Anyone remember Frank "The Animal" Fletcher?

I remember Frank.for about 1-2 years, he was a top contender, than Scypion and Roldan got to him.Also Curtis Parker beat him, a couple of years too late.

 

Once you see the Green fight you will become a fan for life.

 

I remember George 'the animal' Steele.

 

Yes, a great action fighter. Had great wars with Ernie Singletary & Norberto Sabater & a classic war with James"Hard Rock" Green. Too bad there weren't all the belts floating around like today. he definatly would have wone one of them.

 

I think he fought on NBC Sportsworld a lot.

His mother was always there yelling and showing support.

He was a B+ to A- fighter with great heart.

James Kitchen, Sypion, Parker, & Frank gave us a bunch of thrills.

 

I believe he won the ESPN Tournament. When the Network first started. Dwight Braxton was also a Tournament Winner.

 

I remember those tournaments. Some good fighters came out of there. Couple disappointments too.

 

Mugabi also KO'd Fletcher in the fourth. While mentioning Parker, he lost via first round KO to Mugabi!

 

That three of them couldn't even make it to Hagler (along with Dwight Davison) suggests how deep their division was during the early and mid 1980s.

Frank had terrific stamina, and could maintain his pace through 12 rounds without missing a beat. Somebody (I forget who), tried rope-a-doping him, causing Pacheco to admonish the fool, "This isn't gonna work! The Animal can fight like this as long as the match continues!" It was fun following him on NBC through 1982 as he successfully defended his USBA title against a trio of familiar challengers.

Because of his past history with Tony Braxton, their third match was well hyped. Qawi's brother is not widely remembered today, but his televised appearances presented him as a very promising up and comer, especially after knocking off Clint Jackson.

Jackson himself was enormously touted after his stellar amateur career, and seemed to have adjusted and recovered as necessary from the loss to Braxton.

The first time Green saw his own blood, he panicked, freezing into a shell until it was stopped. (To his credit, Hard Rock later kept his cool when Mugabe gashed him open, but Mugabe-Green really was too much of a bloodbath to let continue.)

Roldan ruined him abruptly, and it was really weird to see Fletcher timidly try to play the cutie with Mugabe, instead of attacking and going down with guns blazing.

In contrast to his nickname, he seemed like a nice and quiet guy of few words.

 

I thought he was just a good TV fighter.

 

i've just dug out a ring magazine for GPATER dated january 83' inside is a feature on fletcher.he'd just beaten james "hardrock" green and the ring reporter ,nigel collins ,says he might have a legitimite chance of beating marvin hagler.
curtis parker was one of my favourites from that era and it seemed to be loaded with exciting middleweights with hagler as undisputed king.happy days.

 

I agree with all you said except I think he was a good puncher. I never saw him in a bad fight,he was one of the most exciting contenders back then.

 

Dwight Davidson vs Frank Fletcher would've been a real good fight.