Jose Mantequilla Napoles vs Jose Pipno Cuevas, 15 rounds, 147 lbs, both prime.

The movie actor, Alain Delon helped put this fight together. Jose Mantequilla Napoles was having a tough time making the 147 lb weight limit, he was also running out of challengers. Carlos Monzon only defended his title in Europe, the taxes in the U.S at the time were too high and purses back in Feb 1974 were not in the millions for each fighter, especially at middleweight, Monzon for his title unification title bout against WBC Champion Rodrigo Valdes on June 26 1976, first fight in Monte Carlo, Monaco, received only $500,000.00. The millions were reserved for the heavyweights. The fight itself was not boring for the Closed Circuit Television audience on that day, Feb 9 1974, in Paris, France, Mantequilla was the aggressor early on as Monzon laid back and counterpunched his smaller 153 pound opponent, while analyzing his next moves, Monzon let loose in round 6, staggering the smaller Napoles with his paralyzing right hand as Napoles almost went down after taking combos by Monzon, widening his stance to prevent a knockdown. Angelo Dundee, working Napoles corner asked the referee to stop the fight at the beginning of round 7 as Jose suffered a bad cut in round 6, Dundee later remarked that King Carlos was a complete fighter.

 

Good assessment neighbor !

 

Even though Jose Mantequilla Napoles was an all time great with title defenses against Hedgemon Lewis, Roger Menetrey, Ralph Charles, Armando Muniz and Clyde Gray, even challenged and lost to World Middleweight Champion Carlos Monzon on Feb 9 1974 in Paris, France, Napoles was stopped by Monzon, TKO 7. It is possible that Jose Pipino Cuevas could land a Nuclear size bomb on Napoles thin skin around the eyebrows causing a halt in the contest, on the other hand, Napoles know about Cuevas huge reputation as a banger could avoid his bomb like punches to outslick him in 15 rounds.