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Boxing Life Stories

John DiSanto: Preserving Philadelphia's Boxing History, Muhammad Ali's Deer Lake Camp, And A Gravestone For Gil Turner

Boxing Life Stories

Tris Dixon

Sports

5 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Boxing historian John DiSanto has run the PhillyBoxingHistory website for more than 20 years and he has made it a mission to preserve as much of Philadelphia's boxing history as possible. Among his many projects is raising funds for gravestones for deceased fighters buried in unmarked graves and, among others, he has done that for Tyrone Everrett and Matthew Saad Muhammad. He is presently raising funds for a headstone for former contender Gil Turner. (Click here to donate https://www.gofundme.com/f/gil-turner-gravestone-fund) Here, he talks to Tris Dixon about his concerns for the Blue Horizon and Joe Frazier's Gym, what has become of Muhammad Ali's trianing camp at Deer Lake, and much more. Follow Tris on Instagram, X and TikTok. This collection of interviews is available on… YouTube iTunes Spotify And all good podcast platforms. Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, and the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.”   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:05.3

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They've won a free pass.

0:17.6

Play Coral's free reward shaker to win guaranteed daily rewards and offers coral we're

0:22.5

here for it 18 plus UK max one reward or offer per player per day reward restrictions requirements and

0:28.0

tis and sees apply take time to think hello welcome back to boxing conversations i am joined by

0:33.6

john de santo who is the leader the fearless leader of Philly boxing history.

0:39.2

He's someone I've known for a number of years.

0:40.9

In fact, one of my favorite days of boxing was when I went to the Joey Giardello statue in Philadelphia,

0:48.8

which John had helped organize and set up in terms of building and having the statue in the first place.

0:56.9

I went and went down memory lane with John who used to go to all the big fights at the

1:02.0

spectrum and Blue Horizon and with Nigel Collins, former to a Ring magazine and who was

1:07.6

through the 70s and 80s the Boxing News Philadelphia correspondent.

1:13.1

Two of my favorite guys in boxing.

1:14.8

But the reason I spoke to John was he is now behind another gravestone project.

1:19.8

If you've read Warrior my Matthew Saab Mohammed book, you'll know that John was behind getting a gravestone for Matthew.

1:27.4

He is now trying to raise funds for

1:29.6

a Gil Turner headstone. He's trying to preserve Philadelphia's fight history one fighter at a time.

1:37.6

We talk a lot about that here. I've written about this for boxing scene. Guys, I hope you're

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