Greg Page Losing To Mark Wills ?

I’ve said it before on this forum that Page is one of those fighters I don’t get. I missed much of his early career so I’ve gone back & watched some of his bouts. This is just my opinion and again, I missed seeing many of his fights live. Page looks to be a great athlete and possessed some great skills. He had speed, mobility, some power, and a decent chin. My problem with him is he fights in this kind of “Ali style” which exposes him to some punches. I mean had he kept his hand up, his defense would’ve been a lot better. By holding his hands low he throws punches from odd positions. He was clearly tough & willing to exchange in order to land a big shot. I always watch him and think he would’ve been better with a tighter style, better defense, & better conditioning. The guy had talent! He was a champ so what do I know.

The bad defense hurts him against Wills because he gets hit really clean with big shots. Had he blocked more and maybe circled more, he could’ve won. Wills was pretty straightforward. I remember Witherspoon knocking him out in 1. Page just doesn’t fight a smart fight against him. I may be remembering wrong but we stood right in front of Wills a lot.

 

Yeah, Page wasn't much good. Tried too hard to fight like Ali.
But styles must be a factor here too.

 

Page was a very talented heavyweight, but had an aversion to training, and loved to eat. When he was in shape and on his game, he was extremely impressive, but when not he was very ordinary. I think I read that boxing was not his first love, but basketball.

 

After 1985, Page was done as an elite fighter. And because of his lack of training, he was susceptible to mauling and brawling types, i.e Berbick.

 

I was a young fan in the late 70s. I watched Page as an amateur and an early pro.

Even as an amateur, he'd fight on national television against a Soviet fighter and the announcers would be hyping him as the next Ali (because they came from the same hometown and Page tried to mimic Ali's style). And he'd lose. And a couple weeks later, he'd be back on TV again and the annoucers would say the same things and he'd lose again.

But people just put blinders on.

He lost to most of the top international amateur fighters. He lost to most of the top US amateurs.

Didn't make the Olympic team. Stuck around the amateurs a little longer and turned pro.

And the hype never stopped when he turned pro. He was going to be the next Ali.

It would be like if another red haired kid from Canelo's hometown started boxing and everyone just assumed he'd be the new Canelo, even though the kid never really accomplished much.

It was just laziness on the part of the media and fans.

What's weird is how people who came up hearing those stories about how great Page was supposed to be still repeat them. He was never great. He was never an "elite" fighter. He lost all the time. I think from 1982 to 1992, he lost every year he fought but two.

And Mark Wills wasn't very good at all. He only had a handful of kos and two of them were against Greg Page. And they were hard kos. And Page was in his 20s.

People back then just decided Page was going to be the next Ali because they wanted him to be. And even when it was clear as far back as an amateur he wasn't they just refused to change their minds.

 

Quick Tillis was a better Ali than Page. Of course Holmes is the greatest Ali lol! Actually, Holmes doesn’t copy Ali in my opinion. He just fights a style that works for him. I guess anyone who moved back then was considered a copy of Ali.

I watched some of the Page vs Berbick fight and he was in really good shape there. Again though, he doesn’t fight a style that complements his skills. He just bounces with his hands down and takes shots. Definitely talented though and shows toughness. Should’ve let the Ali thing go though.

 

Page was 17 when the Montreal Olympics came around. He lost to Michael Dokes by split decision in the National Golden Gloves semifinals ( in a fight he hinted that he was robbed in an interview) and lost in the Eastern Regionals to Woody Clark. Most of his fights on ABC he won. He realized a lot of chicanery going on, hence turning pro mid-1978.

 

I remember sitting there watching Page fight in those USA vs the World weekend tournaments and he always lost. I remember sitting there with one of my uncles and hearing him say this guy is going to be the next Ali, and then watching Page get beat up. I watched them. He lost.

The "he must've been robbed" stuff doesn't work with me.

He lost a lot ... amateur and pro.

 

in fairness, Wills was better than his record indicated and Page had lost 4 of his previous 6 going into the 1st fight, all of them on points. Wills was the first opponent to stop Page and had him down in rounds 1 and 9 before Page was pulled out.

On the run up to the rematch Wills was on a decent run with stoppages over Avery Rawls, Mike White and a decision over Derek Williams. Granted, hardly a murderers row but Wills must have been confident and on the best run of his win some. lose some career. And i the fight before Page 2 he gave Gary Mason a good competative fight...........and in the 2nd Page fight he really belted Greg with a huge right hand which spelled the end.

Mark Wills was a decent, fairly solid journeyman who, for a time at least, could give some good fighters a tough fight but me thinks he was perhaps thrown to the wolves a little but he did the best with what he had and deserves a bit of respect

 

I never "got" Page much either, was completely unimpressed when I first saw him get beat by Berbick. He seemed even more unmotivated (certainly less talented) than Bowe...throughout his career. I didn't think much of him knocking Coetzee out, either. In fact, when that happened I dismissed Dokes, Coetzee, and Page altogether.

It was kind of a lame time for heavies (besides Holmes) until Mike came around. They all seemed to lose tons of fights they shouldn't have, and rarely were impressive. Just my opinion.

 

Mark Wills had won five of 11 fights the first time he destroyed Page. Wills won 10 of 20 fights the second time he destroyed Page. Mark Wills wasn't a puncher. He only scored 8 knockouts in 33 pro fights. Yet two of the eight knockouts came against Page.

Wills was supposed to be an easy win. He was a losing fighter. And Page was blown away twice in what should've been Page's prime (Page was 27 the first time they fought).

They were two terrible losses. There's no need to try to elevate Wills. Wills was bad. Page lost brutally to a bad Mark Wills twice.

It's just another example of how Page was no Ali. Never was as an amateur. Never was as a pro. People have been making excuses for Greg Page for 40+ years.

He was unjustly hyped as an amateur and unjustly hyped as a pro. He was annointed early on and it was like people couldn't accept that they'd been wrong about him.

 

Not trying to elevate Wills at all, he was what he was, but i disagree that he was "bad". Bad is Marvin Hunt, Peter Stensky etc

Absolutely agree that Wills was brought in as a losing fighter to make Page look good and it backfired horribly, twice, but as i said Wills was on the best run of his modest career before the 1st fight and Page was on the worst run of his and was most likely past his peak even tho still young at 27.

2 terrible losses no doubt and fights Page should never have lost once, let alone twice, but that was down to Page and to a certain extent Wills.

But yes, Page was more "style" than substance

 

To me, when people say the 80’s heavyweights we’re talented underachievers, Page vs Coetzee is the type of fight they’re picturing. Talented boxers but man that’s a sloppy fight and an even sloppier ending. Page is going forward with his hands low and lands some shots on an exhausted Coetzee. Just not quality boxing by either guy. Page had consecutive loses to Witherspoon and David Bey going into the Coetzee fight. Ouch.

When he lost to Wills the 2nd time, wasn’t he being considered for a fight with Tyson? I just remember them mentioning the Wills fight during an HBO broadcast.