I discovered some interesting stuff whilst researching Laguna's days at the lower weights. Even if I have jumped to a conclusion about Laguna vs Harada, it is still interesting stuff. McGrain brought to light some of Laguna's exploits at the lower weights to light in his 'Laguna vs Jofre' thread, so hopefully this can help expand it abit. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/477215342.html?dids=477215342:477215342&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jul+07%2C+1964&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=HARADA%2C+LAGUNA+BAG+ARENA+WINS&pqatl=google If anyone with proquest could access this article and either post it up here, or give us the gist of the story it would be very welcome. It looks as though they may have tried to match these two up. Laguna had just left the Bantamweight division in 1963, so would have still been a small Featherweight, and indeed he was as it took him three years to move up to Lightweight. When Laguna left the Bantams, he was number 1 contender for Jofre's crown. This led to Alphonso Halmini being made number 1 contender and Fighting Harada number 2 contender, according to Ring magazine. So if they were trying to match these two up, it would have been a wonderful match-up. I feel Laguna at the lower weights hit slightly harder for his weight-class than he did at Lightweight. He was also much more of a speed-merchant and hadn’t quite perfected his slick defensive craftsmanship that brought him to success at Lightweight. Harada on the other hand had just moved up from Flyweight, so hadn’t quite grown into Bantamweight yet. I think Harada would have the stylistic edge here, as his fast swarming attacks probably wouldn’t give Laguna the chance to box. However, Laguna would be slightly heavier, and perhaps stronger, so may be able to push Harada back. Also Laguna could match Harada for speed and might even surpass him for it, so perhaps this would negate the effectiveness of Harada's attacks. All in all, I think it would be a very good match-up and a massive win for either of the guys. What you guys thinking about this? Also unless I'm forgetting someone silly, I think Laguna is probably the best Bantamweight from Panama. Was top contender in a fairly good Bantamweight division.
atsch I meant if I missed someone obvious out. He is a guy I have been researching lately, aswell. I'm really impressed by Brown actually.
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=202905&highlight=laguna McGrain's thread on Laguna vs Jofre AKA bump
