson, he went on record saying he hated fighting

[Thread Stealer]

Ray Robinson didn't especially like boxing, especially after killing Doyle.

[jonesjrp4p1]

jess willard

[Jack Dempsey]

Audley Harrison hates it cos he is shit at it

[janitor]

Jess Willard

[McGrain]

Every single one of them is lying. In my opinion it is not possible to do what they do at the sharp end without loving it.

I'm sure Willard truly worried about hutring opponents, I'm sure Robinson did it laterly mostly for the money. But on fight night the blood was pumping and the rush was fixed in place.

[mightyd40]

Every single one of them is lying. In my opinion it is not possible to do what they do at the sharp end without loving it.

I'm sure Willard truly worried about hutring opponents, I'm sure Robinson did it laterly mostly for the money. But on fight night the blood was pumping and the rush was fixed in place.
this may be the case but idk

[Russell]

How did Willard proclaim he disliked the sport?

Kind of weird how he was... thrust into that great white hope role when he didn't even like the sport to begin with.

[McGrain]

How did Willard proclaim he disliked the sport.


To begin with he was apparently frightened. There is a story (possibly apocraphylic) is that he continually placed the referee between himself and his opponent so he wouldn't have to fight.

Later, as he came to realise how good he was, he worried about hurting or even killing his opponents (he did kill a guy as you probably know), he was also frightened of being charged with an opponents manslaughter (including Dempsey's :lol: ).

[Muchmoore]

Mike Tyson, he went on record saying he hated fighting

Who's in your avatar?

[C. M. Clay II]

Who's in your avatar?

Yeah, I want to know too!:shock:

[Duodenum]

It's pretty well known that Max Baer turned on boxing after the Frankie Campbell tragedy. In his son Jethro's words, "He though it was horseshit." Maxie wanted to be an actor, so much so that for his championship fights he wore the robe used for his character in, "The Prizefighter and the Lady," Steve Morgan.

Willard was hardly in a joyous mood once Jack Johnson was counted out. The new champion immediately began to step through the ropes and out of the ring, only to be stopped and herded back in by the celebrants of his newly won title.

Mike Spinks and Ray Leonard attempted to do other things after winning gold medals, but were inexhorably drawn into the professional sport as a path of least resistance. Leo Randolph was never shy about proclaiming of that as a profession, "Boxing is a terrible sport!" ASAP, he got out of it to become a truck driver. Palomino seemed more interested in real estate and acting, using boxing only as a means to an end (as many others do). It was only in middle age that Carlos resumed it for kicks.

Robinson wanted to make it as an actor and dancer, but it didn't pan out after the Maxim fight, so he had to return to doing the one thing he did do better than everybody else.

Griffith apparently enjoyed working out, but didn't appear that enthusiastic and motivated about competition even before the Paret tragedy.

Perhaps a better question would be, "Which top performers enjoyed boxing most?," as many of them were simply gifted with the physical ability to excel at it, or were simply pushed into it at an early age. (The Benitez, Ayala and Quarry clans, for example.) Stribling was preordained as a boxer by "stage" parents, for example, as was O'Grady. (While barely out of his teens however, Sean was already providing color commentary with Sal Marciano on ESPN, and has now been working as a boxing broadcaster longer than he'd been alive when he retired from the sport.) It would seem that many merely tolerated it as a necessary evil.

[JohnThomas1]

Mike Tyson, he went on record saying he hated fighting

Did that happen to come after he started losing?

[JohnThomas1]

I used to read Buster Douglas didn't like boxing and was force fed by his dad.

[Duodenum]

I used to read Buster Douglas didn't like boxing and was force fed by his dad.Billy Douglas certainly had high aspirations as a contender himself, sharing the ring with three LH champions and a host of top contenders. Dynamite Douglas was Jerry Martin's last opponent before The Bull dropped James Scott from the unbeaten ranks, barely a year before Buster debuted as a pro. I have no doubt that after he passed 40, Billy was living his aspirations through his son.

[bladerunner]

Roy Jones.

[AREA 53]

Joe Bugner was a safety first practioner who had no appetite for getting in the trenches with an opponent.

[mcvey]

Their profession? And why did they do it?

Any early fighters that hated the sport but had to do it for financial reasons?

Michael Spinks disliked it, I know that...
Many boxers have said they detested boxing ,Ive allways ben sceptical about this,I dont beleive you can rise to the top in such a hard game and not have a fierce attraction for it,Tunney for instance
,when asked late in life what he would like to be remembered for,and he had been a successful bussiness man ,said " I am a pugilist,and I am very proud of that"

[bigG]

Yeah, I want to know too!:shock:

and me..jeez.....

[josak]

Mike Tyson, he went on record saying he hated fighting

That was later in his career.

[Russell]

No ones mentioned Paul Pender yet, I see.

[Bill1234]

Michael Spinks is an obvious pick.

Leonard, it's kind of hard to tell. I don't think he liked boxing it's self, but loved being the star too much.

I get the impression that Marciano didn't like it either, but he always yearned to be rich and famous, and he just happened to be great at fighting.

Holmes didn't really like it at first, but once it got him out of poverty and he became rich from it, he liked it.

[Robbi]

Leonard, it's kind of hard to tell. I don't think he liked boxing it's self, but loved being the star too much.

Leonard loved the limelight and performing well. Not sure he liked the whole business of fighting.

Hagler was one individual who loved the sport. I can mind he said in an interview years after the Hearns fight, talking about after he floored Hearns during the 3rd round "If this guy gets up I'm going to kill this guy, thats the mentality you need or you won't be successful"

Hagler had a split personality. His half brother Robbie Simms stated that every year at Christmas Hagler would take his belts out a case, lay them under the tree, say a few prayer, then put them away again. He was just obsessed. Trusting people was a problem for him as well.

While training at Cape Cod on the coast, Hagler would workout during the day, run along the beach, then at night he would watch fights or sit on his porch alone staring out at the sea.

Hagler loved the sport, make no mistake about it.

[The Funny Man 7]

I get the sense that Larry Holmes has had a love-hate relationship with boxing.

[rekcutnevets]

Alex Stewart and Michael Moorer.

Moorer likes fighting when he's hurt, but he's never on a mission to impress otherwise.

Stewart will trade and bang with you if you don't destroy his confidence.

No willingness to make an exciting fight. Only fighting when they feel they have to.

I would have to say these two. These guys could really mark and maim their opponents. The fact that that they did it only under certain circumstances makes me think they were not enjoying what was going on.

[SteveO]

Nigel Benn, I'm sure, lost a bit of his will to destroy after the McClellan incident.

[Calroid]

Eubank I think.

Yeah Chris Eubank always stated how he hated boxing, he thought it was barbaric and how the only reason he was fighting was for the money.

"For all it brought him, Eubank has been no great advocate of the noble art. He admits to a distaste for boxing even before the infamous night when his measured punches put Michael Watson in a coma for 40 days and left him with permanent disabilities. That fight is etched into his consciousness. He has called boxing barbaric, and a mug's game."

[Sizzle]

Two I'd dispute are Gene Tunney and Mike Tyson.

I think for Tunney boxing was a "guilty pleasure" - He learnt to defend himself, and sparred extensively with Willie Green before he ever harboured thoughts of doing it professionally.

Before going into the Marines, he actually had a relatively well-paying job also.
(Obviously nothing compared to the money he made boxing.)

When he experienced his success fighting while with the Marines, he became somewhat obsessed with the notion of defeating Jack Dempsey, believing he was equipped to do so.

I think if Tunney hated anything about the sport it was the nosey, judgemental reporters whom he publically humiliated after defeating Dempsey for the title.

I'm sure he wasn't as passionate about pugilism as some others of the era (e.g., Dempsey), but he's on record saying the reason he declined invitations to big fights in the future, is because he thought it was a self-important gesture to be introduced at fights he wasn't involved in.

As for Tyson, regardless of what he says I can't believe for a second he didn't love every second of fighting - Crushing fighters and being heaped with praise in a life that probably would've seen him dead or facing a life sentence had it not been for boxing. If you've read Atlas' book, you'll know what sort of power and respect he earned with his fighting abilites and how he thrived on it.

I'm sure he "hated" it in his later career because he got his ass kicked pretty badly, got screwed by Don King, ended up bankrupt etc. But he was simply euphoric after a fight in the mid 80's. He got off on it.