BOXING - What Happened On This Day???????

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Rocky Matiolli v Jose Manuel Duran - Stadio Adriatico, Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy.

Matiolli successfully defends his WBC light middleweight title by stopping the Spaniard in round 5 of 15.

The Italian born Matiolli spent his early years under the great Ambrose Palmer, fighting on TV Ringside. He managed to win the national welterweight title from Jeff White, but it wasn't til he relocated back to Italy that he became a name on the international stage.

 

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(5 years ago today)

Ronald 'Winky' Wright v Felix Trinidad - Las Vegas, USA.
Wright dominates every round in one sided points win over 12 rounds.

This bout immediately preceded Winky's fight with our own Sammy Soliman.

 

...getting in early for Saturday, and I gotta say I love this story:

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Birthdate of 'Mysterious' Billy Smith.

This strange character was born Amos M. Smith in Little River, Nova Scotia, Canada, and took on the name Billy before turning professional in 1890. He acquired his subsequent nickname when a newspaper reporter questioned, “Who is this mysterious Billy Smith?”

Smith stood 5' 8 ½”, was a talented two-fisted battler with quick hands who entered the ring to wage war. He often displayed a blatant disregard for the rules, resorting to a variety of foul tactics including elbows, headbutts, knees and sometimes biting - I love this guy.

His tactics earned him the title “The Dirtiest Fighter Who Ever Lived.”

Smith won the world welterweight title in 1892 from Danny Needham (KO 14) and lost it to seven-time rival Tommy Ryan two years later (L 20). He regained the strap in 1898 from Matty Matthews (W 25) and reigned for two years before dropping the title back to Matthews in 1900 (KO by 19).

Smith continued to box until 1915 and during his career scored wins over Young Peter Jackson, Young Corbett and Hall of Famers “Barbados” Joe Walcott and George “Kid” Lavigne.

“Mysterious” Billy died at the age of 66 on October 15, 1937 in Portland, Oregon, where he ran a saloon called “The Champion's Rest.”


Smith was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame only last year (2009).

 

...and a few more for Saturday:

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Rocky Marciano v 'Jersey' Joe Walcott - Chicago, USA.
Marciano retains his World heavyweight title by 1st round KO.

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Michael Moorer v Bert Cooper - Atlantic City.
Moorer won by KO in round 5. Fight of the Year 1992 candidate and an absolute war from the start.

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Antonio Tarver v Roy Jones Jr.- Las Vegas, USA.
Tarver wins Jones' World light heavyweight title.
This was there second meeting, both resulting in stoppage wins to Tarver, this time by KO in round 2.

 

...and here's Sunday's and I'm off til Monday!

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Randolph Turpin shot dead in his home.

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Dick Tiger v Jose Torres - New York City, USA.
Tiger retains his World light heavyweight title on PTS over 15 rounds.

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Muhammad Ali v Ron Lyle - Las Vegas, USA.
'The Greatest' retains his World heavyweight title via stoppage in round 11 of 15.

 

Glad someone's reading 'em - back to the grindstone Monday.

 

We've won TWO so far by the way, and we who bleed red and black have long memories:

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Once were warriors!
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Proud to say I was bought up the right way via a good family upbringing....

...that is I was taught to hate farrkin' Collingwood and farrkin' Carlton from a very early age.


One bragging right in my entire lifetime have Collingwood had, and farrk'em!