In remembrance of the Cuban great, which fight of his is your favorite? For any reason. For me it's the first Cokes fight. Cokes was a really good fighter, an excellent stylist. Napoles came in popping here and there, ducking under shots, slipping others effortlessly, and countered Cokes nearly to death. Complete domination of a superb fighter in that manner is very rare.
The first Cokes fight...I remember begging my dad to buy me the Ring magazine of that fight...with Mantequilla embracing his defeated opponent...Napoles in a sombrero, and poor Cokes looking like he had been through a meat grinder. I also love that single, devastating right uppercut that Napoles used to destroy Ernie Lopez in the 7th round of their rematch.
Curtis Coke's only misfortune was being a welterweight in the same day and age as Jose Mantequilla Napoles. Cokes was a very good, fine champion....as close as you could get to being "great".
That sombrero image is so iconic. And that uppercut on poor Ernie was perfect. Napoles could have hung with the great fighters from any era and I include Sugar Ray Robinson as part of that judgement.
The first Cokes fight as well. One of the great title winning performances. Napoles’ reputation doesn’t seem to have suffered the same peaks and troughs of other great fighters either. He was acknowledged in his day as one of the very best fighters around and is still rightly considered to be great. I think that his style is so easy on the eye has played a part because no-one watching him fight is left in any doubt that he could really fight. His resume (which is excellent) is almost second to his style in people’s judgements of him (mine included).
There’s so many. I loved his re-matched efforts with Lewis and Lopez. The Lopez one especially. The dominant win over Griffith was excellent too. You can’t go wrong with BOTH Cokes fights either. The first Lewis fight is beautiful skill too. M Too much to choose from to narrow down.
Cokes 1 This was a showpiece of aggressive counter punching and smooth ring generalship. Napoles was like a machine that could read his opponents movements. Hard not to be in awe of it. Second might be Backus 2. I love how aggressive and spiteful Jose was in this bout.
Yep, Cokes I (though the rematch was pretty impressive too) takes some beating. Napoles was just about as close to boxing perfection as you can get that night. One that hasn't been mentioned yet is his virtuoso clinic against Britain's Ralph Charles. Not his most renowned opponent, but Charles was a genuinely dangerous puncher who'd knocked guys out for fun at Commonwealth level, and had won the European title, too. What's so impressive about Napoles' performance was the way in which he carried the fight to the big puncher and totally chased him out of town and took him apart. Even on the front foot Napoles' defence and control of the range was immaculate.
A true great from the Golden Age has passed....I fell even more so even than other greats who have left us.
The fight of Napoles' that made me especially happy was the rematch with Hedgemon Lewis....that POS who managed him, Ryan O'Neal, and his miserable daughter were at ringside to see him grab and make off with Mantequilla'a scalp,...they thought that the Monzon defeat had softened him up, so to speak....I watched on tv and hollered, shouted and jumped in the air when the old lion beat the stuffings out of their boy...sending POS O'Neal to slink away with his tail between his legs lol.... @The Morlocks
with such a lengthy career and such a long reign, and so much success, my only question is why he isnt ranked higher?
