Well we are back for the 15th installment of Fight of the week, where we review, rescore and remember some historic fights of the past. This week the FOTW time machine takes us back 55 years ago to May 31, 1966 at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan. Harada and Jofre face off in a rematch of their May 18, 1965 fight for the World (Don’t you miss those days!) Bantamweight title, which Valdes won by UD. Harada would win the belt from Jofre on a close SD. Now they are back to answer the question again of who is the best. so climb aboard and buckle up as we revisit Harada vs Jofre II: This content is protected
NP, thanks for participating. I am in the process of moving in 2 weeks so I have not engaged as much as I need to. Oh well a few weeks and it will be all over. but I love both of the Harada Jofre fights, these guys were awesome warriors looking to beat the best! Jofre pays some props to Harada and others (as a Saldivar guy I like the mention). https://www.ringtv.com/538052-best-i-faced-eder-jofre/ and Harada clearly has respect for Jofre as well: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/masahiko-“fighting”-harada-best-i-faced.626314/
Great fight. Round 1: Jofre 5-4 Round 2: Jofre 5-4 Round 3: Harada 5-4 Round 4: Even Round 5: Harada 5-4 Round 6: Harada 5-4 Round 7: Jofre 5-4 Round 8: Jofre 5-4 Round 9: Harada 5-4 Round 10: Even Round 11: Harada 5-4 Round 12: Jofre 5-4 Round 13: Jofre 5-4 Round 14: Harada 5-4 Round 15: Harada 5-4 Total.: 70-68 Fighting Harada Actual scores: 71-69 71-68 69-68 All for fighting Harada A very close contest. I thought Harada pulled it out in the 14th and 15th rounds over a desperately tired Jofre. Harada too was running on fumes by this time, but he just wanted it that bit more. Several rounds were tough to score. I had two rounds even, with the 8th another desperately close round, which I gave to Jofre. Jofre started a little better, landing cleaner, well-timed blows to the busier Harada's head. Harada pulled himself back into it with a busy jab. To me, Harada won rounds when he used his jab, narrowly winning the battle of the jabs more often than not. While he did manage to push Jofre to the ropes a lot, many punches were smothered or blocked or not clean, scoring blows. Some of course did get through or were only partially blocked. Jofre landed several clean punches, notably rights to Harada's head, and also scored well at times with the jab. Harada showed why the last 3 rounds of the old championship distance were called the championship rounds. I had him winning both the last two rounds, showing great heart and grit.
Can't recall ever scoring this one before. Some very closely contested rounds, but Harada's relentlessness bore the fruit: 1 Jofre 2 Jofre 3 Harada 4 Even 5 Harada 6 Harada 7 Jofre 8 Harada 9 Harada 10 Jofre 11 Harada 12 Jofre 13 Harada 14 Harada 15 Harada Harada wins - 70-66
Fighting Harada v Eder Jofre II First of all, I totally loved this fight. Secondly, I totally respect everyone's opinions on this thread. We're not all in lock-step with one another and as I say that, my card was a bit wider for Harada. With the first round - which I loved - I could see this was going to be one of those fights where we're riding a fine line on Jofre, the harder puncher or Harada, of the greater work rate. And many of these rounds were of the fine line variety. Nevertheless, here we go: Round 1: 5-4 Harada Round 2: 5-5 Even Round 3: 5-4 Harada Round 4: 5-4 Jofre Round 5: 5-4 Harada Round 6: 5-4 Harada Round 7: 4-4 Even (I felt it was Harada's round, but he was deducted 1 point for butting) Round 8: 5-4 Harada Round 9: 5-4 Harada Round 10: 5-4 Jofre Round 11: 5-5 Even Round 12: 5-4 Jofre Round 13: 5-4 Harada Round 14: 5-4 Harada (a more liberal judge may have said 5-3 for Harada due to a very dominant round) Round 15: 5-4 Harada Total: 71-65 Harada Again, loved this fight. Harada's punch resistance was also as amazing as his engine. He took a looping right hand in the 8th that made me yell, "Whooaa!" His ability to keep Jofre on the ropes was also significant in his win. I gave Jofre rounds 10 and 12 because he kept the fight in mid ring those rounds and did well, but Harada was not to be denied and I thought he had his best round in the 14th where he grilled Jofre on the ropes. Just an outstanding bout of clean punching.
I scored the fight for Harada 71-65, giving him 1-5,7,11,13,14,15, scoring 6 EVEN, and giving Jofre 8,9,10,12. I wouldn't argue if someone scored it 15-0 for Harada. He was always the aggressor, he threw a lot of punches, and when Jofre managed to hit him hard, Harada came back with a flurry. His jab was busy, and he kept Jofre with his back to the ropes most of the time. Jofre looked out of sync in the first 5 rounds to me, after that he got better, but he never really caught up to Harada. Harada just seemed stronger and quicker, and better technically too. It was a good, fast paced fight, but IMO, it was Harada all the way.
My apologies for not doing much to get these threads going the past couple of weeks. I am moving (first time homebuyer) this Friday so packing has me consumed. I hope to be fully engaged by late June??? anyway after working and then loading our trailer I sat down beat and drained…so not sure if I missed something. Good fight not great (I prefer the first) but fairly competitive. Jofre did well but does not have much of a case for winning. My RBR 1 Jofre 2 Jofre 3 Harada 4 EVEN 5 Harada 6 Harada 7 Jofre 10-8 8 Harada 9 Harada 10 Jofre 11 EVEN 12 Jofre 13 Harada 14 Harada 15 Harada Harada 144-142 Or 69-67 if you prefer
FH was one of the best conditioned fighters of all time no doubt. No idea how people have said Jofre was robbed in either bout.
