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Around The Site. Greatest Heavyweights Site Index Vote for Your Own Greatest Heavyweight Upcoming Fights - Predictions Page. The Heavyweight Championship Path Of Lineage Larry Holmes - A Fans Perspective. George Chuvalo's War Against Drugs. Where Are They Now Tommy Morrison.
The Ron Lipton Interview. The Ron Lipton Interview (Page 1). The Ron Lipton Interview (Page 2). The Ron Lipton Interview (Page 3).
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| The Ron Lipton Interview (Page 1)
Ron Looking In Superb Physical Shape. This section of my website is an interview I conducted with Ron Lipton. After coming across my website while surfing the internet Ron contacted me via email telling me how impressed with my website he was. It was a great compliment and an honour that such a knowledgeable boxing man such as Ron was interested in my site and after swapping many emails I asked Ron if he would be good enough to answer some questions which I set him regarding some of his exploits in the boxing game. Ron agreed and was good enough to take time out to give some great in depth answers to my questions which are both interesting and a great insight into Ron himself, Ron was also good enough to supply me with various boxing links and pictures outlining just a few of the things Ron has achieved in boxing. I hope you will enjoy reading these pages, but before I start I will give you a brief insight into Ron and some of his boxing background. Ron is an Internationally Known Championship Referee who has refereed many big fights including Holyfield V Mercer, Holyfield V Czyz, Morrison V Ruddock (see photo below), Collins V Eubank 1, De La Hoya V Leija, Whittaker V Jacobs, Roy Jones Jr V Bryant Brannon on HBO and the famous Charles Williams V Merqui Sosa fight which ended in a double TKO tech draw, Ron has also refereed many other big fights featuring the likes of David Tua and Roberto Duran amongst others.
Ron Counts Over Razor Ruddock While Tommy Morrison looks on. Ron has been around boxing for most of his life and he was an amatuer boxer of some distinction, he was and still is superbly built and was known for his speed and his fearsome punching power which he carried in either hand, he now teaches boxing twice a week in Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and is one of the most knowledgeable boxing historians around, he is also an award winning writer and was a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, Besides all this Ron is the man who was responsible for freeing Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter from jail in his days serving as a police officer. Ron was a friend and sparring partner of Rubin and was also a sparring partner of some other all time greats of boxing, the impressive list of fighters that Ron has sparred with reads a who's who of boxing and includes "The Greatest" Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Emile Griffith, Dick Tiger and Carlos Ortiz. Anyone who can hold his own with this sort of company in the ring and with this sort of background in boxing definatley deserves the uttermost respect. So on with the interview, I sent Ron a total of fifteen questions on a range of subjects in boxing, I myself found his answers to be compulsive reading. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL QUESTIONS BY, IAIN........ALL ANSWERS BY, RON LIPTON. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION ONE: You have been around and sparred with some all time great fighters, throughout your years around these fighters and the years you spent in gyms training with them, who impressed you the most, as a fighter and a person? ANSWER: Different things impressed me most. For example, the overall solid Terminator type structure of Dick Tiger, his jaw, skeletal power, the couplings like steel in his joints, ribs, it was beyond belief actually. I would hit him with shots, especially to the body and jaw with my left hook that were devastatingly solid and fast with some real power behind them. I could get under his arms and really rip to the body. My arms were stronger than him and more developed but he had a hardness to him that was unreal. It was almost impossible to hurt him at 160 lbs. I had to make him miss by ½ inches to survive him. He would stun you with a short right hand and out of nowhere the left hook would land, even on the shoulder it would shake your insides. He could kill you with it if you weren’t careful. He was a kind man and had a beautiful smile. I would show him card tricks and he would try to make me show him how it was done. I would tell him magic, that’s how, and he would laugh like a little kid. It killed me inside to see him end up like he did, life can be so unfair. He was a great warrior and a good family man. The conditioning of Emile Griffith who was just a natural impressed me. He had so little body fat on him at all times, his shoulders with that naturally wide clavicle was amazing for a welter-junior middleweight. I saw him in the Solar Gym in NY at the 28th street gym and bathhouse boxing gym, just outbox anyone in the gym from heavyweight on down. He could do it all and had great confidence and a fiery temper. He recently visited me in Newburgh N.Y. and we spoke of the days we sparred together. He really was quite fearless and I liked that. No one in New York City intimidated him at any size. He would take no abuse from anyone, but was a happy go lucky guy and always in shape. I admired that. One time Ali himself watched us spar and I got in a good right hand on Emile and later he gave me credit for it, which surprised me as a kid, I thought he would be mad and try to get me back. He was happy I improved. When I fought Ricky Thomas the State Welterweight Champion, Emile came to the fight with Tony Galento in West Orange, NJ and was rooting for me. He was always a good pal. I admired the training discipline and punching power of Rubin Carter, as a fighter.
You have sparred with Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, two legends in the heavyweight division, what was it like being around Ali and Frazier and what was the experience of sparring with them like? ANSWER: Joe Frazier came to see me in Newburgh on November 20, 2000. We did a TV spot together and had dinner. We spoke of the times I sparred with him, especially in Rahway when we put on exhibitions. I
was a very strong 165 and very fast. I
had watched Joe spar with Norton, and
a guy they called Dr.Luv, and I noticed that when Joe would do a double type
body dip with his arms crossed, he
would then come up with the left hook. It
was kind of a give a way when he was being elusive on the way in.
I would double jab, hard and
quick and slightly push him off balance and pivot away,
and never throw more than, two fast punches at him,
and then pivot and move. It
was the only way to survive. He was
like a firebreathing dragon coming at you, and he did not take it easy on anyone ever.
He scorched my rock hard belly with his left hook and I did not even
catch it full power.Yet my stomach
felt like it was smashed into my spine. I
urinated blood for a week. When it
hit me, I showed no pain on my face
but I knew he hurt me bad. I
fired a vicious right hand to the middle of his face, and he snorted and smiled
through his mouthpiece. The
prisoners liked it, that I stood up
to him as a middleweight and fired back.When
the exhibition round ended, he taped me hard in the gut and said good work.
My gut hurt so bad even his tap caused pain. It was incumbent on my
suspicious nature to ask Joe later, if
I hurt him with that right hand which drew a little blood from his nose.
He smiled and said, “Oh
don’t worry, I felt you, I felt
you, but remember, you’re only a middleweight.” I said that’s why I took it easy on you Smoke, because Middleweights are the fastest and hit hardest,
he laughed a real hard laugh and gave me a hug,
and said thanks for going easy on me Ron.
When I told him my gut hurt me bad, he made sure I got checked out and called me a week later.
He was always a decent guy. It was no joke in that ring with that man. He was serious and did not play. I loved Joe and Marvis his son, and how they were loyal to each other. It was like my son Brett and me. Ali was always so good to me too and always looked out for me, I loved both guys and hated that vicious rivalry that got so out of hand and left scars. The punching power of
Light heavyweights Jimmy Dupree, Charlie
“Devil” Green, and Frankie
DePaula was amazing and I boxed with all of them.
In the Jersey City Gym Dupree could move a man around the ring and
actually pick the spot where he would drop a sparring partner,
I boxed with Frankie up at Ehsan’s training camp in Chatam NJ and he
always seemed he was much heavier than 175. If you kept moving against Frankie you would survive,
and keep him off balance, but if
he set himself , watch out. Charlie Devil Green who
kayoed DePaula and kayoed Ray Anderson in one round,
boxed quite a bit with me in N.Y. City. I visited him in prison in Shwangunk Prison in the mid 90’s.
He had wasted away to almost nothing. It was horrible.
I would give boxing lectures
for the Dept of Corrections and he was there. I did not even know it until
someone told me. He was in there
for murder while high on coke and it was a hopeless thing for him. Charlie had one of the
hardest right hands ever at light heavy, I
mean up there with Bob Satterfield's power. The real tough guys were the nicest outside of the ring. Ali, Frazier, Chuvalo, Tiger, Griffith, Ortiz and Oscar De La Hoya was very nice to me all the time he would see me after I refereed his first fight in NY against Jesse James Leija. Oscar saw me in Foxwood at the Yori Boy Campos Vs Randy Stephens fight and he made it a point to come over to me and give me a hug. A real decent kid. ------------------------- Continue to Page 2 Of The Ron Lipton Interview. Go To Page 3 Of The Ron Lipton Interview.
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