At the risk of being self indulgent here's a post about the Harada Jofre rivalry I did a few years ago in a thread about me dad and Fighting Harada. Jofre Apart from a return with Harada, Jofre was also in the mix for a challenge if dad had beaten Harada. Dad was in the running for a title fight with for Jofre's crown in 1965 after beating Caldwell and Ben Ali impressively. Harry Levene was trying to bring him over to England. Jofre had the Harada fight to get out of the way first, it wasn't really considered that Jofre would lose his title to Harada so that all fell through. Walter McGowan was also in talks with Jofre's people at this time, he had to get past Joe Medel in what was virtually an eliminator, Medel was no. 1 contender for the title. Jofre was obviously a great fighter but I think 65-66 would of been a good ytime to fight him. I've wondered wether he really was having problems with the weight, he'd looked great it seems against Carabello and he only weighed 116 for Harada in the return, maybe there's a story behind that. It's possible that he just lost focus round that time, there was the draw with Manny Elias in Brazil though by all accounts he did win that fight but Elias did take rounds of him and was a good pressure fighter. Me dad fought Elias in 68 and shut him out. He did say that Elias was a real tough nut and hard to catch cleanly only offering the top of his head but dad ended up hitting him with every shot in the book and boxed well within himself. It was a good workout, not worth damaging your hands to get a ko on your ledger. Elias went on to box Jofre in 1970 up at feather going down on a clear points decision which sounds like a similar fight to me dad's. Elias had got himself a world rating with the draw against Jofre but back to back losses in Japan to World rated Katsuo Saito and Yoshio Yakane. Both these fights were split decisions so chances are they could of gone either way. Elias with better breaks might of achieved more, a quality fighter. [ame] This content is protected [ame] This content is protected Obviously there is the possibility that Harada was just a stylistic nightmare for Jofre, he might of caused him problems at any time. All in all and I'm not saying dad would of beat Jofre but 65-66 would of been the best time to fight him, dad came back from the Harada with 3 good wins against Mexicans. Felipe Gonzalez, Edmundo Esparza and Raul Vega. Gonzalez was the first man to take Olivares the distance and ko'd Chucho Castillo in his next fight. Esparza held a points win over Fighting Harada in Japan in 62 only 6 months before Harada crushed Pone Kingpetch to win his first title. Dad said Esparza was real tricky ion the Mexican mould. Early in the fight he was trying to draw dad in to the ropes. A couplre of times dad followed him in only to be met with crunching right uppercuts. He soon got wise and boxed from the centre then closing on Esparza in the second half and taking him to the ropes on his own terms punching out a good points win. [ame] This content is protected [ame] This content is protected Vega was a good puncher with a few 1st round kayoes on his ledger. Dad was badly cut in this fight needing plastic surgery afterwards. He showed his versatility in taking a good points decision boxfighting and protecting the cuts at the same time. [ame] This content is protected [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j76w85FgWY0&feature=relmfu[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL5xVYHbSuM&feature=relmfu[/ame] He got the ring fighter of the month on these showings, all 3 fights were within a couple of months. Rudkin Jofre common opponents Caldwell Jofre TKO 10 1962 Rudkin TKO 10 1965 Harada Jofre L pts 15 1965 L pts 15 1966 Rudkin L pts 15 1965 Elias Jofre D 10 1965 Jofre W pts 10 1970 Rudkin W pts 10 1968 Corona Jofre W KO 6 1969 Rudkin W TKO 7 1968 Bisbal Jofre KO 2 1972 Rudkin W pts 10 1966 Here's my take on the Jofre Harada fights by the way. I thought Jofre boxed the wrong fight in the first fight. He didn't/couldn't make the most of his jab, he allowed Harada to bully him to the ropes for long periods and didn't throw enough body shots. He did on the other hand throw some beautiful combinations off the ropes and it was a fight all the way. He seemed to me to be looking for the big shot, maybe he'd seen the Medel fight. I thought Harada won and for me this was the best he looked. Great movement, great footwork, ring generalship, just brilliant boxing, the complete fighter. Here's my scorecard with notes I made. Harada Jofre 1 10 9 jab, workrate, body shots 2 10 9 busy busy, Jofre 1st half, close 3 10 9 close 4 10 9 big, Jofgre hurt 5 9 10 clear, untidy but effective hooking 6 9 10 H fighting in bursts, Jofre busier 7 10 9 H picking shots and smothering 8 9 10 slashing left hooks, worked hard 9 10 9 the jab, rights through middle 10 9 10 H coasting 11 10 9 H jab working, close round, Jofre second half 12 10 9 good round, beat J to punch and smothering 13 10 9 busier, J tired 14 9 10 clear 15 9 10 close Harada 69 Jofre 66 Harada Jofre 2 Harada Jofre 1 9 10 J busier, centre of the ring boxing 2 9 10 centre ring dropping in rights behind the jab 3 10 9 H clear round, bullying and boxing well, rough 4 10 9 H closed the distance, smothered Jofre, boxed well. J on ropes but lande good counters (close) 5 10 9 H clear round, controlling the tempo, Jofre not happy on ropes, warning for headwork. 6 10 9 H controlled round off jab, good body shots, j couldn't settle. 7 9 10 very close, h doing his thing but Jofre good counters 8 9 10 H untidy, J landing good shots on the inside. H second half success on ropes but J counterpunching well. Physical round! 9 10 9 H dominated boxing, J tired, H more relaxed in second half. 10 10 9 Great start to round for Jofre with rights but H steps up for last 2 minutes, close round 11 9 10 Very untidy round, J cleaner shots, H looking tired 12 9 10 Good Jofre round, jabs and rights over top, centre ring 13 10 9 Hard fought close round, both tired. H more work though some of it sloppy 14 10 9 Good start to round by J. H catches him with head on cheek which unsettles J. H finishes round strongly landing flush. 15 10 9 H good first half then smothers J for remainder. Harada 69 Jofre 66
Harada's jab and ability to get on the inside would always trouble Jofre. Jofre could maybe take one but Harada was awful for him. The constant movement and virtually always extended left was causing Éder major problems, and Jofre took a while to find a way around it and even then it was all to effective. Once Harada got inside and started to work he won most exchanges and smothered Jofre when he wasn't, it's a very frustrating situation for Jofre in all honesty.
Just finished watching Harada-Jofre 2. Will post my score in the scorecard thread and then quote here. Spoiler alert: it’s ugly for Jofre.
The funny thing is, there's a lot of talk of Jofre getting robbed in these fights. I can only think its from people whom haven't actually seen them.
Yep and just re-scored it now. About to post my score in the main scorecard thread. Will post it here in a sec.
Also, since Jofre's weight issues have been mentioned repeatedly, its only fair to mention that Harada was a natural Flyweight and was at his best there H2H, though his Boxing skills evolved at Bantam.
Fighters tend to gain weight as they wage. Harda started boxing rather young at age 16, a reason he started at flyweight. By that time of the Jofre fight ( Harda was 22 ) Harda was a good fit for Bantam, Jofre wasn't. Jofre was too heavy, and losing the weight hurt Jofre's chances. How Jofre looked good beating Medel and Medal floored Harda a few times stopping him is one of those just don't make sense outcomes in boxing.
