BoxRec

For me it was Yaqui Lopez.
Great warrior and a humble decent guy.
I really enjoyed watching him fight and always rooted for him.
Just wasnt to be for him although he came damn close.
I hear hes fighting a real bad back these days.

Give us yours.

Not for lack of chances for Yaqui either. He is from my Hometown of Stockton, California. I guess Mickey Ward for me.

BigJuicyHog wrote:Not for lack of chances for Yaqui either. He is from my Hometown of Stockton, California. I guess Mickey Ward for me.

Stockton was where The movie Fat City took place.
My all time fav. ever check it out?

Tony Mundine. He had the skills of a champion, but when the time came , he choked!

Of the old time fighters, there is quite a few I would have loved to have seen become champion, but either circumstances or politics prevented it. Such names as Sam Langford, Charley Burley, Peter Jackson come to mind; I would have loved to have seen Galento, Murphy, and some other hard hitting bangers make the upset...but those guys great moments were either few and/or far between.

As far as any modern day guy, least in the last 20 years, I would have love to have seen Tommy Morrison to have become more than the WBO champion, and I would have loved to have seen Ray Mercer more in the mix back in his prime as well, he was as good as Lewis, Holyfield, Bowe in my opinion. He deserved the bigger fights.

Trent wrote:Tony Mundine. He had the skills of a champion, but when the time came , he choked!

I dont know about choked, He ran into a champion in Monzon who would have beaten most guys in history.

Herol Graham.

Pat Cowdell

Hey buddy,that was a good choice picking Yaqui Lopez. He came so close to winning a title with Saad Muhammad and Galindez. You're right he was a nice guy. He gave it all he had in the ring. You're also right about "Fat City". The movie was so underplayed,it's like no one was even acting. That's what made it real. OK pal,since you brought up "Fat City",I'll give you a pick:Art Aragon.(he played the trainer in the movie). Before there were pro baseball and football teams in Los Angeles,Aragon was the biggest sports draw in town. He was popular with everyone. It's a little sad. When the Rams ,the Lakers,and the Dodgers took over,Aragon was sort of forgotten. I saw him on a LA talk show about ten years ago. He was talking about how boxing should take care of ex fighters. He started to drift away when he talked about some of the older fighters. There were tears running down his cheeks.

Art Hafey

Wasn't around to see him fight & he ended up retiring a few years before I was born but I do feel awfully sorry for Kenny Norton never winning the linear Heavyweight crown. Nice guy with a lot of class, first-up he ran into a near-invincible version of Foreman in a title bout, then wound up being robbed blind against Ali two years later. He was rarely anywhere below being one of the top five guys in the division & yet never quite got there. Unfortunate to come along during the golden age of the 70's. Had he been an 80's, 60's or 50's Heavyweight it might have been a different story.

I think I would have to say Herol graham, he would have been a great champion its just a shame he never won a world title.

Yaqui Lopez, Jerry Quarry, Florentino Fernandez and the tricky Holly Mims.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Wasn't around to see him fight & he ended up retiring a few years before I was born but I do feel awfully sorry for Kenny Norton never winning the linear Heavyweight crown. Nice guy with a lot of class, first-up he ran into a near-invincible version of Foreman in a title bout, then wound up being robbed blind against Ali two years later. He was rarely anywhere below being one of the top five guys in the division & yet never quite got there. Unfortunate to come along during the golden age of the 70's. Had he been an 80's, 60's or 50's Heavyweight it might have been a different story.

I was in my early 20's in San Diego when Norton started out. He was fresh out of the Marines and became very popular. I had this screwy idea that I'd like to be a boxer(mabe it was because I played football and lifted weights). I went down to the old Coliseum looking for a start when one of Norton's trainers(it might have been Slayton) said if I'd like to spar with Norton. Norton had only a few pro fights under his belt,but I had never been in a boxing ring before. I had to save face so I said I would. Don't let no one fool you,I was plenty nervous. Well after about 10 seconds I understood what is meant by the saying"The Art of Self Defense" All I could think of was protecting myself.

Norton was pretty cool though. He backed off when he thought he might really hurt me. I was big and in pretty good shape so I withstood the carnage. I acted like Norton's punching bag 2 more times when I decided to look for less threatening competition. Norton was a real nice guy. I told him my dad was a Marine at Okinawa. He appreciated that. Marines do have a certain brotherhood between each other. Early in his career he had a problem with stamina. It wasn't because he didn't train. It was mental. Believe it or not he started seeing a hypnotist about this and he never had an issue with it again.

Kenny came close against Ali and Holmes,but the stars weren't aligned right in his corner those nights. He was in a terrible auto accident about 20 years ago that has impaired his speach. I see him around once in a while. He's quiet and seems very within himself

At the time I thought Tommy Ayers would be a champ.

The Great John L wrote:Art Hafey

Don't want to seem like I'm butting in on everbody's replies,but when I saw Art Hafey I got to say something. Like Norton,Art fought a lot in San Diego. There were a handfull of Canadian fighters in San Diego trained by Burke Emery. Burke is also Canadian. (Burke owns a bar down the street from where I live.) I always thought the Canadian fighters weren't handled right in San Diego.

Wes Wambold handled these guys and would often put them in risky fights. Hafey fought Olivares in Mexico and knocked Olivares out. Then he went down to Arguellos hometown and was stopped. It wasn't all Wambold's fault though. The Canadian fighters in San Diego wouldn't draw here like in the other guy's hometown.
Boy did Hafey have a beautifull left hook!

Gerry Cooney
Isaac Logart
Florentino Fernandez
Jose Carattoli
Eduardo Lausse
Rafael Merentino
Jorge Fernandez
Mauro Mina


All they and others had all the conditions for to be World Champions

Does Greg Page's WBA run of one fight in and one fight out disqualify him? I sure thought and expected him to be more of a force than he ended up being.

Troy Waters. Not a well known name but being a local I followed him since the start of his career. At a young age he showed a fighting maturity not seen too often. Had circumstances been a bit different (his father / trainer was a nutcase) he could have been a topflight champ. He should have out Terry Norris away when he had the chance

How about my favorite growing up in the 70's Zovek Barajas... or "Shotgun" Alvaredo

Zora Foley

Armando Muniz

Scartissue

Michael Brodie

Very good boxer and a top bloke who had some rotten luck.

"I was in my early 20's in San Diego when Norton started out. He was fresh out of the Marines and became very popular. I had this screwy idea that I'd like to be a boxer(mabe it was because I played football and lifted weights). I went down to the old Coliseum looking for a start when one of Norton's trainers(it might have been Slayton) said if I'd like to spar with Norton. Norton had only a few pro fights under his belt,but I had never been in a boxing ring before. I had to save face so I said I would. Don't let no one fool you,I was plenty nervous. Well after about 10 seconds I understood what is meant by the saying"The Art of Self Defense" All I could think of was protecting myself.

Norton was pretty cool though. He backed off when he thought he might really hurt me. I was big and in pretty good shape so I withstood the carnage. I acted like Norton's punching bag 2 more times when I decided to look for less threatening competition. Norton was a real nice guy. I told him my dad was a Marine at Okinawa. He appreciated that. Marines do have a certain brotherhood between each other. Early in his career he had a problem with stamina. It wasn't because he didn't train. It was mental. Believe it or not he started seeing a hypnotist about this and he never had an issue with it again.

Kenny came close against Ali and Holmes,but the stars weren't aligned right in his corner those nights. He was in a terrible auto accident about 20 years ago that has impaired his speach. I see him around once in a while. He's quiet and seems very within himself" - Dagosd

What was his punch like? I feel his power is today a little undersold & that he probably hit harder than some imagine, though I was never in the ring with the man.

Ken Norton won against Ali between Ali losing to Frazier and beating Foreman. He broke ali's jaw early in the fight but could not put him down. On the strength of that he got a shot at Foreman who cleaned him up in short order. After losing twice to Ali (controversially) he was given the WBC title when Spinks refused to fight him, but lost it to Holmes.

I would say Norton got as many shots as he deserved.