Some of the best 5 minutes of boxing I've ever seen. Look at those friggin' bodyshots from Fernandez. :yikes [YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zZmS0m21c7A&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zZmS0m21c7A&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]
Cheers for this Russ..I had never seen this. Really shows how tough Fullmer was...Fernandez was one of the hardest punchers at the weight ever, here he is in his physical prime in his mid 20's giving a battle weary 30 something Fullmer all he can handle but Gene still manages to get the win. Wasnt he injured in this fight aswell? What was the overall fight like if anyone has seen it I remember it was a close, maybe a split but I dont know the details. Its really quite astonishing that an old SRR could actually stop this bloke with one punch..really shows what a puncher Robinson was.
Yeah, Fullmer had some kind of damaged elbow. I think he may have broken it. Anyway, I consider the SSR punch a kind of fluke. Not a lucky one, mind you. A unbelievable punch, but there's an interview of Fullmer along with other boxing experts where he sums the fight up with his recklessness. He was always aggressive, and figured he could beat Robinson again by pressuring him even more then he did the first time. His corner man was chastising him the entire time about leaving himself open, etc. And he got caught. As one poster on here said, Robinson really caught lightning in a bottle with that hook. He couldn't even come close to replicating it in 45 other rounds with Fullmer.
referee: Ken Shulsen 145-142 | judge: Norman Jorgensen 148-140 | judge: Del Markham 143-145 ~ ~ National Boxing Association World middleweight title ~ Fullmer fractured his elbow during the fight Split decision per Boxrec
Nice one mate. Fullmer was one hard *******; makes the SRR KO even more amazing, though I think if Gene had read the punch it wouldn't have had the same effect. Fernandez hit with pure malice in his heart, interesting that he KO'd Jose Torres. Anybody seen this?
I remember watching this fight back in 1961 on the Saturday Night Fights with Don Dunphy. I recently watched the fight again on a video that I purchased. This is a good video except there is no audio. I thought Fullmer was handling Fernandez quite well until the last few rounds when he faded and Fernandez came on very strong. Probably having broken his elbow in the 12th round didn't help Gene too much. I remember him saying that he couldn't answer his corner people when they asked him questions because the pain in his elbow was so bad that he was sick to his stomach and he was afraid he would vomit if he opened his mouth to speak. I think Fullmer was starting to slip at this point in his career as I recall that he never used to let up or tire in his previous fights and this was beginning to happen. By the time he met Dick Tiger he just wasn't the same fighter that he once was and Dick hammered him.
I`ve got a very brief highlight of the Torres/Fernandez fight, and when I say brief I mean only about a minute long. But from that footage one can see Fernandez driving Torres across the ring with some thunderous body shots and dropping him with one of them. Torres laid on his side and looked to be in considerable discomfort while on the canvas but he managed to get back up and getback into the fray only to be met by more leather to the midsection courtesy of Floro. At this point the film ends and thats that. I`ll add that Torres looked to be in mighty good shape for the fight too, he was ripped to the tits in this one which was a rarity for him.
Fullmer was a bull one of the physically strongest middleweight I've ever seen he took Fernandez shots very well an that is no easy feat.
...............You can tell before the opening bell even rings that Fenandez is a puncher. He just has that stance, that air about him. Thanks to RB, I also have the Fernandez-Gaspar Ortega rematch, and that's a real good fight. Ortega is an impossibly tough boxer-type, matched against the wrecking ball Fernandez. Good study for the ongoing boxer vs. puncher doctorate. For those who haven't seen it, you should look up Fullmer against Lausse. One of the few times you see Gene REALLY impressed by someone's power. Lausse begins to unload those ungodly left hooks in about round two (RB, correct me if I'm wong on the round; I remember PM'ing you when I saw it that I thought something was wrong with Lausse's right hand, as he went so completely ape**** with the left at that point) and Fullmer has that unmistakeable "oh Jesus Christ, what the hell was that" look about him. Good scrap. Lausse manhandled him.
I haven`t watched the fight in a loong time Sal, but going on memory it was in one of the early rounds, definately before the 5th round I know that but can`t remember which one specifically. But yer right about that look Gene had on his puss after tasting one of them vaunted left hooks from Eduardo, he knew he couldn`t just in on this guy like he did on an old Robinson or smaller Benny Paret or Joe Miceli without paying a heavy price for it. After a few attempts in the early rounds at working his way inside by bullrushing Lausse was met by some heavy firepower Gene abandoned the strategy and starting boxing more. However in the 8th round as I`m sure you remember Gene again attempted to bull his way in on the Argentine and this time got nailed proper with the left hook. The iron jawed Gene Fullmer was rendered absolutely rubber legged and down from one clean clip on the jaw as Eduardo took a step back and cracked him with the left on the way in... brutal fight.
I admire Gene Fullmer. What a tough, strong bull of a guy he was, and in his own unorthodox way a very effective boxer, as evidenced by his strategy and tactic used against Carmine Basilio and Florentino Fernandez. He had an awkward as hell alternative, sort of "Plan B" kind of style that he would use upon occasion.
