GANIGAN BETTER THAN MANNY! With Manny Pacquiao fever running wild, other Filipino fighters of note are no longer mentioned. Oh, we still hear about ex-multi division champion Luisito Espinosa. But that’s only because he’s shot, broke, and in some opinions, possibly showing the early signs of dementia. But I still think that, given all of Manny’s accomplishments, I feel that Andy Ganigan, the 11-year pro that retired in 1983, that he was the greatest “one punch” artist in the history of Philippine boxing. WHEN BOXING WAS ON NETWORK TV…Watching firsthand, Andy put a serious “hurt” on Alexis Arguello, this as I sat on the floor in the corner of the old Aladdin Hotel theatre, May 22, 1982. Knocking Alexis down in the second, the right hooks, and left hands in the third session, Arguello told me that was the hardest he had ever been hit! Going 35-5, with 30 KO’s, preceding the title shot, Ganigan, like Pacquiao a lefty, went into Little Rock, AR and brutally (albeit quickly in two) KO’d ex-WBA champion, and current Fox Sports Net announcer Sean O’Grady. TO FRIENDS & ENEMIES PAT O’GRADY LEGENDARY…Sean’s infamous father, Mr. Pat O’Grady, he had signed 1976 Olympic Gold Medallist Howard Davis, a sprinter type of boxer, to a ten round fight that would be televised on CBS, (Mort Sharnik where are you?) if my memory is right. Thinking Davis would run, Pat had a 15-foot ring brought into Little Rock. Always of the opinion that he was the smartest (and most devious?) man in all of boxing, Pat is said to have forgotten about the size of the ring until the morning of the fight. Realizing the disadvantage of facing this puncher from Hawaii by way of the Philippines, in this phone booth sized ring, Pat tried to get a new ring on the morning of the fight. The old man forced his son to drop the WBA lightweight crown he had taken from Hilmer Kenty, and made him WAA (Pat’s organization) champion, all because he didn’t want Sean facing mandatory challenger Claude Noel. Oh, back to the fight itself, Andy stalked, and dropped Pat’s son three times, the last for a KO at 3:09 of round two…”CHAMPION HEAD CASE” VIVIAN HARRIS APPEALS KO LOSS: Ex-WBA champ (chump?) Vivian Harris, the touted fighter that weighed in for a June 25th fight with Carlos Maussa set for 140 lbs., but weighing closer to 130 lbs! Reports have him at 131, 133 lbs., HBO’s Larry Merchant, he said that Harris was, “so obsessed, and yet lacking confidence. Supposedly resting in his room, Harris instead was out running in the Atlantic City sun, and not telling his trainer Emanuel Steward.” Anyway, in his appeal before the New Jersey Athletic Commission, Vivian claimed the referee Earl Brown, erred when Maussa inadvertently clipped Harris, who had been knocked silly and down, and did not DQ the Colombian upstart. Anyway, the honorable chairman Tony Orlando, his panel ruled that the KO 7 win for Maussa stands! Maussa, 19-2, (17 KO’s) will engage World champ Ricky Hatton, 39-0, with 29 KO’s defends the title he ripped from Kostya Tszyu in June on Showtime. The November 26 match will be at Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK.
