Overlooked War- Clifford Etienne vs Lawrence Clay Bey

I've heard it name dropped countless times in discussions about great lesser known heavyweight wars of the recent past... I've never actually watched it to be honest.

 

It was a very good fight, definitely outshined the main event.

The part at 40:46, geez.

 

Etienne had a crazy first round against Brewster as well.

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It's hard to work Etienne out. In the Brewster and Clay-Bey fights he looked like a real handful; a strong, relentless swarmer who was not easy to catch to clean. Against Oquendo he fell apart, and lasted less than a minute against the shell of Mike Tyson who would soon lose to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride. His chin also betrayed him in the draw with Botha.

Form seems to fluctuate more for heavyweights than any other division, but he really seemed to drop off a cliff with the Oquendo fight. Maybe it's also a case where his style was only as effective as his chin, and once this was dented he wasn't the same fighter.

 

Etienne --Brewster is one of my favorite fights in recent years. But everything was wide with him---left hook and right hook. And he'd be wide open for counters. But what an engine and workrate. I thought the guy was going somewhere until Fres clipped him on the top of the head and he's on the deck. I thought he'd taken better shots from other guys but sometimes those temple shots can have strange results.

 

Sounds like Oquendo/Ettiene.

 

I think Clay Bey could’ve been a contender had he slimmed down to cruiser. He didn’t really have heavyweight power.