Once upon a time, there was a physical area in boxing that encompassed three different weight divisions, with a ten pound difference and enough excitement to wake up the dead. It was during the early 1980’s, and the men involved, officially at least, all weighed between 130 and 140 pounds. The Junior Lightweights had Rafael Limon, Bobby Chacon and a budding Hector Camacho, SR. The Lightweights had Alexis Arguello, Ray Mancini, Arturo Frias and up and comer Edwin Rosario. The Junior Welterweights, of course, had Aaron Pryor and a supporting cast that included durable Leroy Haley, cagey Saoul Mamby and Bruce Curry, all of which held the WBC title. With up and coming Johnny Bumphus undefeated and tearing through the WBA Junior Welterweight rankings, the Junior Welterweights, Junior Lightweights and Lightweights were in a head on competition to be considered the number one divisions in boxing. The Heavyweights? Aside from Larry Holmes and one or two other fighters of considerably less talent, had us singing the blues with men like Marvis Frazier, James Broad and Sammy Scaff clogging up the division rankings.
Fortunately, the Lightweights had punch. Hawaiian Punch to be more exact. But this Hawaiian Punch wasn’t the fruity flavored American soda drink. Yes, it was an American product, but one that had been mixed with Filipino ingredients at a time when Filipinos were a blossoming class in boxing. While the Philippines had Flash Elorde before and would enjoy Manny Pacquiao later on, they had Rolando Navarette and the Hawaiian Punch to feel proud about between the 130 and 135 pound classes of the early 1980’s. The Hawaiian Punch’s real name was Andrew or Andy Ganigan, you choose.
People talk about Arturo Gatti or, perhaps, Oleg Maskaev providing exciting bouts these days. Well, Ganigan was a Lightweight version of Maskaev, the Gatti of the 1980’s. His only problem was that unlike Maskaev and Gatti, he had a Champion who was as movable from his WBC throne as the Mayan ruins in Mexico are in Hall of Famer Alexis Arguello and a tough as a Mack Truck Champion in WBA titleholder Ray Mancini. Would Gatti have reigned in a division commanded by Arguello or Mancini? Not likely. Maskaev may have been a little luckier challenging the likes of Michael Dokes or Mike Weaver, but that wasn’t a granted either, and he would have lost by miles to Larry Holmes, the Arguello of the Heavyweights at the time. As you can see, the fact Andy Ganigan shined among 1980’s Lightweights is remarkable.
Andrew, Ganigan took off like Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base when he knocked out Mamoru Nagaoka in the second round on May 9, 1972. Ganigan came out the gate with a Mike Tyson-like run of 22-0 with 20 knockouts before he got his first title try, but certain doubts lingered because his quality of opposition was not that good until then. Ganigan did, of course, handle Vicente Saldivar (not the all-time Bantamweight great), beating him by an eighth round knockout and giving him his third loss in seventeen fights in the process of taking the NABF Lightweight belt away from the Blaisdell Center Arena in Honolulu and to his house. He subsequently retained the title twice before losing for the first time, to Johnny Lira by a sixth round knockout. Lira, of course, went on to lose to Ernesto Espana in a spectacular bid for the WBA belt, but Ganigan was not done. The best was yet to come for the 5 foot 7 (67 inches) tall man. He started off again by knocking out Elpidio Valdez in the second round, on January 30, 1979.
Ganigan went 8-2 over his next ten contests, including victories over Vicente Saldivar in a rematch and Curtis Ramsey, and a 10 round decision loss to former WBC Lightweight kingpin Rodolfo The Cat Gonzalez. Meanwhile, just like everyone else, events beyond his reach had begun, indirectly, to shape what would be the rest of his life. Sean O’ Grady had beaten Hilmer Kenty for the WBA Lightweight title in one of the most brutal Lightweight slugfests of the 1980’s. Due to disagreements with the WBA, Sean’s Father Pat decided to create the World Athletic Association, or WAA. The WAA’s first Champion was O’ Grady, but the organization would ultimately disappear from the boxing map thanks in part to monarchs like Jumbo Cummings and other guys whose fame probably should have never crossed over their local Circle K convenience store. For Ganigan, however, the WAA proved to be a blessing, because he would unleash one of his best performances under their sponsorship.
The day was October 31, 1981 in Little Rock, Arkansas. With O’ Grady being a Oklahoma City native, he obviously had the home ring advantage. But it would prove to be quite a fitting affair for the O’ Grady’s and Sean’s fans, as Ganigan directed a live horror flick on Halloween Night by dropping the former major titleholder three times en route to a second round knockout. Ganigan did in two rounds what Kenty could not do in fifteen and Jim Watt could not do in twelve (Watt was given a bogus knockout win over O’ Grady in a fight for the WBC Lightweight championship the year before).
Ganigan’s stock rose like a soda bubble inside a Coca Cola can. Suddenly, he found himself almost over the top as American boxing magazines like The Ring and KO portrayed him and people claimed for him to face the WBC Lightweight Champion. The problem was that the WBC Champion those days was Alexis Arguello, a Nicaraguan with fantastic power and an even better heart. As a popular saying goes in Puerto Rico, “so much swimming only to drown right at the edge of the water”.
Arguello and Ganigan fought on May 22, 1982 at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the WBC championship. It was a brutal fight that not too many remember. Ganigan almost became a major titleholder when he dropped Arguello in the first round, but Arguello, owner of recuperative powers matched only by Matthew Saad Muhammad among his contemporaries, rose and stopped Ganigan in the fifth round. Never mind that the Hawaiian Punch came out with the sour taste of defeat that night. Take into consideration that Arguello is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and you will understand the magnitude of what Ganigan almost achieved the day they fought.
Ganigan fought only one more time, losing to up and coming prospect and future IBF Lightweight Champion Jimmy Paul in Phoenix, Arizona on June 12, 1983, by a sixth round knockout. To his credit, he left boxing at the right time, after having lost twice in a row by knockout. Not only did he have the punch, but also the smarts to recognize the moment it was time to wave good bye to the sport that saw him rise to fame. Ganigan had an overall record of 34 wins and 5 losses, with 30 knockouts.
Sweet for boxing fans to watch, Ganigan tasted sour to most of his opponents. Not too many people enjoy being trashed away by a man with outstanding power, but the viewers did appreciate it. A Hawaiian Punch, indeed.
Andrew Ganigan (Hawaiian Punch) (Lightweight) Professional record: 39 fights; 34+ (30 KO’s), 5- 1978: United States Lightweight – 1971 – + (Jun-7-1971, Honolulu) Fino Cortez ko 4 – 1972 – + (May-9-1972, Honolulu) Mamoru Nagaoka ko 2 + (Oct-17-1972, Honolulu) Soichihiro Saito ko 4 – 1973 – + (Mar-27-1973, Honolulu) Jessie Villagonza 6 – 1974: inactive – – 1975 – + (Oct-7-1975, Honolulu) Ryuichi Kawadai ko 5 + (Nov-18-1975, Honolulu) Leoncio Meza ko 4 – 1976 – + (Feb-24-1976, Honolulu) Felipe Avila ko 3 + (Apr-13-1976, Honolulu) Dave Bernal ko 1 + (Jun-10-1976, Honolulu) Rado Broncano ko 1 + (Sep-15-1976, Honolulu) Rafael Nunez ko 2 + (Oct-6-1976, Honolulu) Jose Luis Lopez ko 3 + (Nov-16-1976, Honolulu) Chichi Pineda ko 1 – 1977 – + (Feb-8-1977, Honolulu) Jose Posos ko 3 + (Mar-1-1977, Honolulu) Jose Luis Gonzalez ko 10 + (May-17-1977, Honolulu) Turi Pineda ko 2 + (May-31-1977, Honolulu) Tom Tarantino ko 7 + (Jun-14-1977, Honolulu) Jose Talamantez ko 5 + (Aug-4-1977, Honolulu) Juan Garcia ko 8 + (Sep-14-1977, Honolulu) Roman Contreras ko 2 + (Oct-26-1977, Honolulu) Gerardo Ferrat ko 5 + (Nov-29-1977, Honolulu) Ernesto Garfias 10 – 1978 – + (Feb-7-1978, Honolulu) Ignacio Campos kot 6 + (Mar-28-1978, Honolulu) Vicente Mijares Saldivar kot 8 (United States, Lightweight) + (May-30-1978, Honolulu) Carlos Becerril ko 2 + (Jun-20-1978, Honolulu) German Cuello ko 9 – (Aug-1-1978, Honolulu) Johnny LIRA ko 6 (United States, Lightweight) – 1979 – + (Jan-30-1979, Honolulu) Elpidio Valdez ko 2 + (Mar-6-1979, Honolulu) David Madrid ko 2 + (Mar-27-1979, Honolulu) Vicente Mijares Saldivar 12 + (May-30-1979, Honolulu) Hyun-Kil Chun 12 – (Jul-31-1979, Honolulu) Robert Vasquez ko 7 – 1980 – + (Feb-19-1980, Honolulu) Robert Vasquez ko 7 + (Nov-12-1980, Honolulu) Jerry Venzor kot 7 + (Dec-9-1980, Honolulu) Curtis Ramsey kot 2 – 1981 – + (Mar-14-1981, Honolulu) Manuel Abedoy kot 3 – (Jun-13-1981, Los Angeles) Rodolfo Gato GONZALEZ 12 + (Oct-31-1981, Little Rock) Sean O’Grady ko 2 – 1982 – – (May-22-1982, Las Vegas) Alexis ARGUELLO ko 5 (W.B.C., Lightweight) – 1983 – – (Jun-12-1983, Phoenix) Jimmy PAUL kot 6 (United States, Lightweight)
