1978: Gary Summerhays DESTROYED Tony Mundine!

[scartissue]

Joe, I remember when this fight took place. Summerhays had a jaw and a half, which was really the factor in getting him the win. Mundine's jaw had been exposed a few years earlier as nothing special. The difference between Summerhays and Mundine - besides the jaws - was that Tony could box too. If they rematched, I feel Tony could have taken the decision, as Tony was versatile enough to change his style. He never should have gone out trying to bang Gary out of there. the entire boxing world at the time knew about the Summerhays jaw. Regardless, here is the writeup on the fight from boxrec:

"'This is the biggest thrill of my life,' Canadian boxer Gary Summerhays said Tuesday after taking the Commonwealth light heavyweight title from Australian Tony Mundine in Melbourne Monday night. Summerhays scored a shock win in the 11th round with two fierce right hand punches after Mundine had given him a fearful battering for most of the fight. Referee Ken Brady had Summerhays winning only one of the first 10 rounds, and another judge had Mundine ahead 50-40. The end came when Mundine backed to the ropes after a hard right from the Canadian and was then caught flush on the chin by a right that sent him reeling through the bottom two ropes. It was revealed after the fight that Summerhays had to plead with his trainer, Frank Bicker, for "just one more round" after Bicker indicated he was going to throw in the towel." -Associated Press

Post fight comment

"I was going to stop it in another half a minute in favor of Mundine." -Referee Ken Brady

[goose 5]

I have this fight on tape- it's an excellent bout.

[goose 5]

I have my copy in storage and haven't seen it in years. What I remember is Mundine being much faster and ahead on points. He was outclassing Summerhays. Sorry I can't recall more. I had a long talk with Johnny Summerhays about 20 years ago-what a great guy !