The dirtiest incident

Gainer Norwood had several incidents.

 

I have a lot of time for Jim Watt but the O´Grady fight brought out the worst of him.

Funny thing is when Ernesto Sena butted the hell out of British champion Gary Stretch (future Chris Eubank challenger, turned actor (bad guy in brilliant revenge flick Dead man´s shoes) causing a what normally would have been a fight ending cut, he basically called Sena a dirty fighter who should be disqualified!

Gary Stretch-Ernesto Sena is a foul filled brawl, both fighters chins were tested, awful refereeing.

Gary Stretch was being groomed to at least fight for top titles while Sena was just another Argentinean strongman brought in give the younger fighter some rounds.

Stretch only had 5 more fights (including ko loss to Eubank) over the next 4 years whilst Sena had another 36 contests, pick up various titles and finish his career fighting for the same tile Stretch fought for.

His last win was over Victor Galindez´s less successful son.

 

Eusebio Pedroza's foul-filled performance throughout his bout with Juan Laporte stands out in my memory.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Jim Watt vs Sean O Grady, WBC World Lightweight Title, Oct 25 1980. won by Watt TKO 12 due to a headbutt on O Grady.

 

Jim gave Sean the old Glasgow kiss.

 

You have many Eusebio Pedroza fans here on this site, they will debate you to death on how Pedroza gains edges based on his foul infested fighting.

 

Drew McIntyre might not like that idea. Ha Ha.

 

Off the top, probably Mikey’s ear biting and then Golota’s low blows. But that’s accounting for the level at which they boxed and the associated viewership.

There would likely be many lesser fights involving lesser combatants where at least equal or worse fouls were committed - but said fights didn’t have the same fanfare and therefore were not as broadly exposed to the general boxing public.

 

I don't recall another bout in Eusebio Pedroza in which he committed fouls on a repeated basis. Pedroza was able to commit repeated fouls on a repeated basis vs. Juan Laporte because the referee let him get away with it. I am one of those who think that Pedroza was a fine fighter with plenty of skills.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Bowe - Tillerry and lowkicks, Johnson - Flynn and headbutts

 

I saw the Eusebio Pedroza vs Ernesto Herrera WBA title defense on July 2 1978 with my older brother, it was televised by NBC. Pedroza constantly flagrantly fouled Herrera, with constant backhands. As posted previously, a great fighter does not need to foul constantly in a fight when it gets tough, Salvador Sanchez, the WBC Champion from 1980-1982, never had to use foul tactics to defend his title as many in the media had wished for those two to meet in a title unification match, but never did due to the unfortunate death of Sanchez in a traffic accident on August 12 1982 after 9 successful title defenses, the last being a TKO 15 of challenger Azumah Nelson on July 21 1982 in Madison Square Garden.

 

Good call on Pedroza and Laporte , I watched it live and was stunned at all the elbows he landed. Of the many low blows one caught my eye . Towards the end of the Foreman Alex Stewert fight George had begun taking a beating when he reared back and threw a huge hook that landed low and Stopped Alex in his tracks. I've no doubt George did that on purpose to get him off,,and it worked

 

Here’s an offbeat one:

In March 1979, Mike Rossman was scheduled to defend his WBA light heavyweight title against the man from whom he had won it by TKO, Victor Galindez.

ABC TV was there. In fact, Rossman was in the ring in Las Vegas when Victor packed his bags and left his locker room because he didn’t like the fact that it wasn’t going to have three ‘neutral’ Latin judges and a Latin referee … that Nevada officials were going to officiate the bout.

It’s a complete bull that the challenger should get to dictate officials, but Victor was tight with the WBA and he got his way. They eventually withheld sanction (hours before the fight) after previously agreeing to Nevada judges and ref overseeing the action.

And how was Victor penalized? If a champion refused to step into the ring for a contracted title bout, he’d have been stripped. Victor, instead, was rewarded with another date against Rossman, who wasn’t going to be allowed to defend against anyone else (he’d have been stripped).

Here’s an article about the shenanigans by Galindez and his pet sanctioning body, who left the crowd and the champion hanging without the slightest penalty despite having a contract to honor:

https://vault.si.com/vault/1979/03/...sport-and-kod-the-galindez-rossman-title-bout

 

No way to ever know or prove it, but I always suspected Victor maybe wasn’t in peak shape and knew it … so found himself an excuse and the WBA backed their boy all the way.

And I’m a big Galindez fan, too. But this was bush league.