Eastside Boxing Remembers...1982

By Jeff Day

22.03 - It was twenty years ago today...so goes the first line of The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper album.

Well, lets take a look at the highlights of the boxing year of 1982. Remember this was a year boxing was in transition.

Muhammad Ali had had his last fight in December 1981, as had his great nemesis, Joe Frazier.

It was the year Sugar Ray Leonard had surgery to repair a detached retina, just three months after defending his world welterweight championship against Bruce Finch.

The first major match of the year saw Panamanian Eusebio Pedroza make record 14th defense of the WBA featherweight title against Puerto Rico’s Juan Laporte in Atlantic City on 24 January.

It was a foul-filled match with Pedroza landing more than fifty low blows throughout the course of the 15 rounder, (Ah, those were the days) having two points deducted, yet retaining on a unanimous decision.

On the 30 January, Wilfred Benitez made the second defense of the WBC title he had annexed from Britain’s Maurice Hope eight months earlier, against modern great, Roberto Duran.

Duran, of course, had already won world titles at lightweight and welterweight, while Benitez himself had won titles at light-welterweight and welterweight. Indeed he was - and still is - the youngest world champion in history at 17.

Benitez was expected to use the scientific skills that made him a defensive genius. Instead he fought flat-footed going toe-to-toe with ‘Hands of Stone’ and his greater speed saw him eke out a unanimous decision over 15 rounds.

At the time, Duran was viewed as being on the way out, particularly when you consider nine months later when outpointed by Britain’s unsung, though awkwardly effective, Kirkland Laing in Detroit.

Now, Duran was to win the WBA version of the title in 1983 against American Davey Moore. Moore himself won the title against Japanese Tadashi Mihara with a sixth round knockout in Tokyo 2 February.

An astonishing achievement considering it was only Moore’s ninth professional fight, although he had a glittering career as an amateur.

In July, Moore would defend against former champion Ayub Kalule. Kalule had given Sugar Ray Leonard a decent test before losing the title to the Sugarman in 1981.

Talking of the undisputed world welterweight champion, Sugar Ray Leonard, he made this first defense as unified champion against fellow American, Bruce Finch in Reno. Amazingly, Reno’s first world title fight since the infamous Jack Johnson-Jim Jeffries heavyweight championship meeting in 1910.

Leonard, not as motivated as he could and should have been, took punches he normally wouldn’t, before stopping Finch in the third on 15 February.

February also saw Michael Spinks defend his version of the light-heavyweight title with a sixth round stoppage of Mustapha Wassaja. The Spinks jinks doing the trick.

Not to be outdone, Spinks’ WBC counterpart Dwight Braxton scored a stoppage, also in six, over Jerry Martin in March. The talk was of a unification match at light-heavy.

At bantamweight, Jeff Chandler made the fifth defense of his WBA belt with a sixth round win over fellow Philadelphian Johnny Carter. Chandler went on to make nine defenses and brought some much needed publicity to the bantamweights.

Despite only two amateur fights, Chandler was one of the top pound for pound boxers of the day.

World middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler blasted William ‘Caveman’ Lee inside a round. Lee was beaten mentally before the opening bell on March 7.

Aaron Pryor retained the WBA light-welterweight title with a win over Miguel Mortilla in the twelfth on March 21 in Atlantic City.

Wifredo Gomez, brilliant super-bantamweight champion, retained again with a sixth round knockout of the dangerous Juan ‘Kid’ Meza on March 27.

A good win when you consider Meza would win this very championship in November 1984.

Michael Spinks was back in the ring just weeks after last defending his WBA light-heavyweight title.

This time, against Murray Sutherland, later to be the first holder of a world super-middleweight title (1984), Spinks lowered the boom in round eight on April 11.

Before America entered the Second World War, Lenny Mancini was a top-rated lightweight. Forty years later, Ray Mancini, son of Lenny was a top rated lightweight.

He failed in 1981 against WBC champion Alexis Arguello, although went fourteen rounds with the legendary Nicaraguan.

Mancini was to benefit from there no longer being one champion. He met California’s Arturo Frias on May 8.

This is a fight that saw more action in the one round than you sometimes see in a 12 round title fight.

Frias had won the title over Claude Noel in December 1981 and had defended the title just a month later on 30 January against Ernesto Espana.

‘Boom Boom’ Mancini was wobbled and cut before stopping Frias near the end of the first round in a wild shoot-out. It was a marvellous moment for Lenny Mancini to see his son do what he may well have done himself many years earlier.

Surely this most hyped affair of the year was at heavyweight: Larry Holmes against white hope Gerry Cooney.

Unfortunately, the racist angle was used in much of the media, bringing things to a fever pitch before fight night on June 11 in Las Vegas.

Cooney, at 6 feet 6inches tall had ’earned’ his shot by blasting out faded veterans Ken Norton and Ron Lyle in a round a piece in 1981 and had a serious left hook.

Floored in the second round, Cooney lasted bravely until the 13th when he succumbed to an accumulation of punches from the great Holmes. Cooney was saved when his trainer Victor Valle climbed through the ropes and caught him, as he was about to fall to the canvas.

June saw a shock as unheralded ST Gordon knocked out reigning WBC cruiserweight champion, Carlos De Leon in two rounds, and Leroy Haley claim the WBC super-lightweight title outpointed Saoul Mamby over fifteen rounds.

Speak to most historians today and they will say Mexico’s Salvador Sanchez was one of the greatest featherweights of all time.

On July 21 at Madison Square Garden, Sanchez made the ninth defense of his WBC title against 13 fight novice, Azumah Nelson of Ghana.

Nelson was a huge underdog against the classy champion, though fought magnificently.

Despite being dropped in the seventh, Nelson forced the pace but the Mexican ring master dropped him again in the last of the fifteen rounder, before forcing a stoppage with just 75 seconds left. Sanchez was ahead at the time.

Just three weeks later, tragedy struck; Salvador, driving to training camp, was fatally injured.

With a record of 44-1-1 (32 kos), nine defenses of his title, and at just 23 years old, boxing had lost a truly great ring general who was still a year or two from his absolute peak.

Santos Laciar of Argentina was an underrated flyweight from Argentina, who had won and lost the WBA flyweight championship in 1981.

However, the stocky little man had regained the title on May 1 against Mexico’s Juan Herrera in Mexico.

He would retain his title twice this year, both away from home with wins over Betulio Gonzalez in Venezuela on August 14 and Steve Muchoki in Denmark on November 5.

He would eventually make nine defenses before moving to super-flyweight where he would annex the WBC title at that weight.

He would eventually retire aged 31 having had 101 professional fights, of which he won 79, with just 29 inside the limit.

As usual, August was a quiet month, before hostilities resumed in September with Michael Spinks continuing his busy year by defending successfully against Johnny Davis on the 15th. A good win for Michael in none rounds.

Hilario Zapata had won the WBC light-flyweight title in March 1980, making eight successful defenses before succumbing to Amado Ursua in February 1982.

Ursua from Mexico had a brief reign, 66 days in fact! He lost the title to Tadashi Tomori of Japan.

In turn, Tomori lost it to Zapata on 20 July and this time the Panamanian lost the championship in his third first defense to south Korea’s Jung Koo Chang in 1983.

The good, the bad and the ugly were all on show towards the end of the year.

The good: Possibly the fight of the decade took place in Miami on November 12, as Aaron Pryor defended his WBA light-welterweight championship against Alexis Arguello.

Arguello was bidding for a world title in a fourth weight division having reigned as champion at featherweight, super-featherweight and lightweight.

The definition of a classic fight is surely when a fight ebbs and flows; where each man has periods of success over the other, and the outcome is in doubt to the very end.

In his fight previous to this, Arguello had flattened Kevin Rooney (yes, that Kevin Rooney) in two rounds with one punch and at 30 was still a major threat to Pryor.

At 27, the champion was conceding nearly four inches in height and making the sixth defense of the title he had taken from Antonio Cervantes in august 1980.

Pryor was 32-0 with 30 inside schedule wins. This surely would be over inside six rounds. Right? Wrong!

Pryor seemed impervious to punishment, as Arguello landed right hands at will, with Pryor seemingly unable to block or slip a punch from the challenger.

Pryor had his moments as he boxed at a distance throughout the middle part of the fight.

After Alexis tried everything to put the champion away, his gas tank was waning. Aaron came on and in the 14th round pinned his challenger against the ropes and unleashed an unmerciful barrage.

Arguello fell to the canvas, unconscious. There was concern at ringside, though Alexis recovered, thankfully with no lasting damage.

The Bad: Sugar Ray Leonard announces at a press conference on November 9th that he will retire having had surgery to repair a detached retina in May.

Of course, with Leonard you never quite knew what to believe. He would, of course come back and win three more world titles, including ending the long reign of Marvin Hagler in 1987.

The Ugly: The same evening, as Pryor-Arguello, though in Las Vegas, Ray Mancini defended his WBA lightweight title against South Korea’s Duk Koo Kim.

Kim was Mancini’s mandatory challenger. It was fought at a terrific pace, with the brave challenger absorbing frightful punishment from the champion.

By round 13 Kim was totally exhausted and Mancini hammered him with numerous head shots.

Early in the 14th, the South Korean was floored. Although he made it to his feet, referee Richard Greene stop the fight.

Kim lapsed into a coma and lost his life five days later, at the age of just 23.

This resulted in a huge media witch hunt against the sport and was one of the prime reasons that title fights are now over the twelve round course.

Fortunately, 1982 finished the way boxing should.

December 3rd saw Thomas Hearns outbox the boxer, Wilfred Benitez over 15 rounds in New Orleans. Hearns, well renowned for his ’Hitman’ right hand bomb, was an excellent boxer which is often forgotten when Hearns’ career is talked about.

On the undercard was another classic confrontation: Lupe Pintor, WBC bantamweight champion moved up a weight to challenge Wifredo Gomez.

They stood toe to toe for 14 furious rounds for Gomez’s title. Although Gomez was ahead on a couple of the cards, Pintor gave Gomez one of his hardest struggles, before being floored twice in round 14 when referee Arthur Mercante stepped on to save Pintor from further punishment.

So, a mixed bag in 1982, but fascinating nonetheless.