Boxing Trainer, Manager. He was well known to boxing fans as the trainer and manager for many prominent fighters including Evander Holyfield, Pernell Whittaker, and Hector "Macho" Camacho. He joined the Army after the Second World War started. He was at a training base in Mississippi when he got into a fight with two lieutenants as he was trying to defend a black woman who was being harassed on a bus. He was then sent to Texas and assigned to be a boxing instructor. After the war, he became a boxer but realized his talents were better suited for the business end of boxing. He opened his own boxing gym and became friends with boxing legend Rocky Marciano. He was one of the last persons that Marciano spoke with before passing away in a tragic plane crash in 1969. In 1978 he, along with his son Dan, started the boxing promotion company Main Events and three years later the company put on one of their biggest fights with the first Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns bout which grossed forty million dollars. Main Events would grow to become one of the top boxing promotions in the world. Throughout his career he trained and managed nineteen champion boxers including Holyfield, Whittaker, Camacho, Lennox Lewis, Mark Breland, Meldrick Taylor, Vinny Pazienza, and Mike McCallum. He was voted manager of the year in 1985 by the boxing writers and trainer of the year in 1987 by the World Boxing Association. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998. He continued to train and manage boxers until shortly before his passing.
Boxing Trainer, Manager. He was well known to boxing fans as the trainer and manager for many prominent fighters including Evander Holyfield, Pernell Whittaker, and Hector "Macho" Camacho. He joined the Army after the Second World War started. He was at a training base in Mississippi when he got into a fight with two lieutenants as he was trying to defend a black woman who was being harassed on a bus. He was then sent to Texas and assigned to be a boxing instructor. After the war, he became a boxer but realized his talents were better suited for the business end of boxing. He opened his own boxing gym and became friends with boxing legend Rocky Marciano. He was one of the last persons that Marciano spoke with before passing away in a tragic plane crash in 1969. In 1978 he, along with his son Dan, started the boxing promotion company Main Events and three years later the company put on one of their biggest fights with the first Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns bout which grossed forty million dollars. Main Events would grow to become one of the top boxing promotions in the world. Throughout his career he trained and managed nineteen champion boxers including Holyfield, Whittaker, Camacho, Lennox Lewis, Mark Breland, Meldrick Taylor, Vinny Pazienza, and Mike McCallum. He was voted manager of the year in 1985 by the boxing writers and trainer of the year in 1987 by the World Boxing Association. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998. He continued to train and manage boxers until shortly before his passing.
Bio by: Mr. Badger Hawkeye
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