Just thought about it recently, @bolo specialist was a good fan of him and even told that he's not a puncher,yet Gavilan was constantly aggressive,rocking boxers left and right and actually has that finishing finesse,yet his ko ratio is super low. But on the other side again,he managed to outslug Carmen Basilio and punch out Gil Turner whom Basilio and Fullmer failed to stop. Any ideas?
he had just enough power to rattle opponents & make them wary, but usually lacked that extra bit of explosiveness needed to put opponents away. 1 rather surprising exception was his fight w/ Walter Cartier, a big strong mw who outweighed him by several lb. Cartier was ahead on pts entering the final rnd, but the Keed found a sweet spot behind Cartier's left ear & zeroed in on it w/ his right until Cartier finally crumbled. This content is protected
Not a hard puncher, but a very spiteful and venomous one. Combine that with his work rate and chin and you can see why guys couldn't really out brawl him.
Gavilan also showed good power destroying undefeated touted prospect Chuck Davey. Davey beat veteran champions Rocky Graziano (middleweight) and Ike Williams and drew and outpointed future 2 time Welter and middleweight champ Carmen Basilio. Davey dropped 4 times and forced to quit in a one-sided beating. Travelled twice to Britain near the end of his career to fight undefeated puncher Peter Waterman. Was robbed in the 1st fight but gave Waterman a real battering to take decision in the return. Though Waterman won British and European titles straight after I have read he never looked the same after the Gavilan rematch.
His wins over Williams & Rocky were shady, but I think the Basilio win was legit. Basilio was still very raw/wild @ that stage of his career, but Davey withstood some big punches from him & outfought him in a bloody brawl.
If I hit you a lot… or more importantly in an unexpected way I will hurt you even if I’m not a hard puncher… body punches to wear you down and reduce your strength etc.
