Video: Micky Ward discusses boxers he likes, MMA, his health and more.
Nolan King of MMA Junkie caught up with boxing legend Micky Ward at a promotional event in Boston.
Ward, known best for his epic trilogy with Arturo Gatti, talked about his health, MMA, what he’s up to these days, the impact the successful biopic “The Fighter” has had on his life, the possibility of a sequel, the boxers he enjoys watching today and more.
Video: Micky Ward discusses boxers he likes, MMA, his health and more.
Nolan King of MMA Junkie caught up with boxing legend Micky Ward at a promotional event in Boston.
Ward, known best for his epic trilogy with Arturo Gatti, talked about his health, MMA, what he’s up to these days, the impact the successful biopic “The Fighter” has had on his life, the possibility of a sequel, the boxers he enjoys watching today and more.
Boxing Junkie gives you 10 fights that all true boxing fans absolutely must see.
Boxing fans have been treated to a long list of ring battles they’ll never forget.
To whittle these classics down to the 10 best was essentially an impossible task. So what we decided to do was choose 10 that we know will satisfy the craving you have for some insane in-the-ring action.
Sit back and enjoy.
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Archie Moore vs. Yvon Durelle I
Date / site: Dec. 12, 1958 / Montreal
Result: Moore KO 11
Moore vs. Durelle might be the best example of resilience in the history of the sport. The 40-something “Old Mongoose,” defending his light heavyweight title, went down hard three times in the opening round and once more in Round 5 at the hands of his rugged Canadian challenger. It wasn’t a matter of “if” Moore would lose his title but “when.” Well, when never came. Moore somehow tapped into a deep reservoir of energy, turned the tide and put a fading Durelle down four times before referee Jack Sharkey finally counted him out 49 seconds into Round 11. Moore, an all-time great, had many special performances. None of the others could top this.
Micky Ward, suffering from CTE, says he endures up to five debilitating headaches each week. He said: “The danger of [boxing], nobody sees.”
Micky Ward, fearless as a fighter, worries these days. He could take punches. His so-called iron chin was a weapon and a durable mark of his courage. But those punches left him with the long-term kind of pain he never felt in the ring
Ward is suffering from CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head.
Stitches healed the cuts. But the headaches are a wound that never goes away. They are relentless, says Ward, who is working for the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
In an interview with the Boston Herald, Ward says the headaches are there, at least five times a week.
“The stuff I go through every day worrying about if I’m going to get a headache, and how bad it’s going to be, kind of like, consumes you,” Ward said.
Sometimes, they strike at night. Sometimes, in the middle of the day
“It’s terrible,’’ Ward said. “It makes you nauseous, it’s like a thump in the back of my head. You just feel drained all day.”
Ward, 54, is urging parents in a public service announcement to not rush their kids into boxing, football and other contact sports until they’re at least 14 years old.
“If you wouldn’t let your child box, why let them play tackle football?” said Ward, who began boxing as a 7-year-old. “If one of the mothers or fathers could get in my head for a day and know what my head feels like from taking so many blows and boxing, they’d think twice about letting their kid get hit under 14 years old.”
Ward, forever remembered for his dramatic and dangerous trilogy with the late Arturo Gatti, began to display CTE symptoms in 2005, two years after he retired.
In his boxing prime as a junior welterweight, Ward (38-13, 27 KOs) shook off the heavy punches. He smiled and moved forward, straight back into harm’s way.
“It’s a rough man’s game,’’ said Ward, who will donate his brain and spinal column to Boston University’s CTE Center. “It’s a brutal game, you want to stay strong, you want to show like you’re not hurt, you’re a big macho guy.”
Now, he says he looks back and realizes he might have spent too much time in the gym sparring too many rounds.
“I love boxing, boxing is a great sport,’’ he said. “It’s given me everything I have in my life. But the danger of it, nobody sees.’’
But, he says, “you don’t have to get hit in the head so much to learn boxing.”
