Two fighters that were definitely involved in some very strange fights, that very well may have changed how they'll be remembered in decades to come. Now, if you give each of these fighters the accolades that many feel they deserve, are either one of them great fighters? Close to great? Rocchigiana was, in my opinion, robbed of a knockout victory against a prime, 31-0 Dariusz Michalczewski. On top of that, almost everyone that I've spoken to feels he was robbed against the then undefeated Maske and Eubank, who, again, was undefeated at the time. Those are three of the biggest fighters of the 90's and he debatably beat them all. Add in a one round stoppage over a old Hamsho, a win over a still capable Nunn, Crawford Ashley, Thulani Malinga, and other quality wins through MW to LHW and that's a pretty impressive resume.
The point with Rocchigiani is decent, not too sure about the greatness but i very well may be wrong there. What i do know is about Casamayor though, who is hardwork for almost anyone, again i dont know about quite greatness. But this man was class, class.
As for Casamayor, you can fairly easily argue that he was undefeated from his debut to the time he fought Raiymkulov, and the first time he was conclusively beaten being against Marquez recently.
I suppose there were a lot of close fights with him, either way ones though in my honest unbiased opinion. I had Freitas beating him first off, but i though he never lost one to Corrales. As it stands he will likely e remembered as one of the best of a decent era rather than all-time standing. I cant really argue, but like i say imo a tough one for almost anyone. Always just luvd watching him box, you know when you have that in a fighter its just great.
I agree Rocky was robbed of a TKO against Dariusz - although that would've been changed regardless as soon as Rocky tested positive for juice. However, I felt he lost to Maske and Eubank fair and square. Eubank got off to a big early lead vs. Rocky and IMO clearly did enough to hold it through the rest of the fight. I think some of the scorecards were off on their margins of scoring as I remember, but Eubank had outfought him regardless IMO. The first Maske fight was close, with Rocky starting and finishing strong, but he let Maske steal a lot of rounds in the middle. Again, I think the margins of scoring were off, but Rocky didn't do enough to win regardless. Rocky would've been a good, hard fight for anyone, but he just wasn't decisive enough in his big fights to claim he was great.
Was a Casa fan, when he was in his prime he was quite the cutey, if he got the HBO star treatment, got to pick his fights, the benefit of the doubt in close fights, got Morales/MAB/Hamed/Marquez moving upto 130 on his terms, he may well have been perceived as an ATG. Imagine if he beat those 4 FWs at 130 and Corrales and Freitas, then moved to 135 to beat Castillo and Corrales again.
casamoyer also got afew dodgy decisions his way jose armando santa cruz anyone, i think he has been KOd in his last 2 and only had 17 fights when he fought casa
I actually think you could argue that he was undefeated from his debut to when he faced Santa Cruz. I could see how one could have scored Casamayor as beating Kid Diamond, but even the biggest Casamayor fans could not have scored Casamayor/Santa Cruz in favor of the Cuban. I was there live and there was such a vociferous commotion after the decision was announced. Casamayor had a sense of humor, though. As the fans were all booing in unison, Casamayor was taunting them by excessively celebrating even further. I got a laugh out of that one.
That was way past Casa's prime, however I had Casa winning that, people are too influenced by commentators, Casa won the first 5rounds easy, ran away in the last 7 after Cruz switched southpaw but still made Cruz miss most his shots and land his shots cleaner. Horrible display by Casa but its a myth that its a robbery, Cruz wasnt landing much clean other than his jab and was getting countered and Casa was running his little marathon Honestly if the commentators said Baldomir was robbed against Mayweather most boxing fans would believe them :nut
Hmm I was drunk when I watched it but I remember Casa cruising out the first 5rounds, he only needs to steal another 2 out of 7
