Tiger-Giardello IV on Youtube - One of the Best Middleweight Fights Ever

Dick Tiger vs. Joey Giardello IV
Tiger takes the MW title from Giardello

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This is one of my all time favorite fights. There's just drama and intensity all over it - a challenger determined to regain his title, a champion desperate not to give it up. It also features what I believe to be the single greatest performance by Tiger.


In order to fully appreciate this fight, here's some background info on it:

A few years before this fight, Tiger was one of the hottest fighters in boxing. He had streaked through the division's top contenders, then twice whupped HOFer Gene Fullmer to become recognized as the world's unified middleweight champ. People were already speculating his place among the ATG middles, like Zale, Ketchel, etc. At the same time, Giardello was a perennial contender thought to be nearing the end of the line. He had fought Tiger twice before, losing first and then beating him in two close decisions. The win over Tiger had earned him a shot at the title (which ended up a draw), but after that his career had gone into decline, whereas Tiger appeared to have improved. As champion, Tiger was looking for a relatively "easy" fight against a "name" opponent, and Giardello fit the bill perfectly. They fought on Giardello's home turf in Atlantic City and it attracted a huge crowd. By this time, both guys were in their early 30s; they lacked some of the fire and fury they showed when they fought several years earlier, but they were smarter and more disciplined. Contrary to the expectations of Tiger and most "experts", Giardello did not fade over the course of the fight, and in fact appeared to get stronger in the late rounds. Tiger was the aggressor all the way, but he failed to work the body, and spent too much of the fight "waiting" to sucker Giardello into a big shot. Meanwhile, Giardello boxed the greatest technical fight of his career, and landed most of the cleaner, eye-catching punches. After 15 rounds, the referee and sole judge gave him the fight, 8-5-2 in rounds.

Here is that fight, BTW:

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It was an impressive win by Giardello, but many people suspected he basically "got lucky" and caught Tiger by surprise, and that a better prepared and more motivated Tiger could beat him in a rematch. After the fight, Giardello had promised him a rematch, but he recanted that promise and spent the next two years looking elsewhere for paydays. He defended against Ruben Carter, and also fought a pair of televised non-title fights against Rocky Rivero; he won all three fights by close, hard-fought decisions. To make a point, Tiger fought them both immediately afterward, and easily kicked both their asses. By now, Giardello was starting to get a lot of ridicule for not fighting Tiger, and many people were even starting to call Tiger the "real" or "uncrowned" champion in the division. Finally, Giardello agreed to fight him in NY, in Madison Square Garden, and that's the fight you see at the top.

Tiger is one of the best MW ever IMO, and also vastly underrated. He was not a pure slugger, more like an "aggressive counterpuncher." He would press forward, but he'd wait for you to lead and then counter. He was immensely strong for his weight, had an iron chin, quick hands, solid punching power, and was one of the best inside technicians ever. No one ever outfought him at close quarters since he appeared on the scene, and I don't think any MW in history ever could've. He sometimes struggled with fighters who boxed and moved, as the first title fight with Giardello showed. However, for the rematch, he showed much improved footwork and ability to cut off the ring. In terms of form, it's probably the best I've ever seen him. It's also one of the best performances I've seen from a fighter around 35 years old. Even his stamina was great.

I love the way Tiger came out so intense in this fight. The difference between him in this fight and the previous one is as clear as night and day. Giardello showed tremendous heart in not wanting to give his title up, but he was simply outclassed for much of the fight.

Giardello was never the same after this fight. He moved up to LHW and tried to make a go for that title, but after winning and losing a couple of fights, he retired for good. Tiger, after having waited so long to get his title back, surprisingly lost the title once again, on a very questionable decision to Emile Griffith. However, he moved up in weight and became a champ against when he toppled Jose Torres, and continued to have a successful career for several years. Sadly, he died of cancer only a year after he retired.

RIP to both these great warriors.

 

Following the win over Giardello, he started to suffer from cramps and back pains, and pass blood in his urine. Supposedly a body shot he took in that fight led to that. That was about 5 or 6 years before he was diagnosed with liver cancer, but obviously that was a definite warning sign of things to come.

 

A few other things I'd like to point out:

1) Notice in the third fight, Tiger allowed Giardello to tie him up and smother him on the inside. That allowed the "aging" Giardello to get rest whenever he wanted, and keep the pace of the fight the way he wanted. In the rematch, whenever Giardello would move in to tie him up, Tiger would pop him with a jab and step back; and the times that Joey did manage to tie him up, Tiger would wriggle one hand free and pound him on the inside. That I think was one of the key improvements Tiger made between these two fights.

2) Tiger's counterpunching is a thing of beauty to me. Look at the topmost video, at 1/6, at around 6:30, where he outfeints Giardello and then hits him with a super fast right-to-the-body, left-to-the-head combination. I love that move.

3) Another example of Tiger's counterpunching. Look at 2:40, where Tiger blocks a left hook with his right hand and then immediately comes back with the same hand and scores with a perfect right hand to Giardello's jaw. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.