"Don Curry vs. Nino LaRocca" from '84 / Europe..

I was ONCE sold on this cat named Nino LaRocca in the early 1980s while I was in high school.... I bought into all the hype on LaRocca.... Europe claimed he was gonna be the main man at 147 pounds after he beats Donald Curry to take the WBA title away in '84.... After all, Nino LaRocca had this insane record of 50+ wins with only "1" technical loss from a cut / cuts sustained in a fight with Giles Ebilia earlier on..... However, once the fight with champion Curry got underway, it was clear after a few rds that LaRocca was clearly hyped up and not as good or skilled as originally hyped to be........ Curry walked LaRocca down and pounded him into submission in the 6th round........ After that, The USA never saw much of Nino LaRocca ever again......... But I know he carried on, winning some and losing in Europe before retiring.........

MR.BILL:bbb:rasta

 

I just did my review from my '84 tape off TV........ Curry stopped LaRocca with a series of shots in round 6.......

Geez, had Curry just retired and walked away from boxing in the spring of '86 after kayoing Eduardo Rodriguez in defense of his unified WBA/WBC 147 titles, Curry would probably be in the IBHOF today........ But losses to "McCallum, Rene Jaqout, Mike Nunn and Terry Norris" later on really killed his legacy.....

MR.BILL

 

Where the hell are all the older "European" Nino LaRocca fans from yesteryear???

MR.BILL:huh:hat

 

I admit, he was hyped...... He (LaRocca) seemed capable of beating many "B" fighters but not very many "A" dudes......

MR.BILL:rasta

 

Off topic... Another guy who I was buying into at the time was Lonnie Smith....... When I saw Smith beat the ever lovin' **** outta Billy Costello on ESPN in 1985 I thought Smith was the real dude to contend with at 140 pounds..... Then Smith goes out and blows the title in his first defense or so...... WTF??? Later I was disgusted with Smith when he fought J.C.Chavez in 1991 like a scared ***** on HBO....... ARGH!!!

MR.BILL

 

BUT! One guy at that same time as well who I had a feeling would flop was Tyrone Crawley......... I saw Crawley school Robin Blake (Blake was Fake) on ESPN and suddenly Crawley was in line for a WBA title shot against Bramble...... I taped the fight..... It was a good scrape for national TV..... Bramble TKO'd Crawley somewhere in the 13th round or so.... Its been yrs since I reviewed the fight tape...... I thought Livy Bramble was perhaps the best 135 pounder since Roberto Duran and Alexis Arguello......... Then Bramble goes and gets blasted out in 2 rds by a thumb and a series of wicked blows by Eddie Rosario in '86.... Geez.......

MR.BILL:admin

 

Yeah....... Parker got smoked by a rising Mugabi in "1" round if memory serves me right......... Parker quickly dropped off my radar screen.......
:hat

MR.BILL

 

Verderosa was a disappointment........ I believe he iced O'Grady in '84.?.?:huh

MR.BILL