I stand corrected ,he did fight Rivers ,thanks. Take him out ,and put in his place. Visintin Mazzinghi Torres Gonzalez Folledo Casey Lewis Downes
You can't blame him for not trying. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bJoJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rUIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3290,146803
It must be noted though that he didnt exactly fight the guys ranked under these blokes. He beat Spider Webb twice..who in turn beat about half that list and held wins over Tiger and Giardello. In some respects he was proving himself over those guys by facing the man who bested a hell of a lot of them. Just noticed he was the last guy to beat Pender before Paul went on like a 15 fight winning streak, bagging the championship in the process. Also Gene DID fight Humez, Rivers and Savage. Edit: which I just noticed people have already pointed out.