Boxing Life Stories

By Tris DixonSports

Boxing Life Stories episodes

August 23, 2023 Season 5: #34 Larry Olubamiwo
Former heavyweight Larry Olubamiwo discusses his journey through boxing and life. A former sprinter, Larry got in to trouble, went to prison and then embarked on a career as a professional boxer.

Not long into his career, he fell victim to Operation Raw Deal and was caught up in a steroid scandal, admitted 13 offences throughout his career and was banned.

He came back, but settled for life as an opponent in the blue corner and then faded away, only to re-emerge as an actor.

Larry remains outspoken about PED use in boxing, how he thinks it should be regulated and how prevalent it is, lifting the lid on the dark side of the sport that many hope is not real, or not as bad as they fear it could be.

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2 hr 15 min
August 09, 2023 Season 5: #33 Jim Lampley
Former HBO broadcaster and International Boxing Hall of Famer takes a look back on his hugely successful career behind the mic.

Lampley is one of the all-time great voices of boxing, someone who has fought for the fighters, told their stories and been the soundtrack to many of the greatest fights of all time.

Here, he looks back on the nights he helped define, whether it was Buster Douglas stunning Mike Tyson, or his friend George Foreman rewriting history against Michael Moorer, Jim is filled with the articulate knowledge and emotion and that makes him one of the greats.

Listen for your opportunity to win a Roots of Fight KRONK bundle.

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1 hr 23 min
August 02, 2023 Season 5: #32 Augie Sanchez
Augie Sanchez was the last American to beat Floyd Mayweather. In the amateurs, before losing out in the 1996 Olympic box-offs, Sanchez also defeated the late Diego Corrales and was one of the finest amateurs in the country.

In the pros, and after signing for Top Rank, he and Mayweather appeared to be on a collision course but it never happened. Instead, he boxed the likes of Naseem Hamed, Jorge Paez, Daniel Jimenez and Luisito Espinosa.

Augie retired young and after just 28 fights. He is now a popular and highly-regarded trainer in Las Vegas, where he lives with his childhood sweetheart, Dawn, and their children.

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1 hr 8 min
July 19, 2023 Season 5: #31 Brad Goodman
Top Rank matchmaker Brad Goodman had one of the best educations in the sport, being around Hall of Famers like Irving Rudd, Teddy Brenner and Bruce Trampler as a teenager.

His life in boxing continues more than 40 years on, and he was recently inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and he proposed to his girlfriend during his induction speech.

There are always interesting chats, with real industry insiders and boxing lifers, and Brad has worked with almost all of the major names in the sport, going back to his first live fight when he saw Muhammad Ali fight Earnie Shavers at Madison Square Garden in 1977.

Talking of The Garden, I've partnered with Roots of Fight, and listen to the episode to win a pair of Roots of Fight, Fight of the Century jogging bottoms.

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1 hr 14 min
July 12, 2023 Season 5: #30 Kenny Adams
Coach Kenny Adams has reportedly worked with 26 world champions, 34 Olympians and 56 fighters who went on to achieve a world crown.

Adams is also a Vietnam veteran, and as part of the US Olympic set up in 1984 and 1988, he coached the likes of Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Virgill Hill, Roy Jones, Ray Mercer and Michael Carbajal.

In the pro ranks, he declined the opportunity to work with Floyd Mayweather but did train the likes of Diego Corrales, Edwin Valero, Vince Phillips, Kennedy McKinney, Samuel Peter, Johnny Tapia, Michael Nunn and may more.

I've also partnered with Roots of Fight. Listen to this podcast to win a new RoF T-shirt.

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1 hr 7 min
July 05, 2023 Season 5: #29 Jesse Reid
Jesse Reid is one of the most successful trainers of all time and has worked with between 20 and 30 world champions.

He coached the brilliant Orlando Canizales from the ground up, and he has trained the likes of Roger Mayweather, Rodolfo Gonzalez, Jesse Burnett, Hector Camacho and countless others.

He's also worked with some of boxing's most troubled minds, including Bruce Curry, Johnny Tapia and Paul Spadafora. Reid remains close to Spadafora to this day. He lost his fighting son, Jesse, to alcoholism and he has tried to help many fighters across the tightrope of addiction.

Jesse turned down the chance to train Mike Tyson, was the lead voice in the infamous Paul Spadafora-Floyd Mayweather spar and has been one of the most-respected voices in sport for more than 50 years.

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1 hr 48 min
June 28, 2023 Season 5: #28 Johnny Nelson Part 2
Tris and Johnny sit-down to reflect on moments of Nelson's extraordinary career as a long-reigning WBO cruiserweight champion but they also discuss the use of PEDs in the sport, similarities and differences between the Ingle way and Ukrainian methodology, when the right time to retire is, how to cope with retirement, taking flying lessons, Kell Brook, Anthony Joshua and, of course, life lessons of the late, great Brendan Ingle

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1 hr 23 min
June 21, 2023 Season 5: #27 Kieran Mulvaney
Kieran Mulvaney is one of the most interesting men in boxing journalism. Born in the UK, he has worked for America's big three – ESPN, Showtime and HBO – but he's also written books about polar bears and stories about climate change, killer whales trying to sink boats, the Wild West and much more.

Mulvaney has had bylines in the Washington Post and National Geographic, as well as Boxing News, and here he talks about the sadness behind the last night HBO televised boxing, some of his favourite characters in the sport, his broadcast colleagues and his own very unique start and journey through boxing.

Kieran also co-hosts the Showtime Boxing podcast with Eric Raskin.

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1 hr 21 min
June 14, 2023 Season 5: #26 Timothy Bradley
2023 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Timothy Bradley had an excellent career that saw him win 33 fights, lose just two and draw once in his 37 bouts.

Of course, there was a trilogy with Manny Pacquiao, the Fight of the Year with Russian Provodnikov, victory over the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez, Brandon Rios, Joel Casamayor, Devon Alexander, Lamont Peterson and Kendall Holt before he retired and became one of the sport's best analysts for ESPN.

He won his first world title in England, against Junior Witter, but he had always had his eyes on the Hall of Fame.

This is Bradley's own story, from growing up tough in Palm Springs, to having his heart broken in the Olympic trials and becoming a pariah for his win over Pacquiao to becoming Hall of Famer and resounding boxing good guy with universal respect.

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1 hr 45 min
June 07, 2023 Season 5: #25 Ben Shalom
Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom does not court attention and it is not often he talks about his background and his start in the sport.

Here, the Sky Sports promoter discusses both, his aspirations and motivations, the media and social media landscape in boxing, his stable of fighters and his deal with Sky and much more.

Ben talks about the struggle, how he was down to his last £17,000 in the company account when the UFC came calling with a lawsuit he called "heavy" and how he is now in a position to sign marquee fighters, pros, Olympians and star amateurs.

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1 hr 9 min