Classic fights I've watched recently

[bobcatbox]

I’m beginning a journey down the NABF heavyweight title. Starts off with Leotis Martin getting the win of his career over Sonny Liston.

[AntonioMartin]

Gene Fullmer vs Spider Sebb

Interesting fight in that sometimes it was a brawl, other times a bore-snoozer. Watch by yourself:



I had Fullmer by 148-138.

[scartissue]

My score

Gene Fullmer v Spider Webb II

Round 1: 10-9 Webb
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-9 Fullmer
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Fullmer
Round 6: 10-9 Fullmer
Round 7: 10-10 Even
Round 8: 10-9 Fullmer
Round 9: 10-9 Fullmer
Round 10: 10-9 Fullmer
Round 11: 10-9 Webb
Round 12: 10-9 Fullmer
Round 13: 10-9 Webb
Round 14: 10-9 Fullmer
Round 15: 10-9 Fullmer

Total: 147-141 Fullmer (actual scores: 148-136, 150-132 and 147-141 all for Fullmer)

[handsofstone]

Barry McGuigan vs Juan Laporte



McGuigan beats Laporte by 10 round decision in a non title Featherweight contest, too strong and busy for Laporte who had to fight all night to keep McGuigan off, McGuigan jabbed his way up close and dug in hard left hooks to the body and fought at a high pace, Laporte just couldn't deal with it, he did steady McGuigan with a couple stiff right hands in the 5th which had him backing up but it never amounted to anything


McGuigan was soon back on top pressuring Laporte and pulvirising the body, Laporte bravely tried to mount a last ditch attempt late on but McGuigan fought hard to keep control and ran out a comfortable winner

[Bodyshot3]

Barry McGuigan vs Juan Laporte

I always like catching-up with a McGuigan fight.
His own book - Cyclone, My Story - is great on his rise to the top of the tree.

[AntonioMartin]

Barry McGuigan vs Juan Laporte

I always like catching-up with a McGuigan fight.
His own book - Cyclone, My Story - is great on his rise to the top of the tree.

Unfortunately, that tree was shaken surprisingly fast, though!

[handsofstone]

Duke McKenzie vs Charlie Magri



McKenzie stops Magri in the 5th to retain his British Flyweight title and win the European title, good wee fight, Magri came out the traps guns blazing and for the first couple of rounds McKenzie struggled to hold him off, Magri got up close and let both hands go, McKenzie couldn't get enough space to make his height and reach count


McKenzie finally started to come into things in the 3rd, doubling up the jab and peppering Magri with sharp combinations, Magri was quickly beginning to look weary but he had one last surge in the 5th but McKenzie rocked him with a left hook onto the rope and a left to the body followed by a couple right hands to the head sent Magri down , he made the count but his corner waved the towel

[Woldemar]

Good heavyweight contest

[bennie]

Duke McKenzie vs Charlie Magri



McKenzie stops Magri in the 5th to retain his British Flyweight title and win the European title, good wee fight, Magri came out the traps guns blazing and for the first couple of rounds McKenzie struggled to hold him off, Magri got up close and let both hands go, McKenzie couldn't get enough space to make his height and reach count


McKenzie finally started to come into things in the 3rd, doubling up the jab and peppering Magri with sharp combinations, Magri was quickly beginning to look weary but he had one last surge in the 5th but McKenzie rocked him with a left hook onto the rope and a left to the body followed by a couple right hands to the head sent Magri down , he made the count but his corner waved the towel

Mickey Duff declared that McKenzie was a better fighter than Magri in his biography but I feel a prime Magri (around 1980) is too strong for a prime Duke.

[handsofstone]

Duke McKenzie vs Gaby Canizales



McKenzie outclasses Canizales over 12 to become World Bantamweight champion, easy nights for McKenzie who was immense, apart from getting momentarily rocked from a right hand in the 4th which had him holding on, he was in total control all night, he jabbed the head off the incoming Canizales from the first bell to the last, great lateral movement and upper body movement, he was slippy and Canizales couldn't pin him down


McKenzie popped him with the jab, landed crisp left hooks, uppercuts and rights, McKenzie also hit Canizales with some sharp fast combinations, Canizales was made to look like an amateur and McKenzie won a wide UD

[handsofstone]

Duke McKenzie vs John Davison



McKenzie stops Davison in the 4th to win the vacant British Featherweight title, after a messy 1st round, it was a one sided beatdown and Davison actually done well to last 4 rounds, McKenzie was a class apart, teeing off flash combinations jolting Davison's head back, he had Davison down in the 3rd from a quality right uppercut/left hook, Davison took a beating the rest of the round, he was taking a beating in the 4th as well, McKenzie doing as he pleased landing shot after shot until finally the ref stepped in

[handsofstone]

Steve Robinson vs Duke McKenzie



Robinson KOs McKenzie in the 9th to retain his World Featherweight title, close fight where the finish came out of nowhere really, fought mostly up close which tended to suit the stronger Robinson more, plenty leather thrown, some straying low, McKenzie lost a point for low blows in the 8th, Robinson was mostly having the success inside but in the rounds leading up to the finish McKenzie was having his best spell, creating the gap to get his own shots off but in the 9th both men tying each other up, Robinson got free and landed a left hook to the body which dropped McKenzie for thr count

[milpool]

Been busy with work over the last few months so I've not been able to watch many old fights recently.
However, I watched a couple last weekend -

George Foreman v JB Williamson

Big George far too big and strong for a very game Williamson. JB took the first round, moving well and picking off big George.
As slow as he was, George started landing big from the second round and although JB hung in there, he was stopped on his feet in the fifth after taking too many clubbing shots.
Post Andries, I thought JB was just a journeyman with a reasonable name to pad a record. But he looked decent here but was simply too small and probably should have stuck around at cruiserweight.

Lloyd Honeyghan v Jorge Vaca 2

Honeyghan claimed back his title with a third round stoppage of Vaca. I remember thinking at the time that this was a fairly dominant performance by Honey. but on seeing this back he looked a bit wayward in the opening couple of rounds but it was clear to see that Vaca wasn't as well prepared as he was in the first fight as he offered very little and was put down for the count with a body shot in the third.
After the fight, Honeyghan claimed women problems as the reason he lost the first fight!

[AntonioMartin]

Duke McKenzie vs Charlie Magri

Mickey Duff declared that McKenzie was a better fighter than Magri in his biography but I feel a prime Magri (around 1980) is too strong for a prime Duke.

He did beat Santos Laciar, who by all means should be in the IBHOF.

[handsofstone]

Sot Chitalada vs Charlie Magri



Chitalada stops Magri on a cut after 4 rounds to retain his World Flyweight title, shame as it was a fun fight while it lasted, both guys landing clean shots from the opening bell, both taking their turns to let go, Chitalada did seem to be turning the screw by the 3rd but Magri still having his moments, seemed to be a right hand in the 4th which cut Magri in the left eye, Chitalada landing some hard shots, fight was stopped on the stool before the 5th

[scartissue]

Naseem Hamed vs Augie Sanchez

Very good, entertaining bout. Sanchez put up a very good fight.




Engeles Pedroza vs Augustin Caballero.

Rough and obscure fight from the early 90s between 2 relatively unknown guys with a surprise ending.

Tdogg, Pedroza v Caballero was awesome! Thanks for the recommendation. Just loaded my scorecard onto the scorecard thread.

[handsofstone]

Juan Manuel Marquez vs Manuel Medina



Marquez stops Medina on a badly swollen shut eye in the 7th to win the vacant World Featherweight title, dominating performance from Marquez who put Medina down in the 2nd with one of the sweetest combinations I've seen, left hook/right cross/left uppercut, Medina made most of count so clearly hurt, he did get up and gave it a try but he was second best all night, Marquez led and countered beautifully, great variety and accuracy, great to watch

Medina's eye was badly closed and he was shipping clean shots, Marquez had him down again in the 7th from a couple of left hooks, Medina made the count but the ref called the doc over who stopped it

[Bodyshot3]

Lloyd Honeyghan v Jorge Vaca 2

Honeyghan claimed back his title with a third round stoppage of Vaca. I remember thinking at the time that this was a fairly dominant performance by Honey. but on seeing this back he looked a bit wayward in the opening couple of rounds but it was clear to see that Vaca wasn't as well prepared as he was in the first fight as he offered very little and was put down for the count with a body shot in the third.
After the fight, Honeyghan claimed women problems as the reason he lost the first fight!

Lloyd certainly liked a party and the ladies

But for me he got progressively more wild and impatient after the Curry fight and that was his undoing.

He just seemed to want to go for the KO a bit too much and began to get hit more often by pressing too much and he was not really a pure KO artist either.

It worked fine against Bumphus and Hatcher who were basically light welters and I thought he was smart against Blocker who could obviously fight a bit.

But he got in a mess in the first Vaca fight and like you said Vaca looked a guy who'd had 48 pro fights and wished there had not been a rematch clause.

[DrDuke]

Alexander Zolkin vs Carl Williams

Williams was already a shabby and past prime competitor, while the younger and bigger southpaw Zolkin was among the comers of the division. The fight was quite dirty, with a lot inside wrestling. Zolkin was able to outfight Williams from both outside and inside. In the 5th round Zolkin sent Williams down with the left hand. Williams grabbed the ropes and stood his ground, but was fairly given a count. In the 6th Williams was hurt, in the 7th he was hurt even more, his corner threw in the towel.

[DrDuke]

Henry Akinwande vs Alexander Zolkin

Akinwande totally outboxed Zolkin. Since the start 6'7'' Akinwande was using his jab and right hand well against the southpaw 6'5'' Zolkin. At the end of the 1st round Akinwande hurt Zolkin with the right, Zolkin wobbled back and barely stood his ground, then the bell rang, but Akinwande provided a cheap shot, as he tried to go at wobbled Zolkin clearly after the bell. Akinwande continued to dominate. In the 4th Zolkin was finally down from the right hand, but it seemed, that he was just hit at the moment he slipped. Still he wasn't arguing, when he was being given a count. After the 5th Zolkin became a bit better, but still he was losing and his face was getting swollen, while he had a big cut over the right eye. In the 10th the doctor called for the stoppage.

[handsofstone]

Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez 1+2



Marquez gets off the canvas 3 times in the 1st round to earn a draw and retain his World Featherweight titles, might have even done enough to win but no real arguement with a draw, explosive start from Pacquiao dropped Marquez with a southpaw 1/2 and another two straight lefts had Marquez down twice more in the round, Pacquiao couldn't miss, Marquez done well to make it out the round, by the 3rd though it was Marquez who couldn't miss, timing Pacquiao time and again with sharp counter combinations, getting off his own back hand and picking up round after round, Pacquiao did come back into things down the stretch and it made for a great fight which could've went either way


Pacquiao wins the rematch by SD to become World Super Featherweight champion, another razor close fight where Marquez's slow start cost him, he did wobble Pacquiao with a left hook at the end of the 2nd but Pacquiao had him down with a left of his own at end of the 3rd and it was Pacquiao's aggression and success with the left hand which was picking him up rounds until midway when Marquez began to come into things having success with the straight right and screw left uppercuts, it became a back and forth fight, both men cut and great action and massive stones from both guys and it was Pacquiao who got the nod

[tdogg]

Naseem Hamed vs Augie Sanchez

Very good, entertaining bout. Sanchez put up a very good fight.




Engeles Pedroza vs Augustin Caballero.

Rough and obscure fight from the early 90s between 2 relatively unknown guys with a surprise ending.

Tdogg, Pedroza v Caballero was awesome! Thanks for the recommendation. Just loaded my scorecard onto the scorecard thread.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I just happened to randomly catch that one and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I'll keep my eye out for others.

[evrenb]

Forgot about this brilliant fight and I recently loaded it up. A fantastic early test for Mercer and a really really tough performance by Cooper. Bert could be bad, but he could be very good when he was switched on. 30 years ago! Hard to believe really. A great watch and a 'forgotten' classic. Enjoy

[DrDuke]

Mike Hunter vs Jimmy Thunder

Slicker and awkward Hunter was toying with Jimmy. Hunter fought hands down, he did a lot of showing off, but he was slick enough to avoid Jimmy's best shots and he was faster than Jimmy. Hunter outbox him and KOed in the 4th round with a big right hand.

[AntonioMartin]

Nino Valdes vs Brian London

This fight kind of sucked..not totally but kind of. I thought London was winning until it was stopped due to a bad eye injury he had.

The public was booing at times.