What started

[Warrior189]

What was the main reason y u started boxing? What got me interested was watching the Rocky movie, but the main reason was a anime I saw called Fighting Spirit/Hajime No Ippo. http://www.fightingspiritdvd.com/ipo1_content.html http://www.thespectrum.net/manga_ippo.shtml

[Tom Yum]

As a kid, I casually watched boxing, but never really thought of it as a martial art in those days, just a sport to watch on t.v.

I remember watching coverage of the S.Ray Leonard/Duran fight and hearing about Hagler in the cruiserweight divions. Plus I saw clips of Tyson's fights in the mid 80's and that was enough to make a kid crazy about boxing.

At the time, Tyson was about 18 and was accountable to Cus D'amato 24/7.
Tyson would allways say encouraging yet simple things to kids about working hard and you believed it, because you could see it in him. He was on The Ring Magazine (I bought a few issues then to follow Tyson's record).

Tyson's performances were explosive with athleticism, but smart and sharp. I think his contribution to boxing in the mid 80's made me a fan of the sport then and kept me interested enough to train in the sport today.