Ringside Boxing Show: Paul Thorn bloodied Roberto Duran … and lived to sing about it

Singer/songwriter Paul Thorn is responsible for our exit music on The Ringside Boxing Show, “It’s a Great Day to Whoop Somebody’s Ass,” a song that is at least a bit autobiographical for the popular Mississippi troubadour. In 1988, Thorn was a professional boxer who fought Roberto Duran — and actually bloodied him with a punch — before a gruesomely slashed lip ended the bout after six rounds. Thorn lost by TKO.

One big difference that night — aside from the fact that he was facing one of the greatest fighters of all time — was confidence: “Duran was licking his lips when he walked to the ring … I was crapping my pants,” Thorn said.

Thorn spoke to us at length about his boxing adventures, his uncle and trainer (who worked as a pimp on the side), and his music career, which began in a church in Tupelo, where his father was a Pentecostal minister.

This outrageously fun and colorful conversation is preceded by our weekly report from British correspondent Paul McLaughlin, and a review of the boxing weekend by expert analysts Travis Hartman (who had floor seats at Saturday’s show at the 02 Arena in England), Rizwaan Zahid, and John J. Raspanti.

Dennis Taylor is the host of The Ringside Boxing Show, editor/publisher of www.ringsideboxingshow.com, and co-author (with John J. Raspanti) of “Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy,” currently on Amazon’s bestseller list

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