Today we have some pretty fair-minded fans revising the gamut of nostalgia. Benitez Vs Hearns was a question a fan debates on which fighter appeared in having the better knockdowns of the two, another takes us back about a fighter named Carl “Bobo” Olsen, one reader wanting to know the hot picks into future rising Super Stars to look out for with a little help from my trustee crystal ball.
All i gotta say is jones is still the best and it wuz so obvious he could have won that fight if he wasn’t so gun-shy but who can blame him u gotta give the guy credit 4 coming back after a year off and fighting a guy who knocked him out cold.
ROY JONES JR 4 EVA
Eddie
Eddie,
That just had to be the hardest thing to do in coming back. I’m certain most of Roy’s fans will credit him for that. What should be kept in the past should always stay there to recall the accomplishments, which were many. If any youngster fewer than twelve managed to catch Antonio Tarver’s last two fights with Roy, it would leave another image about a great fighter that you would have to reach for a viewer’s DVD to show that youngster beforehand in the day. That’s just what lies ahead from another point of view. We don’t want to sound rhetorical in any way about it.
What happened to Tony Licata?
I have been looking for information on a rumor the police killed Tony. Please! I would like to know if this is true.
Mike Nixon
Mike,
Tony Licata the middleweight, who lost to Carlos Monzon and beat Mike Rossman, retiring in 1980, is news to me about what you heard to be rumored.
Something like that would be tragic enough for the boxing community at large to have known of, and I myself hadn’t heard anything like it.
Give us a list of your next potential superstars in boxing.
Who should we watch out for? Any unpolished gems out there?
Rafael
Rafael, I don’t know about any unrefined types. However I may have the thing about a few today that should prosper keeping their eye on the prize, and maybe someone you hadn’t exactly heard of before. I hadn’t worked the next potential batch of superstars just yet, so I won’t have one until late this year or maybe by early next.
I think Martin Castillo the WBA Super Flyweight Champion should rate as one real shiny star out there for being dedicated and taking all fights asked of him. He is also a gentleman not just because he signed both autographs in his glossy for my sweetheart Kathleen and I, but also because he’s above all else a for real professional prizefighter who warrants all the respect in the world. He’ll be fighting this up coming November 12th on the Vitali Klitschko Vs Hasim Rahman under card against the guy he took the title from in Alexander Munoz.
Samuel Peter is still a current understudy at present time, and if he learns the art of cutting the ring; with more than a minimal usage of his jab; he can raise surreptitiously in what a career revitalized would do turned into a commodity seemingly over night. Lamon Brewster is another heavyweight who can be surprising a lot of people next year. We’ll just have to wait and see what develops.
I’ve seen a guy before turned pro who was a complete annihilator when it came to putting in the finishing touches on someone; but he still has a ways off to take the championship though. I’d keep a sharp eye out for Super Bantamweight Juan Manuel Lopez, 6-0, 6 KO’s, A.K.A. Juanma. Took a quick glimpse of him as an amateur October 2003 when he kayoed Rashied Jefferson (RSC 2) with a devastating hook that left the ref with no other choices but to stop the contest. He reminds me of having the same intensity as a young Roberto Duran. He along with Miguel Cotto comes from the same hometown of Caguas, P.R., and has been as late a marker for punchers. Lopez is a crafty lefty.
George,
Im avid fan of pacman, i think packman will KO morales the second time around, if he will not head butt again. is this also parts of technique to injured opponents to win the game? I watch previous fight of pacman to Barrera, Barrera uses his head to injured pacman because he cannot avail to fignt. so once injured it will be the turning point as the target. Please response.
Thanks,
bocag
Bocag,
To be fair, I looked at a taped fight with Manny Pacquiao against Agapito Sanchez, and saw their butting occurred happening by both going on the inside; so, you could not blame one without blaming the other for that kind of infraction.
Aside from unintentional head butts, there are also offensive unintentional kinds that many don’t easily catch as an observer. Marvin Hagler or Marco Antonio Barrera is two very basic examples of using your head positively. Rare fighters in the game can throw a punch and pivot behind the shifted weight behind their opposite ball of the foot as they’re throwing it, with the head slightly tilting forward going with the same punch thrown all in one motion. If you’re with me, this is an imbedded asset that lesser skilled fighters do not have.
Mostly well-trained referees will know when an intentional use of the head is merited to disqualify someone or to deduct points with, but a high profile referee knows the styles of each fighter beforehand to instruct what he’s no going to tolerate ahead of the bout. That’s exactly why nobody should be surprised if a ref disqualifies a fighter at an instant for something he (the fighter initiating the damage) was forewarned about in the dressing room.
You answered back about a knockdown and touching the canvas by Benitez during the Hearns/Benitez fight.
Tommy hit Benitez with a quick right hand, not just a jab and then Wilfred went down. Tommy sort of landed a fast punch, which was not much leverage, but it sort of woke up Benitez in a bad way. And Wilfred was stunned and bent down and touched his glove on the canvas. I am not saying he was hurt, but he was shocked that he got hit and touched the canvas more in shock than being hurt. That was legit as a knockdown.
And when Wilfred knocked down Tommy, Hearns was leaning back and off balance and sort of leaned and lost his balance and tilted down. If you think I am wrong, then go watch the tape. The Hearns knockdown was more legit than the Benitez one.
Mark Giolli
Mark,
I remember that fight quite vividly not to revert back to watching it again.
You’ve got Tommy in a defensive mode for that fraction of an instant on unbalanced legs pulling the surprise knockdown that you favored over the one Benitez made; which for me wasn’t a much crisper knockdown in seeing to the eye; and I’ll tell you why it was not in this way about it; and not just in the assumption for the look. After all, appearances can be deceiving.
What would you say if I told you that for the most part a pugilist who touches ground with a glove, still having his reflexes gathered from within him had the capacity and right frame of mind to not keep tipping toward onto the canvas coming forward to prevent falling? Does that account for a clean and present knockdown? We’re all in accordance that it is. We aren’t saying the knockdown wasn’t legitimate. And for whatever reason the challenger had the right presence of mind to step back, but what we’re really gathering here about is the clear understanding that both fighters had their capacities at that precise moment Benitez came forward and got hit high on the forehead, Tommy offsetting his balance off. By the way, that off balanced right of Tommy’s your proclaiming did in fact nothing in the Benitez touching of his glove to the canvas because Hearns’ balance wasn’t beneath him to getting the footage needed which was shown to be a jab conducive to catching Wilfred high on the forefront of his head for scoring the knockdown. Again, the rules stipulate a legit knockdown was in effect. Defensive wizardry accounted for Tommy to have been unbalanced.
Wilfred’s punch landed clean as a whistle catching him by surprise, although a knockdown like that does cause a stir for some to say spaghetti legs were the culprit. I on the other hand knew better. I still would have to credit WB having the better and cleanlier knockdown sustained from the two.
If I may give a little commentary onto it, somewhere around the seventh round leading throughout the rest of the duration of the fight; Thomas fought exclusively with one jab backpedaling uncharacteristically; and that completely threw the strategies for a counterpunching master tactician like Benitez had. You couldn’t beat him on the ropes or in mid center ring. Ray Leonard, having fought WB for himself already boldly told Thomas Hearns on national TV that he couldn’t beat Benitez, and didn’t even blink an eyelash.
I am huge fan of Bobo Olson’s and they call me that too. What do you think of him and how would he do in today’s boxing?
Bobo
Bobo,
I actually had an old timer-drinking buddy years ago that had filled my head with stories about him, and was not only an Olson fan, but a Pep and Saddler fan as well. Carl Olson was his real name. Notorious fights IMO were 1954-55 where he intermediately shifted weight from middleweight to the light heavies.
Bobo fought many years earning his marketing trademark by leaps and bounds, having fought the likes of Jose Torres, Kid Gavilan, and Joey Maxim. Olson on April 2nd 1954 hadn’t fallen prey to the famed bolo punch Kid Gavilan tried to nail him with as being familiar he doing at the lower weights; and Bobo retained his middleweight championship by majority decision. He in fact had beat Maxim in the 1957 rematch Portland Oregon, having earned a split decision, and before prior to that April 13, 1955 he’d beaten him unanimously.
Low point of his career was getting kayoed over a youngster named Doug Jones August 1960 Chicago, IL (KO 6), and losing afterwards by far his worst year 1964 to Johnny Persol (L 10), and the infamous Jose Torres crunch time MSG (KO 1).
If the Bobo Olson of 1954-55 could have fought now, he’d be fluctuating fighting somewhere in those various weight categories like he did then. But I think he’d prefer the middleweight division as a whole having fighters like Winky Wright up to challenging him. I feel Olson would’ve faired much better with today’s pugs having them moved up to 160 LBS., engaging with fighters like Ricardo Mayorga. I don’t think he would have beaten a fighter like Bernard Hopkins, even at his advanced age of 40. And I do not think he would’ve beaten the Marvelous one (Hagler) at his aptitude and caliber either.
Having not solved Ray Robinson’s dominion over him (they’d fought four times) leads me to think he had difficulties with technical fighters, and another question comes to mind as to some others being more at ease at their more normal stabilized weights. Honolulu’s Carl “Bobo” Olson’s ring record was 99-16-2, 49 KO’s.
George, what was going on in the 1982 junior lightweight championship fight in Chile with Sammy Serrano being given his title back fighting Ben Villablanca after failing to finish the rest of the bout having beeen stopped on cuts? Also what round offically was it stopped and why?
Andy
Andy,
That fight went actually down as an unintentional head butt causing the cut on Serrano, although at the time when the referee saw it ruled to be by a punch.
Interesting to note that one of the judges’ was Harold Lederman having Sammy ahead by four points at the time of the official stoppage ending of the tenth round; and the ref Jesus Celis had him comfortably out in front by five points. As the WBA rules say in any event that happens a technical decision must be given awarding the victory to the fighter ahead on the scorecards, which meant Serrano retained his belt.
