Chris eubank vs graciano rochigianni

The fight was close, one guy had it pretty wide which is hilarious. Could have gone either way. I´m not complaining that Eubank won though, just one evidence that Germany isn´t as bad as its reputation.

Rocchigiani was a pretty good fighter, my fave out of the German based lhws of the time. He was unlucky to not get the decision against Eubank, Maske (the first fight, a true robbery), to get DQed against DM (another robbery) and to not get Jones into the ring. Add to that wins over Hamsho, Malinga and Nunn and belts at two weight divisions and you have a pretty good contender.

 

I scored this a few months ago, when i went back through all the controversial Eubank title defences.

Good fight and a tough one to score imne of those ones that i could easily imagine widely varying scorecards if you got, say 10 to 20 people to judge it.


Watt and co. thought Rocky had edged it if i remember correctly.He looked huge compared to Eubank(like a big lightheavy against a middle almost), and fighting a lot like Winky Wright with a long jab and high guard, it meant Eubank had to adapt from his usual laid back counterpunching style.

He did so by upping the workrate considerably and focusing on flurries to the body, and then his characteristic uppercuts through the middle of Rocky's guard.

Graciano opened up more sporadically, but gave him problems when he did with his reach and long straight punches.The shots he landed were cleaner than a lot of Eubank's bodywork.

 

I was there, everyone including Eubank's corner had him losing. I talked to some Brits afterwards, they felt Eubank had gotten very lucky.

Graciano is an underrated fighter IMO.

 

Yeah i'd say so.

he wasn't a great talent, nor did he have much variation to his style, but he was well schooled, accurate and efficient, with huge physical advantages at super-middle and still imposing at 175.

 

I thought Eubank deserved it. He got off to a big lead in the first few rounds, and IMO did just enough to hold onto it. This fight was probably Eubank's crowning achievement, given that Rocky was unbeaten and the fight was in Germany.

Rocky was somewhat like the SMW/LHW version of Winky Wright.

 

Guy was world class, you can argue that he knocked out a prime Michalczewski which is pretty massive to say the least.

 

Eubank got off to a flying start I recall, bagging the first four rounds before Rocky could get any kind of foothold. Mostly hard accurate body shots with lighter shots upstairs mixed in to keep Rocky's guard up, and a quick treble/quadruple jab for the same purpose before switching downstairs. Lots of movement and darting about from Eubank, too, to keep Rocky having to rotate. Perfect tactics.

But Rocchigiani looked like a bloody giant! Southpaw stance, superior reach, decent timing and accuracy with straight-out blows from the peek-a-boo guard. Imposed himself on Eubank more and more, who had to resort to ducking below Rocky's waist, and subsequently got a point deducted after many warnings for it.

Eubank started throwing harder head shots later on if I remember, when Rocky was trying to open up more, and probably swayed the judges. Maybe if Rocky stayed completely disciplined he would've won, but probably despised the body shots in under his static elbows.

Eubank deserved the decision, just.

 

I watched it live at the time but never since.

I thought Eubank deserved the nod...I also remembered thinking it was one of those fights post-Watson where Eubank seemed to be fighting a bit within himself and potshotting.

Clearest memory though is him refusing to sit down between rounds early on and strutting about the ring, tapping his gloves and staring into the crowd, as they absolutely raised the roof with booing. Quality stuff.

 

He did that every fight

 

Anyone seen Nunn-Rochiagani?