how does the middleweight title play out from 1970 to 1977? Who defeats Benvenuti? When does Valdes enter the pictures and how are his chances? And what happens in between?
Would the cream of risen to the top in the Philly scene, perhaps resulting in a world champion from that scene? They sent Bennie Briscoe to do it against Monzon in 72, and he was the one who drew with a rising Monzon in 67... Maybe we would have seen Bad Bennie as a title holder sometime in that period, with the title being hot potatoed among the extremely deep Philly fighters. A fan can dream, right?
I think Briscoe would hold one of the belts followed by Valdez who would then beat Briscoe to unify. I think Valdez would hold the belt for a good stretch.
I think the title would have changed hands a lot in the early 70s - Emile Griffith might have won it again and Briscoe would have had a better chance of becoming world champion -but Valdez would have been the man for a few years from 74 onwards. Interesting to see whether it would have helped Napoles' chances of becoming middleweight champ too.
Luis Rodriquez could have beaten Nino B. in his title fight as MW challenger. Curtis Cokes had a MW title shot discussed with Nino, after CCokes beat a top Italian fighter right at the end of Nino's career, but nothing ever came of it. That was when Italy / Rome had all kinds of TV fights occurring over there with delayed TV broadcasts back to the U.S.
If no Monzon would be a assortment of Champions like after Monzon retired until Valdez wins the title in 74. Valdez would have a reign like fellow 70's Columbian legend Antonio Cervantes. Valdez paid his due like Hagler waiting until his 50 fight before fighting for title. Hagler in his 51st fight.
I was a Big fan of Monzon who was comfortable at 160lbs and put out what was needed to win but if he was not around Bad Bennie Briscoe may have had a hold for a minute and then Rodrigo Valdez would take over. Valdez could box & punch
Why do posts like my St. Pat, Christmas and New Year's post keep disappearing? They get pulled, then you're booted. why?
I suspect it would still be Napoles getting knocked out as I think Valdez would be a bit too strong for him. But Napoles might already be the middleweight champion when he faced him if there was no Monzon. He'd already beaten Emile Griffith at welterweight so with no Monzon around it's possible to imagine Napoles and Griffith rematching around 1973 for the middleweight title and Napoles winning that one.
Part 1 My favorite era with my favorite fighters and favorite weight division...wonderful thread. I'm thinking that by the end of 1970, that Emile Griffith would be vying for a 4th crack at Nino...his 3rd bout with the Italian, even though he lost the decision, wasn't totally conclusive a win for Nino. This bout was and is a real "mystery fight" as far as I'm concerned in recent boxing history, because it wasn't filmed and there's so little known about the bout except that a 9th round kd probably decided the verdict. It so happened that the last few rounds belonged pretty much to Griffith, especially the 15th round where he had Nino hanging on and in trouble. Emile finished so much stronger. I don't know why a 4th bout wasn't arranged, unless the boxing public had a case of Benvenuti-Griffith fatigue or maybe there was a secret law against a 4 part series. Actually, all three bouts were pretty good, with lots of ebbs and flows in the action...with both men's strengths and weaknesses on display. Anyway, Griffith had a pretty good year in 1970...beating Tiger in a near shutout rematch, Tom Bogs, Ernie Lopez and Nessim Max Cohen among others, so why not a 4th match up? Nino had a real cliff hanger with Luis Rodriguez back in late '69 before he pulled his fat out of the fire with one spectacular left hook bomb, and followed that defense with revenge victories over Doyle Baird and Tom Bethea...both as well by knockouts. Nino had rediscovered his power apparently, and added a bit of excitement to his repertoire. I think a 4th Griffith bout would have been interesting, but maybe it wouldn't have been to boxing fans in general..."casuals" I'll call them. The bout, in my opinion, would be probably the most controversial and maybe the most tepid of their series...with a disciplined and relatively focused Griffith using his superior physical strength and underrated boxing skills to control the action and score points against Nino, and busting up his nose and cutting the Italian's eyebrows in the process...but somewhat dispassionately, as he was inclined to do, i.e., no real fire being in his belly,...but then eventually, by rounds 9 or 10, he would succumb to that long time affliction of his...that used to bedevil his trainer Gil Clancy no end...that of "going to sleep" and losing focus. Nino would, to his credit, take advantage of this and would become more offensively active, but not anymore effectively than Griffith had been in previous rounds. Nino's efforts however, mostly with his jabs and left hooks, though not spectacular. would persist through the end of the 14th, then in the 15th and final round, Griffith, after being slapped and screamed at by Gil Clancy, would finally, fight like he wanted it...making a bloody mess of Nino and nearly having him down at the bell. The decision would be one of most controversial verdicts of all time however, as the fight would be decided to be a draw! Apparently, Griffith had allowed Benvenuti back into the fight with his daydreaming, with one judge apiece voting for Emile and Nino, and the 3rd official calling it a draw. Part 2 will follow.
