ATG BANTAMWEIGHT TOURNIE: Round 1, Fight 4 - FIGHTING HARADA UD15 JOE LYNCH

Joe Lynch (seeded 13) is our first introduction to a true monster of a true golden age of the bantamweights, a series of champions and contenders that made for the best division in all of boxing in and around the 1920s.

Despite the consistently high level of competition, Lynch was champion of the world not once, but twice, first taking the title from the immortal Pete Herman during Christmas of 1920 and then from the capable but less deadly Johnny Buff in the summer off 1922. His 1920 pass at the world championship may have been his best performance. Herman had suffered a ragged year and was likely past his absolute peak but he still had some exceptional nights before him. Tall, rangy, slender, Lynch was blessed with perhaps the best one-two in an era stuffed with technicians. An underdog, he landed enough of these punches to win as many as ten of the fifteen rounds.

Lynch, who struggled at the weight, nevertheless spent around a decade at bantamweight and used similar tactics to build one of the single best win resumes in the history of the division. He defeated Memphis Pal Moore, Abe Goldstein, Charles LeDoux, Young Montreal, Joe Burman, Jack Wolfe and many more noted men of an era as stacked as any that has ever existed at any weight.

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A decade of mayhem and madness is what this ghost-wave of a pressure fighter wrought upon the flyweight and bantamweight divisions, but it was at bantamweight that Fighting Harada (seeded 4) joined the true ring immortals.

Jose Medel defeated him in 1963 but between that time and his title-defeat to Lionel Rose in 1968 he went 19-0 and 5-0 in bantamweight title fights. In terms of quality per-defense, this may be the single greatest meaningful title reign in the history of the division.

First, Harada had to take the championship from Eder Jofre. It was likely there would be a man to do that eventually, I suppose, but that man was always going to be an extraordinary fighter turning in an extraordinary performance, and so it was. Harada demonstrated the perfect execution of the swarming style and then claimed ring center in the final third, even surviving a near-disaster when Jofre came for him late. It was a complete title-winning performance that I scored much wider than the judges and press in attendance, who had Harada ahead by a sliver.

In his first defense, Harada met Alan Rudkin in what seemed to me a much closer fight with every round desperately contested between two world-class operators. Rudkin boxed or punched his way into contention in nearly every single round; he was inspired and I suspect that the bantamweights who would have beaten him that night who are ranked outside the top twenty are few. Harada demonstrated iron will and an impermeable spirit, lashing back over and over again to take the decision.

Then Harada rematched Jofre, reported that he found the second fight easier than the first, and moved on.

Long overdue a soft defense, Harada instead re-matched Medel.

By 1968 Harada’s battles with the weight had become legendary. He had his title ripped from him by Lionel Rose that year and left the division for a tilt at the featherweight title. He left behind him an astonishing reign and a pair of victories in his defeats of Jofre as wonderful as any held by anyone at any poundage.

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Who will win under the following rules?

15 round fight.
1950s referee.
8oz boxing gloves.

Cast your vote and explain yourself in a post below! You have 3 days.

 

Someone got to be brave and go first!

 

Maybe the Frankie Burns contests are key here? Seems that Burns got the better of Lynch overall, just outworked him a bit. And it's safe to say we know, I think, that Harada is better. So that's that; no way there's a stoppage here though. Not sure you could stop Lynch with a bullet given the calibre of the era.

 

Fighting Harada took control of his fight early with Joe Lynch and never let up, taking a wide, wide unanimous decision on all cards, one judge seeing it as wide as 13-2. Lynch was in no danger of being stopped but also in no danger of winning the fight and outside of two booming left hands in the 13th round and a brief follow up in the next round, Lynch showed little to recommend himself.

For Harada, onto the quarter finals.