Interview with Harry Arroyo

Nice interview, thanks.

 

Great interview. Arroyo/Mancini would have been a good fight. Arroyo was the blue collar type, while Mancini got all the hype. I actually see Arroyo at his peak countering the ever charging Mancini for a late tko or decision win. Arroyo was very good for a short while from 83-early '85. Then the roof caved in after the Paul loss.

 

It would be a top fight for sure. Mancini against Blake and Baltazar too.

 

Mancini shamefully ducked Harry.

I remember one of Harry's last fights against Homknokkor Som-Song in his pro debut. Harry said in the ring after the fight
" no disrespect but if I can't KO this guy I should retire". He fought three more times, getting KTFO in 1 of them.

 

Why would you say Mancini ducked him? Look at the timeline of their ascendence/downfall and make sense of that for me.

 

They were both fighting at the same time...Harry 1980-93, Ray 1979-92.
Harry fought for world titles in 1984 and 88, Ray won his first title in 1981 and lost it in 1984.
Ray was 4 years younger than Harry; his last relevant fight was with Bramble in 85 but he still came back against Camacho and Haugan.

There is cross over, I believe. A perfect time for the fight would have been after Mancini lost to Bramble the second time, maybe mid 1985. Arroyo had lost his IBF title the year before, so it would have been a great made for TV fight, IMO.

 

Except that Mancini retired after the second Bramble fight. The fact that a man retires hardly means he's ducking another fighter. Love the guy, honestly, but Harry Arroyo wasn't so scary that anyone would retire rather than face him, know what I mean? Besides, in mid 1985 it was Arroyo who still held a title, not Mancini.

Arroyo didn't arrive on the scene until after Ray was set to fight Bramble, so there was nothing to duck until he edged Blake in early '84. By then the wheels were already in motion for Mancini-Bramble, so it's rather unfair to make such a claim against Mancini considering Arroyo was totally unproven and on absolutely no one's radar until Mancini was already "spoken for" shall we say.

Dislike Mancini all you like man, but fair's fair. He didn't duck Arroyo. There's just no case for such a claim.

 

Hey...I never said I disliked Ray! I enjoyed all his fights, and his movie about the after effects of the Doo Koo Kim was awesome. Going to Korea and meeting his son and wife took serious cojones.

But I still maintain the fight could have happened....sure it was more in Arroyo's favor since he wasn't as big a star as Mancini, but certainly would have been a TV worthy fight.

 

Of course Mancini could have fought Arroyo. I am not saying he ducked him, but the fight could have been made. Mancini didn't have to fight a rematch with Bramble. He could have gone after Arroyo's title, if he wished. Dave Wolf probably thought Bramble II was the best option.

This is off topic, but Bramble did nothing noteworthy to attain the #1 WBA ranking.

His best win was against the overrated Kenny Bogner, and he had lost in '82 to Anthony Fletcher.

The WBA top 10 was horrible during Mancini's reign.

Wolf/Mancini must have thought the first Bramble fight was a fluke.

Nobody thought Bramble would beat Mancini in their first fight.

 

Rather missing the point. The inference was that Mancini was systematically "shamelessly" ducking Arroyo. I pointed out a timeline suggesting why that wasn't feasible. My rationale stands.

 

Arroyo is being overrated in this thread.

For the record, he'd have gotten his ass kicked by a prime Mancini.

Perhaps he could have upset the fading Mancini of the mid 80s though.

 

I tend to agree, though Arroyo was a favorite of mine for however brief a time he was on top. Mancini would get underneath him and crowd him more and better than a guy like White Lightning Brown, who was nothing much and troubled Arroyo for a bit. Mancini just had a bit too much for him I think.

 

Yeah, he didn't necessarily duck Arroyo. I agree.