Boxing Life Stories

Fight artist Richard Slone talks about his decorated career at the easel and at the fights. Richard originally went to the US to box and wound up living with heavyweight legend Joe Frazier in Philadelphia. Several years later, he was at the Kronk in Detroit with Emanuel Steward, becoming a fixture in the gym and in the corner of some of the sport's biggest names. But he's most famous for his artwo...

Nicky Piper fought for a world title three times. He was defeated by Nigel Benn, Leeonzer Barber and Dariusz Michalczewski but won the Commonwealth title and beat the likes of Bruce Scott and Noel Magee and fought Crawford Ashley, Carl Thompson and many more. A member of MENSA, Piper became known to another generation of fans as an analyst on Sky Sports. Here, at his home in an idyllic Welsh villa...

Joe Hughes was born with Erb's Palsy, which meant his right arm hasn't developed the same way as his left. While not a one-handed fighter, he's built a successful career with a real disability and one he's happy to talk about. Here, in an in-depth interview, he talks about his struggles in and out of the ring, how despite knock backs, bad scorecards and much more his heart and determination took h...

Ed Robinson has spent a lifetime in the sport and is what's known in the trade as a 'boxing man.' Universally liked and respected, he's spent more than two decades in a number of roles at Sky Sports but was an amateur fighter who even took a shot at the pros. He's sparred top names, interviewed them and now holds one of the most influential positions in British boxing. Boxing Life Stories is now o...

Nigel Benn is a British sporting icon and one of boxing's best-loved warriors. Here, in the Boxing Life Stories 100th episode, he discusses his monumental fights with the likes of bitter rival Chris Eubank, Americans including Doug Dewitt, Gerald McClellan and Iran Barkley, as well as Steve Collins, Michael Watson and many more. At times humours, at others sad, Benn talks about his battles away fr...

Former WBO world cruiserweight champion Carl Thompson might be Britain's most exciting fighter of all time. Thompson would often overcome adversity, hurt, floored, behind on points and seconds from defeat only to rally and ultimately provide a back catalogue of storybook comebacks in his 34-6 career. He was a thunderous hitter and ducked no one. He fought the likes of Chris Eubank, Johnny Nelson,...

Boxing manager and promoter Steve Wood found his way into the sport by forming a friendship with 'The Viking' Steve Foster Sr. A successful business man in his own right, Steve has managed the likes of John Murray, Jamie Moore and Josh Warrington and has seen the sport from all angles. He's lost money on small hall shows but has been ringside supporting his fighters in huge domestic and internatio...

Former world super-middleweight champion Richie Woodhall has worked as a pundit since retiring from the ring. He's covered the Olympics for more than 20 years as well as big fights in the UK and overseas, working for a host of networks including the BBC and BT Sport. But Richie had a fabulous career of his own. He won Commonwealth gold and Olympic bronze, losing in the Seoul Olympics to the brilli...

Anthony Ogogo won a bronze medal at the London Olympics in 2012 and he should have been on top of the world having fought and beaten the pre-tournament favourite. However, his mother lay gravely ill in hospital and he would make clandestine visits to her bedside hoping she would come out of her coma. Yes, he was inspired, but what should have been the best days of his life were also the worst. His...

Former star referee Mickey Vann officiated around 1,500 fights, from preliminary bouts to some of the biggest world title contests in recent history. A former pro, Mickey was born into the circus – son of a knife throwing father – before finding fame as one of the top refs in the sport. He's officiated some of the best boxers of the last several generations and was the third man in the ring for Le...

Crawford Ashley was a Sky Sports staple through the 1990s having reigned as British, Commonwealth and European champion and fighting for world titles. But retirement came and depression and death loomed large. As he struggled to find himself after boxing there were multiple brushes with death. By then, he'd fought a who's who of top fighters, from Michael Nunn and Virgil Hill to Johnny Nelson, Car...

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...

'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...

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...

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...

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, be...

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 b...

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...

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...

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 find...

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'...

Viking Warrior Mikkel Kessler fought the likes of Joe Calzaghe, Carl Froch and Andre Ward in a decorated career that saw him capture the WBA and WBC titles at super-middleweight. From fighting early on in Las Vegas to being on the big Mike Tyson-Brian Neilsen bill at the Parken in Copenhagen, he was initially guided by Hall of Fame promoter Mogens Palle. He unified the titles and scored wins over...

Former WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee reached the top when he won the world crown against Matvey Korobov in Las Vegas. Lee's journey saw him go from Olympic heartbreak as Ireland's sole representative at the 2004 Games to big things in the USA. He was taken under the wing of Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward and became a star of the famous Kronk Gym in Detroit. He rose fast, but was stunned...

CompuBox co-founder Bob Canobbio has been in boxing for 35 years. One of the first contests he covered providing stats for was the war between Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns. He's provided punchstats to all of the major networks, including HBO, Showtime, ESPN and DAZN and he's been ringside for all of the great fights and fighters of the modern era. Here, in this deep dive on his career, he talks...

Billy Schwer was a world class lightweight who fought the likes of Rafael Ruelas, Stevie Johnston, Colin Dunne and many more. In all, he boxed 45 times as a professional, eventually winning the IBO title at light-welterweight. In an intimate interview, he talks about the importance of that title, the big nights, headlining in Las Vegas, working with Hall of Fame promoter Mickey Duff, the disappoin...