Category Archives: Boxing

The Fire Within

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Hi to All the Ships at Sea,

Keisher McLeod- Wells aka “Fire”, is one of my dear friends. She is one of the most beautiful, lovely, talented, hard-working people I know. Unfortunately, Fire has had a major tragedy in her family. What she’s done, is taken all of the responsibility and done the absolute right thing. I wish her nothing but great luck and God speed.

022213_dibroseland_58783

After friends and family, photography and filmmaking is my life. The three photos above, in my opinion, are excellent. Unfortunately I have a problem with them, I don’t know who took them, there’s no copyright on them and when my studio manager put them in Photoshop, there was no copyright on the back. Therefore, the photographs then become public domain and the photographer, and I must say a very good one, is not going to get his/her credit. All fine photographers have to work very hard at their craft and their art, I really need to know who made these photos and then that photographer needs to protect them. Sir or Madam, you did a great job. For purposes of the blog ONLY, we’ll call it ©Fire 2013.

All the best,
Joe D

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Smokin’ Joe

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

 

© Joe DiMaggio

I remember the first day that I photographed Smokin’ Joe Frazier; March 8 1971. Frazier was the heavyweight champion of the world, fighting the great Muhammad Ali (off a three year hiatus from boxing). To say the least, it was considered  the fight of the century, with Frank Sinatra shooting ringside for Life Magazine. I’ve been known to say “The next time I’m in Vegas, I’m gonna jump onstage and grab  a microphone—not”. over the years, Frazier and I became casual acquaintances. Joe was a true gentleman. There are very few people that ever had a bad word to say about Joe. I asked him if he would be kind enough to allow me to interview him for my documentary In This Corner, and he agreed. We met at the iconic Gleason’s Gym. Honesty is the best policy, and as far as the interview went it was two warriors talking about the good old days, and from that we talked about the future of boxing in the new decade. The interview became very personal, and that is not the proper way a documentary interview should go. I looked at it yesterday and a tear came to my eye. When I get my head put on straight, I’ll do a second and a third blog with some action photography. Yes, I know this should have been done November of last year, but it took me that long to actually find the images I was looking for. So much for my filing system. To all the ships at sea, some photography, for that matter all photography, is timeless. On that note, go out and make some great photos. Joe D.

© Joe DiMaggio

© Joe DiMaggio

 

Wet Willy

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

John Iacono from Sports Illustrated and I have been friends for as long as I can remember, and my former next door neighbor and fishing partner. There is no doubt in my mind that he’s one of the greatest sports photographers of our time. And yes, he’s a drop-dead sweet guy. I have never heard one bad word about Johnny Eye. Having said that, I think he should keep his tongue out of my ear. I’m not going to tell you where his right hand is. By the way, his right hand was on his high-speed Nikon camera. And I know that because I could hear the mirror box in my left ear.  Let’s be honest- if nothing else, we always have a lot of fun! You can tell by the look on my face. I’m just so giddy!

In This Corner The Final Chapter

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

Delen Parsley before fight
The first thing you learn in journalism school is there has to be a beginning, middle and end. Six years ago when I started the documentary “In This Corner” (I thought it would only take a year) I knew the film would have a beginning, middle but no end One of the protagonists in my film asked me if I was directing the documentary.  I explained the director was a combination of God, and him and I show up and watch the story progress.  On Sunday the 27th I had a Dumbo Workshop, sponsored by Adorama and ran into an old friend by the name of Blimp.  He informed me his son Delan would be having another fight at BB King’s and would I be going?  I told Blimp thanks for the heads up and why did he give me so much notice?  Dylan and I made an executive decision to go to the fight. We prepped the following day and headed out for another 12 hour day. I’m going to share this with you – something magical happened that evening. For the first time in many decades, I was totally relaxed and at peace with the world. I indirectly thought, let the shit fall where it falls because I’m going to have a great evening. I let Dylan do all the hard work. Well somewhere around 3 in the morning after having a celebratory Jameson with James Moore, John Duddy, and Dylan Michael, we raised a glass to James Moore’s new baby who coincidentally is also called Dylan Michael. I realized that the time they are a’changing.  I believe that this attitude change is going to stay with me for the balance of my career and I’m hoping it leads to much better filmmaking and my photography.  At least several run on sentences ago, I mentioned a beginning, middle and end.  The combination of Delan Parsley’s unanimous decision Win, running into my old friend writer Pete Hamill, and grabbing a flying noisy interview with Trainer Harry Keitt, Lou DeBella, James Moore and Duddy, we now have an honest no bullshit end to “In This Corner”  Three more days of talking head interviews, two days of “B” role, and 9 months of editing and with any luck at all we’ll have a completed (I want it to be great) film.
Photos ©DiMaggio or Dylan Michael
  

  

I love the cold!/I’m a lying bastard!

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on
©Joe DiMaggio

Hi everybody,

I’ve always been extremely fond of macro lenses. As a matter of fact, I’ve shot more covers with a macro lens than probably any other piece of glass. For instance, macros are great for boxing. Why? Because traditionally, the lenses are deeply reset and the maximun aperture f/2.8 is a great f stop for boxing, fast enough, and enough depth of field to make the photo. Thank God they don’t have boxing outside in the wintertime anyway! The droplet of water, as simple as you can get, tack sharp. If you have a long macro lens, maybe you can even stay inside and shoot it. Stay warm, it’s only two more months before spring!

©JoAnne Kalish

Watch FX Drama Lights Out January 11 10 PM

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on
Photos ©Joe DiMaggio – Lights Out Photography and filmmaking are unlike any other means of communication, where sworn competitors can come together and work on one project and have an amazingly great time.  I guess it takes 4-5 decades to truly understand the camaraderie between your peer group. I spent quite a bit of time at the studio with my dear friend Johnny Eye, (John Iacono) who you may remember was named photographer of the year at the Lucie awards for Lifetime achievement in Sports.  Someone asked me, how do I feel about that?  I said I’m ecstatic for him; if anyone deserves it, Johnny does in spades!  He deserves 3 lifetime awards.  Being good is one thing but being great over 40 years is pretty hard to do.  Tune into LIGHTS OUT  and see if you recognize any of the Extras. Each one of us played a very difficult part – photographers ringside at a heavyweight championship fight.  Wow what a stretch!  It was a lot of fun!

Phone? Camera? Phone? Camera?

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

You have to know that most people do not want to go to the hospital and visit. Let’s be honest, there isn’t a whole lot you can do or say and most people would rather be having a cup of coffee or maybe a Jameson’s straight up. Hell, maybe they would rather be sparing 2-3 rounds with somebody, but nobody really wants to go to the hospital. What a pleasant surprise when my dear friend James Moore showed up and stayed for an hour. Everyone in the rehab gym wanted to meet James so we went down and introduced him. James is not only a great fighter and a great husband but he is one of those genuine people who really cares about his friends. He’s going to make history on June 5 in Yankee Stadium. There hasn’t been a fight held there since 1976. James will have a 10 round fight with Pawel Wolak. He’ll be leaving Brooklyn for his Pocono training camp and he will be coming to Chez DiMaggio for at least one dinner. It’s going to be a tough fight but if James fights his fight, I think he’s going to be victorious. When he digs in a right hand to the body, my teeth shake and I’m 15 feet away. He’s very strong and tough and he’s got a heart of gold. Good Luck James.

My View From the Corner By Angelo Dundee

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on

In a world that’s filled with large egos, split second decisions, people who don’t listen at all you have the exact opposite with Angie Dundee. There’s never a been a bad word spoken about Angie and the reason is he’s genuine, the best and only sees the good in people. In the middle of a hellish Nor’easter Dylan and I made our way to Foxwood’s and Angie was gracious enough along with his business manager Mark Grismer, to give us a history of Boxing through his eyes. I learned more about boxing, in two hours then I did in the last 30 years.
Angie and I go back a long way, I did stories on him for Sport Magazine, Inside Sports, and The New York Times. He was amazing then and he’s still amazing. At the end of the interview I asked him about Yuri Foreman. He said you got to like Yuri, because he’s, “white, polite, contrite and he can fight.”