Boxing Life Stories

By Tris DixonSports

Boxing Life Stories episodes

July 08, 2020 Season 2: #43 Glenn Catley

Former WBC world super-middleweight king Glenn Catley had a remarkable career that saw him recover from early setbacks and controversies to reign as a champion.
He had an incredible run of fights in Canada, Germany and South Africa while at the top of the sport, having already won the British title.
But, as they often do, hard times followed. Despite that, Catley has maintained a positive mindset thanks to the use of hypnotherapy, something he used for his major fights, and he's rightly proud and happy while reflecting on his career.
Here, he talks about the hugely controversial loss of his title in South Africa, his big wins over Kirkland Laing, Neville Brown, Eric Lucas and Marcus Beyer, working as a security guard, as a haulage driver and the parrot in Jersey that set him up with his wife while he was in training camp with Steve Collins!
This is funny, sad and uplifting.

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1 hr 41 min
July 01, 2020 Season 2: #42 Spencer Oliver

'The Omen', Spencer Oliver is perhaps now best-known for his media work on Sky Sports, talkSPORT and through his own Pound for Pound podcast, which he co-hosts with Jake Wood.
But don't be fooled, Spencer was a terrific fighter, a European bantamweight champion who was on the verge of world title fights and possibly big money when his entire world was flipped upside down. He was badly injured in a 1998 fight with Sergey Devakov and would never box again.
Not only that, he had a life to rebuild. He emerged from a two-week coma and had to learn the basics again, including how to walk and how to eat. Soon, a life of good health rather than world titles was his goal and a different kind of fight, one which featured acceptance, denial and depression, was at hand.

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1 hr 43 min
June 24, 2020 Season 2: #41 John Conteh

John Conteh is a British boxing icon who was a part of an incredible era of light-heavyweights.
He was a 1970's star and his fights with Chris Finnegan, Jorge Ahumada, Yaqui Lopez, Mate Parlov and two battles with Matthew Saad Muhammad have gone down in history.
But things haven't always been straightforward. Here, he talks about his childhood, growing up in Liverpool as part of a big family, the death of his trainer, George Francis, coping with depression and his public battle with alcoholism. There are plenty of highs and lows in this intimate picture of a British sporting hero.

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1 hr 29 min
June 17, 2020 Season 2: #40 Tony Dodson

Liverpool's former super-middleweight contender Tony Dodson saw a lot in his 17-year career. He won 32, lost eight and drew once, fighting the likes of Carl Froch, Paul Smith (twice), Tony Quigley, Brian Barbosa and Ovil McKenzie.
He'd been a top amateur and as a professional he was promoted, at one time or another, by Barry and Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren, Kellie Maloney and Hayemaker.
Here, among many topics, he talks of his friendships with David Haye and Tony Bellew, a dangerous addiction to sleeping pills, depression, his battles to make 168lbs over two decades, his mother's battle with cancer, his son starting to box, mental health and why fighters need to take their career seriously from the start to finish.

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2 hr 6 min
June 10, 2020 Season 2: #39 Doug Fischer

Doug Fischer is the editor-in-chief of The Ring and has one of the most glamorous-looking jobs in the sport.
However, it's all grind and it took him years to rise to that position. Here he details his story, from helping boxing break into new media with House of Boxing and the move into Maxboxing before joining The Ring.
He, with an early team, was a boxing pioneer who started filming sparring, behind the scenes interviews and uploading audio files as boxing coverage moved into the 21st century. Along the way, there were brushes with the likes of Edwin Valero, Shane Mosley, Shannon Briggs and James Toney.
Fischer talks about working for Golden Boy (who own The Ring) and the troubles that has brought him, tips about how to break into the business and his long-term hopes both for himself and for The Ring.

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2 hr 57 min
June 07, 2020 Season 2: #38 Alex Arthur

Super Scot Alex Arthur won British, Commonwealth, European and world honours but his career didn't reach the heights he had hoped.
Arthur boxed the likes of Willie Limond, Ricky Burns, Kobo Gogoladze and many more but missed out on the big nights and the big fights with the likes of Joan Guzman and Marco Antonio Barrera that he craved.
Arthur now trains his sons but here talks about his dramatic battles with the scales, with Michael Gomez and with retirement – as well as his friendship with Scott Harrison – as he reflects on the wonderful highs and dramatic lows.

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1 hr 43 min
June 01, 2020 Season 2: #37 Curtis Cokes

The late International Boxing Hall Of Famer Curtis Cokes was a world welterweight champion who became a top trainer. Universally liked and respected Cokes welcomed Boxing Life Stories host Tris Dixon into his home on the outskirts of Dallas back in 2010.
Then 73 years of age, Curtis looked back over his career, talked about training fighters and some of the lows he experienced through his life in the sport.
Cokes won 62 fights (30 inside the distance), suffered 14 losses and was involved in four draws.
He fought the likes of Jose Napoles, Joe Miceli, Gypsy Joe Harris, Luis Rodriguez, Kitten Hayward, Stan Harrington, Manuel Gonzalez and many others and as a trainer he worked with Ike Ibeabuchi, Kirk Johnson and Quincy Taylor.

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33 min
May 27, 2020 Season 2: #36 Ron Katz

New York matchmaker Ron Katz has spent more than four decades in the sport. He's now at Star Boxing having spent 25 years with Top Rank before a wonderful spell under Sugar Ray Leonard's banner.
He's made matches for up and coming Mike Tysons, Floyd Mayweathers and Oscar De La Hoyas as well as a returning George Foreman. He's also helped to deliver some of the biggest fights on the sport's biggest nights, including contests featuring Tommy Hearns, Iran Barkley, Roberto Duran, Michael Nunn and so many more.
Here, in a colourful look back upon his storied career, he assesses highs and lows, discusses his fondness and respect for James Toney, Shannon Briggs and Teddy Atlas cleaning house in the Deep South, doing magic tricks with Muhammad Ali and the fights that got away.

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1 hr 16 min
May 20, 2020 Season 2: #35 George Foreman

Tris Dixon's guest this week is boxing royalty, one of the all-time great heavyweight champions.
Here, a candid Foreman talks about his meteoric rise and the fights that created his legend, against the likes of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Evander Holyfield and Michael Moorer.
He discusses his time in the wilderness between his two incredible careers 10 years apart, the comeback and finding happiness. He also speaks of his love of dogs, specifically German Shepherds, his friendship with Sonny Liston, why the Mike Tyson fight didn't happen and much more.

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52 min
May 13, 2020 Season 2: #34 Larry Merchant

Larry Merchant was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2009. For 35 years he was the conscience of HBO Boxing, working alongside the likes of George Foreman, Gil Clancy, Jim Lampley and Emanuel Steward.
But he's been in boxing far longer. Here, Larry recalls covering his first major fight, Sugar Ray Robinson against Carmen Basilio in 1957, being an early investor in Joe Frazier's journey, interviewing Sonny Liston, flying to Zaire with Muhammad Ali, falling out with some of boxing's big guns and much, much more.
His iconic post-fight interviews with the likes of Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins have become part of boxing folklore, along with the infamous night he told Floyd Mayweather, "If I was 50 years younger I'd kick your ass."

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1 hr 15 min