Eddie Perkins

[DFW]

We don't hear much about this fellow. He was probably as good a junior welterweight as there was during the late 50's and through the early 70's. I was reading about his losing title fight to Carlos Hernandez which took place on Hernandez home turf. Two of the three judges were from Venezuela and gave the fight to Hernandez. Interesting that the other official was none other than the great Henry Armstrong who gave Perkins every round on his scorecard. Go figure!!!
I never got to see Eddie Perkins box but from what I have read he was one of the very best beating most of the very best of his time. It looks from his record that he was avoided by most of the champions getting very few title chances. He drew with and defeated Loi and then lost the title back to Loi on a very questionable decision. Loi then quickly retired rather than give Perkins another go.
If I recall correctly I believe the great bantamweight Johnny Coulon was Eddie Perkins manager.
Any thoughts on this great champion?

[McGrain]

I agree with you that he's under-exposed and was probably a great fighter. Lack of footage and his fighting in a (then) backwater division is what contributes to tht. Here he is a couple of years before he passed, looking good, isn't he?

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[Sweet Pea]

I've seen a small highlight of a demolition job he put on. I'll have to dig out the DVD sometime today to refresh my memory, but it sort of reminded me of the way Napoles took out Urbina. Definitely an explosive boxer/puncher.

[Bill1234]

I agree with you that he's under-exposed and was probably a great fighter. Lack of footage and his fighting in a (then) backwater division is what contributes to tht. Here he is a couple of years before he passed, looking good, isn't he?

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Eddie isn't doing too good now health wise I don't think. During his 2008 hall of fame indcution he needed help getting around and couldn't sign his own autograph. His daughter made up stamps of his old signature and him do those instead, which was very nice. He seemed very happy to be there and getting attention again.

[abraq]

In the very first boxing magazine which I bought (actually I got my father to buy it for me) when I was all of eight years old, I recall - if memory serves me right - a fight account of Eddie Perkins stopping Bunny Grant.

I got confused reading the posts of McGrain and Bill1234. Is Perkins dead or alive?

By the way, the mag was an issue of 'The Ring'.

[DFW]

According to boxrec Eddie Perkins is still with us. Usually they keep up to date records on the fighters. I have noticed when other boxers pass on they show the death date right away so I am assuming Eddie is still alive.

[McGrain]

Yeah; he is still alive, that's my mistake. He suffers from dementia but is still punching.

[WhataRock]

Any more that can be added to this thread?

[lora]

I'm sure i've rtead over the years that his fight with Napoles was thought to be controversial at the time.Have to do some digging on that.

[WhataRock]

What film of Eddie is around?

[sweet_scientist]

His bouts against Paolo Rosi and Ruy Sorimachi are out there. There's a few clips of his fights with Duilio Loi, Lahourai Godhi, Carl Hubbard, Rocky Mattioli and Yoshinori Takahashi about.

Would love to unearth some of his fights with Napoles, Locche, Hernandez, Lane etc.

[Longhhorn71]

Perkins was the type guy you saw pictures of in Ring Magazine in the Sixties and you knew he was a world class fighter.

[GPater11093]

I recently watched the wee bit of highlights on the Loi fights. Heres my thoughts.

In the bouts with Eddie Perkins, Perkins seemed to out-manoeuvre Loi and dig in with hard punches that kept Loi off balance and unable to attack. That is about all I could gather from the film of these bouts as they were only brief highlights.

I think he was a very sound boxer in his day.