Fulgencio Obelmejias?

I liked old Fully, he was a fair fighter. I met him when I was six, though my old man when we went to see Minter/Hagler, he was the first pro boxer I had ever met.

He met his fair share of tin cans, but could fight a fair bit, as shown with his victories over Park (twice) and Lampkin. He was brave, but was outclassed by the Marvelous one.. twice. But he was hardly alone there.

 

I actually felt that Fully had improved from the first fight with Marvin. His one shot power with the right hand would have been too much for most other middleweights to take. The fact that he was 6-2 was also anther advantage he had going for him. Yes he face plenty of tin cans but so did Thomas Hearns early on in his career and he was managed just as carefully as Tommy coming up but he still had no choice but to face Marvin if he wanted a title.

The first fight coming in, his inexperience showed and he was hurt and embarrassed. The second time however, he was definitely ready. Unfortunately for him, Marvin had peaked and slipped past most of his artillery, ending it decisivly. Tbooze, I wish I could have been in your place able to meet all these fighters when I was young.

 

I thought he was very impressive fighter, considering his lack of top-level experience. He came to take Hagler's title. There was no quit in him that first time out, despite being out of his depth. I feel he might have knocked out some previous middleweight champions the way he came to fight like that. Huge for a middleweight too.

Definitely must have drained down a lot to make middleweight, must have been 168 or so in the ring, and in those days they weighed in on the same day. Didn't seem to effect him too badly but he did move up to super-middle when the division came along. I think he tried light-heavy but lost to Leslie Stewart.

If I remember rightly he was supposed to fight Hearns in 1988, but Kinchen replaced him at late notice.

 

Probably underrated at middle.As said, he was huge, with solid(if workmanlike) skills and great power.

Would by no means be without a fine chance to win against some of the more lauded or well known middleweight punchers like Benn, Jackson, Mugabi, Hart, Fernandez etc

That said, he was a typical well protected Venezuelan initially and didn't deserve the first title shot against Hagler.Don't listen to the comparison with Hearns on the way up, as Obel fought mostly cans where Hearns was fighting legit opposition(that had often been contenders at one point) for a developing fighter.

Above middle he wasn't as good.Mediocre at 175 and a bit faded by the late 80s at 168.

Biggest wins probably against Park, who was a talented fighter, but also a fragile one with a notable weakness and tension against big punchers.Obel had a favourable style match there.

 

Here's the deal on Obel:

Tall, fair boxing ability, good power. Mediocre defense. He was extremely well protected early in his career. Fought very mediocre opposition and built up a great looking record. Beat exactly "0" top 10 contenders but got a shot at Hagler anyway - The WBA is based in Obel's native Venezuela.

He actually gave Marvin a pretty good fight in their first encounter. He landed quite a few shots. Hagler had the chin to absorb them all and wasn't hurt at all. Obel, for his part, took a lot from Hagler before finally getting knocked out in the 8th rnd. It was a decent showing. On the comeback trail, Obel still failed to meet any legitimate top 10 opposition. His management arranged a title elimination fight against the equally well connected Chong Pal Park, who also had a great record built up strictly in the Orient (dated word, I know). Obel kod Park and got a SECOND shot at Hagler - a fight he really didn't deserve. He got kod in one shot in the 5th round in the second fight. Obel returned as a Light Heavyweight and beat a few club fighters, and one fringe contenter, Jeff Lampkin, before losing to the ordinary Clarence Osby by 8 round decision. A few fights later he was stopped on his feet in the 4th round by Leslie Stewart, who shortly thereafter won the title from Marvin Johnson. Obel looked to be done as a contender. His management was very shrewd, however, and arranged a fight with the overhyped American Irish SuperMiddleweight/Light Heavyweight Chris Reid. Reid was well connected. He was trained by Teddy Atlas and Managed by Mickey Duff. Obel was brought in to the Felt Forum as an opponent for Reid, but upset the applecart by flooring the defensively deficient Reid six times and scored a 10th round knockout. Reid had somehow been ranked #4 by one of the world governing organizations. Obel parlayed this good (at least on paper) win into a shot at SuperMiddleweight Champion Chong Pal Park, who was starting to fade a bit. Obel beat Park again, this time flooring him three times and won a 12 round decision. Have I said that Fully Obel had really good management and connections? Just thought I'd say it again. In his first defense. Obel was kod by another Korean, In Chul Baek, who jumped all the way up from 154 lbs. It was considered an upset but Obel, never really a legitimate top 10 guy to begin with, was 35 yrs. old and past his best.

In sum, while other (and some arguably better) middleweight contenders like Hamsho, Sypion, Fletcher, Sibson, Minter, Davison and Parker were fighting legitimate contenders - mostly some combination of each other - and some of whom never got a World Title Shot - The well connected Obel somehow got TWO Shots at Hagler and managed to win a Super Middleweight belt, to boot.

 

I know Hagler didn't like any of his opponents, but in his interview after the second Obelmejias fight he made a point of saying that Obelmejias had a nasty attitude, and that made him want to destroy him more. Obelmejias, had said in pre-fight interviews that he was sick before there first fight and that was why he lost. Probably not a good idea to make Hagler dislike you anymore than he already did.

 

If the SMW weight class had existed earlier, Obel probably would have benefited from it more than nearly anyone. Probably a much more natural weight for him, plus being a WBA favorite, it's hard to imagine him not having a fairly long run as WBA SMW champion if that weight class had been around during his prime.

 

He was never half Obel. :hey

 

How he got a second shot at Hagler over the likes of Dwight Davidson and Frank Fletcher is still beyond me.

 

He was Venezuelan and we talking the WBA and boxing politics...

 

I think he looked pretty good. Losing to Hagler is no surprise or disgrace; I could see Obel being a champ in another era, especially when Eubank, Benn etc were about.

 

He was and he was when both were about, albeit a division above them at the time...

 

I meant he could have been a decent champ in his own right if not for Hagler, and I think he had the style to give Benn or Eubank trouble. I worded my post badly!

 

Well he held the lineage at SMW for whatever that was worth.