Manufactured Fighters

[Rover]

This thread is about manufactured fighters. I brought up Buck Smith. You then posted that he's a nice guy. This thread doesn't have anything to do with that; why would you respond to my post with that comment?

My post criticized his record and nothing more.

[Rover]

Joey Torrey deserves a mention. He was the guy briefly released from prison for murder and then sent back. Meanwhile, he had a fight with Perry Williams. Williams claimed to have taken a dive, and the CSAC suspended both of them. (Torrey was in prison for about 20 years before he was released after an appeal and then sent back.) This was his only pro fight.

[Rover]

Scott 'Golden Boy' Clark,

He was labeled as a 'Florida Fabrication'.......

The 20 year-old was built up to a 28-1-0 {19 KO's} record by putting him
in with the poorest group of opponents this side of the Mississippi.

That earned him a #8 WBA ranking, and a bout with Jose 'Pipino' Cuevas on
January 29, 1979.

The 'Golden Boy' had only faced only 'two' fighters with a winning record, before
Challenging for the WBA Welterweight Championship.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... S_MOAQ3x_g

Cuevas/Clark was quite a quick demolition.

[The Great John L]

Scott 'Golden Boy' Clark,

He was labeled as a 'Florida Fabrication'.......

The 20 year-old was built up to a 28-1-0 {19 KO's} record by putting him
in with the poorest group of opponents this side of the Mississippi.

That earned him a #8 WBA ranking, and a bout with Jose 'Pipino' Cuevas on
January 29, 1979.

The 'Golden Boy' had only faced only 'two' fighters with a winning record, before
Challenging for the WBA Welterweight Championship.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... S_MOAQ3x_g

Cuevas/Clark was quite a quick demolition.

And quite painful I would imagine.

[SenorPipino]

Yeah, I think that one was worse than Tito/Campas.

Doesn't get much more brutal than Morrison/Mercer...and I wouldn't want it to.

Was there even a referee in the ring...or did they waive that usual requirement and make it a fight to the death?

[Rover]

After that 'Two-Round Blow-Out'

Ralph Gambina, Co-Manager of Pipino Cuevas,

"To be honest, we wouldn't have even used Scott Clark for a gym sparring partner for Pipino.
Scott is a good kid, but he has a long way to go to reach World Class status."

Wow, that's honest. Credit to him.

[Rover]

Scott 'Golden Boy' Clark,

He was labeled as a 'Florida Fabrication'.......

The 20 year-old was built up to a 28-1-0 {19 KO's} record by putting him
in with the poorest group of opponents this side of the Mississippi.

That earned him a #8 WBA ranking, and a bout with Jose 'Pipino' Cuevas on
January 29, 1979.

The 'Golden Boy' had only faced only 'two' fighters with a winning record, before
Challenging for the WBA Welterweight Championship.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... S_MOAQ3x_g

Cuevas/Clark was quite a quick demolition.

And quite painful I would imagine.

At least Cuevas put him out of his misery quickly.

[Rover]

Yeah, I think that one was worse than Tito/Campas.

Doesn't get much more brutal than Morrison/Mercer...and I wouldn't want it to.

Was there even a referee in the ring...or did they waive that usual requirement and make it a fight to the death?

No, that's only in Kronkpride's world of Total War Boxing or whatever he calls it.

[Rover]

How about P.J. Goossen? He had a glossy 19-1 record against nobodies and then was fed to shot Camacho and shot Duran. He lost both. He never did anything of note in the ring.

[Rover]

Rusty Rosenberger

Actually saw him fight 'twice'.

April 1979, 'undefeated' Rusty fought Reggie Jones for the New Jersey Middleweight Championship.

Reggie had an Amateur win over Marvin Hagler.

Rusty won a hard-fought 12-Round Decision over Reggie, and then Rusty called out Marvin Hagler.

We thought Rusty was pretty good, and figured he might give Marvin a good tussle if they
ever fought.

He got to 20-0-0 by beating 'Run-of-the-Mill' Class C club-fighters, but we were fooled into thinking
he was pretty good, especially when Ring Magazine listed him as the #17 Middleweight in mid-1979.

I'd never heard of him. Who's "we"?

[Rover]

Mr. Rover

We, meaning my boxing friends from Westchester County, New York - part of the Peekskill Boxing Club.

We eventually found out that Rusty was a 'Manufactured Fighter' by The Duva Team, and he was
Managed by Lou Duva.

Loaded up with a bunch of easy wins at Middleweight, unbeknownst to our group who followed
many of the Northeastern Boxers.

Ring Magazine even had a write-up on Rusty {planted article} stating that he was a future
Challenger for the Middleweight Championship.

Posted a record of 20-0-0 {15 KO's} which looked 'Great-in-Print'.

On September 18, 1979 - we went to the 'Cavalcade of Champions' event at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

Rusty got battered and badly beaten by '10-Bout' Novice-Pro - Nino Gonzalez who was a Welterweight
at the time.


http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... Z5z3Kl22Lg

I understand now. I was like...there's just one of you.

Another one is that Rojas guy who was like 47-1 when he fought Camacho.

[Dart340]

To be fair, Scott Clark took the Cuevas fight on short notice and wasn't necessarily being "groomed" for that fight as a quick score for a weak fighter. He was pretty well known in boxing circles from being part of the Ashlock/Orlando stable and had a reputation as a solid prospect who more than held his own in the gym with ranked fighters. He was offered a Top Rank contract after the Cuevas fight, so somebody clearly saw promise in him.

Il Duce is spot on with the "remanufactured" comment about Billy Backus circa the Cuevas fight. That is a painful exercise to watch. Backus had absolutely nothing left at that point and couldn't hardly keep his balance, much less throw a meaningful punch.

When I hear "Manufactured Fighter", I think of someone who was a complete smoke-and-mirrors job who had no real business on the top level, not a relatively skilled prospect who is overprotected.

Nobody has mentioned Kenny Klingman yet...

[HomicideHenry]

There have been quite a few fighters who were manufactured to one extent or another, or remanufactured, but weren't complete bums either. Tommy Morrison, Gerry Cooney, spring to mind when I think about this. Peter and Tom McNeeley both were complete manufactured fighters. And to an extent, so was Pete Rademacher, though he never exactly had the chance to build his career from the bottom up.

[Rover]

Phil Jackson.

[HomicideHenry]

It comes to my attention that alot of fighters on the domestic level in Great Britain are, in essence, manufactured fighters. David Price is just the latest of a long slew of fighters. Paul Sykes I think was one of the more better known ones, built more on his reputation as a hard ass and psychopath in the prison system than his actual abilities.

[Rover]

How about 'Remanufactured Fighters'

Former Welterweight Champion - Billy Backus.

The 32 year-old former Champion was 'done' in April 1975 with a record of 39-19-4.

Yet, he returned in August 1975, and they built him backup again by feeding him a
steady-diet of 'safe trial-horses' while going 11-0-1 {2 KO's} over the next 2 1/2 years.

Yes, the 35 year-old earned a #10 WBA Rating, and then they fed him to Jose 'Pipino' Cuevas
in May 1978.

Billy nearly got 'decapitated'................

That fight was sad.
How about Miguel Campanino? Very nice record but blown out. Perhaps you know more about him.