Anyone who has ever done a workout on a heavy bag, or stepped into the boxing ring for sparring sessions knows what kind of physical conditioning it requires. Even the “biggest loser” show uses a lot boxing training for their weight loss program. We have had some of the best boxers come out of the Salt Lake City area.
Gene Fullmer’s brothers trained and fought some of the big fights in U.S. history. They have lived and trained others in West Jordan, Utah the later part of their years. Don Fullmer was known as the “gentleman bruiser”. Don fought some of the world's most famous boxers and came within a single fight of a world title himself. He died peacefully Saturday morning surrounded by the prize he valued most — his family.
Fullmer and his boxing brothers, Gene, the oldest and a world middle weight champion in 1957, and Jay, second oldest who left the sport with a 20-5-2 record after an eye injury, put Utah on the international boxing stage in the 1950s and ’60s. Don Fullmer had been battling his toughest opponent, lymphocytic leukemia, for the past 15 years. In November, doctors told him an infection had damaged his spine and a valve in his heart and that he had a few days, maybe a few weeks. He lived another two months.
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