SCR Boxing

St. Louis is known for its good blues music and the laid back feel of the city. One thing that many people don’t realize when they think about St. Louis is that it has been the home of many great boxers. From lightweights to heavyweights, the following are a few boxers that have come out of St. Louis and were pretty good.

Freddie Norwood

In 1998, Freddie Norwood became the WBA Heavyweight Champion of the World. He was a great boxer who retained this title for two years until he retired in 2000 after Read more

One of the top boxing gyms in St. Louis Missouri is the Title Boxing Club located on Dougherty Ferry Road. This boxing gym is probably the top boxing school in all of St. Louis due to affordability and the quality of training that the school offers.

The North County Boxing Club is also one of the top boxing gyms in St. Louis. THe quality of training offered at North County is a little above average and the price to attend the boxing gym is reasonable. The North County Boxing Club gym is located Read more

Boxing has long since been practiced in the city of St. Louis for sport, fitness, and self-defense. Over the years, there have been many excellent gyms in which one could train at. To list all the boxing gyms open in St. Louis would be rather space prohibitive but the following are the top gyms in the area:

The Boxing Gym: A rather generic name but it reflects a popular franchise in the city.

The North County Boxing Read more

Lightweight boxers do not attract the same attention as the larger boxers. Pay per view promoters will televise the heavyweight fights. The Pay Per View promoters do this for financial reasons. More people want to see the heavyweight fights. Showing other fights is not as profitable. Even though the bantomweights do not get as much attention, some do rise to prominence. The city of Saint Loius produced at least two notable bantamweight boxers during the 20th century.

Freddie “Lil Angler” Norwood became the World Boxing Association’s Heavyweight Champion in 1998. He was born in Saint Louis in 1970. Norwood Read more

There are a lot of things to love about St. Louis and boxing’s just one of them. If you’ve watched more than your fair share of fights   are aching to visit the city that’s brought you so many of boxing’s greats, take a trip this summer and find out why everyone calls this town the Gateway City…
Cheer on the Cardinals – Did you know the Cards have won 10 National Championships? Head over to Busch Stadium for a cold brew and another look inside St. Louis’ thriving Read more

Manny Pacquiao has been called the greatest pound for pound boxer in the sport today, meanwhile Devon Alexander has done everything within his 71-inch reach to earn the nickname of Alexander the Great. As no fight against Floyd Mayweather appears to be in the cards for 2011, or any year thereafter for that matter, it’s high time boxing fans the world over choose another opponent against whom Pacquiao can further vindicate his claim of superiority.And, who better than St. Louis‘ own Devon Alexander? With a still sterling record of 21-0 featuring 13 knockouts, Alexander may have never been tested by a fighter of Pacquiao’s all-time caliber, but there’s no indication the youngster would shy away from such an opportunity. First, however, he will have to get through arguably the fight of the year (at least of fights we are certain will take place at this point) on January 29^th against Tim Bradley.The winner of the welterweight showdown will unify the belts for the weight class, in a contest some hopefuly analysts view as semi-final matchup with the winner moving on to face Pacquiao in a championship bout, effectively determining the best boxer alive. After all, if Alexander deserves a shot at Pacquiao, it would be hard to discredit Bradley, who has a nearly identical resume in the form of a 27-0 clean sheet with 11 knockouts. Bradley may be 4 years older than Alexander, but at 27 he is well within his boxing prime and still 4 years younger than the 31-year old Pacquiao in his own right. Read more

Say what you will about Don King, after all the man served 4 years in prison for the stomping death of an employee, was questioned by the Senate in the early 90′s allegedly keeping ties with organized crime and even Mike Tyson, a true role model in his own right, has said King “would kill his own mother for a dollar.” Still, the man has a place in boxing, as fans appreciate his willingness to put together a complete undercard, layered with top billed talent and multiple title belts on the line. In his career as a boxing promoter, King has twice put together cards featuring (an almost unheard of) 6 title bouts. August 7^th‘s Gateway to Greatness event in St. Louis showed he hasn’t lost his touch for match making, as three separate fights had championship implications.The most anticipated bout of the night took place when local St. Louis hero Devon Alexander (21-0, 13 KOs) defended his 140-pound World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation belts successfully, by means of unanimous decision, against Ukranian challenger Andreas Kotelnik (31-4-1, 13 KOs), a former World Boxing Association super lightweight champion in his own right. After originally attempting to schedule a fight with Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KOs), Alexander turned to Kotelnik with his second choice, suitable as Kotelnik was responsible for the only mark against Maidana’s otherwise flawless record. Read more

While many boxing legends out of inner-city St. Louis ultimately fall back on bad habits and poor decision making, likely stemming from an underprivileged upbringing in the city’s rough streets, Michael Spinks represents the one of the hard-luck community’s true shining stars. The younger brother of heavyweight champ Leon Spinks, the two came up together in a housing project that would later be condemned and demolished, often the victims of bullying by some of area’s shadier figures. Both brothers took to boxing as a means of self-defense, Leon first taking to the sport then urging his younger brother to join him. Though Leon was older, Michael tended to display more maturity in his decision making, and could be considered the man of the house, as their father abandoned the boys at a young age. Michael’s level head manifests itself today as he has managed his money responsibly and walked a well-thought out career path, while Leon has fallen on hard times after the early glory of his fighting days. The two brothers rose to fame together taking dueling gold medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.Unlike brother Leon’s quick rise and fall, Michael rose through the boxing ranks more slowly, running his tally to 17-0 before finally accepting a title fight, in the light heavyweight division. He would proceed to defend his title successfully, later uniting his WBA belt with the WBC belt as well. As his career progressed, Spinks decided to bulk up and pursue the heavyweight title belt. Despite giving up 22 pounds to champion Larry Holmes, Michael defeated his much heavier opponent in 15 rounds. He defended his IBF heavyweight crown three times from ’85 to ’87, including a rematch with Holmes ending in the same result. Spinks finally suffered his first defeat at the hands of upstart Mike Tyson, virtually unbeatable at that stage of his career, after which he found it fit to retire. Read more

A fixed fight, a “phantom” punch, whatever you want to call it, Sonny Liston is most famously remembered as that guy staring up at a screaming Muhammad Ali from his back, in what has become one of the world’s most famous pictures, and a common poster adorning college dorm rooms across the country thanks to Adidas’ “Impossible is Nothing” campaign. But before falling to Ali, whether or not you think he was actually knocked down, Liston put together as an illustrious a career as any St. Louis fighter of all time, ranked as 15 on the greatest punchers of all time list by Ring Magazine (a compilation of the hardest hitters not necessarily the best all-around boxers). Putting together an impressive 50-4 record, while knocking out 39 opponents along the way, Liston’s talent was indisputable, though much of his life is surrounding by mystery and tainted by boxing’s dark underworld.First arriving in St. Louis at the age of 13, after hitchhiking from Arkansas to reunite with his mother, Liston finally escaped his abusive father, though he would not find himself free from trouble, this time legal trouble. Regarded as a menace in the neighborhood, he was arrested upwards of 20 times, the most serious of which resulted in an 8-year sentence on a robbery charge. It was behind bars, however, well Liston first found his natural aptitude for the sweet science. Discovered by a reverend, Father Alois Stevens, his talent helped Liston to see early parole after only 2 years. Though remarkably successful in the ring, Liston’s checkered past and rumored ties to the mafia at times limited his ability to secure big fights and prevented him from ever being revered as a fan favorite. Liston finally got a title shot against Floyd Patterson, who he handily disposed of in the first round. Read more