Tony DeMarco vs Virgil Akins fights

[elmersalsa]

Going to Tony DeMarco's record, I see that this guy was in always in some serious slugfests. Do anyone has the fights of Tony DeMarco vs Virgil Akins on DVD of VHS?. I read that there were a couple of knockdowns in these fights.

Have anyone seen these fights?

[My2Sense]

Going to Tony DeMarco's record, I see that this guy was in always in some serious slugfests. Do anyone has the fights of Tony DeMarco vs Virgil Akins on DVD of VHS?. I read that there were a couple of knockdowns in these fights.

Have anyone seen these fights?

I have the first fight, or at least, all that I know of to exist.

That (unfortunately) consists of silent footage of the last 6 rounds or so.

However, the fight appears to be one of the very best in history. The guy I bought it from thought so as well.

In just the rounds that I saw, there were several knockdowns and constant shifts in momentum.

Akins really didn't look like a great fighter, but he could punch and take a punch.

DeMarco reportedly was ahead most of the way, but he fell apart in the late rounds (similar to how he did in the two Basilio fights).

The result was a big surprise, as DeMarco was considered a top contender then (and was about to be entered into an elimination tournament to determine Basilio's successor), while Akins was considered basically a journeyman.

After winning the rematch as well (which I don't really know anything about, but I'd have to figure was entertaining as well given who these fighters are), Akins took DeMarco's place in the tournament and scored an even bigger upset by destroying the highly regarded Vince Martinez, who had been the big favorite to win the tourney. Akins dropped Martinez something like 10 times and stopped him in about five rounds.

Not long after, Akins journeyman form resurfaced and he was himself the victim of a big upset, when he lost to unheralded Don Jordan. Jordan was a bit more successful as a champion, but was never considered great himself either.

I don't know what became of Akins after losing the title.

DeMarco didn't do much after losing to Akins either. Almost certainly those fights, combined with his previous wars with Basilio (and others), had to take something out of him.

[granberry]

Akins was a mob fighter.

He was allowed to fight with the "cuffs off" in the two DeMarco fights and against Vince Martinez to win the vacant title.

Then he went back to fighting with the cuffs on.

Akins was tall for a welterweight, and a dangerous puncher.