Excellent question. Two middleweight war machines with tremendous body punching power. EXTREMELY close affair. Zale pulls out an SD, but I'd settle for a draw. This is ONE HELLUVA FIGHT.
Love this fight, I'll give Zale the edge, just barely, but this is certainly one that could go either way, and no matter what, I'd imagine it'd be a rough and tumble affair.
Zale is the better fighter IMO...But I think Fullmer has the right style to beat him..Very tough fight to call
This is one of those rare times where Fullmer meets a guy who is just as rough as he is, and perhaps rougher.
Well when Gene Fullmer defeated the great Sugar Ray Robinson on Jan 2 1957, he won the fight by unanimous decision. But on May 1 1957, he got starched by a perfect left hook that left him sleepwalking at the very end in round 5. I think that a fight between Gene and Tony Zale would have been a very tough fight as both had similar styles. But in the end after brutal warfare, Zale stops Fullmer late in this contest, TKO 14.
Fullmer. I think He'd tie Zale into knots with his unorthodox mauling style. Zale was pretty orthodox and overrated today. I think he'd have serious problems with Fullmer mauling and fouling and wouldnt be able to get off. His forte was body punching and Fullmer was difficult to land to the body. I think Fullmer would win an ugly decision and I have no doubt he would win a decision west of the Rocky Mountains. I dont see Zale stopping him. Zale only has three elite stoppages on his resume: Hostak, Graziano, and Mamakos. Mamakos wasnt very durable and frankly neither was Graziano. Neither of those guys were in Fullmer's class in general and nowhere near in terms of durability. Hostak was a good tough fighter who was only stopped three times in his career, twice by Zale, but he was also fading when Zale got ahold of him. Im not sure Id put him in the same class as Fullmer in terms of durability and they fought nothing alike. I think if anyone is getting stopped its Zale. Zale had heart but people forget today that his nickname "the Man of Steel" wasnt a testament to his durability it was because he was from Gary, Indiana, a steel producing town. Zale was stopped more than once by guys who werent big punchers. Fullmer wasnt much of a puncher either but he could wear a guy out and lay a beating on him and I could see Zale getting stopped before Fullmer who was incredibly tough. Fullmer was only counted out once in his entire career and that was from a punch that has been labeled "the perfect punch" or "the greatest left hook ever thrown" The only other time Gene was stopped was against Tiger in his last bout and that was when Jensen refused to let him come out for the 8th after Fullmer was hopelessly behind. Fullmer was finished at that point though and Tiger was a far different obstacle than Zale given his own incredible strength and durability which Fullmers attacks merely crashed off of like waves over the rocks.
I appreciate this post, and I liked the information here. Hard fight to call, but you may be right. My only issue is, and I think you've said as much, Gene is a bit overrated himself, and had some home cooking on a few occasions. Point is, I think he needs to be most of what he's cracked up to be to beat Zale, who was a tough man himself, and I guess I just don't rate Gene to high. Good post though, and his style could be the difference
Zale was technically better and far more orthodox than Fullmer, but so was everybody else that Fullmer fought...and he usually beat them...found a way via two different styles to beat most of his opponents. His incredible raw physical strength, lack of a rhythm and clubbing punches would eventually wear Zale out. Remember that Fullmer had an underrated resourcefulness...witnessed vs the Florentino Fernandez fight...coping with the pain of a broken elbow, he improvised quite well to make it to the bell and win a decision...the two Basilio bouts...using his "Plan B" style of fighting off the back foot and using a deceptive cleverness...likewise in the 2nd Tiger bout. He would have finished stronger than Zale and would have mauled his way to a decision IMO.