My2Sense
01-12-2009, 08:25 PM
Nothing particularly original about the thread topic, just a few random fighters I felt like discussing that often get overlooked/underrated.
Frank Klaus - Gets lost in the muddle of "interim" middleweight champions between Ketchel and Greb. Klaus was built like a brick wall and fought like one. He fought Ketchel in a non-title no-decision shortly before his death and fought him even up; the "newspaper decision" is usually listed as a draw. When Ketchel died, the middleweight title became fractured all over the place; Klaus then spent the next few years traveling the world, chasing after title claimants and whupping them, and gradually putting the title back together like Humpty Dumpty. Along the way he beat HOFers George Carpentier and Billy Pake, pounding them both into submission and forcing them both to foul out of the fight. The fight with Carpentier is on film and it shows Klaus walking into him round after round and bullying him around like a baby. Once he beat Papke, the title was considered unified and it looked like the world was at Klaus' feet. But like a lot of fighters, he found holding onto his title to be harder than earning it. In just his first defense, he was stopped in a big upset by George Chip, who beat him at close quarters with quicker, sharper punching. Klaus lost a rematch by stoppage as well, and then retired. Not only were these the first (and only) times Klaus was ever stopped, but it was the only times he was beaten at his own game, on the inside. What was it about Chip that gave him so much trouble? Was it styles? Or had the years and effort he had put in to earning the title taken its toll, and left him with nothing to defend it? (Klaus himself always quipped that the "bright lights of Paris" distracted him after he won the title). Regardless, Klaus' indistinguished title reign caused him to be nearly forgotten. Recently, however, Klaus was inducted into the HOF. Perhaps this will lead to a resurgence of interest in his career?
Battling Battalino - One of the most unappreciated champions of all time. I don't think any champion has consistently entered his title defenses as the underdog the way Battalino did, but he continually made his critics eat crow. Much of the low esteem for him stemmed from the label of him as just an "overblown clubfighter", plus his inconsistent record in non-title fights. He first caught the boxing world's attention when he upset the great bantam champ Panama Al Brown in an over-the-weight non-title fight. Battalino bullied and battered the gangly fellow around the ring, knocked him down and won a clear decision. That earned Battalino a shot at the featherweight title held by the talented Andre Routis, who had beaten Tony Canzoneri for the title, and he whupped him the same way (despite breaking both of his hands in the early rounds, he won every round). Still, his "crude" slugging style failed to earn him respect, and he dropped a couple of non-title fights shortly after winning the title which further hurt his reputation. When he agreed to defend his title against the highly regarded prospect Kid Chocolate, most "experts" figured Battalino would meet his match. Battalino surprised them by forcing the classy boxing Chocolate into an inside slugfest and winning a close decision. The Battalino "haters" then turned their attention to Fidel LaBarba, declaring that he was the man to separate Batty from his title. Battalino duly took him on and beat him even more decisively than he beat Chocolate. Battalino the successfully defended his title against yet another highly regarded future champion/HOFer in Freddie Miller. He also beat former bantam champ Bud Taylor. and crushed former lightweight champ Al Singer in just 2 rounds in non-title fights. Sadly, Battalino did disgrace himself by attempting to throw his title to Miller in a rematch. Bat had already decided he was going to move up in weight and he and his manager figured to profit on it by buying Miller's contract and then deliberately losing the title to him, so as to have a reigning champion under their contract. The plan was foiled when the referee caught on to their obvious scheme and stopped the fight, declaring it a no-contest. Bat relinquished the title and as it turned out, Miller won the vacant title anyway and went on to reign for some time. Bat then tried to break into the lightweight ranks, but was stopped in a tremendous battle with the hard-hitting Billy Petrolle - the only time he was ever stopped. He lost a rematch with Petrolle and then faded from the scene. Given Battalino's resume though, is it possible he could rank as a top 10 featherweight of all time?
Lou Ambers - Poor Lou! The guy was just never given a chance to shine! His very first title shot had to come against Tony Canzoneri, a guy who had already won titles in 3 (or was it 4?) weight classes and probably had more wins over HOFers than I have fingers. So Ambers loses. He comes back, and in a shocking upset he beats Canzoneri to win the title. Then he loses a non-title fight to Pedro Montanez, which leads some people to consider Montanez as the "uncrowned champion". Ambers then comes back again to successfully defend his title against Montanez and then settle matters with Canzoneri in a rubber match. So now Ambers can sit back and enjoy his title, right? WRONG!! Wouldn't you know, friggin' Henry Armstrong decides to drop down from welterweight and pay his division a visit. :patsch So Ambers loses his title, and again he has to come back and regain it. Now does he get a chance to rest? No, he has to come right back and fight Lew Jenkins, one of the hardest one-punch punchers in lightweight history. :patsch Well, one man can only go to the well only so often, and it seems that's what happened with poor Lou. Ambers only lost 8 times in over 100 fights, and only twice by stoppage to Jenkins. He beat a number of other good quality contenders/champions in his era too, including Johnny Jadick, Sammy Fuller, Fritzie Zivic (who broke Ambers jaw, but Ambers went on to win anyway), Frankie Klick, and Baby Arizmendi, with a very underrated win coming late in his career against Al "Bummy" Davis, the dynamite punching welterweight who was undefeated at the time.
Eddie Booker - One of the least celebrated members of the all-black "Murderer's Row" of the '40s and '50s, but probably as good as anyone in it. He is described as having been a good, quick technician with solid power in both hands and a very good chin. He was reportedly unbeaten in his first 40-plus fights (a remarkable feat in that day) before finally losing for the first time to the ultra clever and experienced Fritzie Zivic. In all, he lost only five times in roughly 70 fights and was never stopped. He scored wins over such men as Holman Williams, Jack Chase, Harry Matthews (by KO), the infamous Hogue brothers, and Izzy Jannazo, but his real defining moment came when he dropped Archie Moore 5 times and stopped him in 8 rounds, becoming the first fighter ever to stop him. I always found it surprising and a bit unfair that Charley Burley gets so celebrated today for his own win over Moore, but Booker's win just a few months earlier is almost totally forgotten, despite it being even more dominant and impressive. Booker also had held Moore to a draw in a previous fight. Just when it seemed that Booker should've been on the verge of great things, he retired because of persistent eye troubles that eventually caused him to go blind. Sadly, it has been said that the eye troubles were the result of a fight in which his opponent used doctored-up gloves. His final fights were the KO of Moore and a win over Holman Williams.
Dick Tiger - One of the greatest middleweights of all time IMO. He was very strong, had an iron chin, a solid puncher in both hands, and was a great inside technician and counterpuncher. He was sometimes vulnerable against slick boxer/movers, but he was virtually impossible to beat in a slugfest at middleweight. I wouldn't pick a single middleweight over him in a slugfest - not even LaMotta, Zale, or Ketchel. Tiger's career achievements are vastly underrated as well. He is the only fighter since Bob Fitzsimmons to have held the unified, undisputed titles at both middleweight and light-heavyweight (check it, it's true!). He also defeated a number of highly regarded HOFers and future/former champions in his career, including Gene Fullmer (twice, once by KO), Joey Giardello (twice), Terry Downes, Jose Torres (twice), and Nino Benvenuti, as well as a number of other good quality contenders in his era (Ruben Carter, Florentino Fernandez, Spider Webb, Henry Hank). Almost all of these wins came in very decisive, dominant fashion. He twice won honors as The Ring's Fighter of the Year. He was somewhere around 36/37 years old and considered past his prime when he upset Torres to win the light-heavy title, and he was around 40 when he scored an even bigger upset against Benvenuti, than at his peak and the reigning middleweight champion, in a non-title fight. Tiger completely outclassed Benvenuti - it was easily the Hopkins-Pavlik of its day. Tragically, Tiger died of cancer only a year or two after that. Somehow, Tiger seems to be remembered more for his losses today than his wins (ie: his shocking KO loss to Bob Foster, dropping his title to Emile Griffith to make Griffith a two-division champion), and fighters that he beat decisively (ie: Fullmer, Benvenuti) seem to get celebrated more than he does. To me, Tiger is easily a top 10 middleweight of all time and may even verge on the top 5.
Two more... (they won't fit in a single post)
Frank Klaus - Gets lost in the muddle of "interim" middleweight champions between Ketchel and Greb. Klaus was built like a brick wall and fought like one. He fought Ketchel in a non-title no-decision shortly before his death and fought him even up; the "newspaper decision" is usually listed as a draw. When Ketchel died, the middleweight title became fractured all over the place; Klaus then spent the next few years traveling the world, chasing after title claimants and whupping them, and gradually putting the title back together like Humpty Dumpty. Along the way he beat HOFers George Carpentier and Billy Pake, pounding them both into submission and forcing them both to foul out of the fight. The fight with Carpentier is on film and it shows Klaus walking into him round after round and bullying him around like a baby. Once he beat Papke, the title was considered unified and it looked like the world was at Klaus' feet. But like a lot of fighters, he found holding onto his title to be harder than earning it. In just his first defense, he was stopped in a big upset by George Chip, who beat him at close quarters with quicker, sharper punching. Klaus lost a rematch by stoppage as well, and then retired. Not only were these the first (and only) times Klaus was ever stopped, but it was the only times he was beaten at his own game, on the inside. What was it about Chip that gave him so much trouble? Was it styles? Or had the years and effort he had put in to earning the title taken its toll, and left him with nothing to defend it? (Klaus himself always quipped that the "bright lights of Paris" distracted him after he won the title). Regardless, Klaus' indistinguished title reign caused him to be nearly forgotten. Recently, however, Klaus was inducted into the HOF. Perhaps this will lead to a resurgence of interest in his career?
Battling Battalino - One of the most unappreciated champions of all time. I don't think any champion has consistently entered his title defenses as the underdog the way Battalino did, but he continually made his critics eat crow. Much of the low esteem for him stemmed from the label of him as just an "overblown clubfighter", plus his inconsistent record in non-title fights. He first caught the boxing world's attention when he upset the great bantam champ Panama Al Brown in an over-the-weight non-title fight. Battalino bullied and battered the gangly fellow around the ring, knocked him down and won a clear decision. That earned Battalino a shot at the featherweight title held by the talented Andre Routis, who had beaten Tony Canzoneri for the title, and he whupped him the same way (despite breaking both of his hands in the early rounds, he won every round). Still, his "crude" slugging style failed to earn him respect, and he dropped a couple of non-title fights shortly after winning the title which further hurt his reputation. When he agreed to defend his title against the highly regarded prospect Kid Chocolate, most "experts" figured Battalino would meet his match. Battalino surprised them by forcing the classy boxing Chocolate into an inside slugfest and winning a close decision. The Battalino "haters" then turned their attention to Fidel LaBarba, declaring that he was the man to separate Batty from his title. Battalino duly took him on and beat him even more decisively than he beat Chocolate. Battalino the successfully defended his title against yet another highly regarded future champion/HOFer in Freddie Miller. He also beat former bantam champ Bud Taylor. and crushed former lightweight champ Al Singer in just 2 rounds in non-title fights. Sadly, Battalino did disgrace himself by attempting to throw his title to Miller in a rematch. Bat had already decided he was going to move up in weight and he and his manager figured to profit on it by buying Miller's contract and then deliberately losing the title to him, so as to have a reigning champion under their contract. The plan was foiled when the referee caught on to their obvious scheme and stopped the fight, declaring it a no-contest. Bat relinquished the title and as it turned out, Miller won the vacant title anyway and went on to reign for some time. Bat then tried to break into the lightweight ranks, but was stopped in a tremendous battle with the hard-hitting Billy Petrolle - the only time he was ever stopped. He lost a rematch with Petrolle and then faded from the scene. Given Battalino's resume though, is it possible he could rank as a top 10 featherweight of all time?
Lou Ambers - Poor Lou! The guy was just never given a chance to shine! His very first title shot had to come against Tony Canzoneri, a guy who had already won titles in 3 (or was it 4?) weight classes and probably had more wins over HOFers than I have fingers. So Ambers loses. He comes back, and in a shocking upset he beats Canzoneri to win the title. Then he loses a non-title fight to Pedro Montanez, which leads some people to consider Montanez as the "uncrowned champion". Ambers then comes back again to successfully defend his title against Montanez and then settle matters with Canzoneri in a rubber match. So now Ambers can sit back and enjoy his title, right? WRONG!! Wouldn't you know, friggin' Henry Armstrong decides to drop down from welterweight and pay his division a visit. :patsch So Ambers loses his title, and again he has to come back and regain it. Now does he get a chance to rest? No, he has to come right back and fight Lew Jenkins, one of the hardest one-punch punchers in lightweight history. :patsch Well, one man can only go to the well only so often, and it seems that's what happened with poor Lou. Ambers only lost 8 times in over 100 fights, and only twice by stoppage to Jenkins. He beat a number of other good quality contenders/champions in his era too, including Johnny Jadick, Sammy Fuller, Fritzie Zivic (who broke Ambers jaw, but Ambers went on to win anyway), Frankie Klick, and Baby Arizmendi, with a very underrated win coming late in his career against Al "Bummy" Davis, the dynamite punching welterweight who was undefeated at the time.
Eddie Booker - One of the least celebrated members of the all-black "Murderer's Row" of the '40s and '50s, but probably as good as anyone in it. He is described as having been a good, quick technician with solid power in both hands and a very good chin. He was reportedly unbeaten in his first 40-plus fights (a remarkable feat in that day) before finally losing for the first time to the ultra clever and experienced Fritzie Zivic. In all, he lost only five times in roughly 70 fights and was never stopped. He scored wins over such men as Holman Williams, Jack Chase, Harry Matthews (by KO), the infamous Hogue brothers, and Izzy Jannazo, but his real defining moment came when he dropped Archie Moore 5 times and stopped him in 8 rounds, becoming the first fighter ever to stop him. I always found it surprising and a bit unfair that Charley Burley gets so celebrated today for his own win over Moore, but Booker's win just a few months earlier is almost totally forgotten, despite it being even more dominant and impressive. Booker also had held Moore to a draw in a previous fight. Just when it seemed that Booker should've been on the verge of great things, he retired because of persistent eye troubles that eventually caused him to go blind. Sadly, it has been said that the eye troubles were the result of a fight in which his opponent used doctored-up gloves. His final fights were the KO of Moore and a win over Holman Williams.
Dick Tiger - One of the greatest middleweights of all time IMO. He was very strong, had an iron chin, a solid puncher in both hands, and was a great inside technician and counterpuncher. He was sometimes vulnerable against slick boxer/movers, but he was virtually impossible to beat in a slugfest at middleweight. I wouldn't pick a single middleweight over him in a slugfest - not even LaMotta, Zale, or Ketchel. Tiger's career achievements are vastly underrated as well. He is the only fighter since Bob Fitzsimmons to have held the unified, undisputed titles at both middleweight and light-heavyweight (check it, it's true!). He also defeated a number of highly regarded HOFers and future/former champions in his career, including Gene Fullmer (twice, once by KO), Joey Giardello (twice), Terry Downes, Jose Torres (twice), and Nino Benvenuti, as well as a number of other good quality contenders in his era (Ruben Carter, Florentino Fernandez, Spider Webb, Henry Hank). Almost all of these wins came in very decisive, dominant fashion. He twice won honors as The Ring's Fighter of the Year. He was somewhere around 36/37 years old and considered past his prime when he upset Torres to win the light-heavy title, and he was around 40 when he scored an even bigger upset against Benvenuti, than at his peak and the reigning middleweight champion, in a non-title fight. Tiger completely outclassed Benvenuti - it was easily the Hopkins-Pavlik of its day. Tragically, Tiger died of cancer only a year or two after that. Somehow, Tiger seems to be remembered more for his losses today than his wins (ie: his shocking KO loss to Bob Foster, dropping his title to Emile Griffith to make Griffith a two-division champion), and fighters that he beat decisively (ie: Fullmer, Benvenuti) seem to get celebrated more than he does. To me, Tiger is easily a top 10 middleweight of all time and may even verge on the top 5.
Two more... (they won't fit in a single post)