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gibe

Mar 22 2006, 01:40 PM

Jose Napoles
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Born: April 13, 1940
Total Bouts: 84
Won: 77
Lost: 7
KOs: 54
Induction: 1990

JOSE NAPOLES was born in Santiago de Cuba, Oriente, Cuba and fled Fidel Castro's Communist regime in 1962 and settled in Mexico City. In two reigns as welterweight champion, which encompass nearly seven years, Napoles made 13 successful title defenses.

It's all but forgotten that Napoles was also one of the top lightweights and junior welterweights of the 1960s. But despite an 8-1 record against rated fighters, and he avenged his lone defeat via TKO 1, he was unable to secure a title shot. Among the contenders he beat were: Alfredo Urbina (L 10, TKO 1, KO 3), Carlos Hernandez (TKO 7), Eddie Perkins (W 10) and Johnny Santos (KO 3).

In 1967, he moved up to welterweight and earned a title fight against champion Curtis Cokes. Although his nickname was "Mantequilla" (Butter), referring to his smooth boxing style, his victims would probably suggest something more brutal. At the Inglewood Forum on April 18, 1969, Napoles gave Cokes a thorough beating. He cut the American inside his mouth, blooding his nose and swelling both eyes before the referee stopped the contest in the 13th round. His dominance of Cokes was justification of the decision by the managers of the champions at 135- and 140 pounds who chose to avoid the Cuban.

Napoles easily handled Cokes in the rematch (TKO 10) and then beat future Hall of Famer Emile Griffin (W15) and Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez (TKO 15). He appeared unstoppable. But in his fourth defense, against Billy Backus in December of 1970, Napoles sustained a bad cut over his eye and the bout was stopped in the fourth round and Bakus was declared champion. When they met in a rematch seven months later, Napoles regained the title with a fourth-round stoppage of his own.

Napoles immediately put together an impressive streak of title defenses. He scored wins over Hedgemon Lewis, Adolph Pruitt, Ernie Lopez and Clyde Gray. In 1974, he moved up in weight to challenge middleweight champion Carlos Monzon but was stopped in the seventh round.

Napoles returned to the welterweight division and retained his title against Lewis, Horacio Saldano and Armando Muniz (twice) before losing it to John H. Stracey in 1975. He retired after that fight.

gibe

Mar 22 2006, 01:48 PM

Wilfred Benitez
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Wilfred Benitez (born September 12, 1958 in New York, New York), also known as Wilfredo Benítez, is a Puerto Rican-American boxer. He is remembered best as a skilled and aggressive fighter who won World Championships in three separate weight divisions, and was the youngest world champion in boxing history.
Early history
Benitez, a young prodigy who was managed by his father Gregorio Benitez, was a member of one of Puerto Rico's most famous boxing families, his brothers Frankie and Gregory Benitez having also been top contenders in the 1970s. The Benitez troop was largely directed by their mother, Clara Benitez. Young Wilfredo was nicknamed "The Radar". He grew up going to a neighborhood boxing gym in New York, where he learned from watching his brothers and other local, renowned fighters practice their skills.

During the early stages of his professional career, Benitez often traveled to the Virgin Islands and New York for fights. He divided his fights between those locations and Puerto Rico. The proximity of those two locations to Puerto Rico helped him start to become a household name in the island while building an international following at the same time. His speed, combined with punching power and surprising ring maturity for a 15 year-old, were enough to make him a world-ranked boxer by both the WBA and WBC, then boxing's only world-title recognizing organizations.

Professional boxing career
Benitez won consistently over relatively unknown fighters, and in 1976 he lured the far more experienced, two-time world champion and now fellow Hall of Famer Antonio "Kid Pambele" Cervantes of Colombia to San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium, to defend his World Junior Welterweight championship. Benitez stunned the boxing world by beating Cervantes. Wilfred won a 15 round unanimous decision, becoming the youngest boxing world champion in history, at the age of 17.

Benitez retained this championship 3 times, and then the lure of a million dollar fight with 1976 Olympic champion Sugar Ray Leonard made him move up to the Welterweight division. First, he and world champion Carlos Palomino, who hailed from Mexico but lived in Los Angeles, signed up for a title fight, again was fought in San Juan, under the auspices of Goya Rice and Bacardi. It was another much-anticipated fight, and Benitez won a 15 round decision to become world champion in a second weight division. After a defense against Harold Weston Jr, which ended in a Benitez unanimous decision win, Benitez and Leonard signed for a fight in Las Vegas in November, 1979. It was a scientific fight by both fighters, who demonstrated their defensive skills throughout the bout. Benitez unsuccessfully tried overcoming a third round knockdown, and a cut which was opened on his forehead by a head butt in round six, and the fight came to an end when the referee stopped the fight with 6 seconds left in round fifteen.

Wilfred Benitez and his mother Clara Benitez.After that loss, Benitez again moved up in weight, and in May 23,1981 he became the youngest three-time world champion in boxing history, by knocking out World Junior Middleweight champion Maurice Hope of Trinidad and Tobago, in twelve rounds in Las Vegas. This one featured a knockout punch that made sports shows highlights, a right hook to the face after which Hope had to be hospitalized briefly after the fight. The knockout was named one of the knockouts of the year.

His next fight became a historic bout, because the match against future world champ Carlos Santos of Ceiba, Puerto Rico, was the first world championship fight between two Puerto Ricans in boxing history. Ironically, the fight was fought 3,000 miles away from Puerto Rico, in Las Vegas' Caesars Palace hotel. Benitez won a fifteen round, unanimous decision. Next came another Hall-of-Famer, Roberto Duran, whom Benitez defeated in the same hotel in 1982. Soon thereafter, at the Carnival of Champions in New Orleans, Benitez gave up his belt to another boxing legend, Thomas Hearns, after a fight that featured knockdowns from both fighters, when he lost a fifteen round unanimous decision.

Career decline
Benitez's career went downwards after the fight with Hearns, as did his lifestyle. In 1984, he tried a comeback under the hand of Yamil Chade, but this proved unsuccessful. In 1987, with his health declining, he went to Buenos Aires, Argentina to fight Middleweight Carlos Herrera. Benitez was stopped in seven rounds. But that wasn't the worst part of the trip. His money for the fight was stolen by the fight's promoter, along with his documents and passport, and he was stranded in Argentina for one year. After much government huddling and talks, he was finally able to fly back home to Puerto Rico in 1988. A touching public moment in his life came when, upon leaving the airplane that brought him back, he handed his seven year-old daughter an Argentine toy doll he had bought for her before his fight there, and told her he hadn't forgotten her one single day during his time away.

Two years later, Benitez moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he tried another comeback under the tutelage of Emanuel Steward, the famous Kronk trainer. This also proved unsuccessful, as he won one fight and lost one in this last comeback. He returned to Puerto Rico, where he is now living with his mother Clara, on a 200 dollar a month pension provided by the WBC.

In 2004, Benitez was diagnosed with diabetes, an illness of insidious onset which might well have hindered his performance long before it was recognized.

Benitez has been a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame since 1996.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 12:55 PM

Michael Spinks
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Career Snapshot
Born July 13, 1956
Died
Total Fights 32
Won 31
Lost 1
Drew 0
Knockouts 21
Titles Won Light Heavyweight
Michael Spinks, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, is a former boxer. He is regarded as one of the great Light Heavyweight champions in boxing history, and went on to become the first Light Heavyweight champion to capture the Heavyweight title. His nickname, Jinx, rhymed with his last name, and his right hand also earned a nickname: The Spinks Jinx. His brother, Leon Spinks, beat Muhammad Ali for the world's Heavyweight championship, and the two are the only brothers in boxing history to have both captured the Heavyweight title.

Spinks had a 93-7 amateur boxing record, with 31 wins by knockout. He won the Gold medal at the Olympic Games of 1976 in Montreal, Canada.

Spinks then turned professional with a win over Eddie Benson, knocked out in one on April 17 of 1977 in Las Vegas. Spinks began with that, a 31 fight winning streak that would almost extend to the end of his career. After four more wins, Spinks finished '77 with the first fight that began a gradual ascent in opposition quality: an eight round decision over Gary Summerhays, a popular young boxer of the time.

In 1978, Spinks won two fights, including an eight round decision over former world Middleweight title challenger Tom Bethea, in the same undercard where his brother Leon dethroned Ali as world Heavyweight champion in Las Vegas.

1979 saw Spinks get less than three minutes of boxing action inside a ring, with his only fight ending in a first round knockout of Marc Hans, but in 1980, Spinks took his ascent towards the top to another level, when he beat future world Super Middleweight champion Murray Sutherland, former world Light Heavyweight champion John Conteh and fringe contenders Ramon Ronquillo and Alvaro Yaqui Lopez (who challenged for a world title no less than four times). Of his five wins that year, 3 came by knockout, Sutherland and Johnny Wilburn being the only ones who lasted the distance.

By 1981, Spinks was already a top ranked contender, and after beating former and future world Light Heavyweight champion Marvin Johnson by a knockout in four rounds, the WBA made Spinks their number one challenger, and so, on July 18 of that year, he met WBA's world Light Heavyweight champion Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, once again in Las Vegas. Spinks dropped Mustafa Muhammad in round 12, and went on to become world Light Heavyweight champion with a 15 round decision win. He defended the title once in '81, beating Vonzell Johnson by a knockout in seven.

After four successful defenses in 1982, including a knockout win in eight in a rematch with Sutherland, Spinks had become a superstar, if at least in the boxing world. He began appearing on the covers of all boxing magazines, such as KO Magazine and Ring Magazine, and boxing fans started clamoring for a unification fight with WBC world champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi. Tragedy struck his life, however, when in January of 1983, his girlfriend died in a car crash, leaving Spinks the single parent of his three year old daughter.

Meanwhile, the fight all the fans wanted was being asked for by boxing critics and magazine editors too. And finally, on March 18, two months after his girlfriend's death, Spinks and Qawi met in a boxing ring. The fight was broadcast by HBO Boxing, and, according to the book The Ring: Boxing In The 20th Century, Spinks had a very tough moment to overcome before it even started: His daughter asked him, while he was in his dressing room, if her mother would come to watch the fight. Spinks almost broke in tears, but soon had to recover and get into the ring, where he and Qawi fought to unify the crown. Spinks was floored in round eight, but he got up and won a 15 round majority decision to become the undisputed world Light Heavyweight champion. He defended the title one more time before the end of the year, against Oscar Rivadeneira in Alaska, whom he beat by a ten round knockout.

Spinks fought only once in 1984, retaining his crown with a 12 round majority decision over Eddie Davis. He and Qawi were only a couple of weeks away from fighting a rematch in September of that year, but that fight got called off when Qawi got injured during training.

In 1985, Spinks beat David Sears and Jim McDonald, both by knockout, in title defenses, before challenging Larry Holmes for the world's Heavyweight championship in a fight recognized by the IBF. Holmes was trying to tie Rocky Marciano's record of 49-0 as the Heavyweight champion with the most fights undefeated, but it was Spinks who made double history that night, winning a 15 round split decision and becoming the first world Light Heavyweight champion ever to win the world Heavyweight title after being Light Heavyweight champion. With this, Michael and Leon had also become the first pair of brothers ever to be world Heavyweight champions. The fight was, once again, broadcast by HBO. When Michael became a world Heavyweight champion, he became a household name, being featured in Budweiser commercials and making cameo appearances in different Hollywood movies.

In 1986, Spinks and Holmes went to an immediate rematch, and had the same result, Spinks winning by a 15 round split decision. After that, he retained the world Heavyweight championship once again, by a knockout in four against Stefan Tangstad. In 1987 he was stripped of the crown by the IBF for refusing to fight their number 1 challenger, Tony Tucker, and accepting a higher offer to fight Gerry Cooney in a non title bout instead. Spinks knocked out Cooney in five rounds, and, after Mike Tyson had unified the Heavyweight belts (including Spinks' IBF belt, which Tyson took away with a twelve round decision over Tucker, who had become world champion when he beat James Buster Douglas), fans started clamoring for a superfight between them.

And so, in 1988, Superfight 88, Tyson Vs. Spinks, came. Tyson inflicted the first and only defeat on Spinks' record by knocking Spinks out in the first round.

After that fight, Spinks retired and never came back to boxing as a boxer. He is now a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, and manages young boxers along with his former manager, Butch Lewis.

Spinks had a record of 31 wins, 1 loss and 21 wins by knockout as a professional.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 12:58 PM

Khaosai Galaxy

Sura Saenkham (born May 15, 1959) was one of the sport of boxing's greatest champions ever, and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

A native of Petchaboon, Thailand, Saenkham was a world champion in the sport of Muay Thai in the early 1980s. As he became popular in his native Thailand, he did as many of his famous countrymen did, and adopted a "catchier" name. He has been known as Khaosai Galaxy ever since.

In December, 1980, he turned his attentions to orthodox boxing and promptly won his first six fights. That earned him a shot at the Thailand bantamweight (118-pound) title on July 29, 1981 against Sakda Saksuree. This was the only fight Galaxy would ever lose.

He won his next three fights, including a knockout of Saksuree, and claimed the Thai bantamweight title early in 1982. After taking his only loss, Galaxy won 15 consecutive fights by knockout and shot up the world rankings to become super flyweight (115-pound) WBA world champion Jiro Watanabe's mandatory challenger by the summer of 1984.

When Watanabe failed to defend his title against Galaxy, the WBA stripped him and matched Galaxy against undefeated Eusebio Espinal for the vacant title on November 21, 1984. Galaxy knocked him out in the sixth round, beginning the longest title reign in his division's history.

Galaxy defended his WBA title 19 times over the next seven years, winning 16 of his title fights by knockouts. In the mid-1980s, when world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was in his prime and scoring knockouts over everyone, boxing fans tagged Galaxy with his nickname The Thai Tyson for his own propensity for knockout wins.

Galaxy fought only once outside the Orient, when he defended against unbeaten (and future WBA bantamweight titleholder) Israel Contreras in Curaçao in 1986. He had two fights in Japan, both with the same man, one in Korea and one in Indonesia. The rest of his fights were in his native Thailand, where he often fought for purses in excess of $100,000 in front of huge crowds. That, and that few top fighters were willing to challenge Galaxy anywhere, made him relatively unknown except to boxing aficionados.

In 1988, his twin brother, fighting under the name Kaokor Galaxy, captured the WBA bantamweight title, making the Saenkham brothers the only twins to ever be world boxing champions.

He fought for the last time on December 21, 1991 in Bangkok, beating Armando Castro over 12 rounds. A few weeks later, he announced his retirement with a record of 50 wins against only one defeat, and never attempted a comeback.

He was elected to the boxing hall of fame in 1999 and remains a national hero in his native Thailand.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 12:59 PM

Evander Holyfield
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Career Snapshot
Born October 19, 1962
Died
Total Fights 48
Won 38
Lost 8
Drew 2
Knockouts 25
Titles Won Heavyweight, Cruiser-
weight (IBF, WBC, WBA)

Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is a professional boxer from The United States. He won a bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games after losing a controversial disqualification to New Zealand's Kevin Barry. His nickname is The Real Deal. Though some might claim Evander Holyfield is a "four time world champion", this claim is spurious to most boxing historians, who claim that Holyfield only regained the lineal heavyweight championship of the world once when he beat Riddick Bowe in their 1993 rematch.

Career
Evander Holyfield debuted as a professional boxer with a nationally televised win in six rounds over Lionel Byarm at the Madison Square Garden, November 11, 1984. He immediately began stepping up in class, as he began 1985 with a win over Eric Winbush, a fighter who had beaten former world Light Heavyweight champion Matthew Saad Muhammad two years before. He had six more wins that year, including victories against Tyrone Booze and former world title challenger Anthony Davis.

He began 1986 with a knockout in three over former world Cruiserweight challenger Chisanda Mutti, and proceeded to beat Jessy Shelby and Terry Mims before being given a world title try by the WBA's world Cruiserweight champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi. In what was called by Ring Magazine as the best cruiserweight bout of the 1980s, Holyfield became world champion by defeating Qawi by a narrow 15 round unanimous decision. He culminated 1986 with a trip to Paris, France, where he beat Mike Brothers by a knockout in three in a non title bout.

In 1987, he defended his title against former Olympic teammate and Gold medal winner Henry Tillman, who had beaten Mike Tyson twice as an amateur. He retained his belt by a knockout in seven rounds, and then went on to unify his WBA belt with the IBF belt held by the IBF's world champion Ricky Parkey, knocking Parkey out in three rounds. For his next bout, he returned to France, where he retained the title with an eleven round knockout against former world champion Ossie Ocasio. In his last fight of '87, he offered Muhammad Qawi a rematch, and this time, he beat Qawi by a knockout in four.

1988 was another productive year for Holyfield: He started by becoming the first, and to this date, only universally recognized world Cruiserweight champion after knocking out the WBC's defending world champion Carlos De Leon in eight rounds at Las Vegas. After that fight, he announced he was moving up in weight to pursue the world Heavyweight crown held by Tyson. His first fight as a Heavyweight took place on July 16, when he beat former Tyson rival James Quick Tillis by a knockout in five in Lake Tahoe, NV. For his third and final bout of '88, he beat former world Heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas, also by a knockout, in seven rounds.

Holyfield began 1989 meeting another former world Heavyweight champion, Michael Dokes. This fight would also be named one of the best fights of the 1980s by Ring magazine, as best Heavyweight bout of the 1980s. Holyfield won by a knockout in the tenth round, and then he met Brazilian champion Adilson Rodrigues, who lasted 2 rounds. His last fight of the 1980s was against Alex Stewart, a fringe contender who was beaten by Holyfield in eight by a technical knockout.

In 1990, Holyfield beat Seamus McDonaugh by a knockout in four, and was by then, ranked number 1 among the world's Heavyweight challengers. By then, however, what is considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history had happened, when James Buster Douglas knocked Tyson out in 10 rounds in February at Tokyo to become the world's Heavyweight champion. And so Holyfield had no choice but to challenge Douglas instead. In the first Pay Per View telecast of boxing in history, Holyfield became the undisputed Heavyweight champion of the world when he knocked Douglas out in three rounds.

In his first defense, he beat former and future world champion George Foreman by a decision in 12, and then a deal was signed for him to defend his crown against Tyson. Tyson was convicted of the rape of Desiree Washington and sentenced to six years in jail, and the proposed fight did not come off. Holyfield made the next defense in Atlanta against Bert Cooper, against whom he had to recover from the first knockdown suffered in his career when Cooper floored him in round three, but he recuperated and knocked Cooper out in round seven.

By 1992, Holyfield was already a household name, announcing multiple products on television, such as Coca Cola and their sugar-free sidekick Diet Coke. He also had a video game released for the Sega Genesis: Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing. He started professing his Christianity everywhere, reminding the public before and after his fights that he is a reborn Christian, and wearing t-shirts with the word Pray in public.

In his first fight that year, he faced former world Heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, and retained the belt, once again by unanimous decision. But for his next fight, he wasn't as lucky: In the beginning of a trilogy of bouts with Riddick Bowe, he suffered his first defeat when Bowe won the world title by a 12 round decision in Las Vegas. Round 10 of that bout was named the Round of the year by Ring Magazine.

He began 1993 by beating Stewart in a rematch, but this time over the 12 round distance. Then came the rematch with Bowe. In what is considered by many historians as one of the most bizarre moments in boxing's history, Holyfield had Bowe pinned against the ropes near the end of round seven, when everyone in the crowd got off their feet and many people started to cover and yell. Holyfield took his eyes off Bowe for one moment and then told Bowe to look up to the skies. What they saw was a man in a parachute flying dangerously close to them. The man landed inside the ring, but tripped off onto one of the ring's corners, where he proceeded to be beaten by members of Bowe's entourage. 20 minutes later, calm was restored and Holyfield went on to recover his world Heavyweight titles with a 12 round majority decision. The guy who parachuted down to the middle of the ring became known as The Fan Man and the fight itself became known as the Fan Man Fight.

For his next fight, in April of 1994, he met former WBO Light Heavyweight champion of the world Michael Moorer, who was attempting to become the first lefty to become world's Heavyweight champion. He dropped Moorer in round two, but suffered a dislocated shoulder, and lost a 12 round majority decision. When he went to the hospital to have his shoulder checked, he was diagnosed also with a heart condition, and had to announce his retirement from boxing. However, watching a television show hosted by preacher Benny Hinn, Holyfield says he felt his heart heal. He and Hinn subsequently became friends, and he became a frequent visitor to Hinn's show. In 1995, Holyfield returned to the ring, with a ten round decision win versus another former world Heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist, Ray Mercer. Then, he and Bowe had their rubber match, and Bowe prevailed, by a knockout in eight.

However, 1996, was a very good year for Holyfield. First, he met former world champion Bobby Czyz, beating him by a knockout in six. Then, he and Tyson finally met. Tyson had recovered the WBC's and the WBA's world Heavyweight championship, and after being stripped of the WBC title for not facing Lennox Lewis, defended the WBA title against Holyfield on November 9 of that year. Tyson was heavily favored to win, but Holyfield made history by joining Muhammad Ali as the only two men ever to become world Heavyweight champions three times, and Ali, former rival De Leon, Sugar Ray Robinson and Marvin Johnson among others, in the club of men who have reigned three or more times in the same division, when he knocked Tyson out in the eleventh round. After the fight, Holyfield said on TV that "My God is the only true God," a reference to the Muslim Tyson. Tyson was extremely humble and courteous after the fight, which only made the events of their rematch seem even more bizarre. Holyfield also had the opportunity to carry the Olympic torch when it was on its way to his hometown of Atlanta for that year's Olympics.

His next fight would also go into the annals of boxing as one of the most bizarre fights in history: He gave Tyson a rematch on June 28, 1997, in what became known as The Bite Fight. In the third round, Tyson bit Holyfield on one of his ears, and he had two points deducted. After biting Holyfield on the other ear, he got disqualified and a melee ensued. After peace was restored inside the ring, a piece of one of Holyfield's ears was found lying around, and it had to be surgically repaired in the hours after the rematch.

Next came another rematch, this time against Moorer, who had recovered the IBF's world title. Holyfield once again unified his WBA belt with the IBF belt by avenging his defeat to Moorer with a knockout win in eight.

In 1998, Holyfield had only one fight, making a mandatory defense against Vaughn Bean, who was defeated at the champion's hometown by a decision. By this time, Holyfield was forced to announce that he believed to have as many as nine out of wedlock children, and his marriage was affected by that announcement.

By 1999, the public was clamoring for a unification bout versus the WBC's world champion, Lennox Lewis of England. That bout happened in February of that year, and things were left right where they were at, when the bout was declared a controversial draw after twelve rounds where it appeared to most that Lewis dominated the fight. They were ordered by the three leading organizations of which they were champions to have an immediate rematch, and the second time around, in November of that year, Lewis became the undisputed champion by beating Holyfield by a unanimous decision.

In 2000, Lewis was stripped of the WBA belt for failing to meet John Ruiz, and the WBA ordered Holyfield and Ruiz to meet for that organization's world title belt. Holyfield and Ruiz began their trilogy in August of that year, with Holyfield making history by winning on a 12 round unanimous decision to become the first boxer in history to be the world's Heavyweight champion four times. The WBA ordered an immediate rematch, however, and seven months later, in March of 2001, it was Ruiz's turn to make history at Holyfield's expense when he beat Holyfield by a 12 round decision to become the first hispanic ever to win the world's Heavyweight title. On December 15 of that year, Holyfield challenged Ruiz for the title, in an attempt to become the first boxer to win the Heavyweight title five times, but he only managed a 12 round draw in the completion of their trilogy.

2002 began as a promising year for Holyfield: in June, he met former world Heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman, to determine who would face Lewis next. Holyfield was leading on two of the three scorecards when he accidentally headbutted Rahman in round seven, and as a consequence, they had to determine the winner by going to the scorecards during the eighth round. Holyfield was ahead, so he was declared the winner by a technical decision. But Lewis refused to meet him for a third time, provoking a situation similar to the one when he refused to meet Ruiz. So, the IBF decided to strip Lewis of his belt, and declared the winner of the fight between Holyfield and former WBO world Heavyweight champion Chris Byrd would be recognized as their world Heavyweight champion. So, on December 14 of '02, Holyfield once again tried to become the first man ever to be world's Heavyweight champion five times when he and Byrd met, but Byrd came out as the winner by a unanimous 12 round decision.

After the fight, Holyfield, who owns a very large mansion with a personal gym in Atlanta, told HBO Boxing's Larry Merchant that he plans to keep on going on with boxing.

On July 3, 2003, Holyfield wed for the fourth time, marrying 24 year old student Candi Calvana Smith.

On October 4 of that year, he lost to former Middleweight world champion and current Cruiserweight world champion James Toney, by a technical knockout in round nine.

Against the wishes of his fans and the boxing community, a 42 year old Holyfield returned to the ring to face the experienced 37 year old Larry Donald, (who had lost to Bowe in a challenge for the WBO world title in 1994) on November 13, 2004. He suffered his third consecutive loss in a twelve round unanimous decision.

In August 2005, the New York Daily News reported the New York State Athletic Commission has banned Evander Holyfield from boxing in New York, even though Holyfield passed a battery of medical tests.

Currently, he has a record of 38 wins, 8 losses and 2 draws, with 25 wins by knockout.

His popularity led to television appearances, first on the Christmas special of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, playing himself.

Holyfield is a founding partner in the Black Family Channel, a "family-friendly" competitor to MTV's Black Entertainment Television.

In 2005, Holyfield made an appearance on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, and another on the original BBC Strictly Come Dancing "Champion of Champions" showdown, which featured the final four teams from the 2005 edition of the British series, plus two celebrities from spinoff versions, paired with British professional dancers, one featuring Holyfield paired with Karen Hardy, and Rachel Hunter paired with Darren Cole.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 01:01 PM

Tommy Morrison
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Career Snapshot
Born January 2, 1969
Died
Total Fights 50
Won 46
Lost 3
Drew 1
Knockouts 40
Titles Won Heavyweight
(IBC, WBO)

Tommy David Morrison (born January 2, 1969, Jay, Oklahoma) is a former heavyweight boxing champion. Dubbed "The Duke", he is the grandnephew of Hollywood star John Wayne. Morrison has also garnered media coverage for his troubled life outside the boxing ring.

Morrison started his professional boxing career on November 10, 1988 with a first round knockout of William Muhammad in New York City. Twenty days later, he scored another first round knockout win.

In 1989, Morrison had 19 wins, 15 by knockout. Among the fighters beaten were former Mike Tyson opponents Lorenzo Boyd, Dave Jaco and Lorenzo Canady, as well as former George Foreman opponents Steve Zouski and Ken Lakusta.

His biggest breakthrough, however, came in 1989, when Sylvester Stallone was a spectator at one of Morrison's bouts and realised that Morrison would be ideal for Rocky V. Stallone arranged for Morrison to have a script reading, and was cast as Tommy Gunn in the movie. While Morrison did win two fights in 1990, it was when Rocky V was released in December of that year that he gained mainstream popularity.
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In 1991, Morrison, already the receiver of much television exposure, won four fights, against opponents the calibre of former Larry Holmes world title challenger and Tyson opponent James Quick Tillis, and former world champion Pinklon Thomas. He was then given a crack at becoming world Heavyweight champion by WBO champ Ray Mercer in a Pay Per View card held on October 18 1991. Morrison lost what turned out to be a highlight film knockout in round five.

Morrison had six wins in 1992, including one over former Riddick Bowe opponent Art Tucker, and one over future world title challenger Joe Hipp, who would later become the first Native American to challenge for the world Heavyweight title. After two wins in 1993, including one over two-time former world title challenger Carl Williams, Morrison found himself fighting for the world championship again, this time against Foreman, On June 7. Morrison surprised many critics by outpointing Foreman over 12 rounds, winning the world title. Almost immediately, talks of a fight with WBC world champion Lennox Lewis began, although it would not have been a unification bout, because the WBC has always refused to recognize the WBO.

Talks of a Morrison-Lewis fight, however, momentarily came to a stop because Morrison was himself upset in his first defense by virtually unknown Michael Bentt, being knocked out in round one in front of a live HBO Boxing audience.

He recovered by winning three bouts in a row in 1994, but then, he drew in his last fight of the year, against another virtual unknown, Ross Puritty.

He won three fights in 1995 before meeting Razor Ruddock for the IBC Heavyweight Championship. This fight was named fight of the year by various magazines, as Morrison dropped Ruddock several times, but had to climb off the canvas in round one himself before scoring a sixth round knockout win.

The fight with Lewis, who had also lost his world championship, finally came off after the fight against Ruddock. Lewis stopped Morrison in six rounds.

A few days before his next fight, to be shown on Showtime, Morrison had a mandatory HIV test performed by the Nevada state athletic commission. It was revealed during Showtime's telecast of the boxing undercard, that Morrison was on a flight home to Oklahoma City, following the revelation that the HIV test proved positive, automatically retiring him from boxing as a competitor.

Later in 1996, Morrison announced that he wished to make a comeback with one more bout, the proceeds of which would go to benefit his newly created KnockOut Aids Foundation. Morrison won what would turn out to be his final fight, a first round knockout of Marcus Rhode in Tokyo. Morrison finished his boxing career with a record of 46 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw, with 40 of his wins by knockout.

Morrison spent 14 months in prison after retiring on drug and weapons charges.

On September 8, 2003, Morrison's wife Dawn gave birth to a boy, Tristin Duke Morrison. He and his family currently live in rural White County, Tennessee, where he is seeking a return to acting, and doesn't rule out the possibility of fighting again. He is currently penning his autobiography and has recently signed a deal that would see a movie produced on his life.

On April of 2005, Morrison admitted in an interview to using steroids, both before, during and after his boxing career was over

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 01:02 PM

Mike McCallum
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Born: 1956
Bouts: 55
Won: 49
Lost: 5
Drew: 1
KOs: 36
Induction: 2003

Born Michael McKenzie McCallum on December 7, 1956 in Kingston, Jamaica. Nicknamed "The Body Snatcher" for his fierce body punching, McCallum was an impressive amateur, amassing a 240-10 record. Among his many amateur achievements include a berth on the 1976 Olympic team and National Golden Gloves and AAU championships.

A stylish boxer/puncher, he turned pro in 1981 and won the vacant WBA junior middleweight title from Sean Mannion in 1984. He defended it successfully six times, including wins over Julian Jackson, Milton McCrory and a dramatic kayo over Donald Curry, before abandoning the crown to compete as a middleweight. In 1988 McCallum lost a 12-round decision to Sumbu Kalambay for the WBA middleweight championship. Undeterred, "The Body Snatcher" defeated Herol Graham in 1989 to add the vacant WBA middleweight title to his collection. He defended the belt three times with wins over Steve Collins, Michael Watson and Kalambay before the WBA stripped him of the title. McCallum next challenged the IBF middleweight king James "Lights Out" Toney for middleweight supremacy on December 13, 1991. The highly competitive bout ended in a draw and in a rematch he dropped a 12-round decision to Toney. McCallum's championship days were not over as he went up in weight and won the WBC light heavyweight title from Jeff Harding in 1994 to become a three-division champion.

After losing the title to Frenchman Fabrice Tiozzo, McCallum met Roy Jones, Jr. for the vacant WBC light heavyweight belt, losing a 12-round decision. Following a rubber match with James Toney (L12), McCallum retired from the ring with a 49-5-1 (36KOs) record. Regarded as a superb ring technician, McCallum is now a boxing trainer based in Las Vegas.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:34 PM

Rocky Marciano
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Rocco Francis Marchegiano, better known as Rocky Marciano, (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969), was an Italian-American boxer. He was the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion from September 23, 1952 to November 30, 1956. As Marciano is the only champion of any weight class to retire undefeated and without any draws, there are some who consider him to be the greatest boxer of all time. The closest anyone has come to matching this accomplishment is Ricardo Lopez who retired undefeated in 2001 from the Minimum (Fly) Weight division at 51-0-1.

Early years
Marciano was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts. When he was one year old, he contracted pneumonia, from which he almost did not survive. As a youngster, he played baseball and worked out on homemade weightlifting equipment, and used a stuffed mail bag that hung from a tree in his back yard as a punching bag. He initially wanted to be a baseball player rather than a boxer.

He attended Brockton High School where he played on football and baseball teams. However he was cut from the baseball team because he had joined a church league, violating a school rule forbidding players from joining other teams. He later dropped out of school after finishing 10th grade.

Marciano found work as a chute man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company, and later worked as shoe salesman. At age 20, he was called up by the United States Army to serve in England, but World War II ended and he returned home.

Amateur circuit
While awaiting discharge from the army, Rocky decided to take part in an amateur boxing competition, where he represented the Army and won. Later, when the Golden Gloves champion boxer Henry Lester (real name Hendrik van Leesten) was looking for an opponent, Marciano fought him but was disqualified. Reportedly, Marciano was facing defeat when someone in the crowd shouted "If you can't hit him, Rock, kick him!", which he did, striking Lester in the lower abdomen, while others say he hit Lester in the stomach with his knee.

His next big opportunity was the national AAU championships. Marciano won his first two bouts by knockouts in the first round, but by the third bout, his knuckles were damaged, and he lost by decision for the championship. His hand later required surgery.

For a time he played semi-pro baseball, and was signed by the Chicago Cubs to a minor league contract. However, feeling discouraged about his chances of making it to the big leagues, he returned to Brockton and began boxing training with longtime friend Allie Colombo.

Professional career
On March 17, 1947, Rocky finally stepped into the ring as a professional competitor for the first time. That night, he beat Lee Epperson by a knockout in three rounds. He won all his first sixteen bouts by knockout, all but one before the fourth round, and nine before the first round was over. On May 23, 1949, Don Mogard became the first boxer to last the distance with "The Rock", but Rocky won by decision.

Early in his career, he changed the spelling of his last name. The ring announcer in Providence, Rhode Island could not pronounce Marchegiano, so his handler said to call him Marciano.

He won three more by knockout, and then he met Ted Lowry, who, according to many scribes and witnesses, probably managed to take three or four of the ten rounds away from Rocky. Nevertheless, Rocky kept his winning streak alive by beating Lowry by decision. Rocky fought Lowry twice and both times bouts lasted 10 rounds. Four more knockout wins followed, and then another hard-fought ten-round decision victory, over his future world title challenger Roland La Starza. He won three more knockouts in a row before a rematch with Lowry. Marciano again won, by unanimous decision. After that, he won four more by knockout and, after a win in six over Red Applegate, he was showcased on national TV for the first time, when he knocked out Rex Layne in six rounds on July 12, 1951. One more win, and he was again on national TV, this time against Joe Louis. Marciano defeated Louis in what would be the latter's last career bout, a result that left him with mixed emotions as Louis had been the idol of his childhood.

After that series of wins, Marciano was a ranked Heavyweight. After four more wins, including victories over Lee Savold and Harry Matthews, Marciano faced world Heavyweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott in Philadelphia on September 23, 1952. After being dropped in round one, Marciano got up and knocked Walcott out in the thirteenth round, becoming the World's Heavyweight Champion. A rematch was fought one year later and, in Marciano's first title defense, he retained the title with a first-round knockout of Walcott. Next, it was La Starza's turn to challenge Marciano, and after building a small lead on the judges' scorecards all the way to the middle rounds, La Starza was knocked out in eleven by the champion. Then came former world Heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles, whom Marciano beat by a decision in their first bout. Ezzard Charles was the only man to ever last fifteen rounds against Marciano and the champ later praised him as one of the toughest men he ever fought in his life. After having his nose split in round six of the rematch, Marciano retained the title with an eighth-round knockout win. Then Marciano met British and European champion Don Cockell, beat him in nine rounds, and in his last bout, Marciano got up off the canvas in round two to retain his title by a knockout in nine against the equally-legendary Light-Heavyweight Champion of the World, Archie Moore. Rocky was named fighter of the year in 1952,1954 and 1955 by Ring Magazine.

After boxing
Marciano managed his money well after his retirement and lived comfortably. He hosted a weekly boxing show on TV for one year, and for a brief period worked as a trouble-shooting referee in professional wrestling. He continued as a referee and boxing commentator in boxing matches until his death. He was a guest referee many times.

Death
In 1969, Rocky was a passenger in a small private plane, a Cessna 172H, headed to Des Moines, Iowa. It was at night and bad weather set in. The pilot tried to set the plane down at a small airfield outside Newton, Iowa, but hit a tree two miles short of the runway. Rocky Marciano, the pilot, and another passenger were killed on impact. Rocky was on his way to make a speech for his friend's son, he hoped to return early morning for his birthday celebration with his wife. He left no will.

Legacy
Rocky had a professional record of 49-0 with 43 knockouts. Some say he was 50-0 (with 44 knockouts), but that bout can not be proven as professional, yet. He was originally scheduled to fight Nino Valdes in his last fight on January 2, 1956 (or at a later date in June 1956), but that fight never took place. Other possible contenders near the end of Marciano's career were Tommy Hurricane Jackson and Floyd Patterson; however, Patterson was not yet ready to take on Marciano and wanted to fight for light-heavyweight championship first for about 1-2 years.

Marciano holds the record for the longest undefeated streak by a heavyweight and for being the only world Heavyweight champion to go undefeated throughout his career. This record was challenged by Larry Holmes in 1985 when Holmes went 48-0 before losing to Michael Spinks twice. Mexican Legend Julio Cesar Chavez holds the record for longest undefeated streak with 88 straight wins until he suffered a draw in 1993.

Rocky was knocked down to the canvas only twice — for a total of five seconds of counting — in his entire professional career. On both occasions he returned to KO his opponent. Only Gene Tunney and George Chuvalo were knocked down fewer times. And Vitali Klitschko, who was never knocked down. Tunney was knocked down once for a nine count — in the famous Long Count Fight against Jack Dempsey.

Marciano was the subject of the 1999 made-for-TV film Rocky Marciano [1] as well as Marciano in 1979 [2]. Also, in the movie Rocky, the Rocky Balboa character told his trainer Mickey that Marciano was his favorite boxer. Marciano has also been the subject of several paintings, and he is on a US postage stamp commemorating his life.

Marciano, like rivals Louis, Walcott and Moore, is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. Other awards which Marciano won included the Hickok Belt for top professional athlete of the year 1952.

Numerous books have been written about Marciano, including Everett M. Skehan's Rocky Marciano, Biography of a First Son, whose cover appears at the top of this page. Ring Magazine numbered Marciano at number fourteen in its list of The 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time, released in 2003.

Rocky Marciano is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His wife died five years later and is buried next to him. His father died in 1973 at the age of 79, but mother continued to live for a few more years.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:40 PM

Salvador Sánchez
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Salvador Sánchez Santiago (January 26, 1959 - August 12, 1982) was a Mexican boxer born in the small town of Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico.

Sánchez started his career very young, as a teenager, and he started piling up wins against tough Mexican opposition. His first fight of note came against the Mexican featherweight champion Antonio Becerra, and Becerra proved far too experienced for the young Sánchez, dropping him in the first round, en route to a 12 round unanimous decision. This would turn out to be Sánchez's last knockdown and loss suffered during his career.

Sánchez kept on fighting and moved to the Featherweight division. Soon he had beaten people like the Puerto Rican featherweight champion Felix Trinidad Sr., on his way to securing a title shot at world champion Danny "Little Red" Lopez, a popular TV fighter of the late 1970s who was an impressive fighter and had won some spectacular fights against the likes of former world champion David Kotey (twice), Juan Malvares and Mike Ayala. Confident and hard to beat, Lopez was beaten by Sánchez, who knocked out the defending champion in 13 rounds in Phoenix, Arizona. Thinking it was just a case of 'beginner's luck' (as it was Sánchez's first world title fight ever) Lopez looked for a rematch and this he got, in Las Vegas. This time he lasted one more round.

After defeating the young future world champion Juan Laporte, Sánchez embarked on a string of defenses against men like Patrick Ford and Roberto Castanon, retaining his title each time. Then World Jr Featherweight champion Wilfredo Gomez went up in weight and challenged Sánchez. Sánchez retained the crown by a knockout in round eight on August 21, 1981 in Las Vegas, and Gómez had to return to the Jr. Featherweight division.

With that victory, Salvador Sánchez was an unknown to the casual boxing fan no more. He became a household name all over America that night.

Two fights later, his defense vs unheralded Jorge "Rocky" Garcia was the first fight featuring two featherweights ever to be televised by HBO. He beat Garcia punch after punch, but the challenger gave honor to his nickname, an unknown fighter who lasts the distance with the world champion.

Then came Azumah Nelson at Madison Square Garden. The unknown Nelson came from Ghana and would later become a 3 time world champion and a future hall of famer. He was unknown however, and was expected to only go a few rounds with the champ. It was an intense battle, with Sánchez managing to drop his young charge in the 7th round. After that they engaged in violent exchange after violent exchange. In the 15th, Sánchez broke out finally, connecting with a serious combination that dropped the challenger almost outside the ring. Referee Tony Perez had to stop the fight seconds later.

The fight with Nelson proved to be Sánchez's last. As he was training for a rematch with Laporte set for September, he crashed on the early morning of August 12, 1982 while driving his brand new Porsche sports car, dying instantly. At the time of his death at 23, there were talks about a rematch with Gómez or a challenge of world lightweight champion Alexis Argüello.

Sánchez was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in 1991.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:42 PM

Orlando Canizales
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To some, he might have just another boxer, another champ, a face amongst many. But to the City of Laredo, TX, he was more. He was a champ, their champ. Orlando Canizales grew up in the city of Laredo, deep in the heart of South Texas and got into boxing through his older brother Gaby Canizales. Gaby himself went on to hold the WBA and WBC Bantamweight titles.

In his first professional bout, which took place in the parking lot of a mall, Orlando was on the under-card to his brother Gaby, who was defending his USBA bantamweight title Vs. Kelvin Seabrooks. Almost 4 years later, Orlando himself fought Kelvin Seabrook, knocking Seabrooks out in the 15th round to become the IBF bantamweight champion. Orlando successfully defended his bantamweight title 16 consecutive times, from 1988 until 1995, when he relinquished his belt and moved up to challenge Wilfredo Vasquez for the WBA Super Bantamweight title. The bout was Orlando's first on HBO. Orlando moved up to 122 lbs and 126 before retiring in 1999.

Orlando fought the likes of Wilfredo Vasquez, Junior Jones, who defeated Marco Antonio Barrera twice, Bones Adams, Bill Hardy, Paul Gonzales, Sergio Reyes, and Kelvin Seabrooks twice. The Canizales-Junior Jones bout was on the under card to the Arturo Gatti-Wilson Rodriguez war on HBO’s Boxing After Dark back in 1996.

Orlando’s Hall of Fame credentials include a record of 50 wins, 37 by knockout to only 5 losses, with 1 draw and 1 no contest. Orlando never lost by way of knockout, going the distance in all 5 of his losing contests. Orlando holds the all-time Bantamweight record for most consecutive successful title defenses with 16 and will be remembered, as one of the great bantamweight fighters of all time.

In May of 2003, Orlando graduated from Texas A&M International University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:43 PM

Jung Koo Chang
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Jung Koo Chang (born February 4, 1963 in Busan) is a South Korean whom many have called that nation's greatest world boxing champion. His nickname is The Korean Hawk.

In Chang's first world title try, he lost to Hilario Zapata of Panama by a decision in 15 rounds in 1982. However, in a rematch held at Seoul, he avenged that loss and became world champion by knocking out Zapata in three rounds.

Chang then went on to establish a world record for the most defenses as a world Jr. Flyweight champion, defending the title successfully 16 times between 1983 and 1989.

Chang had a record of 38 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw, with 17 wins by knockout.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:44 PM

Fidel LaBarba
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LaBarba was fast on his feet and hit accurately; He was a converted left-hander and a great defensive fighter who used a weaving style. LaBarba won the Flyweight Championship in 1927 and retired from boxing at the end of that year to attend Stanford University. He returned to the ring in 1928 and and fought for six years but never regained the title.

Nat Fleischer ranked him as the #4 All-Time Flyweight; Charley Rose ranked him as the #3 All-Time Flyweight; He was elected to the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1972 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996.

BORN : September 29 1905; New York City, NY
DIED : October 3 1981; Los Angeles, California

HEIGHT : 5-3 WEIGHT : 112-124 lbs
MANAGER : George Blake

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:45 PM

Jeff Fenech
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[SIZEe=5]Jeff Fenech aka 'The Marrickville Mauler' (born May 28, 1964 in Marrickville, Sydney, Australia) is an Australian of Maltese parents is a former boxer, to whom many Australians refer to as the greatest boxing champion to ever come out of the country. Fenech is considered by many to be a national sports hero in Australia.[/SIZE]
Fenech had a stellar amateur career, which led to him representing his country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. It was that year that Fenech began his professional boxing career, beating Bobby Williams by a knockout in two in his homeland. Fenech was a fast starter: He won his first eleven bouts by knockout, and held his first fight abroad in only his fourth fight, when he beat Iliesa Manila by a knockout in two at Fiji.

He beat fringe contenders Wayne Mulholland and Rolando Navarro, both by a knockout in the fifth round, to start 1985. After those two wins, he was placed number one among the world's Bantamweights by the International Boxing Federation. Fenech only took six professional fights to become the number one contender, and he placed in fifth place all time for the boxer who got to fight for the world title the fastest after beginning his career when he challenged Shatoshi Shingaki for the world's title in only his seventh bout, displacing the second Davey Moore, and trailing Leon Spinks, Saensak Muangsuring, Pete Rademacher and Rafael Lovera. Fenech was the third fastest boxer to become a world champion, behind Muangsuring and Spinks, when he knocked out Shingaki in nine rounds in Sydney. After two non title knockout wins, he gave Shingaki a rematch and retained the crown with a knockout in three. After one more non title knockout win, Fenech had to go the distance for the first time, when he faced Jerome Coffee, retaining the title by a 15 round unanimous decision.

In 1986, Fenech had only two bouts, but they were both major fights: He won a 10 round, non title fight decision over former world Bantamweight and future world Featherweight champion Daniel Zaragoza, and he retained the world championship with a knockout in 14 over the late Steve McCrory.

1987 was a big year for Fenech. He went up in weight, and in his first fight as a Jr. Featherweight, he defeated Tony Miller by a decision. Then, the WBC's world Jr. Featherweight champion, Samart Payakarum, travelled to Australia to defend his belt against Fenech. Fenech became a two time world champion by knocking Payakarum out in four rounds. For his next defense, he met future world Jr. Bantamweight champion Greg Richardson and knocked him out in five. Then, it was former world Bantamweight champion Carlos Zarate's turn to challenge Fenech. Fenech retained his crown by a technical decision win in four rounds, and then finished his year by knocking out Osmar Avila in one round in a non title affair.

By 1988, Fenech had grown into a Featherweight, and the WBC faced him with Puerto Rico's former world Jr. Featherweight champion Victor Luvi Callejas, once again, in Sydney. Fenech became a three time world champion, joining boxing's exclusive group of fighters who have been world champs in three or more divisions, by knocking Callejas out in the 10th. round. He retained that title twice before the year was over, knocking out Tyrone Downes and Georgie Navarro, both in the fifth round.

In 1989, he beat Marcos Villasana and former Julio Cesar Chavez challenger Mario Martinez, both by decision.

After that, Fenech took one year off and came back in 1991 as a Jr. Lightweight. After beating Johnny Calhoun by a knockout in four, he tried to become a four division world champion when he met His Highness Azumah Nelson (who, apart from being a world boxing champion, is an African prince). He came close to beating Nelson on an HBO Boxing televised bout, but the fight was declared a draw after twelve rounds in Las Vegas. After beating Miguel Francia in Australia to finish 1991, HH Nelson travelled to Melbourne to offer Fenech a second title try at Jr. Lightweight, and this time, Fenech suffered his first loss, when he was knocked out in the eighth round for HH Nelson to retain the world title.

After that fight, he fought sporadically. In 1993, he was beaten in seven rounds by knockout by American former world Featherweight champion Calvin Grove, and in 1995, he beat Tialano Tovar, by a knockout in eight at New Jersey. Finally, in what would turn out to be both his last title fight and his last fight, he lost to IBF world Lightweight champion Phillip Holiday of South Africa by a knockout in the second round in 1996. He retired after the bout.

In retirement, Fenech has kept busy, and now he is the owner of a sports clothing brand that carries his name in Australia. In addition, he was inducted in 2002 into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in Canastota, New York.

On January 5, 2004, Fenech was attacked and stabbed by four men in Sydney, receiving facial cuts that required plastic surgery.

In June of the same year, the Fenech family home was attacked by shooters; seven bullets were recovered but no one was injured. Australian police believe the two attacks against Fenech are connected, ranging from a bar fight that Fenech had with a gang-member in 2003. The Australian newspaper quoted someone related to a gang stating that "they will get him", but Fenech does not believe that the violent events are related.

Fenech retired with a record of 27 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw, with 20 wins by knockout.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:47 PM

Wilfredo Gómez
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Wilfredo Gómez (born October 29, 1956) is a former boxer and three time world champion. Nicknamed "Bazooka", Gómez had one of the highest knockout win percentages in professional boxing, winning 88 percent of his bouts by knockout. Ring Magazine ranked Gómez as thirteenth on a list of the all-time greatest punchers in 2003.

Biography
Gomez was born in a poor area of Las Monjas in San Juan. He has admitted to newspapers that, as a little child, he had to fight off bullies on Las Monjas' streets. He has told some Puerto Rican newspapers that he felt he was born to fight because of that situation. Gomez's father was a taxi driver and his mother was a homemaker. Gomez himself reportedly used a bicycle as means of transportation when he was young, and he sold candy to earn pocket money before becoming a professional boxer.

Gómez won the gold medal at the 1972 Central American and Caribbean Games held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and the world amateur championship in 1974 in Havana before turning professional. He also competed in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, getting eliminated by an Egyptain rival in the Olympic's first round of bouts. He compiled an overall record of 96 wins and 3 defeats as an amateur boxer. Because of his family's economical situation, he decided not to wait for the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada, opting to begin making money right after the Cuban competition instead. Coming from Puerto Rico, he settled for less money and exposure from the American media, and moved to Costa Rica, where he began to tour all of Central America in hopes of finding matches. His professional debut came in Panama City, Panama, where he fought to a draw with Jacinto Fuentes. After this un-auspicious debut, he reeled off a streak of 32 knockout wins in a row, including wins over Fuentes, who was dispatched in 2 rounds in a rematch, and future world champion Alberto Davila, who lasted 9 rounds before being defeated. His 32 knockout wins in a row make him the world champion with the longest knockout streak in history, placing him in third place behind Lamar Parks (44) and Billy Fox (43) for the all-time knockout streak. Among world champions, Gomez had the longest knockout winning streak; neither Parks nor Fox won world titles.

Gómez's knockout streak caught the eye of the World Junior Featherweight champion Dong Hyung Yen, who travelled to San Juan, Puerto Rico to defend his crown against Gómez. Yen had a promising start, dropping Gómez 30 seconds into the bout, but Gómez picked himself up and eventually won the crown, his first world title, with a 12th round knockout. His first defense took him to the Far East, where he beat former world champion Royal Kobayashi in 3 rounds in Tokyo. Kobayashi had lasted 5 rounds vs Alexis Arguello and 10 rounds vs Roberto Duran when Duran was a Featherweight. Next was Ryu Tomonari in a small city of Thailand. He lasted 2 rounds.

Gómez in December, 2003.Gómez's streak reached 32 knockouts in a row. Those 32 knockouts in a row included what is generally considered to be his biggest victory ever, a five round defeat of World Bantamweight champion Carlos Zarate, who was 55-0 with 54 knockout wins coming into their San Juan bout. Also included in that streak was future world champion Leo Cruz, beaten in 13 rounds at San Juan. After recording his 32rd. knockout win in a row, he moved up in weight to face the world Featherweight champion Salvador Sanchez of Mexico. Not realizing Sanchez was the defending champion for this bout, Gómez undertrained and lost the bout by a knockout in 8 rounds in Las Vegas, and later said he had learned never underestimate a foe as a result.

Hoping to get a rematch with Sanchez, Gómez went back to the Junior Featherweight division, where he got a dispense from the WBC to make 2 preparation bouts before defending his title again. He did so and won 2 non title bouts in a row , both by knockout in the 2nd round, one over Jose Luis Soto, who was a stablemate of Julio Cesar Chavez back in Culiacan, Mexico. Wins over future world champ Juan 'Kid' Meza, knocked out in six in Atlantic City, and Juan Antonio Lopez, knocked out in ten as part of the Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney undercard followed, but all chances of a rematch with Sanchez were dashed when Sanchez died tragically in a car crash outside Mexico City the morning of August 12th , 1982. Mexico's boxing fans and general public mourned their gone champion, and boxing fans across Latin America joined Mexico in their tragedy. Gómez, who was training to defend against Mexican Roberto Rubaldino only 5 days later, took a quick trip to Mexico to offer Sanchez flowers and then returned to Puerto Rico the same afternoon. He beat Rubaldino by knockout in 8 rounds and made 1 more title defense, against the Mexican bantamweight world champ Lupe Pintor in the Carnival of Champions in New Orleans, winning by knockout in 14 rounds. The Pintor contest was the only time a Gómez fight was showcased on HBO, which at the time exclusively showcased the largest boxing fights, much like the Pay Per View system does currently.

By the time he was done with the Junior Featherweights, Gómez had established a division record of 17 defenses, and a world record of most defenses in a row won by knockout, all his defenses finishing before the established distance limit.

He then re-tried winning the Featherweight title and this time, he achieved his dream, winning his second world title by dethroning Juan Laporte, a fellow Puerto Rican who had won the title left vacant after Sanchez died. He beat Laporte by a 12 round unanimous decision. This time, however, it didn't last that long. Ahead on all scorecards, Gómez was the victim of a rally by Azumah Nelson of Ghana who knocked him out in 11 exhilarating rounds in San Juan, December 8, 1984. Nelson himself became a future hall of famer by making a string of defenses in the Featherweights and becoming a 3 time world champion himself later. Nelson was inducted into boxing's Hall of Fame in 2004.

Gómez wanted either a rematch with Nelson or a shot at Junior Lightweight world champ Rocky Lockridge of New Jersey, whichever came first. Lockridge was first to offer Gomez a try, and the 2 battled a closely scored 15 round bout in San Juan, with Gómez being given a split 15 round decision, which many experts have said Lockridge deserved, but also which in the opinion of most who saw it life, was a justified decision.

This reign also came to an end quick, Gómez being handed his 3rd loss at the hands of young Alfredo Layne by knockout in 9 rounds. Layne lost the title in his own first defense to South Africa's Bryan Mitchell, and it became obvious Gómez's best years had gone by, so he retired after this fight.

Gómez tried a comeback in 1988 and 1989, but after winning 2 more bouts by knockout, he realized boxing wasn't in his heart anymore and retired for good. He later moved to Venezuela, where he ran into drug problems, causing him trouble with the law and spending some months in jail. He attended a rehabilitation center in Colombia. Gomez rebounded and is now back in Puerto Rico, where he has managed to stay off drugs, and he helped the legendary 3 time world champion Hector 'Macho' Camacho with the training of Camacho's son Hector Camacho Jr., who is a prospect in the Jr Welterweight division. In 1998, Gòmez became a newborn Christian [1].

On May 18, 2003, Gómez returned to Panama, where he was received by Duran and Eusebio Pedroza, among others. In a message geared towards Panamanians, he expressed thanks to that country, calling it his second country and saying, among other things "I'm very motivated now that I will return to Puerto Rico, and no one should be surprised if I buy an apartment in Panama and move my family here". However, he bought a house in Kissimmee, Florida in 2006, and plans to move there by May of that year. (in Spanish). Gómez has three daughters (Jennifer, Maria Helena and Linselina) and one son (Wilfredo Jr.).

Gómez was featured alongside other Latin Americans such as Pele, Fidel Castro and Frida Kahlo on reggaeton singer Don Omar's 2006 video for his song, "Reggaeton Latino".

Gómez had a record of 44 win, 3 losses and 1 draw, with 42 knock out wins. In 1978, he was named Boxing Illustrated's fighter of the year [2]. He is now a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Bazooka: The Battles of Wilfredo Gómez was broadcast on HBO in April, 2004 as a telemovie about the life of Wilfredo Gómez.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:49 PM

Maxie Rosenbloom
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Maxie Rosenbloom, born September 6, 1903 in Harlem, New York City, United States – died March 6, 1976 in South Pasadena, California, was a boxing champion and film actor.

Growing up in a tough neighborhood, Maxie Rosenbloom learned to defend himself. Not a heavy puncher, as a professional boxer he relied on hitting and moving to score points, his fights often going the full number of required rounds. Dubbed Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom because at times he seemed to slap his opponent rather than punch, he nevertheless won the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World in 1932. He held and defended the title until November of 1934 when he lost it to Bob Olin.

In 1937, he accepted a role in a Hollywood film and after retiring from boxing in 1939 he operated nightclubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles while acting in a number of films, usually playing comedic roles as a big, clumsy, punch-drunk lout. His 300 boxing matches brought thousands of head punches that eventually led to the deterioration of his motor functions.

In 1972, Rosenbloom was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993.

On his passing in 1976, Maxie Rosenbloom was interred in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, California.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:51 PM

Bob Montgomery
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Born: February 10, 1919
Total Bouts: 97
Won: 75
Lost: 19
Drew: 3
KOs: 37
Induction: 1995

THE "PHILADELPHIA Bobcat" turned pro in 1938 and campaigned primarily in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, going unbeaten in his first 23 fights.
He is best known for splitting his thrilling four-fight series with fellow Hall of Famer, Beau Jack. In their first meeting, on May 21, 1943, Montgomery won the New York State world lightweight title by decisioning Jack over 15 rounds. He would lose the crown to Jack six months later.

After a win over Ike Williams and a loss to Bummy Davis, Montgomery regained the New York State title with another decision over Jack in 1944. The most famous Montgomery-Jack encounter, however, was their August 4, 1944 non-title bout at Madison Square Garden. The 15,822 who attended were encouraged to buy war bonds and thus generated a record gate of $35,864,000.

Shortly after, both Montgomery and Jack were inducted into the U.S. Army. In 1946, Montgomery successfully defended his title against Allie Stolz and Wesley Mouzon. He was then knocked out by Williams, the NBA champion, in a 1947-bout to determine an undisputed world lightweight champion.

Over his 97-bout career Montgomery also defeated a legion of top fighters including Lew Jenkins, Davey Day, Lulu Costantino, Fritzie Zivic, Joey Peralta, Leo Rodak and Tony Pellone.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:53 PM

Tony Zale

Born: May 29, 1913
Died: March 20, 1997
Total Bouts: 87
Won: 67
Lost: 18
Drew: 2
KOs: 45
Induction: 1991

KNOWN as "The Man of Steel," middleweight champion Tony Zale is best remembered for his thrilling three-fight series with fellow Hall-of-Famer Rocky Graziano.
Born Anthony Florian Zaleski, in Gary, Indiana, Zale opted for a boxing career rather than a lifetime spent working in Gary's steel mills. He worked the mills throughout his amateur career but turned to boxing fulltime when he entered the pro ranks in 1934.

By 1939, Zale was considered a top-10 middleweight by virtue of splitting a four-fight series with contender Nate Bolden. He was considered impervious to pain. He managed to endure endless punishment and time and again would snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

In 1940, he decisioned NBA middleweight champ Al Hostak in a non-title fight. That win earned him a return match with Hostak. This time, with the belt on the line, Zale knocked Hostak out in the 13th to win the title.

Zale remained busy, splitting a pair of non-title fights with Billy Soose and Fred Apostoli to close out the 1940 campaign. In 1941, he defended the NBA title with knockout victories over Steve Mamakos and Hostak. Then he gained universal recognition as middleweight champion by decisioning New York State king Georgie Abrams.

In 1942, Zale dropped a 12-round decision to former light heavy king Billy Conn and then joined the Navy, serving until the end of World War II.

Zale, now 33, was still recognized as champion when the war ended and thus began his series with Graziano. In the first match, at Yankee Stadium, each fighter went down in the first two rounds. Then Graziano assumed control of the fight, battering Zale through the fifth round. But somehow, Zale came out and knocked Graziano out in the sixth. That win earned Zale Fighter of the Year honors from Ring Magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America.

The rematch in 1947 was just as brutal as the first fight, with Graziano winning this time by sixth-round knockout. In the third and final match, later in '47, Zale knocked out Graziano in three to regain the crown.

Three months later, Zale lost the title to Marcel Cerdan and retired from boxing. So exciting were Zale's fights that two of the Graizano contests and the Cerdan fight were named Fight of The Year by Ring Magazine.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:54 PM

Ted Lewis

The Kid
A member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Lewis was the world welterweight champion in 1915-16, and again from 1917-19. Also nicknamed the "Aldgate Sphinx," the "Kid" was the first fighter to use a protective mouthpiece, and fought in six different divisions in his 20-year career. The Boxing Register: The International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book wrote that Lewis was "perhaps the best pound-for-pound boxer England has ever produced.

Birth and Death Dates:
b. October 24, 1894 - d. October 20, 1970

Career Highlights:
The son of a cabinet maker in London's East End, Lewis began his professional boxing career in September 1909 at the age of 14; his prize was a cup of tea and sixpence. For his next victory, he won a silver cup; but his rewards became greater with every subsequent victory. In 1911, Lewis fought an incredible 58 bouts, losing only three, then followed that up by fighting 39 more times in 1912 (only four losses), and steadily rising up the ranks of the British featherweights. By 1913, he was a contender for the British title and after defeating Joe Starmer in an elimination bout in June, Lewis, at the ripe old age of 18, became England's youngest boxing champion when he knocked out Alec Lambert in the 17th-round to win the British featherweight title.
Not resting on his laurels, "Kid" won the European featherweight title on a disqualification against Paul Til in the 12th-round four months later. After a quick tour of Australia, where Lewis won four of five fights, he arrived in North America in November 1911. With bouts in such cities as Philadelphia, New York, Havana, Buffalo, and Montreal, Lewis went undefeated in his first 15 fights. His success prompted world welterweight champion Jack Britton to give Lewis a title bout. The two had previously fought in March with the bout ending in a 10-round no decision. The title bout took place on August 31, 1915 in Boston, with Lewis winning a 12-round decision. Only 21-years old, Ted Lewis, formerly Gershon Mendeloff, was champion of the world.

A month later, Lewis and Britton fought again, this time in a non-title bout, and Lewis was again the victor in a 12-round decision. The Lewis-Britton rivalry is considered one of greatest in ring history as they fought for the title five times with Lewis winning two and Britton three. Maybe more importantly though, was that they engaged in an additional sixteen non-title bouts in a six year span; combined, the two great fighters fought for a total of 224 rounds. The title bouts took place in April 1916 when Lewis lost the title, June 1917 when he regained it before losing it for a final time in March 1919. In February 1921, Lewis lost to Britton in an attempt to regain the title; it was the final time they would meet. During his six-year rivalry with Britton, Lewis fought 87 bouts against other fighters, and lost only four (he and the great Benny Leonard fought a 10-round no decision in 1918).

Although the rivalry was over by 1921, Lewis' career as a champion was not. In March 1920, he won the British welterweight title by knocking out Johnny Bee in the fourth-round. Lewis then proceeded to knock out Johnny Basham in the ninth-round on June 9 to capture the European, Commonwealth, and British welterweight titles. He defeated Basham again five months later, but relinquished the European title in December 1920. After losing to Britton in their final fight, Lewis then won the vacant British middleweight title by defeating Jack Bloomfield in a 20-round decision. Defeating Basham for a third time in October 1921 by a 12-round knockout to retain the British welterweight title and win the European middleweight champion, Lewis then had one of his most famous fights the following year.

In May 1922, Lewis, the British middleweight and welterweight champion and the European middleweight, fought Georges Carpentier for the world light-heavyweight championship. In the first round, the referee made a comment to Lewis, who dropped his guard to catch what the referee had said, and to complain that Carpentier had hit him below the belt. Carpentier threw a vicious right to Lewis' jaw, sending him to the canvas. The referee counted him out. Despite the loss, Lewis continued to fight often, winning the British Empire middleweight title in June 1922, and then successfully defending his three middleweight titles (British, British Empire, and European) in November 1922 against Roland Todd. Although he lost a rematch with Todd three months later, Lewis held onto his welterweight titles until November 1924, when he lost to Tommy Milligan in 20-round decision.

Lewis slowed down a bit after losing to Milligan, but he did continue to fight. Fighting in England and South Africa from 1925-1928, Lewis made one last visit to the U.S. in June 1928 to fight the great Maxie Rosenbloom. The bout between the two great Jewish fighters lasted only six-rounds when Lewis was disqualified for a foul. The following year, Lewis retired with an incredible 215 career victories. In 1964, Lewis was elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame; and in 1992, "Kid" was also voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He is, as well, a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Origin:
London, England

Physical description:
5'8-1/2", 116-166 pounds

Career Statistics:
Professional record:
Wins: 215 (71 by knockout)
Losses: 44
Draws: 24

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:56 PM

Emile Griffith
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Emile Griffith (born February 3, 1938) is a former boxer from the US Virgin Islands who won world championships in both the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions. He was the first boxer from the US Virgin Island ever to become a world champion. While Griffith is recognized in some boxing books as being a three division world champion, his claim to the Junior Middleweight title was not generally recognised.

Griffith, who turned professional in 1958 and fought frequently in New York, is best remembered for his televised third fight against Benny the "Kid" Paret on March 24, 1962. Fighting for the Welterweight title, Paret and Griffith boxed a close fight until round twelve, when Griffith knocked Paret unconscious, yet still propped up against the ropes. The referee failed to stop the fight, and Griffith struck Paret 13 more times. Paret never regained consciousness and died nine days later.

This incident, and the publicity and criticism of boxing which accompanied it, became the basis of the documentary Ring of Fire. NBC, which televised the fatal bout, ended its boxing broadcasts and other U.S. networks followed; the sport would not return to free television until the 1970s.

Griffith was traumatized by Paret's death. Ironically, even before the fight, Griffith had never been known for having a hard punch or being vicious towards his opponents. Going into the fight, his record was 28-3 with only ten knockouts.

Sports Illustrated reported in its April 18, 2005 edition that Griffith, who may be homosexual, may have been fueled by rage over an anti-gay slur directed at him by Paret during the weigh-in. Paret reportedly called his opponent a maricon, the Spanish equivalent of "I want to make hot love to you!"; Griffith nearly went after him on the spot and had to be restrained. The slur was ignored by the media at the time. The article pointed out that it would have been career suicide for an athlete or any other celebrity during the 1960s to admit they were gay.

Although Griffith later beat Dick Tiger for the Middleweight title. He also lost, regained and then lost the Middleweight title in three classic fights with Nino Benvenuti. But many boxing fans believed he was never quite the same fighter after Paret's death. From the Paret bout to his retirement in 1977, Griffith fought 80 bouts but only scored twelve knockouts. He later admitted to being gentle with his opponents and relying on his superior boxing skills because he was terrified of killing another in the ring. Like so many other fighters, Griffith fought well past his prime. He only won nine of his last twenty three fights.

Other boxers he fought in his career were the world champions Denny Moyer, Luis Rodriguez, Carlos Monzon, Dick Tiger, Jose Napoles and in his last title try, Edgard Dagge. After 18 years as a professional boxer, Griffith retired with a record of 85 wins (25 by knockout), 24 losses and 2 draws.

He has trained other boxers during his retirement, including Wilfredo Benitez and Juan Laporte, of Puerto Rico. Both have won world championships.

Griffith, Monzon, Benvenuti, Rodriguez, Tiger, Napoles and Benitez are members of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

In 1992 he was viciously beaten and almost killed on a New York street, allegedly after leaving a gay bar. Today, Griffith requires full time care and suffers from pugilistic dementia. According to Sports Illustrated, the Alzheimer's-like condition makes him confused about his sexuality, and he sometimes declares himself to be heterosexual, other times he identifies as gay and other times, as bisexual, but one that prefers women. Griffith admits that he has had nightmares for forty years about the tragic bout and still feels tremendous guilt over the death of Benny Paret. In the last scene of Ring Of Fire, Griffith was introduced to Benny Paret's son. The son embraced the elderly fighter and told him he was forgiven.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:56 PM

Sammy Angott
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The Clutch
Sammy Angott (b. January 17, 1915, d. October 22, 1980) was born Samuel Engotti in Pennsylvania. He was known as a clever boxer who liked to follow up a clean punch by grabbing his opponent, causing him to be known as "The Clutch."

On May 3, 1940, the 5-8 fighter gained recognition from the N.B.A as its world lightweight champion when he outpointed Davey Day over 15 rounds. In 1939 Angott outpointed Lew Jenkins, who was recognized as the world title holder, to become the undisputed lightweight king. He defended the title only once, a 15-round points win over Allie Stolz in May 1942.

Angott, retired but returned to defeat the reigning world featherweight king, Willie Pep in a non-title bout. Eventually he regained the N.B.A. 135-pound crown by outpointing Slugger White in 15 rounds. He lost the title for good to Juan Zurita on March 8, 1944.

In his career, Angott met the best fighters in the welterweight and lightweight divisions. He fought Sugar Ray Robinson, Bob Montgomery, Beau Jack, Fritzie Zivic, Henry Armstrong and Ike Williams.

Angott retired with a record of 97 wins (22 KOs), 29 losses and 8 draws. He was KOed just once in his career, by Beau Jack in 1946.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:58 PM

Bob Foster
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Bob Foster (born December 15, 1938) is a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico whom many boxing critics consider to be one of the greatest Light Heavyweight world champions in history.

Foster also tried fighting with Heavyweights often, but with very little luck. He was the owner of very long arms, and a very tall boxer, physical attributes which helped him get established as a long standing champion.

Foster started his professional career on the night of March 27, 1961, against Duke Williams, in Washington, DC, winning by a knockout in two rounds. The first 12 bouts of his career were spent campaigning in the United States' Eastern coast and in Canada. In his tenth bout, he made his first of multiple forays into the Heavyweight division, and suffered his first loss, at the hands of Doug Jones by a knockout in the eighth round.

After two more wins, he went in 1963 to Peru, where he lost to South American champion Mauro Mina by a decision in ten at Lima.

Three more fights back in the States resulted in quick knockout wins for him, and then, in 1964, he made his second attempt at entering the Heavyweight rankings, being knocked out in the seventh by future world Heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell. He finished the year by posting three more knockout wins at Light Heavyweight, two of them on one night: November 11. That was the night that Foster's first fight of note as a Light Heavyweight took place: Minutes after knocking out Don Quinn in the first round, he stepped up in the ring again and faced former world title challenger Henry Hank. He beat Hank by a knockout in the tenth.

In 1965, he had five fights, winning four and losing one. He beat Hank again, by decision in 12, and lost to the late Zora Folley, by a decision in ten, in another attempt at joining the Heavyweight top ten.

In 1966 he only had two rounds of boxing. That's how long it took him to win his fight versus Leroy Green.

By 1967, Foster, although his attempts to become a top Heavyweight were being frustrated, was a ranked Light Heavyweight. He decided to stick to the Light Heavyweight division for the time being, and he won all seven of his fights, six by knockout. Among the fighters he beat were Eddie Cotton, Eddie Vick and Sonny Moore. After defeating Moore, Foster was the world's number one ranked Light Heavyweight challenger.

In 1968, Foster got his first shot at a world title. At Madison Square Garden in New York, on the night of May 24, Foster became world champion by knocking out the also late Dick Tiger in four rounds. Tiger had been a two time world Middleweight champion and was defending his world Light Heavyweight crown that night. Then, Foster decided to try on the Heavyweights once again, and he beat future George Foreman victim Charlie Polite by a knockout in three. He ended that year defeating Vick again, and his future world title challenger Roger Rouse, both by a knockout.

In 1969, he began by rising off the canvas to knock out Frank De Paula in the same first round and retain his belt. It is believed that was the first time ever a boxer won a world title fight in the first round after being floored in that same round. It is also believed that that fight is one of only two times that's happened, the second time being in 1984, when Juan Kid Mesa rose off a knockdown to dethrone world Jr. Featherweight champion Jaime Garza in the same first round too.

Foster's next fight in 1969 was against Andy Kendall, whom he beat in four rounds by knockout, to once again retain the crown. He closed the 1960s with two more knockout wins.

In 1970, Foster made two more trips to the heavyweights. In the first, he beat fringe contender Cookie Wallace in six rounds by knockout. This was followed by a return to the Light Heavyweight division to defend his title against Rouse. Infuriated by some comments that Rouse's manager had made before the bout concerning the fact that even though Foster knocked out Rouse in their first bout he was not able to drop him, Foster dropped Rouse five times en route to a fourth round knockout victory. A knockout in 10 to retain the battle against Mark Tessman followed, and then he was given the chance to challenge for the world's Heavyweight title. Facing world champion Joe Frazier on the night of November 18 in Detroit, he was knocked out in two rounds.

After defeating Hal Carroll by a knockout in four rounds to defend his crown, the WBA stripped him of the title, but he kept being world champion on the WBC. Foster became enraged at the WBA, which proceeded to have Vicente Rondon of Venezuela and Jimmy Dupree fight for the world title. Rondon won, becoming the second Latin American world Light Heavyweight champion (after Jose Torres), and Foster set his eyes on him. Foster went on defending his WBC world title, and he defeated challengers Ray Anderson, Tommy Hicks and Brian Kelly. Of those three, it was Anderson who was the only one to last the 15 round distance with Foster.

Foster and Rondon met in Miami on April 7, 1972, in an unificatory bout. Foster became the undisputed world champion once again, by knocking Rondon out in the second round. In his next fight, he used what many critics have called one of the best punches in history to retain his title by a knockout in four against Mike Quarry. He then went up in weight and faced former and future world Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, in what was legendary referee Mills Lane's first bout of note as a referee. Foster lost to Ali by a knockout in the eighth.

In 1973, Foster retained his title twice against Pierre Fourie, both by decision. Their second fight had a distinct social impact because it was fought in Apartheid ruled South Africa, Foster being Black and Fourie being White. Foster became a hero to South African Blacks by beating Fourie the first time around, and in their rematch, the first boxing fight in South Africa after Apartheid featuring a White versus a Black, he cemented that position by defeating Fourie on points again.

His last defense as world Light Heavyweight champion came in 1974, when he was dropped by Argentinian Jorge Ahumada, but managed to keep the title with a draw. After that, he announced his retirement, leaving the world's Light Heavyweight championship vacant.

Foster later tried to come back multiple times, with mixed results. After losing by knockout to Bob Hazelton in two rounds in 1978, he decided to hang up the gloves for good.

In his retirement, this former world champion decided to join the New Mexico police, where he would become sheriff of Albuquerque.

Later on, the avid autograph signer was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

Foster had a record of 56 wins, 8 losses and 1 draw, with 46 wins coming by knockout.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 02:59 PM

Jack Berg

Judah Bergman, known as Jack Kid Berg or Jackie Kid Berg (June 28, 1909 – 22 April 1991) was an English boxer born in the East End of London.

Biography
Judah Bergman was born in Cable Street, St George in the East. He was apprenticed as a lather boy in a barber's shop, and began his boxing career at the Premierland, Back Church Lane, when he was 14. Of Jewish background, Jack Berg boxed with a Star of David on his trunks.

The film The Whitechapel Windmill is based on his life story. The film covers the handsome boxer's rise in the boxing world as well as his flamboyant out-of-the-ring line, which is said to have included an affair with Mae West and to have borne a long-lasting friendship with fellow east ender Jack Spot, the colorful (and also Jewish-born) gangster.

Jack Kid Berg died in London on April 22, 1991.

He is commemorated by a blue plaque on Noble Court, Cable Street, close to the place where he was born.

Career
Between 1923 and 1936, Berg had 192 professional fights, winning 157 of them. His record was 157-26-9. 57 wins were by knock out.

In 1931 he moved to the USA, where he won 64 out of 76 fights there. He became British Lightweight Champion in 1934, and he lived to be the oldest British boxing Champion.

In 1930, Berg defeated the great Cuban fighter Eligio Saldana, Kid Chocolate, in ten rounds. In 1930, he knocked out the American champion Mushy Callahan to take the Junior Welterweight Title, sometimes known as the Light Welterweight Title, in London.

Berg fought as a lightweight when he put his title on the line to meet with Tony Canzoneri in Chicago on 24 April 1931. He was quickly knocked out in three rounds, falling on his face and stumbling to get up before giving in and collapsing into the ropes.

After retiring from boxing, he worked as a film stunt man.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:05 PM

Marco Antonio Barrera
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The Baby Faced Assassin
Marco Antonio Barrera (born January 17, 1974) is a Mexican boxer and world champion. Barrera, whose brother Jorge Barrera is also a boxer, had a successful amateur boxing career where he won 55 out of 58 bouts, and then he turned professional. He is a member of an affluent Mexico City family. His nickname is "The Baby Faced Assassin".

He was only 15 when he did so, beating David Felix by a knockout in round two on November 22, 1989. That marked the beginning of a 43 fight win streak.

In 1990, Barrera had seven fights, including his first rise in quality opposition, when he beat veteran Ivan Salazar, by a decision in eight rounds. In 1991, he had seven more fights, beating the likes of Abel Hinojosa and Javier Susuki Diaz, among others.

Barrera began 1992 by winning his first professional title, beating Justino Suarez by a decision in 12 rounds on April 1 to win the Mexican national Jr. Bantamweight championship. Locally, he retained the title three times before the end of the year, but internationally, he had two non title fights that helped raise his ranking among the world's Jr Bantamweights; He beat Abner Barajas by a decision in ten, and former WBO world title challenger Angel Rosario by a knockout in six.

In 1993, Barrera had six fights, winning each. He outpointed Salazar in a rematch, and retained his title against Noe Santillana, among others.

By 1994, Barrera was attending school to become a lawyer. But he also kept on winning fights. On April 13, he beat future world champion Carlos Salazar by a decision in ten in Argentina. He also beat former world champion Eddie Cook before the end of the year.

Barrera began 1995 by fighting for a world title for the first time: On March 31, he became the WBO's world Bantamweight champion by beating Puerto Rico's Daniel Cobrita Jimenez by a decision in 12 rounds at Anaheim, California. By this time, many boxing experts and critics were calling Barrera Mexico's next Julio Cesar Chavez. He made four defenses before the year was over, including a two round knockout win against future world champion Frankie Toledo, a first round knockout win over Maui Diaz and a 12 round decision win over future world champion Agapito Sanchez.

1996 was an interesting year for the champion. On February 6, he fought on one of the first installments of HBO Boxing's spin-off series HBO Boxing After Dark. He was dropped by former and future world champion Kennedy McKinney, but he rose off the floor to drop McKinney five times and retain the title by a knockout in round 12 of what many observers and viewers called a classic. Then he beat former world champions Jesse Benavides and Orlando Fernandez before suffering his first loss, to Junior Poison Jones, by a disqualification in round five, losing his title and his undefeated record. While Barrera was sent to the floor in round five by what appeared to be a punch by Jones, he was declared the loser by disqualification and not by knockout because his managers climbed onto the ring to stop the fight, and WBO rules state that in such a case the loser is declared loser by disqualification.

In 1997, he was given a chance to recover his title, facing Jones in a rematch April 18 in Las Vegas. Barrera lost a close but unanimous decision, however, and retired for a short period of time after that.

He announced a comeback in 1998, and he started off by beating old rival Angel Rosario, by a knockout in round five. After two more wins, he was given another world title try, once again, by the WBO. On October 31, as part of a Halloween night themed undercard, he became world Jr. Featherweight champion by defeating Richie Wenton by a knockout in three, winning the WBO's vacant title.

In 1999, he had two title defenses and then he ran intro controversy: On December 18, he beat Cesar Najera in four rounds at California. But upon finding out that Najera was actually a Barrera sparring partner with a negative boxing record, the California State Athletic Commission decided to rule the fight a no contest instead.

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Year 2000 brought a few more interesting twists to Barrera's boxing career: In March of that year, he and the WBC's world Jr. Featherweight title Erik Morales met at Las Vegas. The WBO approved of the bout as an unification bout, but the WBC, which has so far refused to deal with the WBO, did not. He and Morales fought in what Ring Magazine named their Fight of the Year for the year 2000, and what many critics also consider a classic. Both men threw in excess of 1500 punches throughout the 12 rounds. Although knocking Morales down in the final round by a collision of hips, the referee ruled that a valid knockdown had occurred. Nonetheless, Barrera lost a close split decision. After the fight, the WBO briefly recognized Morales as their world champion. However, in an unprecedented move in boxing history, the WBO decided that, in their eyes, it was unjustified for Barrera to have lost that fight, they ignored the judges official decision and reinstated Barrera as their world Jr. Featherweight champion. During the rest of the year, he defended the crown three times, beating Acelino Freitas's brother Luiz Freitas by a knockout in round one, and former world champion Jesus Salud in six, in addition to a win over Jose Luis Valbuena.

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Barrera once again moved up in weight in 2001, and he began by joining boxing's exclusive group of world champions in three different categories by unexpectedly defeating Naseem Hamed by a decision in 12 rounds on April 7. This fight marks something of a watershed in Barrera's career, in that he had previously employed an aggressive strategy of brawling with opponents, dispensing with technical skill. As just such tactics had proven to be the undoing of so many of Hamed's opponents, Barrera shocked the Boxing community, who had expected him to maintain the popular aggressive policy, by fighting on the back foot and in a very technically sound style, utilising his 2" reach advantage to jab Hamed without being jabbed in return, keeping his guard consistently high, and rotating away from Hamed's feared left. The bout so thoroughly exposed Hamed's style as one-dimensional that he retired soon after. Hamed was never a liked fighter, and many appreciated Barrera for disposing of him.

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He took a long lay-off after that, but in 2002, he met Morales in a rematch. Once again, the WBC refused to deal with the WBO and recognize the bout as a world championship confrontation, but the WBO recognized it as a world title fight. In this fight, the judges awarded Barrera a close decision, despite Morales punching Barrera to the canvas. In his next defense, he met old friend and former world champion Johnny Tapia on November 7 and beat Tapia by a 12 round unanimous decision.

Barrera dropped from law school recently. In the meantime, he got his 60th career win on April 12 of 2003, defeating former world champion Kevin Kelley by a knockout in round four to retain the WBO's world Featherweight title. Barrera then lost, on November 15, by knockout in round eleven to former world Jr. Featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao, in San Antonio, Texas. Barrera could not handle Pacquiao's southpaw stance and blazing hand speed. Pacquiao dominated Barrera, knocking him down several times until Barerra's corner stopped the bout. Many thought Barrera was done as a fighter. Shortly before this fight, it was revealed that in 1997 Barrera had undergone a brain surgery to remove an abnormal vein, and a metal plate had been installed to cover the area on his skull that was operated on.

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In his next fight, on June 19 of 2004, Barrera faced former two world Jr. Bantamweight champion Paulie Ayala in Los Angeles. Barrera won the fight by a tenth round knockout, easily out-boxing Ayala.

On November 27, he and Morales met for the third time. Barrera became a three division world champion by defeating Morales by a majority decision, while also taking a 2-1 lead in their particular series of fights. The third Barrera-Morales encounter was nicknamed "Once and for All". With this win Barrera had regained his credibility after his shocking loss to Pacquiao, and had finally beaten Morales clearly, without controversy.

On April 9, 2005, Barrera retained the WBC world Jr. Lightweight title with a second round knockout over Mzonke Fana in El Paso, Texas.

On September 17 of the same year, he unified his WBC world Jr. Lightweight title with the IBF one by defeating IBF world champion Robbie Peden by a twelve round unanimous decision, in Las Vegas.

He is managed by Ricardo Maldonado, who also manages Puerto Rican world champion boxers Alex El Nene Sanchez and Daniel Santos.

His record consists of 61 wins, 4 losses, and 1 no-contest, with 42 wins by knockout.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:08 PM

James Toney
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Lights Out
James "Lights Out" ToneyJames "Lights-Out" Toney (born August 24, 1968) is a professional boxer from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since his career debut in 1988, he has held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world Middleweight Championship (1991-1992; 6 defenses), the IBF world Super-middleweight Championship (1993-1994; 4 defenses), and the IBF world Cruiserweight Championship (2003). His October 4, 2003 victory over aging former World Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield was Toney's entry into the heavyweight division. Even when Toney was a middleweight, he insisted that he would one day be the heavyweight champion of the world. His good handspeed, slick defense, and exceptional counterpunching have enabled him to defeat physically larger (but technically less-skilled) opponents. On April 30, 2005 he defeated John Ruiz by unanimous-decision in a 12-round match for the World Boxing Association (WBA) world Heavyweight Championship. However, as of May 18, 2005, it was [1] reported that Toney failed his post-fight drug test, testing positive for anabolic steroids. This led to the New York Athletic Commission changing the bout's official outcome to a "no-contest", deducting the win from Toney's career record, and banning him from boxing for 90 days. The WBA ordered that Ruiz be "reinstated" as its champion, and that Toney is ineligible for another WBA Heavyweight Title shot for the next two years (potentially a lifetime ban, given Toney's advancing age).

In July 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that Toney's suspension (testing positive for nandrolone) will expire July 30. Throughout his suspension, Toney has made numerous public appearances -- including guest-commentating on boxing telecasts -- and emphatically stated his desire to fight again for a heavyweight championship. Toney also defends that the steroids were given to him by a doctor to treat an injured arm that occured during his victory over Rydell Booker in his previous fight. Ironically, Toney's name has been placed above Ruiz's in some widely-circulated, post-suspension media rankings of heavyweight boxers (like ESPN.com's; [2]). This may be as much due to Ruiz's low popularity with boxing fans as Toney's colorful persona, highly respected reputation, and career staying power. Toney recently won a unanimous decision victory over Dominic Guinn, in which he dominated. He is currently set to face WBC champ Hasim Rahman on March 18th.

Toney is self-managed, and as an avid cigar connoisseur, in 2005 James Toney introduced his own cigar line titled Lights Out. The cigar was custom tailored to Toney's taste by Lou's Tobacco, a cigar lounge frequented by Toney in Los Angeles, CA. He has also played boxing roles in a couple of movies, including playing Joe Frazier in the movie Ali. Toney has also created his own boxing video game and has ties to a rim company.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:14 PM

Aaron Pryor
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The Hawk
Aaron Pryor (born October 20, 1955) is a former boxer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the former world Junior Welterweight champion.

Pryor, nicknamed The Hawk, had a record of 204 wins and 16 losses as an amateur, and he participated in the 1976 Olympic games at Montreal as an alternate. He turned professional on November 11, 1976, with a win over Larry Smith.

In 1977, Pryor fought eight fights, winning all but two by knockout. Among the fighters he defeated was Johnny Summerhayes. The only two fighters who heard the final bell versus Pryor that year were Summerhayes and Jose Resto. After the fight with Summerhayes. Pryor won 26 fights in a row by knockout, in one of the longest knockout streaks in the history of boxing.

In 1978, Pryor won five fights, and in 1979 he won six. But during '79, Pryor experienced a rise in competition level, and in his last fight that year, he was pitted for the first time ever against a former or future world champion, when he faced former Jr. Welterweight champion of the world Alfonso Fraser, Peppermint, of Panama, who lasted five rounds with The Hawk. After that fight, Pryor entered the WBA rankings.

He only kept on going up in the rankings for the first part of 1980. He beat Julio Valdez, Leonidas Asprilla and Carl Crowley before a world title bout was set up by the WBA, versus two time world champion Antonio Cervantes of Colombia at Cincinnati. Pryor was dropped in round one, but he rose and knocked out Cervantes in round four in front of a national television audience, becoming a world champion. He finished the year knocking out Gaetan Hart to retain his title.

1981 brought Pryor up to the ring against Lennox Blackmore and Dujuan Johnson. Pryor beat Blackmore in two rounds, but had to work more against Johnson, once again visiting the floor in round one before winning by knockout in six.

In 1982 he defeated fringe contender Miguel Montilla by a knockout in 12 to begin the year, then put his title on the line versus Akio Kameda. Once again, Pryor went to the floor in round one but got up to knock the Japanese challenger out in round six.

In what promoter Bob Arum nicknamed The Battle of The Champions, Pryor defeated Alexis Arguello by a knockout in 14 in front of an HBO audience. The fight was named Fight Of The Year and later the Fight Of The Decade by Ring Magazine.

The fight sparked controversy, however, because of allegations that Pryor's trainer had introduced a bottle to revive him after round 12, and, after defending his crown against former WBC world champion Sang Hyun Kim (KO 3), Pryor had to defend against Arguello again, this time winning by a knockout in 10 rounds in Las Vegas on September 9, 1983. After the fight, Pryor announced his retirement, and the WBA left the crown vacant.

In 1983 also, Pryor and his wife had a public divorce.

Pryor took back his decision of retiring soon after, however, and the IBF immediately recognized him as their world champion. 1984 proved to be a frustrating year for Pryor. His proposed fight with world Lightweight champion Ray Mancini fell through when Mancini lost his title against Livingstone Bramble, and Pryor was able to defend his IBF world title only once, against Nick Furlano, who became the first guy in 27 fights to last the distance with Pryor, losing to Pryor on points in 15 rounds at Canada.

In 1985, Pryor would only fight one more time, retaining his title versus future world champion Gary Hinton in 15 rounds, once again by points.

Pryor retired and began to have drug problems. He ran into trouble with the police a few times and stories of alleged abuse against members of his family made the headlines.

In 1987 he made a short comeback, suffering his lone loss by a knockout in seven to Bobby Joe Young, a fringe contender of the era.

In 1988 and 1989, he attempted another comeback, winning three fights, all by knockout, against lower opposition. It was discovered, however, that he had been fighting with eye problems, and he was never allowed to box again.

In the 1990s, Pryor decided to stay away from drugs; opened a gym in his hometown where he helps kids learn boxing and get off the streets; and became a pastor. He is currently ministering at a church in Cincinnati.

In 1996, Pryor was elected to the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

He retired with 39 wins, 1 loss and 35 wins by knockout.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:16 PM

Lupe Pintor
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Jose Guadalupe Pintor wasn’t cut out to be a celebrity. A quiet, gentle little man from the Cuajimalpa neighborhood in Mexico City, he might have gone through life as unnoticed as your average street vendor, had it not been for the fact that early on, he was tested and found to be a natural-born warrior.

Lupe wouldn’t back down, when older kids tried to crowd him out of his ice cream vending territory on the streets of Cuajimalpa. He fought them off with a ferocity that later would win the respect of boxing fans throughout the world when he squared off against some of the greatest ringmen of his time.

There was nothing fancy in the Pintor fighting style. He was an honest workman, who never gave less than his best. Hard-nosed, determined, and brutal are recurring words in his resume. He was also hard-hitting, and relentless—as well as courageous, and proud.

“Lupillo,” as he was sometimes called, began his pro career in 1974 at age 19, in Tijuana. He looked good, but not great, in a couple of Inglewood Forum appearances the following year, and was outboxed by Alberto Sandoval at the Forum early in 1976. That loss stuck in his craw, until he avenged it by tracking down and stopping the elusive “Superfly” in a title bout four years later.

Pintor won the world bantamweight title in a most unconvincing manner, being awarded a “gift” decision over the great Carlos Zarate in Las Vegas on June 3, 1979. But any notion that he was what the trade calls a cheese champ went out the window over the next three years as he defended the title successfully against Sandoval, Eijiro Murata, Johnny Owen, Albert Davila, Jose Uziga, Jovito Rengifo, Hurricane Teru, and Seung-Hoon Lee, while besting Jose Luis Soto and Jorge Lujan in non-title bouts.

The Johnny Owens fight was especially brutal, and the gallant little Welshman left the ring in a coma from which he never recovered. Pintor was deeply troubled by that tragedy, and considered resigning his title and walking away from boxing altogether. But three months later he returned to the ring, encouraged by a “Good Luck!” message from the Owens family, with whom he had become close.

Brutal is the word that best describes the bloody war of wills in which Pintor lost to the great Puerto Rican Hall-of-Famer, Wilfredo Gomez, in a bid for the WBC super-bantamweight title, in 1982. Knocked down several times, the gritty Mexican kept taking the fight to one of the greatest punchers of all time, until finally succumbing in Round 14. That fight took something out of Pintor. He was never quite the same warrior again—though he did subsequently win that same title by decisioning Juan Meza in Mexico City, in 1985. He lost to unknown Billy White in his next bout, and retired after losing his title to Samart Payakaroon in Bangkok, Thailand, on Jan. 18, 1986.

Sadly, the modest little Cuajimalpa ice cream vendor attempted a comeback eight years after he had retired from the ring. Slow and bloated, twenty-five pounds over his true fighting weight, he had nothing left but his great courage.

We choose to remember Lupe Pintor as the great champion he surely was: iron-willed, incredibly determined, and tough as a keg of nails.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:19 PM

Terry Norris
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Before Erik there was only one Terrible

Terry Norris was an American boxer and a three-time world champion.

This Lubbock, Texas native later moved to San Diego and made a name for himself in the early going. He lost a couple of early fights by disqualification, but for the most part compiled a solid record, including a stunning knockout win against Steve Little in December 1988.

Terry Norris first challenged Julian Jackson for a title - the WBA junior middleweight crown, to be exact - in July 1989. Norris frustrated Jackson in the first round, but a big second-round left hook from the champion froze Norris in his tracks and stopped him in that same round.

Early the next year, 1990, Norris traveled to Tampa, Florida the hometown of his opponent, Ugandan-born John Mugabi, who once fought Marvin Hagler and entered the bout with Norris as the WBC junior middleweight titlist. Norris wasted no time in getting busy (and stopping) the champion, flooring him twice in the first round - the second time for the full count - and thus starting what would be the first of three mostly impressive reigns as champion.

Many thought that Norris' reign would be a short one because his second defense was against the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard in Madison Square Garden in February 1991. Norris, though, proved he was for real by battering and bruising Sugar Ray while taking a 12-round unanimous verdict. His next defense, a June victory over another former welterweight kingpin - Donald Curry - further cemented Norris' place in the history of the 154-lb. division as Norris wore down his foe and knocked him out in the eighth.

Other foes in that first reign included the tough Argentinian Jorge Castro, who lasted twelve rounds in losing, and two welterweight champions, Meldrick Taylor (then the WBA champion), and Maurice Blocker (who held the IBF version at the time of his challenge).

By late 1993, almost everyone thought that Norris was going to be champ forever, but then along came Simon Brown, former WBC and IBF welterweight titlist, who just barreled over him in four rounds to win the title and halt Norris' defense streak at ten. Norris then regained the title in convincing fashion, by unanimous verdict over Brown in May 1994, before losing to Luis Santana by DQ in November of that year, losing to Santana (AGAIN by DQ) in an April 1995 rematch, then finally beating Santana in bona fide style - 2nd-round TKO - to reclaim the WBC title in August 1995.

Norris then won a 12-round unanimous decision over hated San Diego rival Paul Vaden in December 1995 to add Vaden's IBF title to his WBC version, and made a few more defenses against the likes of Vincent Pettway (former IBF champion), Nick Rupa, and Alex Rios, before being stripped of the IBF title by that sanctioning body sometime in 1997 and relieved of the WBC version - via KO - by Keith Mullings in December of that year.

Norris would continue to fight, though no longer as champion. He would fight Dana Rosenblatt for a minor title, losing a unanimous decision, then would challenge Laurent Boudouani of France for the WBA junior middleweight title in late 1998, with Boudouani wearing down Norris in nine rounds to stay champion.

After the Boudouani match, Norris' career would then gradually 'peter out' into semi-oblivion.

Norris was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in January 2005.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:21 PM

Billy Conn
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William David Conn (October 8, 1917 in Pittsburgh-May 29, 1993), better known in the boxing world as Billy Conn, was a boxer who was world's Light-Heavyweight champion.

Conn debuted as a professional boxer on June 28, 1934, losing to Dick Woodard by a decision in four rounds. His first win came almost a month later, on July 20, against Johnny Lewis, by a knockout in three rounds.

Conn built a record of 47 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw (tie), with 7 knockout wins, before challenging for the world's Light-Heavyweight title. Along the way, he beat former or future world champions Fritzie Zivic, Solly Krieger and Fred Apostoli, as well as Teddy Yarosz and Young Corbett III.

On July 13, 1939, he met world Light-Heavyweight champion Melio Bettina in New York, outpointing him in 15 rounds and winning the world's Light-Heavyweight championship. Conn defended his title against Bettina, and twice against another world Light-Heavyweight champion, Gus Lesvenich, each of those three bouts resulting in 15 round decision wins for Conn. Conn also beat Bob Pastor, former world Middleweight champion Al McCoy, and Lee Savold in non-title bouts during his run as world Light-Heavyweight champion.

In May of 1941, Conn gave up his world Light-Heavyweight title to challenge world Heavyweight champion Joe Louis. Conn attempted to become the first world Light-Heavyweight champion in boxing history to go up in weight and win the world's Heavyweight championship when he and Louis met on June 18 of that year. The fight became part of boxing's lore because Conn held secured lead on the scorecards leading to round 13. According to many experts and fans who watched the fight, Conn was outmaneuvering Louis up to that point. In a move that Conn would later regret for the rest of his life, he tried to go for the knockout in round 13, and instead wound up losing the fight by knockout in that same round himself.

In 1942, Conn beat Tony Zale and had an exhibition with Louis. World War II was at one of its most important moments, however, and both Conn and Louis were called to serve on the Army. Conn went to war and was away from the boxing rings until 1946.

By then, the public was clamoring for a rematch between him and the still world Heavyweight champion Louis. This happened, and on June 19, 1946, Conn returned into the ring, straight into a world Heavyweight championship bout. The fight, at Yankee Stadium, was the first televised world Heavyweight championship bout ever, and 146,000 people watched it on TV, also setting a record for the most seen world Heavyweight bout in history. Most people who saw it agreed that both Conn and Louis' abilities had eroded with their time spent serving the United States, but Louis was able to retain the crown by a knockout in round eight. Conn's career was basically over after this fight, but he still fought two more fights, winning both by knockout in round nine. On December 10, 1948, he and Louis met inside a ring for the last time, this time for a public exhibition in Chicago. Conn would never climb into a ring as a fighter again.

Retiring from the ring as a boxer did not mean retiring as a public figure for Conn. As he became an older citizen, he participated in a number of documentaries for HBO, and he was frequently seen at boxing related activities until his death in 1993, at the age of 75.

Conn is now a member, along with Louis and Zivic, of the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.

He had a professional boxing record of 63 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw, with 14 wins by knockout.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:23 PM

Jake Lamotta

Giacobbe La Motta (born July 10, 1921), better known as Jake LaMotta, nicknamed The Bronx Bull, "The Raging Bull", is a former boxer who was world middleweight champion and whose life was as controversial outside the ring as it was inside it.

Boxing records
LaMotta, who compiled a record of 83 wins, 19 losses and 4 draws with 30 wins by way of knockout, was the first man to beat Sugar Ray Robinson, when he dropped Robinson in the first round and outpointed him over the course of ten rounds during the second fight of their legendary six bout rivalry. LaMotta lost five of those. In 1948, he was knocked out in four rounds by Billy Fox. The fight with Fox would come back to haunt him later in life.

Early life
LaMotta won the world title in 1949 in Detroit against Frenchman Marcel Cerdan, who was the world champion. Cerdan, called by many boxing critics the greatest champion ever from France, dislocated his arm in the first round and gave up before the start of the tenth, the official scoring being LaMotta winner by a knockout in ten because the bell had already rung to begin that round when Cerdan announced he was quitting. A rematch was signed, but while Cerdan was flying back to the United States to fight the rematch, his Air France Lockheed Constellation crashed at the Azores, killing everyone on board. LaMotta met two challengers (Tiberio Mitri and Laurent Dauthuille) and beat them, and then he was challenged by Robinson on their rivalry's sixth fight. Held on February 14, 1951, the fight became known as boxing's version of The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Robinson won by a technical knockout in the thirteenth round, when the fight was stopped with LaMotta lying on the ropes. In 1953, LaMotta shocked the sports world when he was called to testify by the FBI in the hearings they were holding against some mafia groups. LaMotta said during the hearing, perhaps not realizing that he was also harming his own image, that he had thrown the fight in 1948 with Billy Fox in exchange for a shot against world champion Cerdan. This fight haunted him ever since, and it is a subject he refuses to talk about in public to this day.

After retirement, he bought a few bars and became a stage actor and stand up comedian.

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Raging Bull
In 1980, Hollywood executives approached him with the idea of a movie about his life. The film, Raging Bull, was a huge success both for director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro, who gained about 60 pounds (27 kg) during the shooting of the film, to play the older, corpulent, broken-down LaMotta in the scenes of LaMotta's later life.

The movie depicted a violent and problematic LaMotta who once even went as far as beating his own brother, manager Joey LaMotta, accusing him and his wife (Vicky LaMotta, who once posed for Playboy magazine) of having an affair.

In a 2004 interview, LaMotta recalled that after attending the premiere of Raging Bull with his by then ex-wife (the two had divorced in bitterness in the 1950s), he told her he could not believe he was that bad. Vicky replied: "That's right; you were worse!"

Later life
In 1998, his son Joseph LaMotta died in the Swissair flight that crashed in Nova Scotia, Canada.

LaMotta has been active on the speaking and autograph circuit and has published several books about his career and his fights with Robinson.

He is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:24 PM

Joe Walcott
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Joe Walcott, "The Barbados Demon" was born in Demerara, British Guiana on March 13, 1873, and died October 1, 1935. Walcott, who stood 5'1 1/2 tall, was a formidable fighter who fought all comers from lightweights to heavyweights from 1890 to 1911. Nat Fleischer rated him as the greatest welterweight of all time, and he is included in the Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

Walcott first challenged for the lightweight crown on October 29, 1897, but was TKO'ed by the champion George "Kid" Lavigne in the 12th round. He was also unsuccessful in his first attempt to win the world welterweight title when he was outpointed by Mysterious Billy Smith on December 6, 1898. Walcott won the title on December 15, 1901 from James "Rube" Ferris via a 5 round TKO.

On April 4, 1904 Walcott defended his title against Dixie Kid. He was winning the fight handily when the referee disqualified Walcott for no apparent reason in the 20th round. The match was disregarded as a title bout when it was discovered that the referee had bet on Dixie Kid to win the match.

Walcott also fought legendary great Sam Langford to a draw, and met Joe Gans in a non-title fight. The Gans fight occurred on September 30, 1904, and was scored a draw after 20 rounds. After the Gans fight, Walcott accidentally shot himself in the hand and was out of action until mid 1906.

Walcott lost the welterweight crown to Billy "Honey" Melody via 15 round decision on October 16, 1906.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:25 PM

Kostya Tszyu
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Konstantin "Kostya" Tszyu (Russian: Константин (Костя) Цзю) (born September 19, 1969) is a Russian born boxer of Korean origin who is an Australian citizen and two time world junior welterweight champion.

The son of a fitter in a metal factory and a nurse, Tszyu was born in a town named Serov, near the Ural Mountains.

Tszyu and his family, including sister Olga, used to share an apartment with another family, and Tszyu used to sleep on the floor. Tszyu was hyperactive as a child, and his father decided to take him to a boxing gym, where he would channel that energy by fighting older boys. Soon, Tszyu impressed Russia's amateur team coaches and he was sent to the Soviet Union's amateur boxing travelling training camps, where he got to visit more than 30 countries while training and fighting in tournaments. He trained with that group 250 days a year, and won various tournaments, such as amateur boxing's world championships. He also participated in the Olympic Games. At the Cuban world championship tournament in 1987, he came in second place, and at the Seoul Olympic games, he lost in the third round.

Kostya was a member of the Soviet military too, but since he was selected as an elite athlete, he did not have to participate in any wars.

He fought at the world championships once again, in Moscow in 1989, where he came in third place.

In 1991, he went again to the amateur world championships, this time held in Sydney. This was a trip that would change his life forever. Not only was the third time his charm, but he felt enchanted with the sights of Sydney and its people, and decided he wanted to live in Australia.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1992, Tszyu escaped from the Russian army and fled to Australia with his girlfriend, where they married in 1993 and became Australian citizens. Before marrying her, though, Tszyu had already turned professional, beating Darrell Hiles by a knockout in one round on March 1, 1992 at Melbourne.

Tszyu started raising his quality of opposition almost immediately. In his fourth professional bout, he met the former WBC Featherweight champion of the world Juan Laporte, decisioning him over ten rounds. In his sixth bout, he beat the future WBO junior welterweight champion of the world Sammy Fuentes by a knockout in the first. In 1993, Steve Larrimore, Larry La Crousiere and Robert Rivera, all fringe contenders, went to Australia to fight Tszyu, and none lasted more than two rounds. The only man to last more than two rounds with Tszyu in '93 was Livingstone Bramble, a former world Lightweght champion, who lost by decision to Tszyu at Newcastle, Australia.

In 1994, Hector Lopez, who would later challenge Fuentes for the world title, Angel Hernandez, who had just come off challenging Julio Cesar Chavez for the WBC belt and Pedro Chinito Sanchez, a fringe contender from the Dominican Republic tried to beat Tszyu, but Tszyu beat Lopez by a decision in ten, Hernandez by a knockout in seven, and Sanchez by a knockout in four. After the win against Sanchez, Tszyu was ranked number one in the Jr. Welterweights.

And then, in 1995, he received his first world title shot, when he fought IBF world junior welterweight champion Jake Rodriguez at Las Vegas, Nevada. Tszyu became world champion by knocking Rodriguez out in the sixth round, and then defended the world title beating former world junior lightweight and junior welterweight champion Roger Mayweather by a decision in 12, Hugo Pineda by a knockout in 11, Cory Johnson by a knockout in four, and Jan Bergman by a knockout in six. After that string of defenses, Tszyu became a highly touted world champion by many boxing magazines, and many articles about him appeared on Ring Magazine, KO Magazine, and other American boxing publications.

1997 began for Tszyu when his defense against Leonardo Moro Mas was declared a no contest because Mas' camp protested that the blow that finished their fight in the first round was actually a low blow. Undecided whether it was a low blow or a legal blow, the IBF and the Nevada State Athletic commission decided to declare it a no contest instead. For his next bout, however, Tszyu wasn't as lucky, and he lost for the first time, losing by a knockout in ten rounds to Vince Phillips, who also took with that, Tzsyu's world championship. He regrouped after that defeat, and came back to beat Ismael Chaves just before year's end.

After beating former world champions Calvin Grove (KO2) and Rafael Ruelas (KO9), Tszyu was given another world title try, when the WBC's belt became vacant in 1998 following Oscar De La Hoya's move to the Welterweight division, and Tszyu found himself twice on the canvas in round one of his fight for the vacant belt against Diobelis Hurtado, but recuperated to beat Hurtado by a knockout in five and become world champion once again. He retained the title once in 1999, knocking out former world champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez in ten, and twice in 2000, beating Arizona's fringe contender Ahmed Santos in eight, and Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez, the former world champion, in six at Phoenix, Arizona.

Then, he started talking about his wish to unify all the belts. In 2001, he began that quest by facing the WBA's world champion Sharmba Mitchell and taking the WBA belt from Mitchell by a knockout in seven. After that, he met the German Turk, Oktay Urkal, whom he beat by a heavily disputed 12 round decision after 12 rounds. Finally, he finished 2001 by recovering his IBF belt in an unification bout with the until then IBF world champion Zab Judah, who was knocked out in two. A small melee inside the ring followed that fight, because Judah thought that the fight had been stopped early and he got mad at the referee, throwing his corner's seat at him. By then, however, Tszyu was long gone and in his dressing room.

Tszyu in 2002 had only one bout, beating fringe contender Ben Tackie of Ghana by a decision in 12.

On January 19 of 2003, Tszyu began the year by retaining his title against former world champion Jesse James Leija by a knockout in six. After the fight, held in Melbourne, Tszyu announced that fight could be his last in Australia because promoters want him to fight more in the United States. The win against Leija came on the birthday of Tszyu's son.

His plans for 2003 included defending his title various times. He has been trying to get in the ring again with Phillips, and he also tried to fight with WBO world champion Demarcus Corley, but negotiations towards those two fights to take place in 2003 were not successful. Furthermore, they became more complicated when Phillips lost to Ricky Hatton and Corley lost his title to Judah, and Tszyu ended up being inactive the rest of the year.

His first fight in 2004 was supposed to be held on February 7 in a rematch against former world champion Mitchell. It would have been Tszyu's first fight as a professional in Moscow, but Tszyu got his shoulder injured during training. He had successful surgery to correct the problem, but the injure further accentuated his long lay off from boxing.

On November 6, he and Mitchell finally had their rematch, and Tszyu knocked Mitchell out in three rounds, once again, at Phoenix, Arizona. He next fought on June 5, 2005 against British boxer Ricky Hatton, Tszyu lost this fight, and his world title, after retiring on his stool at the end of the 11th round (at this point he was behind on the cards of all three judges). After that defeat, Tszyu offered Hatton his telephone number for friendship and advice.

Tszyu has been slated for a possible 2006 rematch with Zab Judah at the welterweight division of 147lbs, but he has not yet made a decision as to whether he will continue boxing.

His record currently is of 32 professional wins (of which 25 are by knockout), two losses and one no contest.

He is considered by many in Australia to be a national sports hero.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:26 PM

Luis Rodrigues
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Luis Rodrigues fought from 1956 thru 1972 & was a top ranked welterweight & middleweight from 1959 until the end of his illustrious career. In the 14 years that he was world rated, he beat an unbelievable amount of top contenders & world champions. The two main reasons for his present day obscurity are that he only held the welterweight title for a brief 47 days & he had the misfortune to have his career coincide with the equally great Emile Griffith's. They met four times & Griffith won 3 of 4 by razor thin margins. Emile has been quoted in a recent Ring article as saying, " Rodriguez moved a lot. He was always busy, & he threw a lot of combinations. He was more a boxer than a puncher . . . hit & move. He drove me crazy! I guess we got to know each other a little bit. Each time was a war, & I had to make adjustments, always changing my style. Was he an all-time great fighter? I would say so."

Stylistically, Luis was an extremely long- armed pogo stick, bouncing around the ring like a kangaroo throwing blinding combinations in machine gun bursts. How's that for a mixed metaphor! As Griffith said, he was more boxer than puncher, but he had plenty of power attested by his 49 kayo's out of 107 career wins. Keep in mind, many of those kayo's were against the top middleweights of his era. Rodriguez was never really more than a skinny 147 pounder.

The list of champions & top 10 contenders (getting rated in those days really meant something ), near & all-time greats he beat is staggering. Among the champions were Benny "Kid" Paret (twice), Virgil Akins, Emile Griffith, the very under-rated Curtis Cokes & Denny Moyer. Some of the other top welters he beat were Issac Logart, Johnny Gonsalvez, the also under-rated Frederico Thompson, L.C. Morgan, Garland Randall, & Charley Austin. At the same time he campaigned as a welter he'd jump up to 149-150 lb's. & take on & beat top middleweights in his spare time! A partial list of his middleweight victims: Wilbert "Skeeter" McClure (twice), Holly Mims, Percy Manning, Bennie Briscoe (he even beat him in Benny's hometown, Philadelphia, by decision no less!), George Benton, Ernie Buford, Jimmy Lester, Tony Mundine, Vicente Rondon, Gene Armstrong, Tom Bethea, Joey Giambra & Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. Awesome.

Yet, even boasting such a sterling record, Luis Manuel is today relegated to obscurity. As I mentioned before, the short title reign & the crucial crossroads losses to Griffith are the main culprits. Hank Kaplan suggests another; as he describes it: "Rodriguez had a beautiful jab; it was so fluid. & he had this little defensive motion where he made you miss by inches. He fought everybody. . . remember he was beating Nino Benvenuti when he got caught by a left hook & was so unspectacular, that's why I think he's not remembered these days."

He was a regular fixture on the Friday night broadcasts in the early 60's, before Gillette pulled their sponsorship. I found him to be an exciting if highly unorthodox boxer. When he fought the feared Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, he bipped & bopped him into utter bafflement. At one point Carter was so enraged by the futility of trying to nail Rodriguez; he bull rushed him into a corner, picked him up & actually tried to fling him over the ropes!

What most fans remember (if they do at all), are his losses to Emile Griffith. Those two guys were so evenly matched that their fights were boring. In some ways their fights were reminiscent of the Leonard vs. Benitez bout. While highly dramatic & absorbing to aficionados, to the casual fan they were a snore. Luis never went into a fight looking for a knockout. Yet, when he got a fighter hurt, he was as deadly & quick striking as a cobra. Otherwise he was content to go the distance. I never once saw him brawl. Guile not testosterone was his thang ... He was also blessed with an iron mandible. His three kayo losses were all at the tail end of his long career. The opponents were the great Nino Benvenuti & the near-great Curtis Cokes; both who were in their primes. The third was to journeyman banger Rafael Gutierrez, when Luis was on his last legs. . .

The Battle of the Legends between Jose Napoles & Luis Manuel Rodriguez was the main topic in the December '95 issue of Ring Magazine. The three experts chosen to evaluate this particular dream match had peerless credentials. Angelo Dundee (who trained & managed Rodriguez), Emile Griffith (who fought Rodriguez four times & Napoles once) & one of boxing's two foremost historians (the other being Herb Goldman), the esteemed Hank Kaplan. Considering what a great fighter Napoles was, I think it's really telling that all three of the "judges" picked Rodriguez to win handily. Kaplan, actually writes that Rodriguez was probably the most underrated lighter weight fighter of the past half-century! Wow! Hank Kaplan throws undo praise around about as often as Newt Gingrich attends Lollapalooza to mosh in the pit.

Kid Gavilan & Jose Napoles are generally rated as the two greatest Cuban welterweights. But take a good look at Rodriguez's career record & Gavilan's & Napoles' pale in comparison. In fact the Ol' Spit Bucket would put his money on Louis against any welter or jr. middleweight of the past 50 years with the exception of both Sugar Rays' & Emile Griffith, who seemingly had his number. Tommy Hearns & Mike McCallum would be very tough calls ... what about Duran, Basilio, Curry, Palomino, Napoles, Benvenuti?" Well, Benvenuti did kayo Luis, very late in his career, when he was way past his prime. Even so, Rodriguez was winning the bout against a peaking Nino Benvenuti, when he was caught with a picture perfect left hook in the 11th round. Nevertheless, I stand firm. I believe he would have found a way to beat any of them.

A footnote to Rodriguez's story: Few are aware of it, but Luis was a huge influence, in & out of the ring on the young, impressionable, Cassius Clay. & Both were trained by the venerable Angelo Dundee. The most obvious influences were the beautiful snake like jabs they both possessed. They also had somewhat similar styles in the ring: The constant peripatetic movement & blazing flurries. They also shared the unusual ability to inflict severe damage while backpedaling. Another was their similar personality's outside the ring. Luis' happy go lucky ways, infectious grin & constant chatter with the press & fans fit right in with young Cassius' modus operandi.

Luis Manuel Rodriguez was an artist of the fistic canvas -- a true master of his chosen craft.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:28 PM

Humberto Gonzalez
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Humberto Gonzalez (born March 25, 1966) is a Mexican meat market businessman and former world boxing champion. Nicknamed Chiquita, he made many admirers during his professional boxing career. Female boxer Delia Gonzalez was one of them, nicknamed Chikita after Humberto.

Gonzalez made his professional boxing debut on September 1, 1984 in Mexico City with a four round decision win over Jorge Ortega. Little over three months later, he had his first knockout win, as he beat Narciso Perez in the first round.

The win over Perez began a streak of 18 knockout wins in a row for Gonzalez, mostly against unknown Mexican opposition. The streak lasted until September 26, 1987, when he outpointed Mexican Jr. Flyweight champion Jorge Cano over 12 rounds to win the national title in Cancún.

In 1988, he won four fights, all by knockout. He retained the national belt against Jose Luis Zepeda in six rounds at Tijuana, and Javier Vazquez, beaten in five at Mexico City.

His next fight, on June 25, 1989, brought two firsts to his career: Celebrated in Chonju, South Korea, it was his first fight abroad. Being for the WBC world Jr. Flyweight championship, it was also his first world title try. Gonzalez outpointed world champion Yul-Woo Lee over 12 rounds to crown himself world champion. On December 9, he once again fought in South Korea, retaining his world championship against former world champion Jung Koo Chang by a decision in 12.

In 1990, Gonzalez retained the title four times, but on December 19, he suffered a shocking defeat to Rolando Pascua, a boxer who was unknown to most boxing experts, in Inglewood. The knockout in round five suffered by Gonzalez that night cost him the world title.

After a win in 1991, Gonzalez recovered the world title, by defeating the man who had taken the world championship away from Pascua: Melchor Cob Castro. Gonzalez and Castro met on June 3 at Las Vegas, and Gonzalez won a 12 round decision.

In 1992, he retained the title four times, beating Castro in a rematch, Domingo Sosa and former world champion Napa Kiatwanchai among others.

By then, talks about a superfight between him and IBF world champion Michael Carbajal were common among boxing fans. The fight, which came on March 13 of 1993, was the first million dollar fight in Jr. Flyweight boxing history (both fighters were guaranteed one million dollars in earnings) and also the first Jr. Flyweight fight in history to head a Pay Per View boxing card. In front of many Hollywood stars and thousands of fans at the arena, Gonzalez dropped Carbajal in rounds two and five, but Carbajal recovered to knock Gonzalez out in round seven. He finished the year with two ten round decision wins, including one against Pablo Tiznado, a boxer who also fought against Alex Sanchez.

Carbajal and Gonzalez met in a rematch February 19, 1994 at Inglewood, and the second time around, Gonzalez became a three time world Jr. Flyweight champion by beating Carbajal by decision in 12. With that win, he joined an exclusive group of boxers who have been world champions three times or more in the same division, alongside such others as Muhammad Ali, Carlos De Leon, Evander Holyfield and Sugar Ray Robinson. Gonzalez won two more fights, one a non-title bout, and the other a title defense versus Juan Domingo Cordoba. Then, on November 12 of the same year, he and Carbajal had a rubber match, this time in Mexico City. Gonzalez once again prevailed, on points over 12 rounds.

After retaining the title once in 1995, on July 15 of that year, he fought for the last time. Again, he dropped his rival, Saman Sorjaturong, a couple of times before being knocked out in round seven to lose his world title. Immediately after the fight, he announced he was retiring, to pursue another dream of his: to become a successful businessman in Mexico City.

Gonzalez has stayed retired ever since, and he has been able to open three meat markets in Mexico. He is a part-time butcher on his stores, and has been able to find that success he dreamed about as a businessman.

His first fight with Carbajal and his fight with Sorjaturong were both chosen as Fight of the Year by Ring Magazine.

Both Humberto Gonzalez and former rival Michael Carbajal were elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006.

Gonzalez had a record of 43 wins and 3 losses as a professional boxer, with 32 wins by knockout.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:29 PM

Jeff Chandler
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Joltin Jeff Chandler (born September 3, 1956 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a former boxer who reigned as the WBA Bantamweight Champion of the world from November, 1980 to April, 1984.

The 5' 7" (67 inches) tall Philadelphian began his professional career in 1976 after only two amateur bouts. Held to a four-round draw in his pro debut, Chandler then began a four year long string of victories culminating in a title challenge versus WBA 118-pound champ Julian Solis in Miami. Chandler won the title by fourteenth round knockout, becoming the first American fighter to hold the bantamweight crown in over 30 years.

Chandler's first defense was against former champion Jorge Lujan. Chandler took a fifteen-round decision. Next, Jeff travelled to Japan to face Orient champion Eljiro Murata. Although he was almost floored in the early going, Chandler came back to hold his title with a draw (tie). Many ringside observers felt Chandler deserved a clear points victory. With his status in the boxing world rising, Chandler's next bout was a repeat victory over Solis, this time in seven rounds. Chandler closed out 1981 with a thirteenth round knockout rematch win over Murata.

In March of 1982, Chandler faced the only opponent who had ever defeated him (as an amateur), fellow Philadelphian Johnny Carter. The tables were turned this time as Jeff scored a sixth round knockout in a nationally-televised bout. In the summer of 1982, Jeff was sidelined by an injury. During a traffic altercation on a Philadelphia street, Chandler was stabbed on the right shoulder blade with a broken bottle. The wound left a distinctive circular scar, but did no permanent damage.

In 1983, Chandler began venturing into the Jr. Featherweight ranks, winning a ten-round decision over Hector Cortez. Next, he faced L.A.'s tough Oscar Muniz in another non-title bout. Muniz took the fight to Jeff and scored a close ten round decision. It was Chandler's first pro loss. Chandler defended once more against Murata (another knockout, in the tenth round), then faced Muniz again with the title on the line. A severe cut over Muniz's eye brought a stoppage in the seventh round, with Chandler retaining his world Bantamweight title.

Chandler next faced undefeated Richie Sandoval. This time, Jeff's skills were not enough to stop his eager young foe. Sandoval took the title by fifteenth round knockoot in what turned out to be Chandler's last fight. He elected to have surgery on cataracts that had been diagnosed the year before. Rather than risk blindness, Chandler retired from boxing.

He finished his career with a record of 33 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws. Jeff Chandler provided boxing fans with many memorable performances. In 2000, he was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame at Canastota, New York.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:31 PM

Gabriel Elorde
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Career Snapshot
Born March 25, 1935
Died January 2, 1985
Total Fights 116
Won 87
Lost 27
Drew 2
No contest 0
Knockouts 33
Titles Won WBC Super Featherweight Title
WBA Super Featherweight Title

Gabriel "Flash" Elorde (b. on March 25, 1935, d. January 2, 1985) was a boxer from the Philippines.

Elorde was the WBC Junior Lightweight (Super Featherweight) champion from Mar. 20, 1960 until Jun. 15, 1967 and WBA Super Featherwight champion from Feb. 16, 1963 to Jun. 15, 1967 making him the longest reigning world junior lightweight champion ever (seven years and three months). He also outpointed all time great featherweight champion Sandy Saddler in 1955 in a non-title bout. In 1956 he was given a rematch with Saddler, this time with Saddler's featherweight title on the line, but Elorde suffered a cut eye and lost the fight on a 13th round TKO.

Elorde also challenged lightweight Carlos Ortiz for his world title on two occasions. He was stopped both times by Ortiz in the fourteenth round.

Elorde retired with a record of 87 wins (33KOs), 27 losses and 2 draws and was named "the greatest world junior lightweight boxing champion in WBC history" in 1974.

In 1993, he became the first Asian inducted into the New York-based International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was also enshrined into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:32 PM

Fighting Harada
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Career Snapshot
Born April 23, 1943
Died N/A
Total Fights 62
Won 55
Lost 7
Drew 0
Knockouts 22
Titles Won World Flyweight
WBA and WBC World Bantamweight

Masahiko Harada (born April 23, 1943 in Tokyo, Japan), better known as Fighting Harada, is a former world boxing champion. He is currently the president of the Japanese boxing commission.

Harada was arguably one of Japan's most popular boxers; his fame reached international status, and Puerto Rico's Wilfredo Gomez declared that Harada was his idol as a child.

Biography
Harada began fighting as a professional on February 21, 1960, knocking out Isami Masui in round four, in Tokyo. He won his first twenty four bouts. Among the notables he beat during that span were Ken Morita, who later became a respected boxing official and who was beaten by Harada on June 26 in the first round, and future world champion Hiroyuki Ebihara, who was undefeated in nine fights before meeting Harada and who was beaten by Harada on December 24, by a decision in six rounds.

On June 15, 1962, he suffered his first defeat, being beaten on points by Edmundo Esparza over ten rounds in Tokyo.

After one more win, Harada received his first world title try: on October 10 of that year, he became the WBA world flyweight champion by knocking out Pone Kingpetch in the first round, in Tokyo.

A rematch followed, and Harada lost the title in his first defence, being outpointed by Kingpetch over fifteen rounds on January 12, 1963 in Bangkok, Thailand. This was Harada's first fight outside Japan.

Harada posted four more wins in a row before losing on by knockout in six to Jose Medel on September 26.

After that loss, Harada posted another winning streak, which reached seven before he was given another world title shot. Among the boxers he beat was top contender Oscar Reyes.

On May 17, 1965, Harada extended his winning streak to eight, when he defeated Eder Jofre in Nagoya, by a fifteen round decision, to win his second world title, the unified WBA and WBC world bantamweight title. Jofre was undefeated in fifty fights coming into this bout, and considered by many of his fans to be invincible.

On November 30, he defeated perennial British contender Alan Rudkin by a fifteen round decision to retain the title. On June 1, 1966, he and Jofre had a rematch in Tokyo, and Harada defeated Jofre once again, by a fifteen round decision. Losing for the second time to Harada prompted Jofre to retire; he would make a successful comeback ten years later. Harada was the only boxer to beat Jofre.

After two more, non-title wins, Harada had a chance to avenge his defeat against Jose Medel. On January 3, 1967, Harada retained his world bantamweight title with a fifteen round decision over Medel in Nagoya.

On July 4 he retained the title against Colombian Fernando Caraballo, a fighter who was well liked in his country. Harada outpointed him over fifteen rounds.

On February 16, 1968, Lionel Rose became the first Australian aborigine to become a world boxing champion, when he outpointed Harada over fifteen rounds in Tokyo. Having lost his world bantamweight crown, Harada then set his sights on regaining it.

He won four of his next five fights, his lone loss during that span coming at the hands of Alton Colter by a ten round decision. Then, he received another world title shot.

On July 28, 1969, after the WBA and WBC had split the world bantamweight title, Harada fought Australia's Johnny Famechon for the WBC world bantamweight belt. The fight was held in Sydney, and the referee and only judge was the legendary former world featherweight champion Willie Pep. Pep scored the fight a tie (draw), but Famechon's fans rallied over the call by booing Pep, who then announced he had miscalculated his scorecard and actually had Famechon ahead, making Harada a loser by a fifteen round decision. This fight was, nevertheless, controversial because of the nature of its ending, and the WBC clamoured for a rematch.

After a knockout win in eight rounds over Pat Gonzalez, the rematch came. Harada's management wanted the fight to be held in Tokyo, and so, on January 6, 1970, Harada and Famechon met once again, this time at Tokyo's Metropolitan Gym. Harada dropped the champion in round ten, but Famechon recovered, knocking Harada off the ring in round fourteen and retaining the title by knockout in that round. This was Harada's last fight as a professional.

Harada led a rather quiet life after retirement. In 1996, he was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York. Coincidentally, Wilfredo Gomez was inducted in the same ceremony. After Gomez expressed that Harada was his idol, Harada responded, using an interpreter, that Gomez had, in turn, become one of his favorite fighters as well. Pone Kingpetch and Eder Jofre, the boxers Harada beat to win world titles, are also members of the Hall of Fame.

Masahiko Harada became president of the Japanese Boxing Commission in 2002.

On January 28, 2004, as he was driving home from his office, Harada experienced a headache and decided to check himself into a hospital. He was found to have a brain hemorrhage. Harada was hospitalized on stable condition, and the doctors at the hospital said he is expected to be released in one month.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:57 PM

Erik Morales
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El Terrible
Erik Isaac Morales (born September 1, 1976 in Tijuana, Mexico) is a professional boxer. He is widely regarded among boxing cognoscenti and followers as one of the best pugilists currently in practice, while maintaining high popularity due to a very pleasing fighting style throughout his career. He is a former champion of the world at Super Bantamweight (122Ibs), Featherweight (126Ibs), and most recently, Super-Featherweight (130Ibs). His nickname is El Terrible.

Pre-championship life
Morales had a somewhat disadvantaged upbringing. His father and former trainer José was a struggling gym-owner in the city's industrial zone, but wanted something better for his sons, and in 1993, he fought his first professional fight.

Championship history
In 1997, he became the first fighter ever to stop the acclaimed WBC world Bantamweight champion and now member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Daniel Zaragoza via knockout in eleven rounds. As it was the first time the champion had ever been unable to beat the count of ten, the fight was widely hailed as a 'passing of the torch' between the former champion (Zaragoza), and the new one (Morales).

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In September of 1998, in another landmark fight, Morales knocked out former world champion Junior Jones of Brooklyn, New York. Jones went into the battle with a daunting record against Mexican fighters of 35 victories, and no losses, most notably including two victories over the previous champion, Marco Antonio Barrera, in 1996 and 1997. Also noteworthy was that Jones was entering Mexico for the first time to fight, and the fight was held at Morales' home town of Tijuana. The fight was a heatedly contested 3-round affair between both men, with Jones hoping to repeat his performance against Morales' countryman, Barrera, before Morales knocked out Jones with 2 consecutive overhead right crosses in the fourth round.

In October of 1999, Morales fought Wayne McCullough of Belfast, Northern Ireland, as part of the Naseem Hamed-Cesar Soto undercard in Detroit, Michigan. McCullough is famed for having extremely high resilience to punches, having stopped the unbroken string of knockouts by Hamed, a fighter even more famous, but rather for exceedingly high punching power. Morales outpointed McCullough in a pitched battle in all 12 rounds bar one, the 11th, of which he complained of exhaustion and listlessness. Morales noted that he had wanted to move to the Featherweight division (126 pounds) from the Super-Bantamweight division (122 pounds) prior to this fight, explaining that he was unusually tall (5'8 1/2") for a Super-Bantamweight, that he had fought at 122 pounds since 1993, and as he moved further from his teen years, he found it increasingly arduous to make the Super-Bantamweight limit.

In February of 2000, Morales defeated Barrera, in a long awaited fight that is considered one of boxing's classic, albeit most vicious, battles. Clearly suffering the ill-effects of weight-drain, a condition of lost strength from fighting below natural weight, Morales nonetheless outlanded Barrera in the final punch counts over 12 rounds. By this point of his career, Morales was a staple of the HBO Boxing telecasts.

After a year of strain to continue at Super-Bantamweight, Morales moved up to Featherweight. In his second fight at this weight, he fought 33 year-old southpaw former world champion Kevin Kelley, in September 2000. Kelley, who aged nearly 31 had knocked down Hamed three times in their fight at Madison Square Garden, was unable to replicate this performance against Morales. Knocked down in the fifth and seventh rounds, Kelley was finally trapped in that latter round by a flurry of five consecutive uppercuts from Morales. Supported only by the ropes, a sixth uppercut landed, and the fight was stopped. Morales retained his Featherweight title.

Morales fought again in 2000, knocking out Rodney Jones in the 1st round shortly before Christmas, but the strain of the fights against McCullough and Barrera below his rising natural weight, coupled with the overwork from the busy fighting schedule had very clearly taken their toll, and most boxing commentators noted that his performances had degraded somewhat since his move to Featherweight.

In February 2001, he fought Guty Espadas Jr., the WBC world featherweight champion with a thirteen fight winning streak, and whose father, Guty Espadas Sr., was also a world champion boxer. Morales won a very close twelve round decision to claim his third world title.

In July of 2001 Morales fought Injin Chi, a relatively unknown South Korean fighter with an excellent fighting record in his home country. Although few dispute Morales victory on points, the fight was very hard fought, with Chi showing remarkable resilience to Morales' power, and determination to land punches. Chi subsequently became a highly ranked member of the Featherweight international community, knocking out British champion Michael Brodie early in April, 2004, to capture the vacant WBC world featherweight title.

Morales then tasted defeat for the first time during his career in this his 42nd pro fight when he was awarded a contraversial loss on points to Barrera in July 2002, despite seemingly getting the better of his opponent over the twelve rounds & punching him to the canvas in the seventh round.

Bouncing back with a dominating 12 round decision victory over Paulie Ayala, in November of 2002, and KO victories of Eddie Croft, Fernando Velardez & In a rematch of his close decision win over Guty Espadas Jr.. This time Morales winning by knockout in three rounds.

The latter fight is significant for two reasons; first, Morales' subsequent victory by knockout was considered to be clear proof that he was, indisputably, the superior fighter. Second, this fight was Morales' debut in the Super-Featherweight (130lbs) division.

On July 31, 2004, Morales captured the WBC Jr. Lightweight title by unanamous decision over Jesus Chavez. Morales twice punched Chavez to the canvas, which Mayweather himself had been unable to do. Beginning in the following round, however, Chavez confined himself to using his left hand only, ostensibly the result of an injury. Speculation continues to this day whether Morales or his corner were aware of this, and if so, whether they adjusted their strategy accordingly.

With the victory he became one of only two Mexican boxers to win a title at three separate weight divisions, the other being the acclaimed Julio Cesar Chavez.

On July 31, 2004, Morales unified his WBC title with the IBF version by way of a twelve round unanimous decision over Carlos Hernandez (a boxer who had forced Floyd Mayweather's glove to graze the canvas during their fight in 2001, which ended with Mayweather being awarded a victory on points).

On November 27 of that year, he met arch-rival Barrera for the third time. In a bout billed as "Once and for All" the judges awarded Morales the loss in a painfully close fight(scores of 114-114,114-115,113-115), 2004's fight of the year according to ring magazine.

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On 19 March 2005, Morales defeated the acclaimed power punching Filipino southpaw boxer Emmanuel Pacquiao (commonly known as "Manny" Pacquiao), who had knocked out Barrera in November 2003. Unlike most of his previous fights, Morales entered this contest as an underdog with the bookmakers. Morales outboxed Pacquaio throughout the majority of the fight, and although the Filipino enjoyed brief successes in the third quarter, as well as landing as many hooks and crosses as his opponent during the fight, Morales was able to outjab Pacquaio by a wide margin, as evinced by Compubox statistics collated afterwards. The victory was confirmed as a unanimous decision by the three presiding judges.

On 10th September, 2005, Morales was unexpectedly defeated on points by Zahir Raheem, a little known but very flashy fighter from the North East USA. The fight was held at a weigh-in limit of 135Ibs, although unlike his previous increases in fighting weight, Morales had demonstrated no difficulty in achieving the original limit.

On January 21, 2006, Morales faced Manny Pacquiao in a rematch from their bout 10 months before, in a match which saw Pacquiao defeat Morales via TKO in the 10th round. This would be the first time that Morales has lost a bout by TKO, as all of his previous three losses were by judicial decision. Manny Pacquiao gained revenge over Erik Morales with a 10th-round stoppage in a Super-featherweight encounter in Las Vegas. Pacquiao nearly dropped Morales in round two and wobbled him again in the sixth. Pacquiao floored Morales twice in round 10 before the fight was stopped. It is the first time the 29-year-old Morales, a former world champion in three weight classes, has been stopped and he has now lost three of his last four fights and it was also the first time Morales had tasted the canvas in his 52 professional fights. Following the back-to-back losses, boxing fans and experts alike wonder if Morales' long years of fighting top-rated boxers ever since defeating Zaragoza in 1997 have finally taken a toll on his physical condition; as it is often the case for a boxer who peak early to decline early as well.

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Current record, Fight History and Fighter Profile
48 wins, 34 of these by knockout, and 4 losses, three of which were by judicial decision, the fourth by TKO. His latest defeat occurred on January 21, 2006 at the hands of Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao knocked out Erik Morales at 2:33 of round 10. It was the first time El Terrible kissed the canvas in his fabled carrer. He wasn't able to recover after that left hook that sent him to the ropes.

Recent Fight (1.21.2006): Erik Morales (48-4, 34 KOs) lost to Manny Pacquiao (41-3-2, 32 KOs), in a 10th round TKO.

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Chronological History
2001 - 1ST WBC F DEFENSE - in his last fight on 7-28-01 in Los Angeles, CA, he won a 12 round unanimous decision against WBC No. 1 ranked mandatory challenger Injin Chi (24-1) of Korea: it was a hard, exciting fight that repeatedly brought the fans to their feet; Chi gave a strong effort and constantly pressed forward, but Erik was the sharper, harder puncher and outworked him for much of the fight; Erik was cut and swollen over the left eye in the 6th round by an accidental clash of heads, and Chi was penalized one point in the 10th for various fouls; Erik's left eye was completely closed at the end of the fight; scored 117-110, 116-111, 116-112; after the fight, Erik said, "I wanted to show in this fight a different Erik Morales. I wanted to show a faster and more destructive fighter. But unfortunately, the head butt in the sixth round made me change my game plan. Obviously, he can take a punch, because I hit him with some great shots. After that head butt, I just couldn't go after him, because he was very dirty. He was throwing elbows. If I would have gone for the knockout, he probably would have head-butted me again."

Michael Rosenthal of the Los Angeles Daily News wrote, "Wow! The Erik Morales-Injin Chi fight on the Jones-Gonzalez undercard was breathtaking. Dozens of recklessly violent exchanges lifted the crowd to its feet and the noise was deafening."

Lonnie White, of the Los Angeles Times reported, "In easily the best bout of Saturday night's fight card at Staples Center, Morales showed why he's quickly gaining notice as one of the sport's best fighters."

Undisputed light heavyweight world champion Roy Jones Jr., who headlined the fight card, was also impressed; he commented, "That was a fight."

WON WBC F TITLE - on 2-17-01 in Las Vegas, NV, he won a 12 round unanimous decision against defending champion Guty Espadas (33-2): Erik started fast and built an early lead, but Espadas showed tremendous heart and determination and rallied to win the last two rounds on all three scorecards; scored 115-113, 116-112, 116-112; after the fight, Erik said, "He threw a lot of punches and he had a lot of heart, but I landed the harder punches and I also outboxed him. I thought I was always in control of the fight."

2000 - WON WBC INTERIM F TITLE - on 9-2-00 in El Paso, TX, he TKO'd former WBC featherweight champion Kevin Kelley (51-4-2): it was an exciting fight and Kelley gave a great effort, but Erik dominated; he scored knockdowns in the 5th and 7th rounds, and the referee stopped the fight at 2:30 of the 7th round.

9TH WBC SB DEFENSE - on 2-19-00 in Las Vegas he won a 12 round split decision against WBO champion ||Marco Antonio Barrera|| (49-2): it was an incredible battle with intense action from the first bell to the last, and very close - it was one of the best fights of 2000, or any other year - and left both fighters cut, battered, and spent; scored 114-113, 115-112 Morales, 114-113 Barrera; after the fight, Erik said, "He was a brave fighter, and we both gave it all we had. We were both hurt during the fight. He was the biggest puncher I ever faced in the ring."

1999 - 8TH WBC SB DEFENSE - on 10-22-99 in Detroit, MI, he won a 12 round unanimous decision against former WBC bantamweight champion ||Wayne McCullough|| (23-2): it was an exciting fight that earned a standing ovation from the crowd, and Erik had a clear edge throughout; scored 116-112, 116-112, 119-110.

7TH WBC SB DEFENSE - on 7-31-99 in Tijuana he TKO'd Reynante Jamili (39-4): Jamili gave a good effort, but Erik outworked him and dominated the fight; he scored a knockdown in the last seconds of the 6th round, and the referee stopped the fight at 3:02.

6TH WBC SB DEFENSE - on 5-8-99 in Las Vegas he TKO'd Juan Carlos Ramirez (17-1): Erik scored one knockdown in the 2nd round, two in the 3rd, and another in the 9th, and the referee stopped the fight after the 9th round... 5TH WBC SB DEFENSE - on 2-12-99 in Las Vegas he TKO'd Angel Chacon (24-2): Erik knocked down Chacon - through the ropes, out cold - and the fight was stopped without a count at 1:50 of the 2nd round.

1998 - 4TH WBC SB DEFENSE - on 9-12-98 in Tijuana he TKO'd former two-time world champion Junior Jones (44-3): it was a thriller while it lasted, but Erik scored a knockdown in the 4th round, rocked Jones several more times, and the fight was stopped at 2:55 of the round.

3RD WBC SB DEFENSE - on 5-16-98 in Indio, CA, he TKO'd former WBC world champion Jose Luis Bueno (30-8-2): it was a devastating knockout; Erik scored two knockdowns and the fight was stopped without a count at 1:19 of the 2nd round.

2ND WBC SB DEFENSE - on 4-3-98 in Tijuana he TKO'd Remigio Molina (31-1) at 2:24 of the 6th round.

1997 - 1ST WBC SB DEFENSE - on 12-12-97 in Tijuana he TKO'd John Lowey (25-1): Erik dominated the fight, but Lowey was awkward and difficult - Erik was cut in the 3rd and 5th rounds by head clashes; Lowey was penalized one point in the 3rd for the headbutt, and two points in the 5th - one for the headbutt and one for an illegal punch; Lowey claimed an injured hand and could not continue after the 7th round; after seven rounds, Erik led by scores of 69-62, 68-62, 68-62.

WON WBC SB TITLE - on 9-6-97 in El Paso he TKO'd defending WBC champion Daniel Zaragoza (55-7-3): it was a close, exciting fight, and Erik stopped Zaragoza with a body punch at 2:59 of the 11th round; after 10 rounds, the judges were split - 96-93, 95-94 Morales, 95-94 Zaragoza.

1996 - 4TH NABF SB DEFENSE - on on 6-7-96 in Las Vegas he won a 12 round unanimous decision against former WBC champion Hector Acero-Sanchez (33-3-3): Erik came on strong in the middle rounds, staggered Acero in the last seconds of the 6th, and rocked him again in the 10th; scored 118-111, 118-110, 118-110.

3RD NABF SB DEFENSE - on 2-25-96 in Las Vegas he TKO'd Rudy Bradley (13-3-2) in the 11th round.

1995 - 2ND NABF SB DEFENSE - on 12-18-95 in Tijuana he knocked out Kenny Mitchell (22-14-3) in the 2nd round.

1ST NABF SB DEFENSE - on 9-9-95 in Las Vegas he TKO'd Alberto Martinez (32-20-2) in the 4th round.

WON NABF SB TITLE - on 7-14-95 in Las Vegas he won a 12 round decision against Juan Torres.

1995 - 1ST MEXICAN SB TITLE DEFENSE - on 11-10-95 Erik won a 12 round decision against Enrique Angeles (27-5).

WON MEXICAN SB TITLE - on 4-21-95 in Tijuana he TKO'd Enrique Jupiter (27-5-1) in the 6th round.

1994 - on 12-19-94 in Tijuana he TKO'd veteran Jose "Pepillo" Valdez (44-9-1): the fight was for the Hispanic (AMBH) title: Erik was rocked early in the fight, but rallied to stop Valdez in the 3rd round... He debuted on 3-29-93 at the age of 16, and had his first 16 fights in Mexico.

Strengths:
Physically strong with excellent skills and punching power...has an aggressive style, keeps a fast pace in the ring...is experienced against top opposition...had a strong amateur background.

Future plans/personal life
Morales has expressed his desire to surpass Chavez' record of championship titles at 3 weight classes by campaigning at the Lightweight class of 135lbs. After his loss to Pacquiao, Morales suggested that he was going to take some time off before deciding on his future in boxing (though only 29 at the time of the Pacquiao loss, he had fought for 13 years).

Morales is managed and promoted by Bob Arum, although he has recently opened his own promotional company to assist fellow young Mexicans into the sport. He separated from his wife due to her opposition to Boxing, and has 3 children with her. Currently he is dating Sandra Mora, a model and ardent Boxing follower. His younger brother, Diego, is also a successful Boxer, campaigning at 126lbs. Although no longer resident in Tijuana, Morales retains nonetheless a fierce loyalty to it, is considered a 'son' of the city and often trains there. Given his aggressiveness and success in the ring, many commentators have been surprised that this vocational combativeness belies a thoughtful, soft-spoken persona in his private life.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 03:59 PM

Dick Tiger
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Richard Dick Tiger Ihetu (August 14, 1929 - December 14, 1971) was a boxer from Amaigbo, Orlu, Nigeria, was a migrant fighter to Liverpool (and later to America). Tiger was a talented boxer, commercial venturer, and Biafran rebel. His boxing career record was: Fought 81; Won 60; Lost 18; Drew 3.

Dick Tiger was one of the great fighters to come out of the African continent. Tiger became a two-time undisputed world middleweight titlist. Tiger helped keep boxing alive during the 1950s boxing industry recession. Tiger earned an undisputed Light-Heavyweight world championship. In 1962, Tiger won the world middle weight boxing championship. Tiger inspired other Nigerians to go into boxing.

Tiger was an "in-house fighter" at New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Tiger developed a portfolio of investments before the outbreak of his homeland's civil war. Supporter of the Biafran secession, Tiger's propaganda and financial support of this cause cost him much. Tiger had received a CBE from Queen Elizabeth II, but he returned it as a protest for what he perceived as a lack of support by Great Britain to the Biafran cause.

Tiger fought some of boxing's best fighters, such as Terry Downes. knocked out in six by Tiger early in Tiger's career, Gene Fullmer, from whom he took the world's Middleweight title by decision in fifteen, drew (tied) in fifteen and knocked out in seven rounds, retaining his belt the two latter times; Joey Giardello, against whom he split four fights, including losing the title by decision in their third encounter and then regaining it in their fourth, Emile Griffith, to whom he lost the world Middleweight title on points, Jose Torres, against whom he won the world Light-Heavyweight title by decision in fifteen and retained it, once again by decision in 15, Nino Benvenuti, defeated in ten rounds by decision by Tiger, and Bob Foster, the only man to knock Tiger out, in four rounds at the Madison Square Garden, to mark the end of Tiger's days as world champion.

After retiring from boxing, Tiger worked as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York, but one day, he felt a strong pain in his back. Tested by doctors, he was diagnosed with liver cancer. Tiger had been banned by the Nigerian government in his country because of his involvement in the Biafran movement; however, the ban was lifted immediately after news about his condition arrived in Nigeria.

During a November 1, 2003, HBO Boxing transmission of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Phillip N'Dou world title fight, HBO analyst Larry Merchant, perhaps trying to call Tiger one of the greatest African boxers of all time, inadvertedly included Tiger in a list of greatest South African boxers of all time.

A book about Tiger's life is on the works and scheduled to be released sometime in 2004.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:01 PM

Ken Buchanan
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Ken Buchanan (born June 28, 1945) is a former world boxing champion. Many consider Buchanan to be the best boxer ever to come out of Scotland.

Buchanan was born in Edinburgh and started boxing professionally on September 20, 1965, beating Brian Tonks by a knockout in two rounds in London. He spent much of the early parts of his career fighting undistinguished opponents in England. His Scottish debut came in his 17th fight, when he outpointed John McMillan over 10 rounds on January 23, 1967. Prior to that, he had also beaten Ivan Whiter by a decision in 8 rounds.

Buchanan ran his winning streak to 23 consecutive bouts before challenging Maurice Cullen on February 19, 1968 for the British Lightweight title in London. He knocked Cullen out in round 11 and became a world classified Lightweight challenger.

He continued his way up the world Lightweight rankings by defeating Leonard Tavarez, Angel Robinson Garcia and Whiter (in a rematch) among others, but on January 29, 1970, he found his first stone on the boxing road when he challenged future world Jr. Welterweight champion Miguel Velazquez in Madrid, for the European Lightweight title. Buchanan lost a 15 round decision to Velazquez, but nevertheless, he continued his ascent towards the number one spot in the rankings by beating Tavarez in a rematch, Chris Fernandez and Brian Hudson, the latter of whom was beaten by a knockout in five in a defense of the British Lightweight title.

On September of that year, Buchanan travelled to Puerto Rico, where he would meet Ismael Laguna, the world Lightweight champion, on September 26. Many experts thought that San Juan's warm weather would affect Buchanan, but he upset those who thought that way and beat Laguna by a 15 round decision to become world's Lightweight champion. At that time, the WBA and the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC), were in the middle of a feud, and Buchanan was not allowed to fight in the United Kingdom. He had to resort to fighting overseas for a short period of time.

He finished 1970 beating Donato Panuato by a 10 round decision in a non-title bout, and then he began 1971 by going to Los Angeles, where he retained his title with a 15 round decision over Ruben Navarro. After that, he was allowed to fight in the United Kingdom again, and he returned there to beat former world champion Carlos Morocho Hernandez by a knockout in eight.

Then, he flew to New York to meet Laguna again, this time defending his world title. Buchanan retained the title with another decision over Laguna, and then he had a couple of non-title affairs, one in London and one in South Africa. The South African fight against Andries Steyn in Johannesburg was a mismatch with his opponent's corner throwing in the towel in the third round.

He was stripped of the WBC title for failing to defend against Pedro Carrasco, but he remained the WBA world Lightweight champion. His next defense came on June 26, 1972, against then undefeated Roberto Duran at the Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York. This bout proved to be one of the most controversial in boxing history. During an exchange to end round 13, Duran landed a blow to the mid-section that might have struck Buchanan in an illegal area of the body. Buchanan has always claimed that the blow was low, and replays, which have been shown countless times on TV, are inconclusive. Referee John LoBianco said, however, that he thought the blow was legal, and therefore, the bout, and the world championship, were given to Duran by a technical knockout in 13 rounds. Buchanan required hospitalization and surgery after the bout.

In his next fight, Buchanan beat former 3 time world champion Carlos Ortiz by a knockout in six, also at the MSG, and he finished 1972 with a win over Chang Kil Lee.

In 1973, Buchanan started out by beating future world Lightweight champion Jim Watt by a decision in 15, to regain the British lightweight title. Soon, he embarked on another international tour that included more fights in the United States, several fights in Denmark, and one fight in Canada. He won each of those fights, leading towards a challenge of European Lightweight champion Antonio Puddu in Italy, and Buchanan added the European Lightweight championship belt to his shelf by defeating Puddu by a decision in 15 rounds. He retained the title by beating Tavarez for the third time, this time by a knockout in 14 at Paris, and then he travelled to Japan to fight for the world title again. This time, however, he was defeated by a decision in 15 rounds by the WBC's world champion, Ishimatsu 'Guts' Suzuki.

Buchanan re-grouped once again, and won in a defense of the European Lightweight title against Giancarlo Usai by a knockout in 12. But he retired from 1976 to 1978, leaving the European Lightweight title vacant.

When he returned to professional boxing in 1978, he won two straight bouts, but everything else started going backwards for him. Challenging Charlie Nash in Copenhagen, he lost by a decision in twelve. In 1980, he won two bouts in a row, but after that, he lost five bouts in a row, finally retiring for good after losing to George Feeney by a decision in eight on January 25 of 1982.

He retired with a record of 61 wins and 8 losses in 69 professional bouts, with 27 wins by knockout.

In 2000, he was elected to the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:02 PM

Al Brown

Alfonso Teofilo Brown (1902-1951), better known as Panama Al Brown was a bantamweight boxer from Panama who made history by becoming boxing's first hispanic world champion. Brown was a native of the city of Colon.

Brown fought during the early 20th century, a period in which boxing records were not well kept. He is said to have fought professionally 164 times.

His first fight took place on March 19, 1922, when he beat Jose Moreno by a decision in six at Colon. By his seventh fight, December 12 of that same year, he beat Sailor Patchett by a fifteen round decision, to earn the Ithsmus Flyweight title. On September 22, 1923, he had his first fight abroad, drawing (tying) in four rounds with Johnny Breslin, at New York.

Brown began campaigning extensively across the United States before he suffered his first loss, at the hands of Jimmy Russo, December 6 of 1924, by decision in twelve. He would later avenge that defeat, and he beat Davey Abad and Willie LaMorte before being disqualified in the first round against Frankie Murray, on July 11 of 1926. Despite that setback, he kept on campaigning successfully and, on November 10 of that year, he knocked out Antoine Merlo in his Paris debut.

Panama Al Brown enjoyed Paris so much that he decided to stay there for the rest of his life. He became a hugely popular boxer in France. Over the next three years, he beat several fighters there, including former world champions Eugene Criqui and Andre Routis. Brown is actually said to have carried a homosexual relationship in France with his manager, Jean Cocteau [1].

An interesting case happened when he fought Gustav Humery, on January 29 of 1929. Brown and Humery had previously agreed that they would not salute by touching gloves before the fight, and when the bell rang, Brown struck quick, breaking Humery's jaw with his first punch and sending him to the floor. With the referee's count of ten seconds, the fight lasted a total of fifteen seconds, one of the quickest knockouts in boxing history.

Brown made history on June 18 of the same year, when he beat Gregorio Vidal by a fifteen round decision to win the vacant world's Bantamweight title back at New York, becoming the first hispanic world champion in history.

Brown became a national idol in Panama, and an instant celebrity almost everywhere else in Latin America after his win. Suffice to say, magazines such as The Ring En Espanol were talking about his achievement sixty years after Brown made history.

Soon after winning the title, he lost a ten round, non title fight to Battling Battalino, another legendary boxer.

Brown retained his title nine times and had countless other fights before a rematch with Hummey that ended in disaster: On May 17, 1934, Brown was disqualified in round six at Paris for using illegal tactics. A riot was formed and Brown suffered several broken bones and sent into semi-unconsciousness by fans before the police could help him. Twenty minutes later, the locale where the rematch was held had almost been entirely destroyed.

For his next title defense, on November 1 of the same year, he travelled to Tunis, Tunisia, where his opponent, Victor Perez, was counted out in round ten while on the floor, claiming that Panama Al had hit him with an illegal blow.

On June 1, 1935, he lost the title to Baltazar Sangchili of Italy, by a fifteen round decision, at Valencia, Spain. They had a rematch, on March 4 of 1938, with Brown avenging his earlier loss with a fifteen round decision, but by then, Sixto Escobar of Puerto Rico had already taken the world Bantamweight championship.

Panama Al Brown went on fighting until 1942, challenging unsuccessfully for the Panamanian Featherweight title on September 30, 1942, when he drew with Leocadio Torres, but retiring as a winner, defeating Kid Fortune by a decision in ten rounds on December 4 of the same year.

After his death, writer Eduardo Arroyo wrote a biography about Panama Al, titled Panama Al Brown, 1902-1951.

Panama Al Brown's final record is believed to have been 133 wins, 18 defeats and 13 draws, with 60 knockouts, placing him in the exclusive list of boxers who have won 50 or more fights by knockout.

He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:03 PM

Kid Chocolate
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Eligio Sardiñas (January 6, 1910 – August 8, 1988), better known as Kid Chocolate, was a Cuban boxer who enjoyed wild success both in the boxing ring and in society life during a span of the 1930s.

Chocolate, nicknamed The Cuban Bon Bon, learned how to fight by watching old fight films in Cuba. He later sparred with boxers such as Joe Gans, Benny Leonard and Jack Johnson, all world champions, before beginning an amateur boxing career. As an amateur, he won all 100 of his fights, 86 by knockout.

His professional boxing debut, officially, occurred on December 8, 1927, when he beat Johnny Cruz by a decision in six in Havana. Whether that was his actual debut or not has been a point of contention, because some Cuban boxing historians claim that he was actually paid for 21 bouts before that, supposedly winning each of them by knockout, which would put him on Ring Magazine's list of longest knockout streaks in history. But documents show the Cruz fight as being his first professional bout.

His first 12 bouts, including a five round knockout win in a rematch with Cruz, were held in Cuba. In 1928, he moved to the United States and began campaigning in New York. He won his first nine bouts there, five by knockout, and 12 of his first 13 fights in his new hometown. The only person to escape the ring without a defeat against Chocolate during that span was Joey Scalfaro, who held him to a ten round draw.

By 1929, Chocolate started to become a name to be reckoned with in boxing. He had 23 fights that year, and continued his undefeated run by winning each of them. He also began to meet better opponents, and among the boxers he beat were former world champion Fidel LaBarba, beaten by a decision in ten, future world champion Al Singer, also by a decision in ten, and fringe contenders Bushy Graham, Vic Burrone and Gregorio Vidal, all of whom, except for Graham, were beaten by decision. Graham was disqualified in the seventh round.

In 1930, he beat Burrone twice again, as part of his first seven bouts that year, all of which he won. But then, he was faced with future world Jr. Welterweight champion Jackie Kid Berg, who took away Chocolate's undefeated record by beating him in ten rounds. After three more fights, which resulted in two first round knockout wins and a decision loss in a ten round rematch with LaBarba, Chocolate found himself in a ring with world Featherweight champion Bat Battalino. Trying to become Cuba's first world boxing champion ever on that night, Chocolate lost a 15 round decision.

He started 1931 by winning four fights in a row, after going up in weight to the Jr. Lightweight division. Then, on July 15 of that year, his dream of becoming Cuba's first world boxing champion finally came true, as he knocked out the defending world Jr. Lightweight champion Benny Bass in seven rounds to take the world title. Five non-title wins followed, including a first round knockout in a rematch with Scalfaro, and then he finished the year by going up in weight once again, and challenging world Lightweight champion Tony Canzoneri, losing by a decision in 15 in his first attempt to gain the Lightweight crown.

He started 1932 by winning his first eight bouts, including a world title defense in Havana against Davie Abad, beaten in 15 by decision. Then, he faced Berg in a rematch, losing again, this time by decision in 15. He engaged in seven more bouts, including two decision wins over Johnny Farr, before fighting Lew Feldman on October 13. The fight was recognized as a world Featherweight title bout, but only by the New York state athletic commission. Chocolate won by a knockout in 12 rounds, gaining the New York world title.

He retained that world title twice, including a third fight with LaBarba, before relinquishing it while in the middle of a European boxing tour that took him to Madrid, Barcelona and Paris. He won all of his fights on that tour by decision. Upon returning to America, he lost by a knockout in two in a rematch with Canzoneri, then lost his world Lightweight title, being knocked out in seven by Frankie Klick. After that fight, it was revealed that he was suffering from Syphilis.

He retired shortly, but came back in 1934. He won 47 of his next 50 bouts until he retired in 1938, but never faced the kind of opposition he had faced before. Furthermore, he never received another world title try and felt abandoned by boxing's powers behind the curtains when he decided to retire.

Chocolate was known as a wild party man during his years as a world champion. He was a boxer who enjoyed being out at night and engaging himself under the bright lights of the city's nightlife. However, when he stepped out of boxing, he went back to Cuba and lived a quieter life.

In 1959, Chocolate's figure in Cuba was totally relegated by Fidel Castro and his revolutionary forces, and he almost became a forgotten champion, but by the late 1970s, Chocolate's achievements were finally recognized by Castro, who then put him to live in a state backed mansion, as Castro has been known to do with other important Cuba athletic figures. It was in that house that Chocolate passed away in 1988.

He is now a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame alongside Bass, Berg and Canzoneri.

His record was of 135 wins, 9 losses and 6 draws, 50 wins coming by knockout, also making Ring magazine's list of boxers with 50 or more career knockout wins.

He was the inspiration for the character Chocolate Drop in Clifford Odets' play Golden Boy.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:04 PM

Pascual Pérez
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Pascual Nicolás Pérez (March 4, 1926 - January 22, 1977) was an Argentine flyweight boxer. He made history by becoming Argentina's first world boxing champion.

Ironically, Pérez usually did poor at the ticket gates in Argentina after he became world champion, forcing him to defend his world title on the road many times and to become known as a world-travelling champion. His first international succes was a gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in United Kingdom.

In December 5, 1952, Pérez beat José Ciorino by knockout in round four at the small Argentine city of Gerly, to begin his professional boxing career. After winning his first six fights by knockout, he challenged Marcelo Quiroga, November 11 of 1953, for the Argentine Flyweight title, winning the fight by a fourth round knockout at Buenos Aires.

Pérez's knockout streak reached 18 knockouts in a row, and it lasted until he met Juan Bishop, on April 22, 1954, winning by a ten round decision.

On July 24 of that year, and with a record of 23 wins, no losses, with 22 wins by knockout, Pérez met Yoshio Shirai, who, coincidentally, had been Japan's first world champion in history, in a non-title fight held at Buenos Aires. The fight was declared a draw (tie) by the judges after ten rounds, and a rematch was set, this time with the world Flyweight title at stake.

On November 26 of '54, Pérez fought what was both his first fight abroad outside the Olympics, and his first world title fight. He made history by beating Shirai by a fifteen round decision, becoming Argentina's first world champion boxer, in Tokyo.

Over the course of Pérez's next thirty fights, he would defend his title only nine times, lose for the first time, and fight in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Curaçao, Japan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Thailand, Uruguay and Venezuela. Many of his fights would have been title fights, but some of his opponents were not able to make the Flyweight division's 112 pound weight limit, so Pérez often had to settle for non-title wins instead. He lost his undefeated record to Japan's Sadao Yaoita on January 16 of 1959, by a ten round decision in Tokyo. Among the fighters he defeated to retain his world title were Dai Dower (by a first round knockout), Dommy Ursua (by a fifteen round decision) and Yaoita in a rematch, by a thirteenth round knockout.

Pérez would lose his title to another first time world champion, Thailand's Pone Kingpetch, who made history for his country by beating Pérez by a fifteen round decision at Bangkok on April 16, 1960. A rematch between Pérez and Kingpetch was fought on September 22 of the same year, at Los Angeles, but Pérez's first fight in the United States was also his first knockout defeat, as he was beaten in eight rounds by Kingpetch.

Pérez's next twenty eight opponents had a combined record of 0-61-1, and Pérez beat each of them. Faced with perennial world title contender Bernardo Caraballo in Colombia, however, Pérez lost by a ten round decision on July 23, 1963.

He finished his career with fights in Ecuador, Mexico and Panama, losing a third round knockout to future world Bantamweight champion Efren Torres on his fight in Mexican soil.

Pérez had a record of 84 wins, 7 losses and 1 draw, with 58 knockouts, number which places him in the exclusive group of boxers to have won 50 or more fights by knockout.

He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. On his death in 1977, Pascual Pérez was interred in the La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:05 PM

Davey Moore
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Davey Moore (1933-1963) was an American world champion boxer, the first of two of them who shared those names in the late 20th century, and whose respective careers each ended with death by trauma near the age of thirty.

This Davey Moore was born in Lexington, Kentucky and he made his professional debut at the age of 20, beating Willie Reese by a decision in six rounds. He won five more bouts and then lost to Russ Tague by a decision, also in 6 rounds. He closed out 1953 with a third round knockout win over Eddie Cooper.

In 1954, he boxed ten times, with a record of 8-1-1, including 6 knockout wins. In 1955, he went 5-2, his two losses coming during a three fight Latin American tour that took him to Panama and Cuba. In 1956, he went 2-1, including a four round knockout over Charlie Slaughter in Montreal.

By 1957 Moore would begin an 18 fight winning streak, which ultimately took him to challenge world Featherweight champion Hogan Kid Bassey. He beat Bassey by a 13 round knockout, and then in a rematch by an 11 round knockout in 1959.

In 1960, he had a two fight tour in Venezuela, winning one by knockout, and then having his winning streak interrupted with a seven round knockout loss at the hands of Carlos Hernandez. He fought three times in Mexico that year, and retained his title in Tokyo, beating Kazuo Takayama by a decision in 15.

In 1961, he toured Europe for three fights, visiting Paris, Madrid and Rome. He retained his title with a knockout in one round against Danny Valdez and won three more fights in Mexico before returning to Tokyo to beat Takayama, once again by a 15 round decision, to retain the title in their rematch.

In 1962, he won four bouts, returning to Europe to defend his title versus Ollie Maeke, beaten in two rounds in Finland.

After winning one fight in 1963, Moore's luck ran out: He was faced with Sugar Ramos, in a nationally televised fight. The public, which was just recovering from the horror of seeing Benny the "Kid" Paret being pounded to death on national television just one year before, witnessed Moore being pounded against his own corner in the fight against Ramos. Several people, though generally not Ramos himself, have been blamed for not stopping the fight. Moore lost the fight officially by a knockout in the tenth, and died two days later at a medical center in Los Angeles.

He had a record of 55 wins, 8 losses and 3 draws, with 30 wins by knockout.

Subsequently, Bob Dylan wrote a song named Who Killed Davey Moore?. Several books and articles have been since published about the tragic fight between Moore and Ramos.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:05 PM

Abe Attell
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Abraham Washington Attell (born February 22, 1884 in San Francisco, California, United States – died February 6, 1970 in New Paltz, New York), better known in the boxing world as Abe "The Little Hebrew" Attell, was a boxer who became known for his record-setting period as world Featherweight champion, as well as for his involvement in the Black Sox scandal and other scandals.

Attell was a member of a Jewish family, but he grew up in an Irish neighborhood. Because of that, he often found himself involved in fights, and according to him, he would get involved in as many as 10 bouts each day as a kid. Attell's father abandoned his family when Attell was 13, and Attell had to find a job selling newspapers to support his family. He used to sell them on the streets and corners, and while selling newspapers, he got a chance to witness the fight between Solly Smith and George Dixon for the world's Featherweight championship. With that, Attell and two of his brothers were convinced that maybe they had a future in boxing.

Attell's first fight was on August 19, 1900, when he knocked out Kid Lennett in two rounds. His mother, who strongly opposed Attell's idea of being a boxer, later became one of Attell's staunchest supporters, even betting on her son to win. He gained the nickname "The Little Hebrew" in these early fights.

Attell won ten fights in a row by knockout and later moved to Denver, Colorado, where he met Dixon for the world's Featherweight championship in 1903, when Attell was 18. He beat Dixon by a decision in fifteen rounds, and became world Featherweight champion. He lost the crown in his second defense, being knocked out in five rounds by Tommy Sullivan. However, he regained the crown from Sullivan by beating him in their rematch by knockout. Attell then went on his streak of 18 defenses in a row (a division record until Eusebio Pedroza broke it in 1985). Attell beat, among others, Battling Nelson and Johnny Kilbane during that streak. His nicknamed changed into the "The Little Champ" during this streak.

During his time as a world champion, Attell was allegedly involved with mafioso Arnold Rothstein. According to some legends, they became very good friends during this period.

Attell went on to lose his world Featherweight title to Kilbane in 1912, losing by a 20 round decision, in a fight where Kilbane declared that Attell's handlers put a substance on Attell's glove to make Kilbane blind. According to live witnesses, Attell also tried an assortment of other illegal methods to win the fight.

On July 4, 1913, Attell accidentally hit the referee on the face during a win against Willie Beecher. He finally retired in 1917.

Attell was involved in one of sport's largest scandals of all time, when he was accused in 1920 of being the messenger between Rothstein and players of the Chicago White Sox baseball organization, during the planning stages of the alleged fix of the 1919 World Series, also known as the Black Sox scandal. Attell's name made it back to the newspaper headlines, and he along with Rothstein and many White Sox players, were formally accused of many charges, including fixing the event. All were eventually found not guilty but banned from participating in baseball activities. Attell subsequently denied being involved in any talks about fixing the series, and he alleged that the wrong Abe Attell was accused.

As a consequence, Attell is, alongside Rothstein, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose, one of the few people banned from joining the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was, however, a member of the original boxing Hall of Fame, a member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the San Francisco Boxing Hall of Fame, and of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. In the latter, he was inducted as a member of their original class, in 1990.

Attell had a record of 92 wins, 10 losses, 18 draws and 45 no-decisions, with 51 wins by knockout, making him a member of Ring Magazine's list of fighters with 50 or more knockout wins.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:07 PM

Carlos Ortiz
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Carlos Ortiz (born September 9, 1936) is a Puerto Rican who was a three time world boxing champion, twice in the lightweight division and once in the Jr. Welterweights.

Ortiz, born in Ponce, started his professional career in 1955 with a first round knockout of Harry Bell in New York. An immigrant to the United States before he began boxing as a professional, he would campaign there during the first stages of his career. After 9 bouts there, he fought outside New York for the first time, moving to Massachusetts to knock Al Duarte out in 4 rounds. His next 3 bouts were also outside New York, but he stayed within the confines of New England, as they happened, once again in Massachusetts, and in New Jersey.

He returned to New York again and won 4 more bouts in a row, then made his California debut, beating Mickey Northrup by a decision in 10 rounds. 2 more fights in California and one in New York went by, after which he returned to California to meet Lou Filippo, nowadays a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame as a referee. Filippo was also one of the guys who participated in 1982's Rocky III, as one of the referees. The first time, it was declared a no-contest after 9 rounds, but in the second, Carlos prevailed, by a knockout in 9. 5 more wins followed, and then he met Johnny Busso, who handled Carlos his first loss, on a 10 round decision. That fight was held in New York, and in an immediate rematch between Ortiz and Busso, Carlos won, also by a 10 round decision, and also in New York.

Next Carlos flew to England to meet Dave Charnley, who was considered one of the top challengers of that time. Ortiz won on a 10 round decision, after which promoters thought he was ready for a world title try.

Carlos met Kenny Lane for the vacant world Jr. Welterweight title, in New York on the night of June 12, 1959. Lane had handled Carlos his second loss months before, winning a 10 round decision over Ortiz in Florida. This time, Carlos became the World's Jr Welterweight champion, knocking out Lane in 2 rounds.Ortiz had become the first Puerto Rican world boxing champion since Sixto Escobar more than 30 years before, and only the second Puerto Rican world boxing champion ever. Unfortunately for him, not much importance was being given to that division at the time, since that division's title had been vacant for 13 years. But Carlos defended his title twice, knocking out former world lightweight champion Battling Torres in Torres' background of Los Angeles, and beating Duilio Loi in 15 rounds by decision at San Francisco.

His next fight was a rematch with Loi, and it took Ortiz to Milan, Italy to defend his crown. This time, it was Loi's turn to become a world champion, winning by a 15 round decision.

After another win, Ortiz travelled to Milan once again, and met Loi in a rubber match. This time, he lost again, by 15 round decision.

Instead of going up in weight, like most boxers throughout history have done after losing the title in their original division, Ortiz went down in weight, and challenged world champion Joe Brown (also a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame). Ortiz won a 15 round decision over Brown on April 21 of 1962 in Las Vegas, to win his second world title, this time in his second championship division. Ortiz defended with a 5 round knockout of Teruo Kosaka in Tokyo before making his Puerto Rican debut, with a 13 round knockout win over Doug Valiant to retain his title on April 7, 1963 in San Juan.

A knockout win in 14 rounds over another hall of famer, Gabriel Elorde, Flash in the Philippines followed, and then a remach with Lane, this time Ortiz retaining his world Lightweight title with a 15 round decision in San Juan. But in 1965 he went to Panama and fought yet another member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, Ismael Laguna who defeated him in 15 rounds to claim Ortiz's world Lightweight title. A rematch in San Juan followed, and Ortiz regained the world Lightweight title beating Laguna by a 15 round decision also.

1966 saw Ortiz draw with world Jr Welterweight champion Nicolino Locche in a ten round non-title affair in Argentina, and retain his title vs Johnny Bizarro (KO in 12 in Pittsburgh), Sugar Ramos (another International Boxing Hall Of Fame Member, ko in 5 rounds in Mexico City) and Flash Elorde, also by ko in 14 at a New York rematch. The Ramos fight proved controversial, because the WBC's president proclaimed at first that the punch with which Ortiz had beaten Ramos with had been illegal, but he later reconsidered and gave Ortiz the title, and the knockout victory, back, with the condition that a rematch be fought in the future.

And so 1967 came, and Ortiz and Ramos met once again, this time in San Juan. Ortiz retained the title by a knockout in 4 rounds, and this time the bout went without any controversies. Then, he and Laguna fought a third time, and Ortiz retained his title by a 15 round decision in New York.

June 29, 1968, proved to be Ortiz's last day as a world champion, as he lost his world lightweight title to Dominican Carlos Cruz on a 15 round decision in the Dominican Republic. There was going to be a rematch to be held in San Juan, but Cruz tragically died in the Dominicana De Aviacion DC-9 crash off the Dominican Republic's Atlantic Ocean coast when he was flying to meet Ortiz in a rematch, in the same plane crash that also killed most members of the Puerto Rican Women's National Volleyball team, as well as the rest of the passengers on the plane (see: Dominicana DC-9 air disaster).

Ortiz kept on fighting, but he never got another chance at a world title. He retired after losing at the Madison Square Garden by a knockout in 6 rounds to another future hall of famer, Ken Buchanan. It was the only time he was stopped in his career. His final record was of 61 wins, 7 losses and 1 draw, with one bout declared a no-contest and 30 knockout wins.

Ortiz is also a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame and he always enjoys to take photos with his fans and sign autographs for them.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:09 PM

Joey Archibald
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(Archibald right)

Joey Archibald (b. December 6, 1915) was the former world boxing featherweight champion.

Archibald won the NYSAC version of the then vacant world crown when he defeated Mike Belloise on October 17, 1938. He gained universal recognition as the champion when he defeated Leo Rodak in April of 1939. Archibald lost the title to Harry Jeffra in May of 1940, but regained it from Jeffra on May 12, 1941. His reign was short lived as Chalky Wright knocked him out on September 11, 1941 to wrest the crown from him.

Archibald, despite his fine effort against Jeffra to regain the title, appeared to be a fighter in decline from 1939 on. In fact, Archibald lost 27 out of 34 fights from July 1939 until his retirement from the ring in August of 1943. His final record was 61 wins (30 KOs), 42 losses and 5 draws.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:10 PM

Max Baer

Statistics
Nickname Livermore Larupper
Weight division Heavyweight
Born February 11, 1909
Omaha, Nebraska
Died November 21, 1959

Style Orthodox Boxing Style
Record
Total fights 84
Wins 71
KOs 53
Losses 13
Draws 0
No contests 0

Maximillian Adelbert Baer (February 11, 1909 – November 21, 1959) was a famous American boxer of the 1930s, onetime Heavyweight Champion of the World, and actor.

Biography
He was born Maximilian Adelbert Baer in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of German immigrant Jacob Baer (1875-1938), who had a Jewish father and a Lutheran mother, and Dora Bales (1877-1938). His older sister was Fanny Baer (1905-1991), and his younger sister and brother were Bernice Baer (1911-1987) and boxer-turned actor Buddy Baer (1915-1986).

His father was a butcher. The family moved to Colorado before Bernice and Buddy were born. In 1921, when Maxie was twelve, they moved to Livermore, California, to engage in cattle ranching. He often credited working as a butcher boy and carrying heavy carcasses of meat for developing his powerful shoulders.

He turned professional in 1929, progressing steadily through the ranks. A ring tragedy little more than a year later almost caused him to drop out of boxing for good. Baer fought Frankie Campbell (brother of Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer Dolph Camilli) on August 25, 1930 in San Francisco and knocked him out. Campbell never regained consciousness. After lying on the canvas for nearly an hour, Campbell was finally transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he eventually died of extensive brain hemorrages. An autopsy revealed that Baer's devastating blows had knocked Campbell's entire brain loose from the connective tissue holding it in place within his cranium. This profoundly affected Baer; according to his son, Max Baer, Jr., he cried and had nightmares over the incident for decades afterwards. He was charged with manslaughter. Although he was eventually acquitted of all charges, the California State Boxing Commission still banned him from any in-ring activity within their state for the next year. He gave purses from succeeding bouts to Campbell's family, but lost four of his next six fights. He fared better when Jack Dempsey took him under his wing, and Baer put Campbell's children through college.

In 1933, Baer (with a Star of David embroidered on his trunks [1], which he swore to wear in every bout thereafter) boxed Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium, dominating the rugged fighter from Germany into the tenth round when the referee stopped the match. Because Baer defeated Schmeling, Hitler's favorite, and had a Jewish father, he became a hero to the Jewish people, although he was raised Catholic (his mother's faith).

Baer beat the likes of Walter Cobb and Kingfish Levinsky, and was Heavyweight Champion of the World from June 14, 1934, when he knocked out Primo Carnera, to June 13, 1935. On that day, in Long Island City, New York, Baer fought James J. Braddock. Braddock won the heavyweight championship of the world as the 10 to 1 underdog. Braddock took heavy hits from Baer but kept coming until he wore Baer down. At the end, the judges gave Braddock the title with a nearly unanimous decision. The Braddock bout was depicted in the 2005 motion picture Cinderella Man; the portrayal of Baer in that film has been criticized.

Max Baer boxed in eighty four professional fights from 1929 to 1941. In all, his record was 72-12-0 (53 knockouts), which makes him a member of the exclusive group of boxers to have won fifty or more bouts by knockout. He fought Lou Nova in the first televised heavyweight prizefight, on June 1, 1939, on WNBT-TV in New York. His last match was another loss to Nova, in 1941. Baer and his brother, Buddy, both lost fights to Joe Louis, Buddy's two losses to Louis coming in world title fights.

He was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1968, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1984 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995.

Acting
His motion picture debut was in The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933) opposite Myrna Loy and Walter Huston. In this MGM movie he played Steven "Steve" Morgan, a bartender that the Professor, played by Huston, begins training for the ring. Steve wins a fight, then marries Belle Mercer, played by Loy. He starts seriously training, but it turns out he has a big ego and an eye for the women. Featured were Baer's upcoming opponent, Primo Carnera, as himself, who Steve challenges for the championship, and Jack Dempsey, as himself, former Heavyweight Champ, acting as the referee.

On March 29, 1934, The Prizefighter and the Lady was officially banned from playing in Germany at the behest of Joseph Goebbels, then Minister of Propaganda and Public Entertainment, even though it received favorable reviews in local newspapers as well as in the Nazi publications. When an official at the Ministry of Propaganda was asked, "Is the film barred because Max Baer is a Jew?" he snapped, "Ja." When contacted for comment at Lake Tahoe, Baer said, "They didn't ban the picture because I have Jewish blood. They banned it because I knocked out Max Schmeling."

Baer was an actor in almost twenty movies, including "Africa Screams" with Abbott and Costello, and made several TV guest appearances. A clown in and out of the ring, Baer also appeared in a vaudeville act and on his own TV variety show. Baer appeared in Humphrey Bogart's final movie, The Harder They Fall (1956), opposite Mike Lane as Toro Moreno, a fictionalized version of Primo Carnera, who Baer defeated for his heavyweight title. Budd Schulberg, who wrote the book from which the movie was made, portrayed the Baer character, "Buddy Brannen", as somewhat bloodthirsty, and the (apparently unfounded) characterization made the leap to Cinderella Man. Baer also worked as a disc jockey for a Sacramento radio station and was a wrestler for a while. He was also public relations director for a Sacramento automobile dealership and referee for boxing and wrestling matches.

He had two wives, actress Dorothy Dunbar (married July 8, 1931-divorced 1933) and Mary Ellen Sullivan (married June 29, 1935-his death 1959). With Sullivan, he had three children, actor Max Baer, Jr. (born 1937), James Baer (born 1941) and Maude Baer (born 1943). During a separation from his first wife, Max had an affair with movie star Jean Harlow.

Max Baer never saw the TV and movie success of his son, Max Baer, Jr. In November 1959, he was scheduled to appear in some TV commercials, which he planned to do before returning to his home in Sacramento. After refereeing a boxing match in Phoenix, he checked into the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. While shaving in the morning, he had a heart attack and the doctor was called. Baer hung on for a while, but then died in his room at age fifty. He is interred in Saint Mary's Mausoleum, Sacramento. There is a park named for Max Baer in Livermore, California, which he considered his home town, even though he was born in Omaha.

Max Baer once said, "I never had a fight out of the ring. I never harmed anyone outside the ring. I loved people."

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:12 PM

Floyd Mayweather Jr.
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Pretty Boy
Statistics
Nickname Pretty Boy
Weight division Welterweight
Born February 24, 1977
Grand Rapids, MI
Style Orthodox
Record
Total fights 35
Wins 35
KOs 24
Losses 0
Draws 0
No contests 0

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (born February 24, 1977, Grand Rapids, MI) is rated by The Ring magazine as the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. He is the son of former welterweight contender Floyd Mayweather Sr., who currently is the trainer of Oscar de la Hoya. Mayweather Jr.'s trainer is his uncle, Roger Mayweather; neither Floyd Jr. nor Roger speak with Floyd Sr.

Mayweather had a successful amateur career, with a record of 84-6. He won national Golden Gloves championships in 1993 (at 106 lb.), 1994 (at 112 lb.), and 1996 (at 125 lb.). He was given the nickname "Pretty Boy" by his amateur teammates because his face never had cuts or bruises after fights—a result of the defensive techniques that Floyd Sr. and Roger had taught him. In his orthodox defensive stance, Mayweather holds his right hand high (near his right temple), his left hand cradles his stomach, and his left shoulder guards his chin. He slips and deflects most punches this way, even when cornered, by twisting left and right in this position to the rhythm of his opponents' punches.

As a featherweight, Mayweather won a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Mayweather lost by a controversial decision in his semi-final bout against silver medalist Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria. Nearly everyone who saw the bout, including the referee, thought that Mayweather had won. However, the international judges, whom U.S. boxing coach Al Mitchell called "a bunch of mobsters," ruled the bout 10-9 for Todorov.

In 1998, Mayweather won his first professional title, the WBC super featherweight championship, when the corner of Genaro Hernandez stopped the fight after round 8. From there, Mayweather defended his title with dominating performances against challengers such as perennial contender Angel Manfredy and former WBC featherweight champion Gregorio Vargas. Mayweather's biggest fight as a super featherweight was in 2001, against Diego Corrales. At the time, neither fighter had been defeated or knocked down. In the bout, Mayweather won every round, and knocked Corrales down five times (three times in round 7 and twice in round 10). After the fifth knockdown, Corrales' corner displayed the towel, thereby establishing Mayweather as one of the claimants to boxing's mythical pound-for-pound title.

In his first bout after Corrales, against future IBF champion Carlos Alberto Hernandez, Mayweather was knocked down for the first time, when his right glove touched the canvas—a result of Mayweather's injuring his hand while punching Hernandez—but he rose to win the fight. After defending his title against Hernandez and future WBC champion Jesus Chavez, Mayweather moved up to the lightweight division, where he won the WBC lightweight championship. In 2002, Mayweather won two close bouts against Jose Luis Castillo. Some feel he should have lost the first fight, but he won the rematch relatively easy and removed any doubt left over from the first bout. He went on to beat Victoriano Sosa and knocked out Phillip N'dou in 2003. The latter proved to be a very exciting bout, with N'dou pursuing Mayweather and being hit with constant right hand blows, until finally being knocked out in the 7th round.

Mayweather then moved up to the super lightweight division. He defeated DeMarcus Corley in another exciting toe-to-toe war, and knocked out Henry Bruseles. He was then given an opportunity to fight WBC super lightweight champion Arturo Gatti on June 25, 2005 in his first pay-per-view fight. Gatti was a heavy fan favorite, but Mayweather easily out-boxed and battered him throughout the fight. Gatti's corner stopped the fight after round 6, giving Mayweather his third world title. Among many boxing experts, Mayweather's dominance over Gatti solidified his position as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

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One month after the Gatti fight, Mayweather went to trial for a domestic violence charge, facing a minimum of one year in prison if he were convicted. Mayweather had been accused of violence against his former girlfriend, Josie Harris. Harris had claimed that Mayweather had punched and kicked her during an argument in Mayweather's Bentley, outside a Las Vegas nightclub in 2003. During the trial, however, Harris admitted that she had lied on the initial police report, and testified that Mayweather never hit her. The jury acquitted Mayweather.

On November 19, 2005 Mayweather fought a non-title bout at 147 lb. against welterweight Sharmba Mitchell. In round 3, Mayweather knocked down Mitchell with a straight right hand to the head. In round 6, another straight right hand—this one to Mitchell's body—dropped Mitchell again and ended the fight.

Mayweather is scheduled to fight welterweight champion Zab Judah for the IBF welterweight title on April 8, 2006. The fight had been jeopardized after Judah lost the WBC welterweight title to Carlos Manuel Baldomir on January 7, 2006. (Judah had been required to successfully defend his WBC title against Baldomir in order to make the superfight occur.) Judah was also stripped of his WBA welterweight title. After reworking their deals, however, Mayweather's and Judah's camps decided that the fight would still go on.

Both Mayweather and Ricky Hatton have expressed interest in a superfight later in 2006. Additionally, Oscar de la Hoya has said that he wants his last fight to be against Mayweather.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:13 PM

Meldrick Taylor
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Meldrick Taylor (born October 19, 1966) is a former Olympic gold medalist and world boxing champion in two weight classes.

Taylor, one of many boxing champions hailing from the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, learned his craft in the gyms of his hometown and posted a 99-4 record as an amateur fighter. In 1984, Taylor earned a spot on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team at the age of 17, and claimed the gold medal in the featherweight division. Following his victory, he joined the professional ranks.

His early fights were against nondescript journeymen, but in his 12th fight, in May 1986, Taylor won a unanimous decision against fellow contender Harold Brazier and moved into the world rankings. On September 3, 1988, Taylor faced James (Buddy) McGirt for the IBF world junior welterweight, 140 pound (64 kg), world title. He defeated McGirt by a technical knockout (TKO) in the 12th and final round to begin his first title reign.

Over the next 18 months, Taylor won four more fights, setting up a unification bout with WBC world junior welterweight champion Julio César Chávez on March 17, 1990 in Las Vegas. This fight drew huge media attention, as both men came in unbeaten (Taylor at 24-0-1 and Chávez at 68-0), and regarded as two of the best boxers in the world, regardless of weight class. Their fight was one of the most famous, and controversial, bouts in boxing history.

Taylor took control of the action early and began to build up a lead on the scorecards. However, Chávez proved to be a heavier puncher, and was slowly wearing Taylor down even as he lost rounds. Going to the 12th and final round, Taylor led by wide margins on two of the three scorecards, but chose to continue fighting at close quarters with the hard-hitting Mexican champion. Chávez, realizing time was running out, came at Taylor aggressively in the last round. With 13 seconds left in the fight, Chávez floored Taylor. Taylor beat the 10-count and got back to his feet, but looked back at his corner rather than at referee Richard Steele. Steele waved the fight off with just two seconds left, awarding Chávez a win by TKO.

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The controversy surrounding the stoppage continues to this day, and 10 years later, Ring Magazine proclaimed it the "Fight of the Decade".

Taylor had lost his title, but not his desire. Feeling that having to make the 140 pound (64 kg) weight had weakened him against Chavez, Taylor moved up to welterweight (147 pounds) and decisioned undefeated Aaron Davis for the WBA world welterweight title on January 19, 1991. He issued a challenge to Chávez for a rematch at 147 pounds, but the latter wouldn't move up in weight for many years. Taylor won three more fights before answering a challenge from world junior middleweight champion Terry Norris to fight for Norris' WBC title. Norris, a naturally bigger and stronger man, knocked Taylor out in the fourth round.

This marked the end of Taylor's career as a world-class fighter; he lost the welterweight crown to Crisanto Espana in his next fight on Halloween night in 1992. He got one more title shot, against Chávez on September 17, 1994 in Las Vegas, but, years removed from his prime, he was stopped by Chávez in the eighth round.

He fought off and on over the next eight years, winning some fights and losing others, before retiring in 2002. He finished with a record was 38-8-1, (20 KOs).

During an episode of HBO's "Legendary Nights" in 2003, an interview with Taylor was shown, in which his speech was very slurred. Many viewers were shocked and disturbed when they heard the way Taylor now speaks.

Taylor lives in Philadelphia today, working as a personal trainer, fitness consultant and boxing instructor.

gibe

Mar 23 2006, 04:17 PM

Héctor Camacho
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The Macho Man
Statistics
Nickname Macho Camacho
Weight division Junior lightweight
Born May 24, 1962
Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Style
Record
Total fights 85
Wins 79
KOs 38
Losses 5
Draws 2
No contests

Héctor Camacho (born May 24, 1962), nicknamed "Macho Camacho", is a boxer. Carrier of Muhammad Ali's flamboyance, and personal, controversial style, Camacho became a three time world champion, yet he always lacked the support of boxing writers. Some claim that he was treated very unfairly by boxing critics and experts around the world.

Early life and career
Camacho was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, but his family moved to New York when he was a little kid. He ran into trouble there as a teen, getting into fights and landing in jail at 15. He also learned boxing and karate as a teenager, and since he demonstrated talent as a boxer, he chose that sport as a career.

It has been said that Camacho's flamboyant style brought a lot of fun to the sport of boxing, but it also made him garner the hate of the same critics who, ironically, had loved Ali just a few years before. Ali and Camacho's style was adopted by Roy Jones Jr.,Jorge Paez and Naseem Hamed, just to name a few, and it may bring excitement to their respective fans..

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After a stellar amateur career, Camacho began a quick rise through the professional rankings, first in the Featherweight and then in the Junior Lightweight division. He felt so good from the start that the young fellow was sure he could beat World featherweight champions Salvador Sánchez and Eusebio Pedroza. However, Sanchez died when Camacho was still coming up in the ranks.

Up at Junior Lightweight, he defeated top contenders Irleis Cubanito Perez, Melvin Paul, John Montes and Refugio Rojas (Both Montes and Rojas lasted one round, and Rojas would later last seven in a world title challenge of Julio Cesar Chavez for Chavez's world Jr. Lightweight championship).

World Junior Lightweight championship
When World Junior Lightweight champion Bobby Chacon refused to go to Puerto Rico to defend his title against Camacho, the WBC declared the world championship vacant, and the man Chacon had taken the title from, Rafael Bazooka Limon, filled in for Chacon. It was the first time Camacho was in a ring with a former world champion, and he didn't show any lack of experience, dropping Limon in rounds one and three before the referee put a stop to the fight in round five.

His first defense also came in San Juan where he met fellow Puerto Rican Rafael Solis, whose family included former world bantamweight champion Julian Solis. Camacho got tested in this fight for the first time, shaken in round three by a Solis uppercut, but he flattened Solis with a right to the chin in round five, knocking him out to retain the title.

Next came a move to Lightweight, where he won the United States title with a twelve round decision of Roque Montoya. By then Camacho was appearing on the covers of all the boxing magazines and making quite a few fans among teenaged girls.

His next fight made him a two time world champion. Fought on HBO, the channel that realized Camacho was a potential legend after televising his fight vs Solis, Camacho beat the Mexican defending world champion, Jose Luis Ramirez in Las Vegas to win the world Lightweight championship. Camacho dropped Ramirez in round three and went on to win the fight by a unanimous twelve round decision.

What could have been a blessing, may have started Camacho's downfall instead. The two other reigning world champions in his division at that time, Livingstone Bramble and Jimmy Paul were reluctant to unify the crown with Camacho, and so he had to settle for a decision win over Freddie Roach before his next fight of importance came along, ten months after beating Ramirez.

He met Edwin Rosario at the Madison Square Garden in New York, once again on HBO. In a famous fight, Camacho, in the minds of many fans, dominated rounds one to four, but had to hang on for dear life in rounds five and six. He came back to take the middle rounds, but Rosario came back during the eleventh and twelfth. It was a close decision, but Camacho retained the title with a split decision.

Personal troubles and the start of decline
Camacho's personal life ran into trouble after the Rosario fight, as he was charged with possession of drugs. However, the charges were later lifted and Camacho resumed his boxing career.

Camacho then retained his title vs former World Junior Lightweight champion Cornelius Boza Edwards in Miami on a unanimous decision before going up in weight again. After a few fights there, he met former world lightweight champion " Ray Boom Boom Mancini", who had a record of 29-3 with 23 knockouts coming into this fight, for the vacant WBO version of the world Junior Welterweight title. Camacho was the fresher of the two and ended up winning a unanimous twelve round decision, joining that exclusive group of world champion boxers who have become three time world champions.

Camacho next met Vinny Paz, winning on points again, then challenger Tony Baltazar, from Phoenix. Baltazar was another points victim on an HBO televised bout, but then Camacho lost his undefeated record and world championship to the former world Lightweight champion Greg Haugen. However, as an unidentified substance was found on Haugen's urine, a rematch was ordered and Camacho regained the title, beating Haugen on a close but unanimous decision.

This set the table for his showdown with Julio Cesar Chavez, in Las Vegas in the year 1992. Camacho, dressed as Captain America coming into the bout, lost a unanimous decision on Showtime's Pay Per View leg, SET, that night.

Camacho has spent the last few years winning a handful of smaller organization titles, while getting a couple of shots at world titles. Among his notable wins since 1992 there are two over the legendary possible future hall of famer Roberto Duran, beaten on points twice, once in Atlantic City and another time in Denver. He lost title tries for the world welterweight championship vs Félix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya, both by unanimous decisions. After each of those fights, he kept fighting and winning but seeing as title shots are now hard to come by for him, he seems to be currently semi-retired.

Camacho hasn't officially announced his retirement, but nowadays, he is more visible as a trainer of his son, Junior Welterweight prospect Hector Machito Camacho Jr..

On December 5 of 2003, and in preparation for a possible rematch with Chavez, Camacho recovered from a first round knockdown (the third against him in his career) to defeat Craig Houk by a knockout in round three.

Camacho won, on July 4, 2004, a unanimous ten round decision over Clinton McNeil. He hopes for a world title try against Daniel Santos, the WBO's world Jr. Middleweight champion.

On January 6, 2005, Camacho was arrested by police in Mississippi on charges of trying to burgle an electronic goods store and carrying ecstasy on him.

Ismael Leandry, Camacho's manager, told El Vocero newspaper that Camacho had been offered a computer by a store representant the day before he got arrested. Camacho, who was in Mississippi for a fight, allegedly bought the computer and went into his hotel room, where he tried to hook it up. The computer, according to Leandry's allegations, did not work, and Camacho went early in the morning the day he was arrested to trade it for a new one. When he saw that the store was not opened, according to police records, he broke into the store and took a brand new one. Leandry said that Camacho left the one he had originally purchased from the vendor, grabbed a new one and left his room's telephone number in case someone from the store had a question. Camacho was excarcerated soon after the arrest.

This case is still pending, and the fight in Mississippi went on as scheduled.

On July 9 he returned to the ring, in Tucson, Arizona, beating Rauul Munoz by decision after ten rounds. A small riot ensued, both inside and outside the ring [1] and old rival Chavez had to be escorted out of the arena where the fight took place by security. Police are investigating this case.

Camacho has a record of 79 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws, with 38 wins by knockout.

Héctor Macho Camacho is possibly a future member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.
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