If anybody thinks Carlos Ortiz wanted to fight Jose 'Mantequilla' Napoles,,,,, That would be a totally insane statement. Carlos Ortiz held the Lightweight Championship from 4/7/63 thru 5/10/65 and second reign 11/13/65 thru 6/25/68. A 5-year run, except for the brief period when Ismael Laguna owned the title 5/11/65 thru 11/12/65. Carlos wouldn't even fight Jose Napoles in Puerto Rico, his home country, in fear of getting embarrassed in front of his fans.
Jose 'Mantequilla' Napoles would have steam-rolled 'Sweet Pea' at any weight. Sweet Pea was on par with Eddie Perkins, and Jose floored Eddie, enroute to a virtual shut-out Decision in August 1965.
August 3, 1965 Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Tale of the Tape Jose Napoles Rating.........#1 Lightweight Age............25 years, 4 months Record........41-3-0 (24 KO's) Height........5' 7 1/2" Reach.........72" Weight........140 lbs. Eddie Perkins Rating.........#1 Light-Welterweight Age.............28 years, 5 months Record.........39-10-1 (14 KO's) Height..........5' 5" Reach..........68" Weight.........140 lbs. Jose Napoles goes after his '12th' straight knockout win, in his quest for World Championhsip bout. Eddie Perkins, the former Light-Welterweight Champion, lost his title by a 15-Round Split-Decision to Carlos Hernandez on January 18, 1965 (7 1/2 months earlier). Jose Napoles had stopped (TKO 7) Carlos Hernandez in July 1964, (7 months) before he won the Light-Welterweight Title over Eddie Perkins. Cuco Conde (Jose Napoles Manager) is trying to convince Ismael Laguna to defend his World Lightweight Championship versus Jose Napoles, instead of giving Carlos Ortiz a rematch in Puerto Rico. (Laguna had won the title by an upset in Panama in April 1965). The Fight
No, not the Napoles - Perkins bout. A Tuesday Night Fight in Ciudad Juarez. After an 'Even' 1st Round, and closely fought Rounds 2 and 3, the stronger 'Mantequilla' overpowered the slick-boxing Perkins, and dominated Rounds 4 and 5. In Round 6, Eddie (realizing he was behind), tried to go toe-to-toe with Jose, and got caught, as Napoles floored Perkins with the 'old-school' left-right to the jaw. Eddie fought well after the knockdown, but he was out-gunned. Jose stayed the course in Rounds 7 and 8, with a steady attack, and had Perkins doing a 'dance' near the end of Round 8. Only Eddie Perkins excellent conditioning and strength allowed him to fight Jose on 'Even' terms in Round 9 and 10. The scorecards had Jose winning {7-0-3} on all counts.
You're Welcome, Eddie Perkins was a terrific boxer,,,,,,crafty, strong and always in excellent condition. And, Jose 'steamrolled' him. And in mid-1965, the 22 year-old Lightweight Champion - Ismael Laguna was not strong enough to hold off Jose.
That may be true, but to accuse a guy who did nothing but fight outstanding fighters his whole career of being scared of fighting Napoles.... I don't know, my gut is telling me to call bull****. It's understandable if Ortiz didn't want to risk taking a fight with Napoles unless forced to in order to defend the title, but there's a path to the title and if Napoles stayed on it he would have fought him eventually. Napoles is the one that fled to another division, not Carlos. And what's more Napoles fled without facing probably the two other best lightweights at the time in Lane and Laguna. Locche was on the way up too.
Perkins and WHitaker don't fight too much alike. Both are short, crafty, kind of slick, but the similarities end there pretty much. And as for the virtual shut out, very rarely do virtually shut out fighters claim to be robbed.
If the reports suggest napoles dominated rounds 4,5,8 and dropped perkins in round 6, eddie would basically have to win every other round for him to truly be 'robbed'. Yeah im not talking his words seriously, fighters arent the best credibility. I remember tim witherspoon said he was robbed against holmes and thought he won nearly every round, lol that fight was virtually even and it could have easily been scored for holmes. I'm not buying perkins was robbed.
It may not've been a joke. Sure was stupid, though. Napoles would've steam-rolled neither Ortiz nor Whitaker. He might've beaten them, but steam-rolled? That's ridiculous. Especially Whitaker (although that's not to say that Pete was especially better than Ortiz, just that Napoles matches up a bit better with Ortiz than he does Pete).
He beats either one of them. i'm not saying "steamrolls" them, but he would have been too much for either great fighters. Napoles was something special.