I just saw he passed away the other day (which I'm not sure if its been mentioned here or not) and I'm interested in hearing some opinions on him. I'm a big fan of his elder brother and we are all aware of his qualities as a fighter and I'm wondering if Don was in any way similar to Gene. His record was modest at 54-20-5 but of those losses only two were by stoppage but he seemed to lack the power to take him all the way only scoring 14 stoppages. Still he did hold wins over Emile Griffith, Joey Archer, Bobo Olsen and Virgil Akins and he fought for a long time at a decent level so he must've been pretty good. I've not seen any footage of him so any input on his style and his abilty would be greatly appreciated.
Physically, (Don)Fullmer looked and was built almost like a carbon copy of his brother - but for the most part, that's where the similarity ended. In terms of style, Don was almost the complete opposite of his brother - he was a cautious boxer/mover, and while he was probably a more polished fighter than his brother, he lacked his toughness, intensity, and resilience. Early in his career, Don scored a few decent wins and was invited to Madison Square Garden several times, but in his biggest steps up (vs. Griffith and Dick Tiger) he seemed content to just "be there" and was easily dominated while offering little resistance. In the mid '60s, he returned to his home turf in and around Utah, and he suddenly racked up some surprising big wins - perhaps because he was energized by his hometown crowd, or perhaps he benefited from some "home cooking," or perhaps a combination of both. His biggest wins were over Griffith and #1 rated MW Archer, both of whom he had previously lost to in New York. He then lost a rough, bloody battle with Benvenuti in Italy, which ultimately led to Nino getting (and winning) a shot at the MW title. Later, Fullmer was given a shot at Benvenuti's title, and although he was clearly beaten, he did manage to drop Nino with a sneak right hand along the way. After that loss, Fullmer seemed to return to his previous "just doing enough to fall short" approach to fights, and he was outpointed in most of his significant fights thereafter.
Last time I checked, his losses to Tiger and Bobby Cassidy were on Youtube. I've also come across megaupload links for his fights with Griffith(the first one), Rocky Rivero, and Benvenuti(the second) in the past, but now that megaupload is down, those are probably gone now.