James Page - “The Mighty Quinn”

This is such a great post because it got me reminiscing. James Page and Jose Luis Lopez are the great what-ifs of that era. I believe at their best, Page and J.L. Lopez could have given anyone in that era hell on Earth, including De la Hoya and Trinidad. For whatever reason , their careers had odd trajectories and never really got the super big fights. Lopez and Page really went at it in a brutal fight. Lopez lost the decision, but had Page on the deck twice. Lopez somewhat disappeared for a while, came back much higher in weight, and never did seem to ever again get top fights, despite winning. I don't know what the heck happened. Page beat Sam Garr and Fred Pendleton, but then he too disappeared for a couple years, then got beat by Andrew Six Heads Lewis, who in turn got beat by Mayorga.

 

I want to know why he got his ass beaten so badly against Six Heads. It doesn't seem to add up.

 

My best guess is a combination of factors, including the younger Lewis was undefeated and fight sharp, being very active, whereas Page was getting older, having started his pro career 10 years earlier, (and not fighting again after Lewis for over 10 years, so that essentially was his last fight), and was coming off a 1.5 year layoff, and often to rest is to rust, plus you have to factor in that Lewis was southpaw, and some fighters simply struggle with southpaws. You never know how a fighter is treating himself between fights. Are they training, abusing themselves with food or drugs, etc., and what impact that will have. What was Page doing during that 1.5 years he did not fight? Another possibility is rough fights can cut careers short, and Page took some brutal blows from Jose Luis Lopez, despite outpointing him. Lopez didn't throw much, and was vulnerable to getting outpointed, but what he did throw had huge power. He even had Ike Quartey on the deck twice as well. That was one guy that you might beat, but when he hit you, it would really hurt and you'd be going home with a headache. Damaging puncher.

 

Because his boxing style lends to an incredibly short career. Mix that in with running the streets and a 2 year lay off and you get a disaster.
But make no mistake about it he hit like a ton of bricks .
Supposedly he was being used as a sparring partner for Oscar but kept hurting Oscar in sparring and the final straw was he dropped Oscar pretty hard. After that he was asked to leave the camp.
I know he shook Jose Luis Lopez in their fight and I had never seen Lopez shook like that- that bout was an absolute war.

 

Page was a talented puncher but he could run hot and cold.

First heard about him when he took on the undefeated puncher (12-0 12 kos) Alfred Ankamah and took him out in a round.
Just found this on Boxrec:

• Page retired from boxing in 2001 after getting stripped of his WBA world welterweight title, then losing in an attempt to regain it from Andrew Lewis.
• Finished with boxing, Page turned to a life of crime – robbing banks. In 2002, he was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. Page, who was released in 2012, made an unsuccessful attempt at a comeback, but was knocked out in the second round by Rahman Mustafa Yusubov. In June of 2013, he was arrested again for allegedly robbing eight banks in the San Francisco area

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One of my most vivid memories of him was that George Foreman had really taken a shine to him and while talking about the big stars of the era and p4p rankings, Foreman just blurted out to the HBO crew that NOBODY IS p4p until they beat James Page, which seemed from way left field to pretty much everyone else. But Foreman wanted to throw him one. I might be misremembering but I think Page lost not long after that, had one of the titles (?) and lost and Foreman showed up to his dressing room and gave him a big pep talk. This last bit is fuzzy, and I could've yanked that out of thin air. But I know he said nobody is p4p until they beat Page. That I will never forget. I remember it more than seeing Page actually fight.

 

I've seen a few interviews with Jose Luis Lopez, and it appears he lost a lot of motivation due to not having a good promoter and manager. He was trained by his dad, and I know Lou Duva was in the picture for a few fights, but I don't believe he ever had a good, savvy promoter and advisor who could guide him through the mess that professional boxing brings to the table. Although Lou Duva was a big time trainer and promoter with Main Events, I just think he didn't mesh well with Jose Luis Lopez due to the language barrier. I also remember in one interview, Jose Luis Lopez claims he was offered $50K to fight a big name fighter (I can't remember who, but it may have been Mosley) even after he had won the WBO title, or something to that effect. He claims to have told the person who offered him that amount to, "go shove it where the sun don't shine."

Having said all that, I believe that Jose Luis Lopez was lazy when it came to training. The closest I have seen him to be in great shape was when he won the WBO belt against Eamonn Loughran. He looked decent in the Yory Boy Campas fight but appeared to be gasping for air after the first few rounds. He looked decent against Quartey but, again, looked to be exhausted in the later rounds. Against Page, he looked pudgy. However, according to him, Don King moved the fight up a week, or two, from its original date. Is this true? I don't know, but if it is, it just goes to show that he did not have a good manager/promoter who should have said, "No," to the new date.

That's one of the frustrating things about watching Jose Luis Lopez. He had it all. He had speed, he had power in both hands, and he may have even had a better chin than Julio Cesar Chavez. What he didn't have was the mentality to be the best, or the hunger and drive to push him to where he showed up in great shape. I've always said that if he had Antonio Margarito's will and determination, combined with his God given talent, we would be talking about him for decades. **Disclaimer: I only used Margarito as an example since he had no where near the hand and foot speed of Jose Luis Lopez, nor the technical boxing abilities Lopez had. However, Margarito had a world class chin and stamina, along with will and determination, to compete at the highest levels.**

Anyhow, that's how I view Lopez and his career.

As far as Page goes, I think the Lopez fight took a lot out of him. He was a big puncher, but he appeared a little too stiff. I was a little shocked at the ease of which Six Head Lewis took him apart. At that point, he looked to be completely done. His punch resistance was gone, and he just didn't have it anymore.

 

Page-Lopez was the best WW fight of the 90s to me. It had so much sustained action.