6mm Remington
Well-known member
I boxed as an amateur for 12 years and love the sport. I still really enjoy watching amateur and professional boxing. It's sad that you can hardly watch any fights on television any more as they are mostly pay per view and such and aren't cheap to watch. Once in a while you see a professional boxing match on ESPN, but that's about it. I can't recall the last time that they showed any amateur bouts on television such as the National Golden Gloves or fights between the USA and other countries.
If you are a fight fan name 5 of your all time favorites. This is tough to do as I really like a few fighters.
1. Marvelous Marvin Hagler
2. Julio Cesar Chavez
3. Vasiliy Lomachenko
4. Joe Frazier
5. Larry Holmes
Who have you fought?
1974 I fought Johnny Bumphus at the Rocky Mountain Golden Gloves in Missoula Montana. Lost a decision to him. He was a USA National Champion multiple times. He won the right to fight in the 1980 Olympic Games but the USA boycotted the Olympics. He went on to win a Jr. Welterweight World Title as a professional.
1978 I boxed Carmen Rinke from Alberta Canada at the Montana Golden Gloves in Great Falls Montana. I won my semi-final bout with Mark Jones from Billings Montana in the semi-finals. Mark had beaten me at the Montana Men's Open Championship the year before. We had a heck of a fight then and this one was the same. It was a tough fight and I won the fight but had to make a trip to the emergency room after my fight. My ribs on my left side hurt so bad that laughing was brutal and riding in a car was no fun. I had a couple cracked ribs. Doc didn't take any x-rays he just told me not to fight for 3 weeks or so. Figured they were just bruised.
I had been training hard all year knowing that Carmen Rinke was coming down from Canada to fight in our Golden Gloves tournament. Carmen represented Canada in the 1976 Olympic Games. He lost in the semi-finals to the eventual champion from Germany. I believe Carmen was the Canadian National Champion 7 times! I didn't want him to just be able to walk into the ring and get his hand raised as the Montana Golden Gloves Champion without having a true fight. Lets just say without having the adrenaline going as it was when my ribs got injured in my semi-final bout, it was not a lot of fun even trying to fight. It hurt just throwing punches as I was warming up. I didn't make it out of the first round. Carmen went to work on my ribs with some brutal shots. I took 3 standing eight counts and the referee stopped the fight. I was runner-up once again. I fought Carmen Rinke again a couple years later at the Alberta Golden Gloves and lost to him a second time. Man that guy was tough and could fight. He was a southpaw too and I sure hated fighting them. They were my nemesis. Johnny Bumphus was also a southpaw!
1983 At the Holiday Festival Tournament in Casper Wyoming just a few days after Christmas I fought Virgil Hill at this Tournament. I won my semi-final bout and boxed Virgil Hill in the Championships. Virgil was a National Champion for the United States, and a year and a half later in 1984 he got a Silver Medal at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He later went on as a professional and was both a World Light Heavyweight Champion for several years, and he also won a World Championship as a Cruiserweight. Virgil was a very talented fighter and tough as nails.
I think Virgil won the first round in our fight, but in the second I was I thought getting to him. We were having a good fight when we accidentally had a collision of heads. I dropped like a rock very briefly and got up and took a standing eight count. I was fine and it was just a flash knockdown. Later my coach told me that we had hit heads together. After the knockdown I thought I had a bloody nose as I was getting blood in my mouth and down my throat and all over my gloves. We continued fighting and pretty soon the referee called time and grabbed my arm to walk me to a neutral corner to see the doctor. I was thinking that it's just a darn nose bleed, maybe a broken nose I'm fine. I pulled my arm away from the referee and told him I was okay. He grabbed my arm a little firmer this time and marched me over to see the doctor. The Doc came up and pulled up my upper lip and waved his head NO. Had no idea it was my lip that was cut. That's why all the blood in the mouth I guess as it was cut almost all the way through and went from my lip clear up towards my nose. The fight was stopped and Virgil Hill was the champion. Virgil was a great fighter and a good guy. I would have liked to have gotten to fight him again but it didn't happen.
I'm curious to see if there are any big fight fans like myself and if any of you have stories about sharing the ring with other folks in this sport that I loved. My dad always wanted to box when he was a kid but there was not club where he lived in Central Montana near Roy. He talked me into trying it when I was 12 years old and like I mentioned I boxed for 12 years total. My father was my coach for a lot of those years after our previous coach moved away from where we lived. He took over with my step-mother also becoming involved and helping run the club. My father besides being a coach also refereed and was a certified boxing judge. My step-mother also became a judge and she helped coach the boxers too. They helped a lot of kids and young adults over the years before they finally stepped away after 35 years if I remember correctly. With the younger kids who boxed and were in school, my parents always checked in with each kid when they got their report cards from school. My parents wanted to make sure that they were keeping their grades up and if they didn't get passing grades they would make them show that they had improved on the bad grade before they would let them fight again. They could train, but they couldn't box until they got their grades up. I sure miss my folks.
If you are a fight fan name 5 of your all time favorites. This is tough to do as I really like a few fighters.
1. Marvelous Marvin Hagler
2. Julio Cesar Chavez
3. Vasiliy Lomachenko
4. Joe Frazier
5. Larry Holmes
Who have you fought?
1974 I fought Johnny Bumphus at the Rocky Mountain Golden Gloves in Missoula Montana. Lost a decision to him. He was a USA National Champion multiple times. He won the right to fight in the 1980 Olympic Games but the USA boycotted the Olympics. He went on to win a Jr. Welterweight World Title as a professional.
1978 I boxed Carmen Rinke from Alberta Canada at the Montana Golden Gloves in Great Falls Montana. I won my semi-final bout with Mark Jones from Billings Montana in the semi-finals. Mark had beaten me at the Montana Men's Open Championship the year before. We had a heck of a fight then and this one was the same. It was a tough fight and I won the fight but had to make a trip to the emergency room after my fight. My ribs on my left side hurt so bad that laughing was brutal and riding in a car was no fun. I had a couple cracked ribs. Doc didn't take any x-rays he just told me not to fight for 3 weeks or so. Figured they were just bruised.
I had been training hard all year knowing that Carmen Rinke was coming down from Canada to fight in our Golden Gloves tournament. Carmen represented Canada in the 1976 Olympic Games. He lost in the semi-finals to the eventual champion from Germany. I believe Carmen was the Canadian National Champion 7 times! I didn't want him to just be able to walk into the ring and get his hand raised as the Montana Golden Gloves Champion without having a true fight. Lets just say without having the adrenaline going as it was when my ribs got injured in my semi-final bout, it was not a lot of fun even trying to fight. It hurt just throwing punches as I was warming up. I didn't make it out of the first round. Carmen went to work on my ribs with some brutal shots. I took 3 standing eight counts and the referee stopped the fight. I was runner-up once again. I fought Carmen Rinke again a couple years later at the Alberta Golden Gloves and lost to him a second time. Man that guy was tough and could fight. He was a southpaw too and I sure hated fighting them. They were my nemesis. Johnny Bumphus was also a southpaw!
1983 At the Holiday Festival Tournament in Casper Wyoming just a few days after Christmas I fought Virgil Hill at this Tournament. I won my semi-final bout and boxed Virgil Hill in the Championships. Virgil was a National Champion for the United States, and a year and a half later in 1984 he got a Silver Medal at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He later went on as a professional and was both a World Light Heavyweight Champion for several years, and he also won a World Championship as a Cruiserweight. Virgil was a very talented fighter and tough as nails.
I think Virgil won the first round in our fight, but in the second I was I thought getting to him. We were having a good fight when we accidentally had a collision of heads. I dropped like a rock very briefly and got up and took a standing eight count. I was fine and it was just a flash knockdown. Later my coach told me that we had hit heads together. After the knockdown I thought I had a bloody nose as I was getting blood in my mouth and down my throat and all over my gloves. We continued fighting and pretty soon the referee called time and grabbed my arm to walk me to a neutral corner to see the doctor. I was thinking that it's just a darn nose bleed, maybe a broken nose I'm fine. I pulled my arm away from the referee and told him I was okay. He grabbed my arm a little firmer this time and marched me over to see the doctor. The Doc came up and pulled up my upper lip and waved his head NO. Had no idea it was my lip that was cut. That's why all the blood in the mouth I guess as it was cut almost all the way through and went from my lip clear up towards my nose. The fight was stopped and Virgil Hill was the champion. Virgil was a great fighter and a good guy. I would have liked to have gotten to fight him again but it didn't happen.
I'm curious to see if there are any big fight fans like myself and if any of you have stories about sharing the ring with other folks in this sport that I loved. My dad always wanted to box when he was a kid but there was not club where he lived in Central Montana near Roy. He talked me into trying it when I was 12 years old and like I mentioned I boxed for 12 years total. My father was my coach for a lot of those years after our previous coach moved away from where we lived. He took over with my step-mother also becoming involved and helping run the club. My father besides being a coach also refereed and was a certified boxing judge. My step-mother also became a judge and she helped coach the boxers too. They helped a lot of kids and young adults over the years before they finally stepped away after 35 years if I remember correctly. With the younger kids who boxed and were in school, my parents always checked in with each kid when they got their report cards from school. My parents wanted to make sure that they were keeping their grades up and if they didn't get passing grades they would make them show that they had improved on the bad grade before they would let them fight again. They could train, but they couldn't box until they got their grades up. I sure miss my folks.
