Great 90's HW Boxing Fight on ESPN-Classic

DVR has been set. Thanks for the heads-up!

That was both of their fights.

I just moved to Pensacola, FL last year and didn't realize the boxing pedigree here. I now live in Navarre but still work in the Pensacola area.

Roy Jones Jr as most people know is from Pensacola but Evander Holyfield is from Atmore, AL which is a neighboring city of Pensacola just north of it.

Emmitt Smith told a funny story 7 or 8 years ago about that. He said he used to love driving through Pensacola because, all throughout the 90's, he'd always see the sign that said, "Welcome to Pensacola, Home of Emmitt Smith." So one day, in the early 2000s (2001 or 2002), he is driving with some friends and he knows that sign is getting ready to come up a few miles down the road. So he starts bragging and joking around with his friends about it and clowns them about not having a sign and everything. As they come up to the sign, he gets all cocky and points at it and tells all of his friends to read it out loud together...only this time, the sign says, "Welcome to Pensacola, Home of Roy Jones, Jr."

Emmitt said he saw that and yelled out, "F*CK!!!" He had no idea the city of Pensacola changed the sign and replaced him with RJJ. He said his friends cried laughing for hours at that and still clowned him about it for years after that happened.

Edit: Derrick "Smoke" Gainer was a solid fighter out of Pensacola in the late 90's/early 2000s too. I dont remember if he ever won a world championship (I believe he did though). If not, he was definitely ranked in the top 5 of his division for a few years. He fought around 135-145lbs or so. He had all of the skills in the world and KO power in both hands, but had no chin whatsoever. I remember he and longtime champion Kevin Kelley had a WAR! Both guys getting hurt multiple times until Kelley knocked Gainer out cold with a brutal one punch KO in the middle rounds.

quote:

---

Bowe's fights with Holyfield is what caused his current speech problems IMO

---

Its obviously from damage from his entire career, including the Holyfield trilogy. I dont disagree with that. But the two fights with Golota are usually specifically referenced when Bowe's brain damage is brought up. The accumulated damage from the Holyfield fights was building up, but it was Golota that pushed it over the edge. And the effect was immediate. He was talking normal before the second Golota fight and he could barely talk immediately after the second Golota fight.

The only in ring interview I could find following the second Golota fight is in this vid:LINK
Fast forward to the 2:40 mark to hear some of his interview after Golota II. Its bad considering his speech was normal before it.

quote:

---

TTownTiger

---

Thanks for the link. I watched the first two parts too. That documentary is great.

ETA: Loved Lampley's quote, "I felt sad for us that a potentially glorious event had once again become this strange atrocity."

I have caught a couple of them randomly before but never thought to search on youtube. Some great hidden gems. Thanks for the find!