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COLORFUL FIGHTERS NASEEM HAMED, ROBERTO DURAN ON AKTV 'SUPER FIGHTS' By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sat, 17 Dec 2011  Two of the most colorful fighters in the history of boxing, cocky Prince Naseem Hamed of Britain and one of the all-time greats Roberto ?Hands of Stone? Duran headline AKTV Action Television?s ?Super Fights? over IBC 13 on December 20 at 9:00 p.m. The highlights show has created excitement among fight fans who watched Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier in the ?Fight of the Century? headline the initial telecast and ?Iron Mike? Tyson batter Larry Holmes in the second episode. The next edition will feature highlights of Prince Naseem Hamed?s featherweight title defense against former champion Kevin ?Flushing Flash? Kelley, Duran face Felix Jose Hernandez in a ten round bout, the heavyweight title fight between Jack Johnson and Tommy Burns and the controversial clash between Rocky Graziano and Tony Janiro. Hamed was the former WBO, WBC, IBF and Lineal featherweight champion and European bantamweight champion. He was known for his boxing antics and spectacular ring entrances including entering the ring on a flying carpet . Hamed was also known for his front somersault over the top rope into the ring. Hamed?s US debut against Kelley on December 19, 1997 at Madison Square Garden was heavily hyped. Following his ceremonious arrival aboard a British Airways Concorde Hamed and former WBC champion Kelley engaged in a weeklong word war. The fight was an extremely entertaining bout which more than lived up to the hype. Despite suffering three knockdowns, Hamed dropped Kelley for a third and final time in round four with the American counted out at 2:27 of the round by referee Benjy Esteves Jr. Several years later on June 10, 2006 Kelley suffered a 4th round knockout at the hands of Filipino Bobby Pacquiao, brother of current Ring Magazine pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao. Two years later on October 10, 2008 Kelley lost an eight round split decision to Pacquiao?s regular sparring partner David Rodela. Roberto Duran is regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all-time. In 2002 Ring Magazine named Duran as the fifth greatest fighter of the past 80 years while boxing historian Bert Sugar rated him as the eighth greatest fighter of all-time. Duran who held world titles at lightweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight won a ten round unanimous decision over Felix Jose Hernandez on January 31, 1998. Although he was dropped in the first round, Duran came back to deck Hernandez once in the 4th and once in the 8th round to win the decision. Interestingly, Duran fought Filipino Flash Gallego in a ten round bout in Panama on July 6, 1974 and won by a 7th round TKO when referee Servio Tulio Lay called a halt at 2:35 of the round. Boxing history was written on December 26, 1908 at Rushcutter?s Bay Stadium in Sydney, Australia when for the first time a black man ? Jack Johnson, nicknamed ?Galveston Giant? - battled then heavyweight champion Tommy Burns of Canada who was born Noah Brusso, before some 20,000 fans. Johnson had followed Burns all over the world, buying a ringside ticket to the fights and taunting Burns. After refusing to except an offer to fight in Britain because he wanted more money, Burns eventually agreed to defend his title after he received a guaranteed British pounds 7,500 which was the biggest purse at that time. Johnson who had a five-and-a-half inch height advantage dictated the fight from the opening bell. Johnson smashed Burns with a right and dropped the champion for a count of eight in the opening round and continued to taunt Burns throughout. In a bizarre ending to the massacre the police stepped in and stopped the bout . Referee Hugh McIntosh who was the only white referee Johnson said he trusted, awarded the bout to Johnson on points in the 14th round. The final bout on ?Super Fights? features Rocky Graziano?s hugely controversial 10th round TKO win over Tony Janiro at the Olympic Stadium in Detroit on September 19, 1951 when the crowd booed referee Lou Handler who called a halt at 2:45 of the final round with Janiro leading by 6 rounds to 3 on the scorecard. (Excerpts courtesy of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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