Antonio Esparragoza's domination of Steve Cruz - horrorshow beating

I always liked ol' Tony Asparagus..of course he reminded me of a lower case Arguello, but as McGrain says...he was uniquely styleless...and that what bamboozled so many of his victims..not just Cruz.

 

Quite a frightful beating he put on Cruz..A.E. looked like he could have gone on all night.

 

This thread has rekindled my interest in Esparragoza and all his defenses..McGrain, what is your opinion of his last and losing defense vs Yung Kyun Park? Was Park something of a much lower case Harada, stylewise superficially anyway, the way his more or less constant offense seemed to do the trick with AE? This was also Esparragoza's last fight, interestingly enough.

 

I watched it afew weeks ago. I havent seen Essparagoza before but I thought he looked crap against Park and it was fairly boring.

 

I always loved this fight. Cruz was generally overwhelmed, but he made a gutty and determined effort throughout. In fact, I thought this was the most spirited effort I've ever seen Cruz make (even moreso than the McGuigan fight) despite losing decisively. He really was determined to hold onto his title. I don't think he ever really was the same after this fight, although he did manage to make a comeback years later and earn a shot at Jorge Paez.

Funny enough, I don't think I've ever seen Esparra look as good as he did in this fight either. In most of his fights thereafter, he became more of a patient, looking-for-one-shot-at-a-time kind of fighter, rather than the raging firestorm he was here. Eventually, he lost his title to that Korean guy, who he just let waltz all over him all night long.

 

Although that was often a common comparison back in the day, I didn't think he looked like Arguello at all in this fight. He reminded me more of Freddie Steele, or perhaps Monzon in Monzon's early title fights.

 

Maybe that was in part because of Cruz' lack of talent allowing Antonio to do pretty much what he felt like though.Cruz was going life and death with clubfighters before he beat McGuigan and was as ordinary a champion as you would see for that era.

It's odd how Esparragoza's career just fizzled out, maybe he should have moved up sooner-he was a big feather.I don't know enough about what he was like outside the ring to say if he had any dedication issues either.

 

Cant remember if it was Sosa or Esparagosa that Cruz subbed for the McGuigan fight. Irregardless, how do you see A.E. and McGuigan going if they fought that night in Vegas?

 

Bump for this amazing thread.

 

Pat Cowdell UD Esparragoza

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgXJgSJu_rQ[/ame]

Disgraceful glass mandible.