IF you have a brother, then you have a sparring partner for life. And if your brother is a fighter, you better learn how to defend yourself sharpish or you’ll end up the proverbial puncher for your bigger (or in some cases, smaller) sibling.
Brotherly love and sibling rivalry helped create these famous fistic families – or best boxing brothers.
Spare a thought for Joe Zivic. The only one of five brothers who wasn’t a fighter. Eddie, Fritzie, Pete and Jack were, of course, the scrappers of the family. Known for their toughness, they’re pictured below with their mother in their native Pittsburgh.
Honourable mentions go to the Currys (brilliant Don and big-punching Bruce), the Attells (featherweight champ Abe and younger brother Monte were the first to simultaneously hold world titles, when Attell Jnr won the bantamweight crown), the Ruelas boys (in the mid-nineties Rafael and Gabriel also reigned concurrently) and the Canizales’ (bantamweight kings Orlando and Gaby).