Unfortunately, most folks only remember Pete for his 2 KO losses to Leonard and Cuevas but he was a good fighter who fought a lot of good fighters, beating some of them. I watched the Leonard fight live on Wide World of Sports and it was the most brutal KO I had ever seen. Pete was literally knocked from ringpost to ringpost before the ref FINALLY stopped the fight. The fight should have been stopped after the knockdown as Pete was clearly on ***** street. The Cuevas fight was similiarly brutal. I alwways thought of Pete as the Jerry Quarry of the welterwights. He was a skilled tough fighter who could beat many top welterweights but wasn't good enough to hang in with the greats. His fight with Benitez is one of my favorites with both fighters fighting sharp and clean. I don't think there was a clinch the entire fight. Although Wilfred won a solid decision it was a good fight for both of them. I wish I could see Pete's fight with Sean O'Grady. I've heard that it was also pretty good. If anyone is interested, there is an interesting interview with Pete on the internet. I don't know how to post links but if you google This content is protected you'll find it. He has some interesting things to say about his bouts with Leonard, Cuevas and Benitez. He also brings the Hillside Strangler into the discussion! Any thoughts or memories?
When Steven Bass and Harold Lederman produced and hosted their syndicated "Cavalcade of Boxing" program in the late 1970s and early 1980s, they aired a number of Pete's winning bouts, giving him some much deserved positive national exposure. During the late 1970s, he was labeled by some writers as, "the best 'club fighter' in the United States." Pete needed a little time to get going, but once he warmed up, his jab looked more like a machine gun's than that of anybody else I've ever seen (and "Machine Gun" would have been an excellent nickname given his style of jabbing and punching). Excellent high guard and superb conditioning. After Bass and Lederman showed what he looked like when winning against Randy Shields and Rafael Rodriguez, few of those viewers were surprised when Ranzany then outpointed O'Grady . Sean was able to beat Kenty when Hilmer was ill with walking pneumonia, but the "Bubblegum Bomber" was never truly a world class fighter, while Ranzany very definitely was a gatekeeper to the upper echelons. (Take a good look at, and compare their records sometime. Pete took on and beat far tougher opposition much more regularly.) Ranzany handed Adolfo Viruet and Bruce Finch their first defeats. As an NABF WW titleholder, he was a solid second tier champion in the late 1970s. For a seven year period, only a peaking Cuevas, prime SRL, peaking Benitez and prime Muniz (between shots at Palomino) were able to beat him. Cuevas, SRL and Benitez are in the IBHOF, while Muniz is in the WBHOF. (And if Mando had not been flagrantly robbed of the undisputed WW title by Jose Sulamain's desperately sleazy ringside machinations at the end of his first shot at Napoles, maybe he'd be in the IBHOF today as well.) Palomino-Ranzany would have been an excellent scrap, guaranteeing fans their money's worth. Both were slow starters with terrific stamina. Pete never lost over the 12 round distance, and Carlos had legendary endurance. While I think Palomino would have been too much for Ranzany, I doubt that anybody would be disappointed or feel shortchanged when it was over.
He was a good standup boxer with nice long striaght punches.Comfortably on par with any of the natural Welters around today, and as said, solid second-tier for his era.
Cheers, Russ. Janwalshs has brought up a worthy subject, and the footage of Pete's winning efforts belong on services like youtube for fans and young boxers to learn from. Anybody who brought a rapier jab as superb as Ranzany's into the ring should be studied and appreciated. Cuevas was rather smart for his style of slugging, immediately blasting away at southpaw Backus with right hand leads, and tearing into Pete before he had a chance to get started unloading that jab. Watching Ranzany beat the likes of Shields and Rodriguez can also help one to further appreciate those who could beat him impressively, like Pipino.
I remember Ranzany. He was excellent. Too bad Ranzany didn't make a move up to 154 lbs in 1978, while he was still reasonably fresh. The welterweight division was simply too competitive in those days. A prime Ranzany would have had an great chance at winning a world belt at junior middleweight, though.
Yey i remember him pretty good, he could definetly beat the best of the rest. SRL talked very highly of Ranzany on Classic fights on ESPN classic, he said Ranzany was a very good fighter and really took him serioius going into their fight. Last i heard Ranzany was a prison guard at a California prison, and overlooked the boxing program, this was in the 90s dont know if thats what he is still doing.
Now thats a pretty even matchup right there:think Blocker was pretty good and also underrated, maybe Blocker in a squeeker, but wouldnt argue either way.
Just watched Ranzanys fight with SRL again. Leonard is praising Ranzanys speed and toughness he also beat him in the amatuers. Ranzany was competetive,and had his moments but was overwhelmed in the 4th by SRL.
