Is Lawrence Trent a tough guy?

[Nick Burrows]

A dangerous contender

[Matt Bridgeman]

Probably everyone has had enough now, but here's Aman's 45-minute breakdown of his match. Interestingly he says it's the only bout with a knock-down that evening. I think he over eggs the pudding a bit in what was really going on in that ring. There looked like a heck of a lot of arm punches, but for sure sometimes boxers can be deceptively heavy-handed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO8XERu0_Ts

[MJMcCready]

Are there any hardmen in chess? We once had a Glaswegian at our club in the early 80s and we were based near the football ground. On one occasion some fans walked by, saw the chess going on and banged on the windows, which caused our Glaswegian member to go sprinting out and chase them down the road. He might have been one.

[Nick Ivell]

Lennox Lewis might count at a stretch.

[Matt Mackenzie]

I've seen conflicting accounts on how good a chess player he actually is.

[Nick Ivell]

I don't regard Lennox as a real player - but I might not tell him that to his face.

(Runs and hides.)

[Matt Bridgeman]

I've seen conflicting accounts on how good a chess player he actually is.

He’s worse than a Klitschko at chess. I think he lost a game in a charity event. I presume the brothers are nothing very amazing at chess. Chess Boxing needs a minimum 1800 strength (or was it 1900) and I can’t think of any proper boxers anywhere near that level.

[Nick Ivell]

That's a good job. Over the board I fancy my chances against Lennox; in the ring, less so.

[Matt Bridgeman]

The event apparently cost 1.6 million dollars to put on and so far has only recouped 1.4. He thinks he will eventually make it up. On some level it was one for the fans, running free on YouTube rather than taking the increasingly common boxing approach of stuffing any old rubbish on pay per view.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxing/y ... 0-28786851

[J T Melsom]

Terry Marsh would be a bit old for the boxing, but wasn't there a suggestion that he was a junior chess champion? I don't know if the claim was ever verified.

[Matt Bridgeman]

Terry Marsh would be a bit old for the boxing, but wasn't there a suggestion that he was a junior chess champion? I don't know if the claim was ever verified.

What a controversial figure he is! But apparently he did win a chess boxing title under this organisation, which appear to do lessons in London for anyone interested; https://chessboxingnation.com/classes/

[Joey Stewart]

Older boxers have a much better chance of having a 1800 rating, time was that you could get that sort of number just by turning up to a tournament but now you would be looking at many many years of hard graft to hit 1800, to the extent that it would be easier for a good chess player to spend a few years training boxing then for a good boxer to meet the rating requirements.

[Geoff Chandler]

I've never looked, but I wonder what the boxing forums make of this chess boxing lark.

I surfed about looking for a professional boxer apart from Lewis who had a serious interest in chess.
No luck, but I did happen upon the kick boxer, Giorgio Petrosyan (Petrsosian) who is currently number four in the Featherweight Kickboxing rankings. His nickname is 'The Doctor' and one of his attributes is his ' defensive prowess which has seen him defeat some of the best strikers in the world while taking little-to-no damage' which reminded me of his chess playing namesake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Petrosyan

[Matt Bridgeman]

On Boxrec which is one of the main boxing forums - Yeah there’s some respect on there. Mainly for getting 10,000 people to come and watch - more than some boxing events - and putting it out free rather than PPV. Getting most of the money back. There’s plenty of respect for all that. Not so much the boxing of course, which to be fair looks exactly as what you’d expect after 3 months training.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Older boxers have a much better chance of having a 1800 rating, time was that you could get that sort of number just by turning up to a tournament but now you would be looking at many many years of hard graft to hit 1800, to the extent that it would be easier for a good chess player to spend a few years training boxing then for a good boxer to meet the rating requirements.

As someone who remembers "those days" better than you, this may be just a.......*slight* exaggeration.