Friday, July 1, 2016

The Baddest Man On The Planet


Okay... maybe not anymore.  But he's still pretty much the only boxer I have ever followed religiously... and he's the only boxer I've ever spent money on to watch (on PPV... not in person).  I can't say the same thing in terms of autographs.  Three years ago, I picked up a Manny Pacquiao signed 8x10 at the Tristar Show.  Since then, I've been looking to add Iron Mike's signature to my collection and now I have.

My buddy purchased a lot of ten miscellaneous signed 16x20's on eBay to resell at shows and gave me first choice.  I laid down my $40 and decided to go with the Mike Tyson's Punch-out photo, because it's such an iconic game from my youth.

Eventually I'll have it custom framed and matted with an original video game cartridge and NES controller.  Both of those items are high on my flea market search list.  I've seen plenty of used controllers and games over the years, but now that I'm actively pursuing them... the inventory has seemed to dry up.

Happy 50th Birthday Mr. Tyson!  Thank you for all of the wonderful memories you produced for me and my buddies back in high school and college.

As for everyone else... here are today's questions of the day...

Who's your favorite boxer of all-time?

and

What are some of your favorite NES games?

I'm pretty sure this post answers my first question.  My favorite NES games?   Punch-Out would definitely be on the list... along with Metroid, Super Mario Bros., Kid Icarus, Tecmo Bowl, Castlevania, Blaster Master, and The Legend of Zelda.

Looking forward to reading your responses.  I hope all of you have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.  Happy Friday and sayonara!

12 comments:

dominicfdny said...

Boxer would have to be Lennox Lewis cuz he was so smooth... and NES Game easily mario

Jon said...

There was one of these signed photos on Sportlots just last week that I bid on, unfortunately I didn't win. But there seems to be a number of them out there, so one day I too will own one of these.

I can remember when I was a kid, that everyone's video game prowess was measured by how good they were at Punch-Out.

No love for Contra?

Commishbob said...

Ali

No favorite NES game. I've never played a console video game.

Marc said...

Sugar Ray Leonard would be as close as you can get to "favorite".
It's been so long since I've even thought about NES games. Bubble Bobble was my absolute favorite game ever bar none. Also enjoyed Bases Loaded, Track and Field 2, Double Dribble, NES Open Golf, Paperboy, Joust, Gauntlet, Legendary Wings, Hogan's Alley, Castlevanis 2 Simon's Quest, Tecmo Super Bowl (if I recall correctly, you couldn't stop Marcus Allen). There's a few other games whose name I can't recall.
Thanks for another trip down Memory Lane.

gcrl said...

I can't say that I have a favorite boxer but I did spend a fair amount of time during college playing super c on nes

defgav said...

Very cool auto, Fuji! Would love to pick up something similar. (I wish Nintendo would partner with Topps or somebody to put out autograph cards similar to this of athletes who appeared in video games.)

I'm a big NES guy and even have a neglected old site called NES Alley. My favorites include Maniac Mansion, Bionic Commando, Metroid, Zelda 1 & 2, Mario 1-3, Bases Loaded 2, Duck Tales. I could go on, but those are probably my top 10.

Man said...

love it-he is a fascinating person. glad he is getting some Fuji auto love.

Matt said...

Nice auto. Not a boxing fan but collecting auto of the greats is something I hope to do someday

SumoMenkoMan said...

Double Dragon and Metroid for sure. About 10 years ago I went through a NES phase and was buying up lots of games to reinvigorate my collection. I think I have around 200 or so different ones now. Would love to get back into collecting them again.

KO Rob said...

Tommy Hearns and George Foreman are my favorite boxers, and fittingly my favorite NES game was Ring King. It was one of the few that I was any good at.

Fuji said...

dominicfdny - good call on lewis. watched a few of his fights including the tyson fight.

jon - yeah one of the big ebay vendors continuously put lots up. so they're not really rare... but cool to have nonetheless. as for contra... it was fun and better than average... but not in my top 10.

commish - wish i could have seen more of his fights. i've enjoyed watching and listening to his tributes though. never played a console game? that's very impressive.

marc - watched sugar ray leonard fight a few times in the 80's and really enjoyed his fights with duran, hearns, and hagler. i guess i watched more boxing that i gave myself credit for. don't think i ever played bubble bobble. i'll keep an eye out for it at the flea market and if it's cheap i'll grab it. out of your list... i played a lot of bases loaded and double dribble. good times.

gcrl - i get contra and super contra confused. i definitely owned one of them. my guess is it was just the original.

defgav - oh man... that's an awesome idea. it's a shame that topps told you to stop using their designs, because i could imagine a pretty sweet 1987 topps custom with iron mike in 8-bit form. great list of games. i've heard duck tales is one of the greatest games ever made for the nes. never played it though.

brady - yeah... tyson is definitely unique. not the greatest role model for humans... but interesting nonetheless. hey... were you at serramonte last weekend?

sport card collectors - thanks. that's pretty much where i'm at. can't really call myself a boxing fan, since i only watched the highly publicized bouts and don't really have a favorite anymore

r laughton - oh man, can't believe i left double dragon off of my list. nice call. holy smokes... that is one heck of a collection. i think i have around 15 nes games in my collection.

ko rob - watched hearns and foreman fight before... and ring king was a great game too.

The Dutch Card Guy said...

Mike Tyson post boxing career :-)) did more SNES than NES with e.g. International Super Soccer while starting with an MSX with e.g. Green Baret. Best game I played on the PC (Sierra adventures, Civilisation etc), goid old days !!