My first visit to the Kronk Gym in Detroit (1999), for me the most famous gym in the world of boxing. I was with Naseem Hamed. I dug out this picture I took of him being trained by Emanuel Steward.
I remember on the trip to the gym talking to Naz about Juan Manuel Marquez, a Mexican he was accused of avoiding and who would later prove to be worth avoiding.
I was supposed to go and train at the Kronk when I was 19. It had a brutal reputation. Survival of the fittest.
Instead, I went to Orlando, Florida and a gym run by Joe Clough. That’s another story.
I met Duane Thomas, a former world champion, that day at the Kronk. I barely recognised him. He’d piled on weight. He seemed genuinely overjoyed that someone from overseas knew about him, even though he’d been successful.
Several years later Thomas was dead. Shot in a drug-related incident. Harsh place.
I met and interviewed William “Caveman” Lee (pictured right) many years later. He lost in one round to Marvin Hagler for the ‘world’ middleweight title and also came off the Kronk production line.
When I met him, he’d not long been out of jail (armed robbery). I gave him a ride back to his apartment. It was a seriously grim, rainy day. We cruised past the Kronk, then all boarded up and closed. He invited me in to his apartment. I remember for a few moments feeling anxious about it.
But all he wanted was to share memories.
Boxing’s a tough sport. People don’t realise it is often tougher outside the ring than in it for these guys.