Most World Title Defenses on Opponent's Backyards

[elmersalsa]

In total, this great Panamanian fighter defended his crown:
10 title defenses in enemy's backyards.
6 of them in Panama City, Panama, his native country.
And 4 of them in neutral sites.

This guy, Eusebio Pedroza, gotta be a top 100 pound per pound ATG boxer, no matter how we look at it. He is ranked #8 in my book at ATG featherweight rankings. The most complete fighter that I have ever seen fight in my lifetime. A true all time great.

[elmersalsa]

Now, the total tally looks like this:

1. Eusebio Pedroza, (Panama) WBA World Featherweight Title, 1978-85........10 defenses.
2. Brian Mitchell, (South Africa) WBA and IBF World Jr Lightweight Title, 1986-91......8 defenses
3. Hilario Zapata, (Panama) WBA World Jr Flyweight Title, 1980-82, 1982-83......8 defenses
4. Antonio Cervantes, (Colombia) WBA World Jr Welterweight Title, 1972-76, 1977-80...8 defenses
5. Miguel Canto, (Mexico) WBC World Flyweight Title, 1974-79...........................................................7 defenses
6. Panama Al Brown (Panama) World Bantamweight Title, 1929-35, 1937....7 defenses
7. Carlos Ortiz (Puerto Rico) World Lightweight Title, 1962-65, 1965-68....6 defenses
8. Muhammad Ali (United States) World Heavyweight Title, 1964-67, 1974-78, 1978...5 defenses
9. Carlos Monzon (Argentina) World Middleweight Title, 1970-77......4 defenses.

Any other champion that I am missing?

[Controversial]

I will show it in just a moment.

What were they?

These were the great Eusebio Pedroza's world title defenses in opponents' backyards or home turfs. Here they are in chronological order:
1. W15 Enrique Solis, November 27, 1978 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2. WTKO13 Royal Kobayashi, January 9, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan.
3. WTKO11 Johnny Aba, November 17, 1979 in Papua, New Guinea
4. W15 Spider Nemoto, January 22, 1980 in Tokyo, Japan
5. WKO8 Sa-Wang Kim, July 20, 1980 in Seoul, South Korea
6. W15 Rocky Lockridge, October 4, 1980 in McAfee, NJ
7. WKO7 Carlos Pinango, August 1, 1981 in Caracas, Venezuela
8. D15 Bernard Taylor, October 16, 1982 in Charlotte, NC
9. W15 Angel Levy Mayor, May 27, 1984 in Maracaibo, Venezuela
10. L15 Barry McGuigan, June 8, 1985 in London, England.

Nobody in the whole entire world has more. He did it with savvy and class in opponents' backyards. I never included his defenses with Mexican great Ruben Olivares in Houston, TX, where the majority of the crowd were Mexicans rooting for Olivares. Nor included the title defense against Puerto Rican Juan LaPorte in Atlantic City, NJ where LaPorte had a huge following and the majority were rooting for him also, even the boxing commentators for cripes sake! I didn't see no one rooting for Pedroza. Still, it would have been 12 instead of 10. And the other title defenses that were on the road against Jose Caba, Lockridge again in the rematch that were in Monte Carlo, Italy would have been 14. That means that this great champion was equipped mentally and physically prepared for any defense on the road. A TRUE WORLD CHAMPION he was. Give him his due!

Thanks, yes he was a great fighter, I didn't realise you were counting losses as well though.

[Ambling Alp II]

He is counting them because it favors his guy. He is giving him credit for losing a fight!
Then there is the fact that McGuigan was from a different country that where the fight took place. (he spins this by saying he was from the United Kingdom)
He calls fight that Lennox Lewis had as "neutral sites" because they didn't take place in the same state were the guy was from!

It's also quite a stretch to count the Lockridge fight. Lockridge had only lived in New Jersey for a year when the fight took place. It's not like Lockrige had some huge fan base there.

Elmer always changes the criteria in oder to favor his guy, in this case Pedroza.

[Controversial]

Then there is the fact that McGuigan was from a different country that where the fight took place. (he spins this by saying he was from the United Kingdom)

Technically Northern Ireland is part of the UK and the crowd were predominantly on McGuigans side so it sort of falls into fighting in someone’s backyard. But yes not really different to an American fighting in anther state in America against a foreign opponent who has no fans in the crowd.

[Ruthless-RKO]

A more recent one would be Linares.. I believe he has around 5. I count Japan as his home as well as Venezuela, So it could have been 6..

[Controversial]

Then there is the fact that McGuigan was from a different country that where the fight took place. (he spins this by saying he was from the United Kingdom)

Technically Northern Ireland is part of the UK and the crowd were predominantly on McGuigans side so it sort of falls into fighting in someone’s backyard. But yes not really different to an American fighting in anther state in America against a foreign opponent who has no fans in the crowd.

Not wishing to be pedantic, but I thought, if you crossed a certain junction with some kind of monument in the middle of it, you were in the Republic of Ireland, in the town of Clones. Probably wrong but I thought the border geographically split the town.

Yes actually I think your right, he was born in Southern Ireland so not from the UK but was famously neutral and had a huge fanbase in the UK.

[ewenhay]

I will show it in just a moment.

What were they?

These were the great Eusebio Pedroza's world title defenses in opponents' backyards or home turfs. Here they are in chronological order:
1. W15 Enrique Solis, November 27, 1978 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2. WTKO13 Royal Kobayashi, January 9, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan.
3. WTKO11 Johnny Aba, November 17, 1979 in Papua, New Guinea
4. W15 Spider Nemoto, January 22, 1980 in Tokyo, Japan
5. WKO8 Sa-Wang Kim, July 20, 1980 in Seoul, South Korea
6. W15 Rocky Lockridge, October 4, 1980 in McAfee, NJ
7. WKO7 Carlos Pinango, August 1, 1981 in Caracas, Venezuela
8. D15 Bernard Taylor, October 16, 1982 in Charlotte, NC
9. W15 Angel Levy Mayor, May 27, 1984 in Maracaibo, Venezuela
10. L15 Barry McGuigan, June 8, 1985 in London, England.

Nobody in the whole entire world has more. He did it with savvy and class in opponents' backyards. I never included his defenses with Mexican great Ruben Olivares in Houston, TX, where the majority of the crowd were Mexicans rooting for Olivares. Nor included the title defense against Puerto Rican Juan LaPorte in Atlantic City, NJ where LaPorte had a huge following and the majority were rooting for him also, even the boxing commentators for cripes sake! I didn't see no one rooting for Pedroza. Still, it would have been 12 instead of 10. And the other title defenses that were on the road against Jose Caba, Lockridge again in the rematch that were in Monte Carlo, Italy would have been 14. That means that this great champion was equipped mentally and physically prepared for any defense on the road. A TRUE WORLD CHAMPION he was. Give him his due!

Surely the McGuigan fight shouldn't count for two reasons.

Firstly it was a defeat and secondly McGuigan would consider Ireland to be his backyard and not England

[ewenhay]

This thread has now become an exact replica of the last thread elmer made on the subject about 5 weeks ago.

[elmersalsa]

What were they?

These were the great Eusebio Pedroza's world title defenses in opponents' backyards or home turfs. Here they are in chronological order:
1. W15 Enrique Solis, November 27, 1978 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2. WTKO13 Royal Kobayashi, January 9, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan.
3. WTKO11 Johnny Aba, November 17, 1979 in Papua, New Guinea
4. W15 Spider Nemoto, January 22, 1980 in Tokyo, Japan
5. WKO8 Sa-Wang Kim, July 20, 1980 in Seoul, South Korea
6. W15 Rocky Lockridge, October 4, 1980 in McAfee, NJ
7. WKO7 Carlos Pinango, August 1, 1981 in Caracas, Venezuela
8. D15 Bernard Taylor, October 16, 1982 in Charlotte, NC
9. W15 Angel Levy Mayor, May 27, 1984 in Maracaibo, Venezuela
10. L15 Barry McGuigan, June 8, 1985 in London, England.

Nobody in the whole entire world has more. He did it with savvy and class in opponents' backyards. I never included his defenses with Mexican great Ruben Olivares in Houston, TX, where the majority of the crowd were Mexicans rooting for Olivares. Nor included the title defense against Puerto Rican Juan LaPorte in Atlantic City, NJ where LaPorte had a huge following and the majority were rooting for him also, even the boxing commentators for cripes sake! I didn't see no one rooting for Pedroza. Still, it would have been 12 instead of 10. And the other title defenses that were on the road against Jose Caba, Lockridge again in the rematch that were in Monte Carlo, Italy would have been 14. That means that this great champion was equipped mentally and physically prepared for any defense on the road. A TRUE WORLD CHAMPION he was. Give him his due!

Surely the McGuigan fight shouldn't count for two reasons.

Firstly it was a defeat and secondly McGuigan would consider Ireland to be his backyard and not England

1. The majority of the crowd was Irish.

2. And if they weren't Irish, the British were overwhelmingly rooting for Barry McGuigan, not for the great Panamanian Scorpion, Eusebio Pedroza.

3. It was 10 title defenses, not 9.

4. It was definitely, a hostile environment.

5. All they need it was to transport the ring and the crowd to Ireland. It wouldn't make a difference. Same crowd in England equals same crowd in Ireland.

[Ambling Alp II]

-First off, you giving him credit for losing a fight. You have never responded to this.
-Second, when you first started talking about "backyard" it was about where the fight took place. It was a while before you started talking about "hostile environment".
There was not a lot of crowd nose for the Lockridge fight. Pedroza got almost as a big of a hand when he was introduced as Lockridge. It was also a small crowd. It was not a hostile environment.

[Controversial]

There was not a lot of crowd nose for the Lockridge fight. Pedroza got almost as a big of a hand when he was introduced as Lockridge. It was also a small crowd. It was not a hostile environment.

Slightly off topic but Rodolfo Hill was one of the judges in the Lockridge fight and he was also from Panama. Somehow he scored it 149-139 in favour of Pedroza, so although the fight wasn't in Pedroza's native country he certainly had the advantage of having a local judge. 

Hill was also a judge in the Sa-Wang Kim fight.

[ewenhay]

These were the great Eusebio Pedroza's world title defenses in opponents' backyards or home turfs. Here they are in chronological order:
1. W15 Enrique Solis, November 27, 1978 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2. WTKO13 Royal Kobayashi, January 9, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan.
3. WTKO11 Johnny Aba, November 17, 1979 in Papua, New Guinea
4. W15 Spider Nemoto, January 22, 1980 in Tokyo, Japan
5. WKO8 Sa-Wang Kim, July 20, 1980 in Seoul, South Korea
6. W15 Rocky Lockridge, October 4, 1980 in McAfee, NJ
7. WKO7 Carlos Pinango, August 1, 1981 in Caracas, Venezuela
8. D15 Bernard Taylor, October 16, 1982 in Charlotte, NC
9. W15 Angel Levy Mayor, May 27, 1984 in Maracaibo, Venezuela
10. L15 Barry McGuigan, June 8, 1985 in London, England.

Nobody in the whole entire world has more. He did it with savvy and class in opponents' backyards. I never included his defenses with Mexican great Ruben Olivares in Houston, TX, where the majority of the crowd were Mexicans rooting for Olivares. Nor included the title defense against Puerto Rican Juan LaPorte in Atlantic City, NJ where LaPorte had a huge following and the majority were rooting for him also, even the boxing commentators for cripes sake! I didn't see no one rooting for Pedroza. Still, it would have been 12 instead of 10. And the other title defenses that were on the road against Jose Caba, Lockridge again in the rematch that were in Monte Carlo, Italy would have been 14. That means that this great champion was equipped mentally and physically prepared for any defense on the road. A TRUE WORLD CHAMPION he was. Give him his due!

Surely the McGuigan fight shouldn't count for two reasons.

Firstly it was a defeat and secondly McGuigan would consider Ireland to be his backyard and not England

1. The majority of the crowd was Irish.

2. And if they weren't Irish, the British were overwhelmingly rooting for Barry McGuigan, not for the great Panamanian Scorpion, Eusebio Pedroza.

3. It was 10 title defenses, not 9.

4. It was definitely, a hostile environment.

5. All they need it was to transport the ring and the crowd to Ireland. It wouldn't make a difference. Same crowd in England equals same crowd in Ireland.

The whole thread is nonsense then. You should just have called it " opportunities to put Pedroza top of a list "

[ewenhay]

This thread has now become an exact replica of the last thread elmer made on the subject about 5 weeks ago.

Out of interest, do you ever actually have something useful to say? Or do you just come on to the history section from the Current Scene to whine about what other folks are saying?

Fair comment. I'll try and be more positive. Cheers

[elmersalsa]

Surely the McGuigan fight shouldn't count for two reasons.

Firstly it was a defeat and secondly McGuigan would consider Ireland to be his backyard and not England

1. The majority of the crowd was Irish.

2. And if they weren't Irish, the British were overwhelmingly rooting for Barry McGuigan, not for the great Panamanian Scorpion, Eusebio Pedroza.

3. It was 10 title defenses, not 9.

4. It was definitely, a hostile environment.

5. All they need it was to transport the ring and the crowd to Ireland. It wouldn't make a difference. Same crowd in England equals same crowd in Ireland.

The whole thread is nonsense then. You should just have called it " opportunities to put Pedroza top of a list "

It is what it is. Deal with it. The guy was a great champion. Nobody else came close. Nobody else did it better. Ten title defenses in opponents' backyards is very hard to do as a champion and a great accomplishment. Champions nowdays don't even want to risk their crowns on the road, let alone in someone's backyard. Eusebio Pedroza was a great champion. A true world champion that defended his title all over the world. Now, that is a champion!

[Ambling Alp II]

Impressive counter argument. I think everyone is now convinced.

[elmersalsa]

Impressive counter argument. I think everyone is now convinced.

I'm not here to convince anybody. I am just stating the facts. Eusebio Pedroza was a great champion. One of the best featherweight boxers ever and a true top 100 all time great. Ten title defenses in enemy's backyards. More than anybody in boxing history.

[Ambling Alp II]

Guess what? People are tired of you constantly stating your "facts" over and over. No need to keep doing it.

People have said why they don't include some of Pedroza's, as well as why others for other fighters should count. You didn't counter these arguments, you ignored them and just repeated what you have said over and over.

[elmersalsa]

Guess what? People are tired of you constantly stating your "facts" over and over. No need to keep doing it.

People have said why they don't include some of Pedroza's, as well as why others for other fighters should count. You didn't counter these arguments, you ignored them and just repeated what you have said over and over.

Yes, I did answered them. With facts. End of story!