both of these fighters where very good, i would go on to become very very good if not great trainers. mcgirt with his wins over frankie warren, tony baltazar, joe manley, prime simon brown and howard davis jr. cokes' era is a bit far for me as far as knowledge but im sure he was very good because of his two wins over rodriguez, stan harrington and jean josselin i think this is a very evenly matched fight
I have not seen enough of Cokes on film to make a fair assessment. I am just commenting because you've gone a couple of hours with no response. Going on what I've seen, McGirt has too much hand speed and could beat him to the punch. Then again, I have only witnessed an older Cokes.
BIG DEE HERE= I agree as he was very good Welterweight champion that just couldn`t handle Napoles who was in his prime. By 1969 Cokes had defended the Welterweight title 5 times and the 6th was his downfall as Napoles punched both his eyes shut literally in both fights after both of the fights with Napoles he was never the same fighter as he took a horrendous beating in both fights. Curtis Cokes took them like a man and never gave any bull**** excuses with he got beat. He said he was beaten by a better fighter plain and simple. I think he would have beaten McGirt as he wasn`t any Napoles and if it wasn`t for Napole I think Cokes would have stayed champion for a while longer as he would have probabilly beaten Indian ( Red ) Lopez, Billy Backus and Hedgemon Lewis. LONGHORN71 YOUR ON THE MONEY.
Best vs. best, I might go with Cokes to pull out a tough 15 rounder, with Buddy fading a little down the stretch and Cokes coming on, but let's give Buddy his dues here - Cokes lost to some fighters that weren't on Buddy's level and on the right night I can see Buddy giving him fits.
Cokes would win. He knew how to use his height and reach and was a very well schooled boxer and as longhorn stated he had packed a good right hand to go with his skill set. If the fight is scheduled for fifteen I can see a late stoppage in Curtis`s favour, especially if we ar taking the version of Cokes who won the title from the great Luis Rodriguez. The Rodriguez/Cokes bout is one I have been searching for for years but so far my quest to track it down has turned up empty handed unfortunately.
