Fighters that smoked or drank or did drugs

[New England]

Greb didn't become a skirt chaser till after his wife passed away. The exaggerations of him being a heavy drinker are put to sleep in both the book "The fearless Harry Greb" and by his friend Harry Keck, who was close to him from 1914 till Grebs death in 1926.

A Tale of Two Harrys

Theirs was one of the great, enduring friendships in boxing history. One
went onto great accomplishments in journalism; the other, to pugilistic
immortality.

Harry Keck first met Harry Greb in 1914, when Keck was with the
Pittsburgh Post. Greb was in his second year as a pro. Greb had just
returned from Philadelphia, where he had spent most of a year because
promotional difficulties had led to a temporary suspension of boxing in
Pittsburgh. From then on, Keck was with Greb throughout his career
and conversed with him in Pittsburgh the night before the great
middleweight died on an operating table in Atlantic City in October,
1926.

To the day he died, in April of 1956, Keck vehemently, jealously
guarded the memory of Greb-about whom, Keck argued, more drivel
had been written than about any other fighter.

In 1964, Keck told me, "With each passing year, the Greb legend gets
sillier and sillier. His alleged skirt-chasing, drinking, and apathy to training
are canards that evidently will never die. Harry liked the companionship
of both men and women, would take an occasional drink, and trained as
hard as any fighter I ever knew."

I've read the fearless harry greb. it's on my bookshelf, actually.

"taking the occasional drink" certainly doesnt assert that he was a raging alcoholic, and neither am i. with a schedule like that he'd have an awful time making weight being real drunk
i am saying that he was at the very least a casual drinker. mentioning him the same light as walker wouldn't be appropriate if we were talking purely about the consumption of alcohol. walker drank like a fish.

in the teens and 20's people's attitudes toward alcohol were very different, obviously, as well.

[Spray_resistant]

There is something I admire about ppl who succeed anyway regardless of unhealthy habits, obviously with hard work your going to improve and get somewhere if you have any talent but it takes a special fighter to take short cuts and still be a champ anyway.

[turbotime]

I can't say for Walker, but Greb was NOT a big drinker. There have been a lot if tall tales and exaggerations written about Greb and that is one of them.

What? Greb trained off of booze and whores. It's been well documented.

[NChristo]

Full extract from the book Jab quoted

[FiftyCal]

James Toney?

[Cardinal Buck]

Spadafora for (I think) alcohol, coke, and weed.

[sweetpea87]

As far as top fighters......I remember an interview with Emanuel Steward when he trained Chavez and said that before they got together Chavez would drink beer after workouts. My main man Pernell Whitaker's win against Andrey Pestryaev got changed to a no contest because he tested positive for *******. I read Sorcery at Caesars and it said that Hagler did coke.

For non top fighters, reading Only in America:The Life and Crimes of Don King, almost all the fighters from the "lost generation" of heavyweights were smoking weed during training camps. Also Chuck Wepner was a big drinker.

[Capaedia]

I read Sorcery at Caesars and it said that Hagler did coke.

That'd explain something, actually

[pbeer]

I could think of a few, but Johnny Tapia I met in person @ the Trinidad/Reid fight at Ceasars and he was super coked out... That guy partied like crazy I think he was hospitalized many times.. Hope he's doing well these days he was a great fighter..

I'll start with a few ones off the top of my head

Mayorga: heavy smoker
ODLH: drank, did *******
locche: chain smoker
Graziano: smoke/drank
Tapia: Drank, did lots of *******, possibly other drugs
Tyson: Drank, *******, marijuana
Duran: Drank A LOT

[pbeer]

Imagine if these fighters where clean how great they would have been... Marijuana i dont consider a drug that would impair performance much.. As long as they dont smoke b4 the fight