Well to be fair Cruz is from Texas and McGuigan is from Ireland, obviously Cruz is going to be alot more used to the heat than McGuigan. I'm from England and we've had like 2 weeks of hot weather this whole year. Again no excuses though as McGuigan should of prepared better and arrived earlier so he could adjust to heat and climate that's on him. But let's be real a Mexican/American who lives in Texas, is definitely going to be better equipped to deal with extremely hot temperatures compared to the pale faced white Irishman.
Well Steve Cruz was a replacement I believe so they probably didn't do their homework on him, but he was actually an exceptional Amateur Junior Olympic Gold Medal, National Golden Gloves Champion, and a 3 time Fort Forth Golden Gloves Champion, along with as I said over 300 Amateur fights. And whilst as I mentioned his career as a professional at that time was unremarkable he was still 25-1, and McGuigan's camp should've seen him as more of a threat. Especially fighting in extremely hot temperatures which he didn't adjust to is a recipe for a disaster.
Aha the Deontay Wilder excuse lol. McGuigan was a good fighter but a bit overrated. The manner in which he and his team avoided Azumah Nelson was shameful. Don king was so pissed by his loss to Cruz who I think was managed by Dave Gorman. @C.J. whatever happened to Steve Cruz?
McGuigan was a little bit overrated. He was good but not great. Great fighters at their peak should not lose to Cruz or get stopped by Jim McDonnell who were good fighters themselves but hardly exceptional. McGuigan losing to Azumah in an honest effort would be better for his legacy.
Well one would hope with 300 amateur fights he won his city championship a few times, haha. I’m not saying Steve Cruz was a bum off the streets but there were tougher challengers (on paper at least) out there. I mean if you’re defending a world championship on a PPV, you shouldn’t be shocked that the challenger can fight a bit. And if his camp didn’t scout the opponent or Barry didn’t train properly because they thought they’d have a pushover … shame on them. I like what an old football coach told me one time: If you’re going to be good, you’ve got to be good whether you play in the afternoon or at night, whether it’s hot or it’s cold, whether it’s perfect weather or in a downpour. Barry had a world championship to defend — he shouldn’t be ill prepared because he didn’t realize it gets hot in the desert.
Olu, I agree that McGuigan was not a great fighter and had ducked Azumah. But he was certainly not prime when he fought McDonnell. He was stopped in 4 by a not great punching McDonnell, who I believe had only 13 kos his whole career. Hardly the prime version of McGuigan.
Then there should be no pretence he was some great fighter nor should people including him say it’s a pity he did not face Nelson because truth be said they were on different levels.
Stevie Cruz was a late replacement & Dave Gorman was a legendary provider of late replacement fighters. We sat in Dave's Super Pro's gym & he told me " I knew we had McGuigan when I saw him out running in the 100deg heat . He was right Remember Dave's stable consisted of Stevie, Gene Mad Dog Hatcher, Troy Dorsey etc Every one of them came in as a late replacement in a title match beat the champion & took the title. I remember Gene Hatcher & Johnny Bumphus. When Gene threw that left hook, his " Left Hook from God " : as he called it ,& left Bumphus on spaghetti legs on ***** st it was over. I remember Lou Duva going yelling " **** You Gorman you always do this to me " LOL Then you saw the smiles on Gene's, Dave's & Gene's Dad's faces It was awesome. Great guy Gene one of the best
100%. Having written that, I do not remember anyone here claiming that Barry WAS a great fighter. Anyone that chimes in here on the Classic claims Barry should not be in the Hall of Fame.
At that age (12), Id taken the women myself, except I probably wouldnt have known what to do with them ..LOL
Its funny because as I explained on the Boxing in Puerto Rico article, at that time, PPV there was non existent. I got to watch it free.PPV came after I moved out of the island.
I don't consider McGuigan great he was was good perhaps very good at his peak, but he was also fortunate to beat an aging Eusebio Pedroza who was ready to be taken. Although in fairness to McGuigan he handily beat LaPorte even hurting him badly in the later rounds, i believe LaPorte said McGuigan hurt him the worst which is saying something considering who LaPorte fought. McGuigan also stopped 33-0 Bernard Taylor which was a good win considering Taylor drew with a prime Pedroza. Although i always thought Taylor was a bit of a runner personally. As for Cruz like i said McGuigan was ill prepared and a pale faced white Irishman, not climatizing and preparing for 110 degree heat in the middle of the afternoon desert is going to be a disaster. And obviously Mexican/American living in Texas is going to be alot more capable under those conditions. Am i making excuses ? no because that's on McGuigan and his team, it's McGuigan's job to be best prepared to defend his world title and he wasn't so that's his fault. But do i think the result would've been different under different conditions ? yes. Lets not forget McGuigan was ahead on points after 14 rounds under normal conditions McGuigan wins the fight IMO. To give you another example remember when Hopkins looked bad vs Mercado the 1st time when he didn't climatize ? look what happened in the rematch. But in the end we'll never know because McGuigan never rematched Cruz, and the fight finished McGuigan as a top level fight. Finally as for Jim McDonnell fight McGuigan was a spent force by this time which i'm sure you're aware of, i also remember McDonnell pushing Nelson pretty hard in a brave effort.
Not sure what LaPorte may have said elsewhere, but in his Best I Faced he said Mario Miranda was the hardest puncher and said he’d only been hurt a few times in his entire career. Of Barry he said: “McGuigan, no. He had fast hands.” He did say in the interview portion that McGuigan was a good fighter but also said he had Barry out on his feet and they rang the bell with 10 seconds to go or he would have stopped him. Make of that what you will. Just wanted to reply to that part of your (terrific and thorough) post.
