Heaven is aware of, the game of boxing has given us some really superb folks, some surreal characters through the years. From fascinating personalities to shady figures, to all-out unbelievable people, the Battle Sport has thrown out some actual gems. Talking of unbelievable, 1970’s heavyweight warrior Bob Bozic has lived a very astonishing life, his 74 years having been crammed filled with sufficient materials to fill some chapters of a ‘Ripley’s Imagine It or Not’ e-book.
Bozic’s title is probably not a well-recognized to most individuals, even hardened boxing followers, however Bob fought Larry Holmes at Madison Sq. Backyard in 1973, this his most well-known struggle, and Bozic labored for a few years at a New York bar, the place he frequently left patrons with their mouths hanging open in disbelief. Over time, the writers tracked Bozic down, his story coming to gentle. This yr, Bob launched his memoir, entitled ‘So, What Occurs Is….’
This week, Bob was form sufficient to talk with ESB, and there was numerous stuff to cowl!
Q: The place do I begin together with your superb life story?
Bob Bozic: “The place are you from initially?”
Q: York, about an hour from Manchester.
B.B: “Do you know Brian London, wasn’t he from round there?”
Q: Sure, Blackpool I met him as soon as, earlier than he handed away…..
B.B: “How previous was he when he died?”
Q: I believe he was 87, a very good age.
B.B: “Yeah, that’s a very good age. Go forward, ask me questions.”
Q: I’ll begin off with this one, it’s true you had been mainly by yourself in Canada on the age of 14, after which a gangster received you into boxing?
B.B: “I used to be by myself at 14, yeah, and simply earlier than I used to be 16, a gangster discovered me on the road in Toronto. He was only a goodhearted particular person, I used to be only a hungry child. He was a bookie, and what you name a gangster right here [in New York], no matter which means. He fed me for a few months after which he instructed me I had to return to highschool and he discovered me a spot to reside and he paid for it. To maintain me out of hassle, he owned a boxing health club, and I began boxing after college. And it turned out I may struggle. I had the need to struggle. When you hit me, I got here again onerous. It’s the need to win, not a lot the toughness. Larry Holmes as soon as stated of me, he’s received a blurb in my e-book, and he stated how powerful I used to be, that I ‘had the canine in me.’. He was an incredible fighter. The primary jab he hit me with, he broke my nostril. In spherical three he knocked my tooth out. I’d heard about Larry Holmes’ jab, and his very first jab broke my nostril, this in eight seconds. In spherical three, it was like a automobile crash as he hit me as I used to be going proper at him, he timed it. He knocked three of my tooth out, I needed to spit them into the bucket between rounds.”
Q: However you went the gap with Holmes. You fought at The Backyard what number of instances?
B.B: “I fought at The Backyard 5 instances. The primary struggle I had there, I had simply turned 20, and George Chuvalo, you realize him, proper? We sparred a whole lot of rounds. I sparred George greater than anybody else in my life. George broke my nostril 4 or 5 instances. My nostril has been broke 9 instances, however he broke it 4 or 5 instances. He was preventing George Foreman that evening, and Foreman actually clobbered him. However I used to be sparring George [Chuvalo] and my supervisor received collectively together with his supervisor and he stated, get these two a struggle every at The Backyard as an alternative of them preventing one another in sparring. That evening, I gained the struggle and I additionally misplaced my virginity, to 2 women. I used to be extra petrified of them than of the man I had fought! However anyway, I don’t wish to get into my intercourse life…….depart that for an additional name (laughs).”
Q: George Chuvalo will not be in good condition immediately, is he?
B.B: “No, he’s received Alzheimer’s sadly. Nice pals we had been, oh yeah. A number of the writers in contrast me to him, too, we had a really comparable fashion. He’s from Croatia and I’m from Serbia, which was then Yugoslavia.”
Q: Briefly, who else did you spar throughout your profession?
B.B: “Ken Norton and I didn’t get alongside. He was an excellent fighter and I used to be a really tough fighter, and once I sparred him in Los Angeles, I wouldn’t let him out of the nook, I saved blocking him. He was hitting me so onerous, I may hear his knuckles cracking towards my cranium, even with the sparring gloves on. However I wouldn’t let him out of the nook. And it was embarrassing for him that I had him trapped, however he was boxing the s**t out of me. However a reporter was there, and he [Norton] stated to the reporter afterwards, ‘f**ok, I hate to owe this child my lease!’ In different phrases, I used to be a ache within the ass and he couldn’t eliminate me. And you realize what my nickname grew to become in Los Angeles? ‘The Landlord.’ The owner by no means leaves you alone, he retains on coming again.”
Q: All of the sparring classes you had with Chuvalo and Norton and others had been within the late Sixties and early ’70s?
B.B: “Proper. However why did I get out of boxing? Properly, I’m preventing Larry Holmes and my nostril is broke after eight seconds, then my tooth had been knocked out. The tooth had been hanging by the roots. But it surely didn’t bleed that a lot and I hid it from the referee. However I knew then that I’d by no means be that good, by no means nearly as good as Holmes. I stated to myself I needed to transfer on. I mainly retired from boxing 4 or 5 rounds into that struggle. Then I went to reside in Europe, in Spain after which in Greece. Fantastic instances. Then I went to Istanbul and I met some guys and I began smuggling (Bob actually did smuggle auto components into Afghanistan, from Istanbul).”
Q: Similar to that!
B.B: (laughs), Yeah, and I robbed a financial institution. I received caught robbing a financial institution right here in New York. However I by no means went to jail, not even for a day. I had no gun, I instructed them I had no weapon. However I did take hostages, I scared a teller, a man that labored there. I instructed the supervisor I wanted to take a mortgage and we went into the vault. Later, I gave the hostages tickets to some Broadway exhibits. It was a trouble for them, having to reply questions all day on the police station. They arrested me, the detectives did, they usually had me round to their home for a barbecue, earlier than the trial.”
Q: You had been simply determined for money, is that why you probably did it?
B.B: “Properly, it wasn’t a passion. Yeah, I wished to make cash. I had labored for a residing, I used to be a bookie myself, and I used to be a smuggler. However at some point, my room-mate didn’t give you the lease like he was alleged to, he stated he’d loaned the cash to somebody, and I stated, ‘s**t, what can we do now?’ So I stated, ‘I’ll go and rob a financial institution.’”
Q: And you actually did! Working on the bar in New York, Fanelli’s, as you probably did for 25 years, is that when folks actually received to learn about you and your life, with boxing writers interviewing you and so forth?
B.B: “Yeah, I grew to become fairly well-known, the man from The New Yorker who was despatched to interview me, he didn’t wish to do it, however after we talked and we had lunch, he stated he was positively gonna do the story. He instructed me my life lined the twentieth century! So later, I wrote my very own e-book. Some good folks got here to the bar to see me over these years…Liam Neeson, he favored my e-book it. He got here to the bar, he wasn’t a giant star on the time, I’d say it was round 1996, or 1997. He’s a giant man, he boxed newbie in Belfast. Anyway, I checked out him and I requested him if he ever did any boxing, and it was a gradual evening, and we swapped boxing tales. I requested him what he did, and he stated he was an actor, and I stated to him, ‘no, what do you do for a residing?’ And he stated he’d carried out some motion pictures, and about 5 months later out comes ‘Schindler’s Checklist.’ I stated, ‘wait a minute, this man’s a film star…..’ And we’ve stayed pals. He loves to speak about boxing.
“I believe you’ll like my e-book, I cowl all of it in there. The tales about Serbia, I believe you’ll like. I used to be kind of tortured in Serbia. I almost died. I’ve had two minor coronary heart assaults, from the ache the place my legs had been burned. However you’ll learn all that [in my book]. However I’m transferring again to Canada, subsequent yr. I don’t wish to be on this nation any extra. I’ve had sufficient, and never due to [Donald] Trump, however due to the individuals who vote for him. How are you going to probably vote for a person who mimics a cripple and thinks it’s humorous? As a result of years in the past, a reporter, who was disabled, Trump made enjoyable of him, and the group laughed and cheered. Who would snigger at that? I knew gangsters, and they’d by no means try this. These individuals are idiots and I’ve had it with common folks. I’m gonna reside on a farm and skim books. You recognize I’m a giant reader?”
Q: Sure, you’ve learn a whole lot of books?
B.B: “Oh, simply. You recognize concerning the lady I married, who her boyfriend was earlier than she met me, don’t you?
Q: Barack Obama?
B.B: “Proper.”
Q: No marvel folks suppose numerous stuff about you is made up! But it surely’s all true and verified….
B.B: “Oh, after all. Anyway, she’s an professional on T.S Elliot, and we discuss almost on daily basis. We’re nonetheless very shut.”
Q: No person’s received a narrative fairly such as you…..
B.B: “All people’s received a narrative, a distinct story. Inform the readers, they could like to purchase my e-book. It’s a very good learn. You’ll get a kick out of it.”
Q: And yet one more factor I examine you, you met Jack Dempsey?
B.B: “Yeah, I met Jack Dempsey two instances. My managers had been right here in New York and I had dinner with Jack Dempsey. I like to speak, however I didn’t discuss a lot on the desk (laughs). What, I’m gonna inform tales to Jack Dempsey? He had a restaurant, and he would stand on the entrance door. However my managers knew him. You recognize, it’s such a small world with gangsters and boxing, no less than it was in these days. He was a really fascinating particular person. I knew numerous film stars too. You recognize Veronica Lake? She sat in addition to me as soon as and I used to be beside myself, she was such a good looking lady. It was a good time again then. You keep in mind Bugsy Siegel? I knew the man who was concerned slightly bit when Bugsy received assassinated, when he received shot. He received shot in his dwelling, whereas sitting on the couch. We discuss these items on a regular basis. It’s a small phrase, actually.”
Q: It’s been superb talking with you! I do know I didn’t even get to asking you concerning the smuggling factor!”
B.B: “It’s within the e-book, and folks just like the chapter concerning the smuggling. I gotta go prepare dinner for somebody now.”
Bob’s e-book ‘So, What Occurs Is….’ is offered now through Amazon. Some extra of Bob’s superb tales could be discovered at bobbozic.substack.com
