What are the best overlooked wins of the 1980s?

that Benitez/Duran fight is almost forgotten, even thought it was 7 years before Duran fought Barkley and a year and a half before Duran beat Moore. Benitez dominated Duran and made him look inept. Benitez was that great. Benitez in his next defense lost to Thomas Hearns, but he is the only person I ever saw who made Hearns miss body punches.

 

I remember Donald Curry / Milton Mccory was suppose to be like Hearns/Leonard but on a smaller scale.. Both were undefeated and highly regarded , Curry looked awesome and unbeateable this night as he smoked the feared Milton"Ice Man" Mccory in 2 rounds.. After this win Curry was ranked right with Hagler as the best PFP in the sport.

 

Rocchigiani TKO1 Hamsho
Rocchigiani UD12 Malinga

 

Hamsho was washed up quit trying to give your countreymen props for beating an old man.


Malinga WOOOOOOOOW!!

 

Ah, well if Calzaghe fans consider Jones to be prime against Joe C. I can do the same. :bart

 

Steve Cruz over Barry Mcguigan.... Stevie Cruz deserves props for this win this was upset of the year and Steve Cruz fought courageously to pull it out. Dont remember the odds but this was looked at as a gimme win till other fights came along for MCguigan.... Unfortunately every just remembers Poor Barry(excuse) having to fight in the Las vegas heat and he was drained at the end... Cruz had to fight in the same heat, and dont give me the BS about Cruz being from Hot Texas .. As a professional athelete fighter you got to be make yourself adjust.

 

Especially the way in which Benitez beat Hope.

BOOM! Out cold having nice dreams.

 

Im not sure of the exact odds but i DO know that substantial money had to have been put on Cruz as the odds dropped dramatically a day or 2 before the fight. This only happens if big money is lumped on,or erratic betting patterns emerge. Im not suggesting any impropriety on Cruz behalf, he fought well and fair play to him, but as you said yourself, this was maybe considered as a gimme fight (he came in a week before as a replacement) and somebody,or bodies, somewhere placed a hell of a lot of money on him.

 

I always liked Herman 'Kid' Montes flattening Pipino Cuevas.

And he also Kayoed Jorge Vaca, before Vaca became a champion.

 

Tubbs - Page

Haugen - Paul

 

I think Funso Banjo's decision over Hughroy Currie for the Southern Area Title is deeply underrated....

Two nights stand out though:

The night Terry Lawless almost slashed his wrists as both his money men went down the loo, on one bill:

Bonecrusher Smith beating Bomber Bruno and the same bill Mark Kaylor blowing it against Buster Drayton.

And also the night Edwin Rosario took Frankie Randall's '0' at the YORK HALL; on a MARK KAYLOR UNDERCARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....etc

 

Curry's five knockdown evisceration of Gianfranco Rosi deserves a mention, because The Lone Star Cobra was considered damaged goods by that point, but still had enough left to demolish a fighter who was coming off a couple of notable victories in the latter's backyard.

 

I never saw this one as overlooked. It was well documented at the time, but Cruz was never a great fighter. Cruz did not show this was more than a fluke. He beat McGuigan more because of the heat and McGuigan wearing out in the late rounds in a summer heatwave in Vegas in 1986.

 

That was an odd fight.Curry actually looked really bad imo, but Rosi kept unusually jumping in wide open and getting briefly dropped, then more or less just gave up, perhap as he knew he could no longer win on points(on a legit card anyway)

 

Curry was rocked in the opening round, and certainly didn't appear to be the fighter he once was. And that's what makes the result even better, imo. Rosi basically fought the same way that he always did (crowding and making the fight ugly), but unlike other opponents that he fought around that time, Curry managed to find his groove in spite of these tactics, and was doing a bit of a number on him by the end of the fight.

Weird fight, true...But a pretty good last hurrah for Curry, when one considers that he was pretty much written off by that point, against a fighter who was getting attention, and who would go on to have another lengthy (albeit ugly) title reign.