Depending on where you look he had either 232 or 158 or so fights and 65 losses. He gave the big names of his time all he could handle winning and losing against the elite on a pretty even percentage. Lamotta fights I read should have been 50 50 but who knows. Alot of losses which seem unexplained considering he seemed to be the more talented fighter in many of his losses. In the film available he passes the eye test for me. Pleasing engaging style. Any opinions on Fritzie. He seems to never get mentioned here.
The loss record gives a distorted picture of Zivic. A chunk of them were at the back end of his career, and he had a terrible run between 35-36. By the time he became a ranked contender his record in his prime was actually impressive, particularly taking into account the quality of opposition. There are losses to lesser fighters, but the same is true of most fighters who fought regularly in that era. He tends to get underrated because of his numbers and his reputation as a dirty fighter. A closer dissection of his record, as well as the views of legends he fought, shows that he was a top drawer fighter and deserved Hall of Famer.
Agreed. That's what growing up with 4 brothers fighting everyday in the streets of Pittsburg will do for ya .. Seems like he just couldn't separate it from boxing...
I ****in loved his style. You know fighting the way he did was an art. It galls me to this day that the 3 bios of fellow Pittsburgher Greb cleaned him up and deny his fighting dirty. Which I think is bull****. I have read endless articles books etc about Grebs style. It's a whitewashed decade! I loved when Fritzie said that he and not Greb was the dirtiest fighter ever. Like Zivic said , "You're boxing, you're not playing piano." The great tough guys like Zivic Greb, Dempsey, Frazier Graziano LaMotta Duran Pedroza Walker, etc deal with dirty fighting as part of their profession PRO fighters. The bitches, LaPorte, Tyson, either go into a don't try to win shell or do nything to get out of the ring vs a true master of extracurricular fighting. Eat that you Tyson bitches. Long live Zivic and the NO QUARTER ASKED AND NONE GIVEN FIGHTING SPIRIT.
The problem with attempting to discuss Zivic is that it always ends up being about his being a dirty fighter and nothing more. From what I have read he was a good body puncher, had a strong jab, and he was pretty clever in the ring. Both Billy Conn and Sugar Ray said that fighting him was like going to boxing college. In the film of him that I bought years ago he worked his uppercut very effectively inside.
Too bad there's not more quality film of him. The few things on YouTube he looks very good. Nice stance low left hand willing to engage. Would love to see one of the LaMotta fights if there's one out there.