Sure he was.He was a souped up Frank Bruno.As one dimensional and one-paced a boxer-puncher as you will find. Doesn't mean he wasn't really good of course, though i've never been the biggest fan.
Let's see he could box from the outside as shown against De La Hoya. He could slug on the inside, as shown against Vince Phillips and many more. How was he one dimensional?
I think Mantequilla means that he didn't seem to adapt during a fight. He could have a different style going into a fight, but then he never changed it. This is coming from a huge Quartey fan BTW.
Collins trained there too in the early 90s. British two weight champ hugh russell took a photo of Espana and his belt in castle street with a few friends also in the pic. I managed to get in one with Espana and a few of the McCulloughs and it turned out a *******, think it even ended up in the Irish News. Espana was a very good fighter and he was an underdog against Taylor. He was actually 3-1 in the bookies, so that would have made Taylor an odds-on fav. A strong guy with very long arms and a good discipline too. No shame in losing to Quartey. He didnt live in belfast either, he lived in bangor, even after he retired although im sure he moved back home after a while
I agree. Lucky and unlucky. All in all more lucky than unlucky. Quartey was good and Meldrick was just not made for any weight above 140. And this was also the same year as Norris stopped Meldrick. I do remember that Espana had the best most solid build for a welterweight.
Espana was as tall, as awkward and as ungainly as his brother Ernesto was, but they had great leverage with those incredibly long arms. A funny story, when he was back home, Steve Collins sparred with Espana and said when Espana went to throw a punch that he (Collins) would time it and lean back out of range, but still get tagged. This was repeated during their sparring sessions, which Collins put down to that he was simply ring rusty and wasn't timing it right, until they were in the locker room. Collins stated that he hunched down to tie his shoe and looked up to see Espana scratching his lower calve, but that he wasn't even leaning over to do so. Those were some long-assed arms. Scartissue
Good call.Boucher was a very talented fighter who took on the best when he was the Commonwealth Champ.:good