BoxRec

This had been one of Sonny Liston's toughest fights before he became champion.Nino Valdes was a big Cuban Heavyweight with a knockout punch.Liston KO'd him in three rounds.
The fight was scheduled to air on ABC Wednesday Night Fights August.5.1959 from Chicago stadium.
Has anyone here ever seen it on tape?

Liston didn't do anything for two rounds.

He came out in the third round, caught Valdez in a corner, hit him with body shots, and then finished him off.

Nino Valdes

Would be interested in seeing that fight. Valdez was pretty much at the end of the line by then though.

I seem to remember either Enrique or Broncano posting a long interview with Nino Valdez

where he discusses his career and the fighters he fought, including Liston.

The One and Only Nino Valdez
By Enrique Encinosa
http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/w10x-ee.htm

EXCERPTS :

One of the big thrills of Nino's life was having boxed three exhibitions with Joe Louis in 1949 and 1950. Valdez always spoke about the Brown Bomber with reverence.

"It was solemn," he said, “like being with royalty."
. . .
Caron Gonzalez, a well-known Cuban trainer remarked in an interview about Valdez: "Some said he lacked heart but he had plenty of heart. His problem was that he was a very gentle guy and it wasn't his nature to put the hurt on someone who was hurting. If you traded with him he would trade with you like he did with Malibran in those two wars and if he hit you right it was like brass knuckles, but he was slow on the final blow sometimes, like he hoped the referee would stop it. People use that expression about gentle giants. That's what he was."
. . .
After the loss to Baker, Valdez turned his career around, beating Omelio Agramonte for the Cuban Heavyweight Title and scoring a huge upset over former champion Ezzard Charles.

The newspapers hyped up stories that Valdez had used a hypnotist to help him prepare for the Charles fight, convincing him that he could not be beaten. When I asked Nino about it years later, the big man smiled.

"When I fought Agramonte in Havana I stopped him in ten," he said, "and Omelio had gone ten rounds twice with Joe Louis and it gave me confidence when I stopped him. I was in very good shape for Omelio and I was not hurt when we fought. Then the offer came for a fight with Charles in Miami Beach in less than a month and I did not stop training. Hipnosis had nothing to do with that win. I was in the best shape of my life that night -sharp as a razor- and I felt so strong and so fast that I believed no one could beat me. That night I felt like fighting."

Valdez used his size and weight to neutralize Charles, mauling the former champion, scoring solid punches, winning on points. It was the greatest victory of Nino's career. He returned to Havana as a national icon.

"Charles was a very dangerous fighter," Nino reflected years later, "but I surprised him. I moved very agressively on him and used my weight and size and I broke his rhythm and confused him. He hit me a few good shots and I hit him back with a few good ones too. I beat him but Ezzard Charles was something special."
. . .

By 1959, after eighteen years as a pro he was defeated by Sonny Liston, who had won 24 fights and lost only once. Liston and Valdez fought on even terms for two rounds, each man landing some clean shots until a right hand in the third dropped the veteran Cuban to the canvas. His last fight was a satisfying win over Brian London on the first day of December 1959.

"Being hit by Liston," Valdez observed, "was like being kicked by a mule. By the time I fought Liston I was over the hill. I hit him a couple of solid shots and he did not buckle. Sonny was the strongest man I ever fought and he was very tough. When I fought him I still could hit very hard but my reflexes were not there anymore."
. . .
The record book states that Nino Valdez fought 69 pro fights in his carreer, compiling a 49-18-2 record with 36 KO wins and 5 KO defeats. He fought four world champions -Archie Moore, Harold Johnson, Ezzard Charles and Sonny Liston -as well as a score of top contenders

http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/w10x-ee.htm

Liston Finished Valdez off with a crushing left to the liver after a 4 punch combo to the head. Liston was devastating at his best, maybe the best ever at his weight class. This is an underated win. I have 3 Nino Valdez fights on film and Valdez was a good fighter with a damaging sharp long jab his best weapon, extreme right hand power, very aggresive, strong and durable, and good size 6'3 212lb. Valdez was at one point the # 1 heavyweight contender in the world.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:Liston Finished Valdez off with a crushing left to the liver after a 4 punch combo to the head. Liston was devastating at his best, maybe the best ever at his weight class. This is an underated win. I have 3 Nino Valdez fights on film and Valdez was a good fighter with a damaging sharp long jab his best weapon, extreme right hand power, very aggresive, strong and durable, and good size 6'3 212lb. Valdez was at one point the # 1 heavyweight contender in the world.

Liston hit Valdez with a number of body shots before he finished him off.

Valdez couldn't get out of the corner.

Here's a UPI account:



Not much there. I'm having trouble getting into the Tribune tonight.

Valdez was a good boxer and a hard puncher but he was also a gentle giant lacking killer instinct.

He has been called slightly retarded by some sportswriters because he talked slow and I do believe he was functioning at the level of a sixteen year old.

He was not Einstein, but he was able to function well in society and his slight mental slowness did not come from blows to the head but was likely a hereditary condition

He was a decent, good man who was always there for his friends. No one who ever knew him well spoke ill of him.

I remember when Nino Valdez knocked out Pat McMurty in the first round (three knockdowns).

After the fight they interviewed Valdez as he sat in a seat at the side of the ring.

He laughed and laughed, and said over and over between laughs, "Aneemaal--Aneemaal."

(I am attempting to catch the pronunciation he used).

The announcer interviewing asked Valdez's trainer what that was all about.

The trainer talked to Valdez in Spanish a bit, and then told the announcer,

"When McMurty got up after being knocked down by Valdez, he clinched and said to Valdez, "You're an animal..You're an animal."

Interesting ploy, but it didn't work.

On youtube,there is a video SONNY LISTON THE BIG BAD BEAR(looks to be from ESPN'S SPORTCENTURY,that looks to be Nino Valdes in the montage of Listons' ko's,at least like it looks like the man holding the trophy on the posted photo in this thread!

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:Liston Finished Valdez off with a crushing left to the liver after a 4 punch combo to the head. Liston was devastating at his best, maybe the best ever at his weight class. This is an underated win. I have 3 Nino Valdez fights on film and Valdez was a good fighter with a damaging sharp long jab his best weapon, extreme right hand power, very aggresive, strong and durable, and good size 6'3 212lb. Valdez was at one point the # 1 heavyweight contender in the world.

What weapon did he usually used aside from his weapon now? Is he used brass knuckles

bugz wrote:

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:Liston Finished Valdez off with a crushing left to the liver after a 4 punch combo to the head. Liston was devastating at his best, maybe the best ever at his weight class. This is an underated win. I have 3 Nino Valdez fights on film and Valdez was a good fighter with a damaging sharp long jab his best weapon, extreme right hand power, very aggresive, strong and durable, and good size 6'3 212lb. Valdez was at one point the # 1 heavyweight contender in the world.

What weapon did he usually used aside from his weapon now? Is he used brass knuckles

Thanks for coming. Debuts don't get much more inauspicious than this...

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

bugz wrote:

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:Liston Finished Valdez off with a crushing left to the liver after a 4 punch combo to the head. Liston was devastating at his best, maybe the best ever at his weight class. This is an underated win. I have 3 Nino Valdez fights on film and Valdez was a good fighter with a damaging sharp long jab his best weapon, extreme right hand power, very aggresive, strong and durable, and good size 6'3 212lb. Valdez was at one point the # 1 heavyweight contender in the world.

What weapon did he usually used aside from his weapon now? Is he used brass knuckles

Thanks for coming. Debuts don't get much more inauspicious than this...

LOL

Regarding Valdez, he was viewed as wildly inconsistant by writers of the time and the films bare this out. Vs Baker (fight 1) and Jackson he looks to possess decent speed and puts together good combinations and counter-shots along with his natural knockout power. Vs Satterfield and Moore he looks sluggish and a little inept. In all fights I've seen of him his defense is pretty porous but he was pretty durable and had a good chin.

He had a decent run from '53-55 culminating with the wins over a past-it but still dangerous Charles, Euro-champ Neuhaus and Hurricane Jackson which earned him the number 1 contender status. Later on in his career he edged the hard-punching DeJohn in two close fights and also upset the undefeated Englishman Erskine, but watching him on film it's no suprise he came up short more often than not vs the top fighters of the era.

Hearing him mentioned as someone Marciano 'avoided' is preposterous. Marciano would've eaten Valdez alive.

Does anyone know if any film of this fight exists?

Brutu wrote:This had been one of Sonny Liston's toughest fights before he became champion.Nino Valdes was a big Cuban Heavyweight with a knockout punch.

But he was massively overrated... Each time he fought a top Heavyweight contender he lose conclusively:

Bob Satterfield, Bob Baker, Archie Moore all beat and kept him from getting into World Title contention.

dempseyfire wrote:Hearing him mentioned as someone Marciano 'avoided' is preposterous. Marciano would've eaten Valdez alive.

Indeed.
Didn't Eddie Machen knock him out in nine rounds? I tend to think that The Rock could have taken him out earlier...

dempseyfire wrote:Regarding Valdez, he was viewed as wildly inconsistant by writers of the time and the films bare this out. Vs Baker (fight 1) and Jackson he looks to possess decent speed and puts together good combinations and counter-shots along with his natural knockout power. Vs Satterfield and Moore he looks sluggish and a little inept. In all fights I've seen of him his defense is pretty porous but he was pretty durable and had a good chin.

He had a decent run from '53-55 culminating with the wins over a past-it but still dangerous Charles, Euro-champ Neuhaus and Hurricane Jackson which earned him the number 1 contender status. Later on in his career he edged the hard-punching DeJohn in two close fights and also upset the undefeated Englishman Erskine, but watching him on film it's no suprise he came up short more often than not vs the top fighters of the era.

Hearing him mentioned as someone Marciano 'avoided' is preposterous. Marciano would've eaten Valdez alive.

Liston must've lost this fight. Since he lost every time someone stood up to him.

abdelfadeeli wrote:Liston must've lost this fight. Since he lost every time someone stood up to him.

I couldn't disagree more. Cleveland Williams?? He certainly tried on two occasions!!!

Crease wrote:

Brutu wrote:This had been one of Sonny Liston's toughest fights before he became champion.Nino Valdes was a big Cuban Heavyweight with a knockout punch.

But he was massively overrated... Each time he fought a top Heavyweight contender he lose conclusively:

Bob Satterfield, Bob Baker, Archie Moore all beat and kept him from getting into World Title contention.

That is what I have always thought. Why do so many people seem to think he was so good?
Throughout his career he lost almost every time he fought a decent opponent.

evrenb wrote:

abdelfadeeli wrote:Liston must've lost this fight. Since he lost every time someone stood up to him.

I couldn't disagree more. Cleveland Williams?? He certainly tried on two occasions!!!

I know.. I was being sarcastic.

Ambling Alp II wrote:That is what I have always thought. Why do so many people seem to think he was so good?
Throughout his career he lost almost every time he fought a decent opponent.

These days his name has become something of a myth, perpetrated by the Marciano nay-sayers in an attempt to discredit The Rock's record.