Bob Pastor : One of the best contenders of his day?

Pastor was the bete noir of his era.

Nobody wanted to fight him because he was a superb boxer and made everybody look bad. He was also not shy about taking on the dangerous black contenders who many of the white chntenders avoided.

If you fought Pastor it generaly meant that you were either verry desperate or verry confident that you could deliver the goods.

 

Pastor was a very live contender,especially when you consider he wasnt much more than an overstuffed Light Heavy, he took shots off some good hitters without going down ,strangely one of the stoppages on his record came from light hitting Conn who dropped him on route to the tko.

 

In many cases he was taking on the murder row crew who many of the other white contenders steerd well clear of. He was not enhancing his career verry much by fighting them but they stood to catapult themselves into the mainstream if they beat him.

Another interesting fight on his resume was against 6' 9'' Ray Impelitiere. While Impelitiere was not a world beater he was ranked at one point and posed a horible stylistic matchup for Pastor. It is curious that Pastor dropped Impelitiere in the first and nionth rounds.

 

Joe Louis was stung by his failure to knock out Pastor in their first encounter.

Read this:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...gILAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gVADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6321,5207185

 

Conn stated in Heller's book "In This Corner ",that he deliberatedly hit Pastor in the nuts a few times , this must have slowed him down some:yep.

 

Pastor is a very underrated fighter. I remember Ted Carroll writing that Pastor would have been the champ for a few years were it not for Louis. He probably was better than Quarry and a few others who get the "uncrowned champ" buildup. The "Bum of the Month Club" label seems to hurt Pastor in a unfair way.

 

This fight was known as" Bob's Bicycle Act".
Pastor controlled by Jimmy Johnstone was fighting Louis ,controlled by Mike Jacobs ,both these promoters where engaged in a power struggle, similar to Arum and King today
The idea was for Pastor to back pedal all night and show that Louis wasnt "he greatest thing since sliced bread"after all.
A political point was made,Pastor did not fight to win ,he went in there to survive.
In the return Pastor ,stung by the castigation he received from the press .
fighting for his pride, elected to stand his ground and punch more,he paid the price ,but salvaged his reputation , with his brave stand.

 

Pastor ran the whole fight asuring Louis the decision, but he made him look like the lost little boy locked in the coal shed like Ali against Young. Louis just couldn't catch Pastor and shuffled after him awkwardly. The crowd bood Louis which obviously hurt his ego.

Afterward Louis said:

"The only person who got hurt was the customer who paid to see a fight"

Of course Louis always did think that any fighter who wouldnt go toe to toe with him wasnt quite playing cricket.

 

Pastor is very underrated. Not only is his resume one of the better ones for heavyweight contenders in history, he also looks excellent on film showing smooth boxing ability combined with fast hands and terrific footwork. Pastor was one of the few white heavyweights of the period to take on the black murders row of heavyweights AND get the better of them. Pastor did get dominated and knocked out by Conn, but this speaks more on just how great Conn was, than Pastors lack of talent.

What I love about Pastors resume is he pretty much beat a wide variety of styles...

Some of the highly rated dangerous black heavyweights of the era pastor beat were Jimmy Bivins, Turkey Thompson 2x, Lem Franklin, and Roscoe Toles.


He also took apart other men who were once or presently rated contenders Johnny Flynn, Buddy Scott, Gus Lesnevich, Booker Beckwith, Al Ettore, and Al Mccoy.


He also had no problem against big fighters....dismantling tough fringe contenders like 6'9 238lb Ray Impelliteire, 6'5 212lb Chuck Crowell, and 231lb Big Boy Brackey..



I would say a case could be made for Pastor in the top 50 all time heavyweights. I rate him just out of it, but a case can be made. Pastor reminds me alot of Roland Lastarza except with a deeper resume.