Never really enjoyed watching him fight as he usually came across as being fairly passive. But of course most of what I saw of him was late in his career when he was more or less being used as a build up guy for up and coming prospects.. Nevertheless, his career warrants a certain amount of acknowledgement. As one poster said of him several years ago, " Ossie Ocasio wasn't a class fighter, BUT you had to BE a class fighter to beat him. " I agree with this assessment.. Most ( including myself ) have frowned on Larry Holmes giving him a title shot in 1979. But at a closer look, Ossie had twice beaten Jimmy Young who was a top five contender at that time, to go along with being undefeated.. He also fought a young Dokes to a draw in their first meeting. Then dropped down to win a cruiserweight strap which he defended a few times.. Overall, "jaws" had wins over Jimmy Young, Pierre Coetzer, Dwight Qawi, and took a good number of decent men the distance.. Not a bad career for a guy who has been all but forgotten.
My only prevailing memory is of him falling from a Larry Holmes jab. The saddest, most rueful memory of loss coming out of the glory-filled 80's was the knowledge that the sun had set on any possibility of a unification fight between him and Carlos Deleon. I'm totally kidding. That fight would have been like ipecac.
Ossie was a grade B-C hwt. He was not thought of as much in his prime and he should not be considered much today.
I dont think Ossie would make it to the top 30 today maybe less, he caught a big breasted unmotivated Young in 2 fights but was a small, non puncher of a heavyweight. I was never impressed with Ossie
I thought he was a good fighter, a little small I think, and no big puncher, but was quick, and knew what he was doing. I thought Young won those two fight BTW. Great fight with Dokes. Just because a guy doesn't win the title and hold it for years, and doesn't have a big punch, doesn't mean he's no good ya know
One of the biggest robberies of its day. The WBA was bound and determined to give Ocasio a shot at Holyfield's title. He had been really inactive but mysteriously began rising in the ratings by being inactive. He needed a win over Qawi to get the shot and it was given to him. Ferdie Pacheco was the color commentator/****yst and he gave all 10 rounds to Qawi. I re-watched this recently and scored it 6-3-1 Qawi. Total robbery.
A mediocre heavyweight and a fine cruiserweight. Might have been better off he'd come along a little later when the cruiserweight division was more established....he took a lot of damage at heavy.