THE WAR ZONE: Revisiting Classics (Vol. 12 - David Robert Green vs. Andrew Price)

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This feels like a very appropriate note on which to end the series..

As with Vol. 10 from a fortnight ago, we're left with a fragmentary but nonetheless tantalizing excision of the host. Far more of this one at our fingertips, however - so much so, it almost feels more frustrating. So nearly the full balance of what aired live on BBC; torturous. Only two rounds are missing, along with a minute or two from 6 others. Here is what the video entails:

Less than a minute of R1, two from R3, 4:28-5:47 of R4, 5:51-6:59 of R5, 7:21-8:58 of R6, 9:25-12:28 (full) of R7, 12:29-15:30 (full) of R9, 15:55-17:12 of R10. I'll provide a little sketch of each, but I highly recommend just watching it, as the grand total run time of 17 minutes is trivial; if you can read this very thread you can definitely spare that long to watch the preponderance of an excellent fight. :good

1.
From the first bell - once things got underway, after some odd tape issues - a matter of two heavy sharpened cleavers, neither willing to play the part of the meat. Jab for jab, bomb for bomb, they kept at it with vigor. Green preferred to dive in with body shots while Price favored short-arcing fade-away right hands plunging into the Brits' frontal lobe while he was in submersible mode.

3.
Frenetic start: hooks & uppercuts from Price, looping rights thrown as gambits by Green falling in blindly. Then some more fencing with the jab, Green moving forward and nudging with a busier jab, less bothered with accuracy, Price carefully stilting his way around the ring and lining up nice straight meticulously placed counters.

4.
The market-cornering, almost monopolist purveyor of uppercuts now is Green, thumping on the chiseled midline of Price.

5.
Green now has a gash in his left cheek, from that pinpoint jab of Price's. 1-2 from Price now dialed in, very dangerous, landing with authority unimpeded as he chooses his moments and picks his spots with masterful care.

6.
A bit messier now, Price doing all he can to gain some room to breathe, wanting naught but a rest. Green not obliging, missing loads but slamming his arms/wrists/occasionally fists into the forearms, elbows, hips, kidneys, whatever he can get a piece of. BEAUTIFUL hook-2 combo by Price late, but only an island outpost with a proud star-spangled banner waving in a sea of British aggression.

7.
Stinging up-jabs bucked from the hip and caroming into Price's nose, followed by frisbee rights, landing over & over. Body shots coming into play again, very effective for Green, bearing visible cumulative fruit. Price now clinching when not getting rattled around. Price gets a little uncharacteristically dirty, using a Heisman left stiff-arm to ram his way in and steady Green for a crowbar right uppercut backing him off further. Green doesn't mind a jot. Toe-to-toe infighting of superlative quality. This is Green country, but Price is doing himself proud.

9.
Green like a Mexican jumping bean or a circus flea, hopping side to side and ripping high lead hooks while pitched forward, or crouching low and vaulting himself up with flying jabs. Bad idea. LEFT HOOK FROM HELL by Price, effecting a complete turnaround in momentum, the pivotal defining moment the patient and cerebral counter-puncher had been waiting for over the previous several rounds. Dave Boy now in dire straights. Uppercut party hosted by Price, and Green is the unhappy guest of honor. Green now the one clinching. Price throws all his pretty, refined technique out the window and just looks to exacerbate the cracks & fissures he sees forming in Green's armor. Heavy clubbing rights. Turning into a surefire round of the year now as Green rallies. Those body shots earlier pay dividends, as just a few taps downstairs cause Price to slow considerably, providing Green with a psychological "in". Green finishes strong, belting Price nearly into a corner with a two-fisted attack, leaving the American's head whipping violently in either direction.

10.
Grand finale - Green in control, twirling a pair of brushes like a pistolero and daubing all over Price's canvas with the zen diligence of a Bob Ross.

This was scored by experienced ref Sid Nathan (at this point boasting 18 years in the game, and would continue another eleven hereafter) in Green's favor by a hair, 96-95. Knowing how well he performed his function, without the second and eighth rounds to review, is an impossibility - but that very fact illustrates what a closely-contested bang-up this was.

Depending on your view, this was either sweet redemption for the "Fen Tiger" aka "Dave Boy", coming directly off his KO11 defeat to Carlos Palomino - else a bitter setback for the woefully underrated "Hawk" (at this point desperately needing a good win to keep himself afloat in the rankings...and this is the man who actually popped the cherry of Palomino, albeit early in their careers, when the stakes were low and the prizes ephemeral). Both men would carry on into the first half of the 80's, and both would in their respective futures challenge SRL only to be kayoed early. This night at Wembley proved to be the last realistic opportunity for either man to pick up a signature victory...and it was the Englishman who got to carry the day, along with their shared untold days' worth of residual aches.


Interview with Price from a few years ago, presented without further comment:

Shawn Murphy: Andy when did you first start boxing?

Andy Price: I think I was about ten years old. My mother moved down the street from a gym and I got involved then.

SM: Were you good as an amateur?

AP: I had an outstanding career. I won the Jr. Golden Gloves in 1964 and 1969. I won the Jr. Olympics in 1970, the Las Vegas Golden Gloves in 1971, the Los Angeles Golden Gloves in 1972 and the Diamond Belt Championship in 1972.

SM: Did you have any boxing heroes growing up?

AP: You know really only Hedgemon Lewis, I respected him.

SM: When did you turn pro?

AP: In 1972 against a guy named Gonzalo Rodriguez, it was a four round draw.

SM: Where did you get the nickname "Hawk"?

AP: From the bolo punch, Kid Gavilan. People would hang out in the gym and they used to call me the "Baby Hawk".

SM: You were undefeated when you took on an 8-8 Rudy Barro in 1974, and were KO'D. What happened?

AP: I hurt Rudy in the first round, got cocky and Rudy was a tremendous puncher. He caught me flush and knocked me out cold.

SM: Let me throw out some name of fights you had and give me your take on them. Carlos Palomino?

AP: Very good fighter. I knew I could beat Carlos though because I knew he made some simple mistakes in the ring.

SM: Pipino Cuevas?

AP: This was supposed to be a title elimination bout. They said the winner would get a title shot. I boxed his brains out! Then Espada fights Cuevas instead of me? Our lawyers met and the Espada team said he was being offered a lot of money to fight Cuevas. Six weeks later he went to Mexico thinking that if I beat Cuevas he could as well. Well he went to Mexico and got knocked out.

SM: Harold Weston?

AP: Very close fight, he was real good fighter. I think he got the decision because he was a New York boy.

SM: Dave "Boy" Green?

AP: A terrible decision! He was tough as nails though.

SM: Sugar Ray Leonard?

AP: I didn't follow my corners instructions to keep my hands up and move. For some reason I thought I could knock Ray out and I went out and tried. I just got caught and he got me instead.

SM: Was Leonard the toughest fighter you ever fought?

AP: No, Pipino Cuevas.

SM: You never got a chance at a world title, why?

AP: You know, all the champions at the time, I beat them already. Palomino and Cuevas weren't gonna fight me again. I almost stopped Palomino and Cuevas's people said I didn't have a style they wanted because I didn't stand still. They were protecting their belts. I was promoted right, I had Burt Reynolds and Lee Majors, so it wasn't about money.

SM: What's the highest you were ranked in your career?

AP: I was number six in the world at one point.

SM: What about Hearns and Duran, any talks with them?

AP: We were offered a fight with Tommy to go to Detroit and we wouldn't go to Detroit. Duran, I just wanted to leave him alone! (laughing)

SM: You retired young, at age twenty-nine, why?

AP: Because I got knocked out by a former sparring partner and I think maybe the Lord was telling me something.

SM: Since you retired from the ring, what have you been doing?

AP: I messed around for a couple years. I then started working for the City of Los Angeles Recreation Department. I now work full-time for the Lincoln Park Recreation Center. I teach boxing fitness classes too.

SM: Have you been involved in boxing in any other way?

AP: Yes my boxing program has followed me to every recreation center that I have participated in. I had a pro fighter named Dwain "Tiger" Williams awhile back too, trained and managed him. Things didn’t work out for him and I haven’t been involved since, kind of lost interest.

SM: You still follow boxing today?

AP: I watch all the fights on HBO, I keep up with all the big fights.

SM: You are in the California Boxing Hall of Fame aren’t you?

AP: Yes, I went in March 6, 2004.

SM: Do you think fighters today compare to your era?

AP: Not even close. The group of welterweights when I was fighting was the best other than the Sugar Ray Robinson era. Guys like Sergio Mora, who's a great athlete, wouldn’t be in the top ten when I fought.

SM: Andy anything else you want to mention?

AP: Nothing really, other than I love boxing and it will always be a big part of me.

 

Thanks for tuning in each week, been a fun series. I'll maybe revisit the War Zone in the future, if there's any interest ...or I find myself with ample downtime and substantively inspirational subject matter. :good