Matthew Franklin vs Richie Kates 'Philadelphia War'

[Ambling Alp II]

I thought this was interesting for a number of reasons.
First it was fun to read some of what was going on before the bout.
It was also fun to think back to a time when contenders actually (gasp) fought each other instead of of biding their time until they got a chance against one of 4 WBS titles.
There are so many major non-titles fights from years ago that were imprtant in shaping what happened in the sport. If Franklin would have lost this fight, he would have had a setback in his career. It may have been a while before he ever got a title shot. Since he won, he moved up in the rankings, won a few more fights and got a title shot. He capitalized on that and had a memorable title reign.
If Kates, would have won, who knows? He may have got a shot at the WBC title. Since he lost to a fighter below him, his stock went down. He never got another title shot.

This fight took place in the Spectrum, which had several quality matchups during this era. It's a shame that so few major fights take outside a handful of places in the last several years.

Most of all, this fight makes you think of all of the great matchups in the light heavyweight division during the 1970s and early 1980s. These were two of the key players.