Two of the most interesting HW contenders with awkward but effective styles. There is not much difference in sizes between them and both had granite chins. Who do you think would have won and why?
Godoy strikes me as a guy who's somewhat similar to Frazier, stylistically, but a bit more negative. He likes to 'clutch' onto people like Sammy Angott did, and he tended to sacrifice his own work to smother the opponents'. Bonavena was the stronger guy IMO and so would be able to keep Godoy from doing this as well, and Godoy's style well. Akin to the Frazier fight. Bonavena UD, in a fight less entertaining than you'd expect.
Godoy was such a garbage fighter. I cant stand watching him. The term spoiler was invited for guys like him way more than guys like Byrd or Young. Itd be an ugly fight but I think Bonavena would win handily.
He didn't look nearly as "spoiler" in the fight I posted here. I think that a lot of that has to do with who he fought in available footage. He knew how powerful Louis was, so he tried to take away his power.
Godoy vs Louis 1, watch it. Goody is a man with very quick feet, flexibility, and a top level chin. He could very well out point Bonavena. Assuming we take both on a good Night, I think its 60/40 in favor or Bonavena
Yes and No Godoy was a strong fighter. In the clinches he easily backup up Louis and man handles. Frazier wasn't that strong in the clinches, but he certainly hit harder.
I dont know. Thats just a short clip. You can find short pieces of the Louis fights where he looks good but overall he was a spastic clincher. His fight with Haynes is godawful as well. All he would do was worm his way inside from a ridiculously low crouch and then tie his man up.
It is probably fair to say that Godoy had more good wins than Bonavena. Perhaps he is being sold short a little here? Not that you would bet a lot on either man of course!
Bonavena-Peralta, Chuvalo, Middleton, Lewis, Folley, Martin, Mildenberger Godoy-Loughran, Galento, Lovell, Toles, Dorazio and an old Firpo, I think Oscar has a way better resume, actually surprised me how good it was.
I am not sure, because comparing the resumes of South American heavyweights to their North american counterparts, is a tricky exercise. However: He has three wins over Alberto Santiago Lovell, who was ranked #4 at the end of 1937, and was on a long winning streak when Godoy beat him for the first time. They fought six times in total. The fact that you had two South American heavyweights in the top five, suggests a healthy boxing scene there at the time. He beat Tony Galento twice in 1937, and Galento was ranked #5 at the end of that year. He beat Gus Dorazio when he was on a long winning streak. He beat Phil Muscato when he was on an unbeaten streak, and Muscato was still ranked #10 at the end of the year. He also beat Roscoe Toles in 43, when he was on an unbeaten streak going back to 41, and Toles was ranked #4 at the end of 42. So not a resume that leaps out of the page at you, but definitely worth a close look.
If you watch the footage, Godoy out lands Louis, pushes him around the ring, makes him miss plenty and has him completely out of his game in the first fight. At times he plays spoiler, but he's very good at it. If Godoy was a bit more serious / had more fire, and hit a little harder, he's be extremely tough to beat. Very durable, Godoy had a style to make the stationary types look really bad and very good energy yo do what he does for a full 15 rounds.
Lovell, Godoy, Toles had a funny series going on. In fact, if you look at the records of the top fighters down south, they all had long series going on with fighters, three fights in a row with the same opponent was pretty standard for Lovell. Were they milking it? it sure looks that way. Not to deminish Lovell and Godoy, both underrated and under appreciated IMO.
