JIm Watt vs Alexis Arguello.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 16 Dec 2006, 14:19

Does anyone know the circumstances surrounding this fight? Was Watt forced into taking it or risk being stripped? Or did he choose to take it for a big payday as he felt his career was coming to an end anyway?

I ask this as I keep getting outbid on e-bay for Watts autobiography which I assume would contain the answer to this burning question.

Any thoughts fight fans.

P.S. Watt really proved what a tough, tough man he was in this fight, he took some savage shots of Alexis Arguello.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 16 Dec 2006, 15:13

It was a big fight for Watt, I dont think he wanted to duck anyone, having previously defended against O'grady and Davis, both tough fights... I have the Watt book but havent read it all yet, I dont think it includes the Arguello bout, which is a shame. I have the fight as well, Arguello was basically just too strong, floored Watt in the second and after that Watt fought a brave fight on the counter but could never take control... his face was a mess at the end and he did well to go the 15....

JC · Post by JC » 16 Dec 2006, 15:19

He was a serious mess by the end of it, all that blood looked even worse as he was so pale skinned.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 16 Dec 2006, 15:22

I understand that Watt with the aid of his wife spent almost the entire night after the fight in the bath trying to sooth the bruises from out of his battered body.

RazorKO · Post by **RazorKO** » 16 Dec 2006, 17:59

Watt was brave but he hardly did anything in this fight apart from taking Arguello's straight as an arrow bombs. Watt from the opening bell was fighting to survive and Arguello was doing a paint job on him and floored Watt with a good left hook in the middle rounds, but Watt did nothing and Im suprised Arguello didnt take him out sooner - the fight was quite a stinker for a title fight as well.

ringsider · Post by **ringsider** » 16 Dec 2006, 19:06

Watt was goofier than average southpaw......very over rated, and under skilled. O'Grady gave him a beating until he was stopped on cuts.

Arbachakov · Post by **Arbachakov** » 16 Dec 2006, 20:17

Nobody ever overrated Watt except for maybe Glaswegians.

Collins2000 · Post by **Collins2000** » 16 Dec 2006, 21:16

ringsider wrote:Watt was goofier than average southpaw......very over rated, and under skilled. O'Grady gave him a beating until he was stopped on cuts.

That was a good competitive fight with a nice mesh of styles. No one was administering a beating. Maybe you ought to watch it some time.

kick asner · Post by **kick asner** » 17 Dec 2006, 10:16

ringsider wrote:Watt was goofier than average southpaw......very over rated, and under skilled. O'Grady gave him a beating until he was stopped on cuts.

Watt was a guy who made the most out of the skills he had. Very good boxer and a difficult opponent. I watched the Ogrady fight from start to finish and remember that Watt was ahead on all scorecards.

The fight was not stopped on cuts but an inadvertent clash of heads. They din't stop it right away but eventually had to because the amount of blood, but Watt was outboxing Ogrady even before that. I had Watt comfortably ahead as he controlled the action, landed the cleaner punches, and consistenty beat Ogrady to the punch. Hea was able to get inside of Ogray's long looping punches and score consistently.

If no clash of heads would have taken place I believe Watt would still have won the fight.

Seamus · Post by **Seamus** » 17 Dec 2006, 10:42

I just checked the scoring of the Arguello v Watt bout, and was shocked to find that all 3 judges had it 147-143 for Arguello. That's absolutely absurd. Arguello dominated the fight from start to finish and scored a knockdown in the 6th. I had it 149-136 or 13-1-1. Oddly I gave Watt the 15th for his only round, when he did land his best shot of the night.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 17 Dec 2006, 13:43

JC · Post by JC » 17 Dec 2006, 13:56

Feel sorry of the Scots in a way, they produce probably their best post war fighters, two world class light weights in Buchannon and Watt, and they run into prime Duran and Arguello respectively, but I guess if you're gonna lose your title to someone...

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 17 Dec 2006, 14:13

J-C wrote:Feel sorry of the Scots in a way, they produce probably their best post war fighters, two world class light weights in Buchannon and Watt, and they run into prime Duran and Arguello respectively, but I guess if you're gonna lose your title to someone...

Fair point. However Jim Watt seemed to deal with losing to the great Arguello very well. Sadly Buchanan never seemed to come to terms with his lose to Duran which is a shame.

ringsider · Post by **ringsider** » 18 Dec 2006, 00:27

Well according to the box rec records, if I am reading it correctly.....all three judges had O'Grady winning the fight when it was stopped. I had O'Grady winning, though it was pretty close. The bout was televised. I remember Watt was getting better at landing his goofy pitty-pat punches in the round or two before the fight was stopped.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 18 Dec 2006, 07:58

ringsider wrote:Watt was goofier than average southpaw......very over rated, and under skilled. O'Grady gave him a beating until he was stopped on cuts.

If Watt was so overrated how come he beat Howard Davis, and gave greats like Arguello and Buchanan one of their toughest fights?.... if anything Watt was vastly underrated... try watching some of his fights mate...

kick asner · Post by **kick asner** » 18 Dec 2006, 09:32

ringsider wrote:Well according to the box rec records, if I am reading it correctly.....all three judges had O'Grady winning the fight when it was stopped. I had O'Grady winning, though it was pretty close. The bout was televised. I remember Watt was getting better at landing his goofy pitty-pat punches in the round or two before the fight was stopped.

I see what Boxrec says but they have the scores turned around. It was awhile ago but I remember it was Watt who was leading, maybe I can look it up but it might be like looking for a needle in a haystack and I know I will be pressed for time today so maybe someone in this forum can offer clarification.

kick asner · Post by **kick asner** » 18 Dec 2006, 10:11

Oakay here it is. January 1981 issue of Ring Magazine in their ringside reports section it says that Watt was ahead on all cards. Doesn't give the official score but it says Watt was ahead by 5, 4, and 1. Like I said I saw the fight from start to finish and a 4 or 5 point margin was fair. I knew without looking it up that Watt was ahead but always good to get verification.

Seamus · Post by **Seamus** » 18 Dec 2006, 10:53

It's been awhile since I've seen the fight, but as I seem to remember it, O'Grady dominated the bout erly, opened up Watt's face, and I believe at one point, the ring pysician tooak a look at Watt, and the commentators were expecting a stoppage. Shortly after though, Watt began to turn the tide and the accidental headbutt lead to a stoppage win. Another interesting aspect was the build up to the bout in Glasgow. O'Grady was presumed to be Irish Catholic because of his name, and he received a death threat from the UVF or UFF. In actuality he was Baptist.

JC · Post by JC » 18 Dec 2006, 13:04

Seamus wrote:O'Grady was presumed to be Irish Catholic because of his name, and he received a death threat from the UVF or UFF. In actuality he was Baptist.

I might be wrong but I think I read somewhere that he and his camp turned up at the press conference warring Celtic shirts in an attempt to win over the Green side of Glasgow. No excuse for death threats obviously, but you have to be very careful what you do up there.

Seamus · Post by **Seamus** » 18 Dec 2006, 13:27

Without turning this into a football thread, my favorite Rangers v Celtic incident is actually a non-violent one. After Rangers keeper Andy Goram got diagnosed with schizophrenia, the Celtic fans would torment him by singing "There's Only Two Andy Goram's". Hilarious, but actually I heard the Dundee fans started it first.

ringsider · Post by **ringsider** » 18 Dec 2006, 15:05

Seamus's version is how I remeber it too. Watt could not punch his way out of a wet paper bag. If he was not the head butt king during the fight, due to his minimal boxing skills, O Grady would have won the fight.

Collins2000 · Post by **Collins2000** » 18 Dec 2006, 15:36

ringsider wrote:Seamus's version is how I remeber it too. Watt could not punch his way out of a wet paper bag. If he was not the head butt king during the fight, due to his minimal boxing skills, O Grady would have won the fight.

So, you haven't seen the fight.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 18 Dec 2006, 15:43

ringsider wrote:Seamus's version is how I remeber it too. Watt could not punch his way out of a wet paper bag. If he was not the head butt king during the fight, due to his minimal boxing skills, O Grady would have won the fight.

Try watching the fight mate, you obviously havent, ...have you seen any of Watts fights??.... I doubt it!...

ringsider · Post by **ringsider** » 19 Dec 2006, 14:32

I watched the fight here. It was televised. I thought O'Grady was winning....though Watt was getting a bit of a momenteum shift. But then he head butts O'Grady....he sure couldn't punch for shit...he was a goofy slapsy patsy south paw......no champ in my book.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 19 Dec 2006, 14:51

ringsider wrote:I watched the fight here. It was televised. I thought O'Grady was winning....though Watt was getting a bit of a momenteum shift. But then he head butts O'Grady....he sure couldn't punch for shit...he was a goofy slapsy patsy south paw......no champ in my book.

Well considering you rate Hagler as a slow paced plodder I doubt Jim will be losing any sleep over your views of him!...