Early 80's fringe MW Contenders

Black Gold

 

they were some good fighters, so many good fights on tv all the time in that period. I liked Dwight davison , Fletcher and parker the best

 

Wilford Scypion

 

Torito died of a drug overdose last year at 52 on May 12.

John The Beast was a bizarre case of somebody seemingly losing his punch after Hagler. SRL conceived his comeback against MMG when he perceived Marv's speed and reflexes to be diminishing against Mugabi, but that bout was also John's finest career performance, just as Iran Barkley's peak may actually have been Duran. (Peak performances of defeated competitors might make for an interesting thread. For example, I think Leon Spinks against Larry Holmes might qualify, as could several opponents Ali defeated, like Norton II, Wepner, Lyle, Shavers, maybe Bob Foster. Guys often brought their best against Ali, Jerry Quarry being a badly psyched out exception, an overweight and rusty Buster Mathis and underweight and overtrained Jimmy Ellis being others.)

NABF and USBA MW Titles peaked in significance during the early 1980's, as NBC with Marv Albert and Ferdie Pacheco and ESPN's Top Rank Boxing brought much attention to MW contenders with exciting bouts. Just to break through with a shot at the only undisputed world championship in boxing at the time was an achievement, and the list of guys who couldn't do it is remarkable.

Mustafa Hamsho was really Hagler's policeman through most of Marv's reign. Scypion, Czyz, Parker 2X and Benitez couldn't do it. Neither could Minter for a rematch with Hagler. On paper at least, Hamsho's record is impressive.

 

He had Robbie Epps against the ropes and disgustingly kept attacking after the referee called a halt. If he spat on anybody after he flattened them, I wouldn't be surprised. Not being that familiar with his career, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Mario Maldonado in revenge for getting decked. (Maldonado wanted a rematch, claiming he lost their match because he wasn't in shape to properly follow up his knockdown.)

 

I don't think so. As far as I'm concerned, the only fringe contender Hagler defended against was Caveman Lee.

Scypion lifted Frank Fletcher's USBA MW Title via 12 round decision to get to MMH, and The Animal had become a big star on NBC with an excellent string of wins by that stage. Wilford had something of a checkered career to that point, but Hagler would become the first to knock him out. (If you had a questionable chin like Caveman was exposed for against John LoCicero, Marv wasn't a guy to be facing. Going against Hagler, one needed the ability to stand up to a shot. Everybody I knew predicted a first round knockout for Hagler over Lee, and Howard Cosell decried it as such a mismatch in a televised editorial denouncement immediately before the opening bell.)

 

His title win over René Jacquot was a complete fluke though, as the Frenchman injured his ankle slipping to the canvas in the opening round. Jacquot's title win over Don Curry though is maybe the upset decision of the 1980's I remember most vividly. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and completely transfixed. Even Jacquot admitted afterwards that Donald was a superior fighter, but Jacquot just wore him down with what Curry conceded was much greater strength and stamina. This would have been a UD win for Jacquot in Fort Worth as well as Grenoble. It was that clear a decision.

 

Hard Rock Green had a couple of bouts with these guys.

 

And as you know, Hard Rock was first stopped by Fletcher, then by Mugabe on cuts. When he got stopped by the Animal, James panicked at the sight of his own blood, covered up in a shell and stopped fighting, leaving no alternative to stopping it.

For The Beast, Green evolved considerable composure from Fletcher, and lived up to his moniker, uniquely taunting John's punching power through his mask of blood. However, despite the guts he had developed since Fletcher, James really was too much of a claret covered mess to be allowed to continue.

Both Fletcher-Green and Mugabe-Green are usually readily available on line, and Hard Rock does display a Hagler like chin against Mugabe, but his skin let him down in both incredibly important high profile bouts.

One reason white fighters are stereotypically described as "bleeders" while black fighters sometimes get a free pass on the presumption of cut resistance is simply because of the degree of contrast between blood and skin tone, and Hard Rock was coal colored with oily skin.

For an example of a white "punching bag" who was cut and swelling resistant at the world class heavyweight level, you can have Tex Cobb, who often baited opponents by proclaiming himself a "bleeder" because he was white, but Tex was no Chuck Wepner, Henry Cooper, Vito Antuofermo or Alan Minter. (KO Magazine did not include Jerry Quarry on their list of bleeders, because they didn't feel four stoppages on cuts in 66 bouts qualified JQ for that list. By comparison, Green's loss to Mugabe was Hard Rock's second on cuts in his first 22 bouts, just one third the number of contests in Jerry's entire career. Also, two of JQ's cut loss stoppages were to Joe Frazier, who made a career of doing that to many opponents, and left even Ali and Foreman looking like they'd been in a fight, George after Foreman-Frazier II.)

 

Dwight Davidson and Frank Fletcher should've fought Hagler for the title, in Davidson case, he lost a couple of fights he had no business losing.

 

I fully agree that Frank became too established and exciting a USBA Champion on NBC not to get a shot at MMH before losing that title to Scypion.

As for Davison, I watched his non-effort against Sibson in disbelief, and still don't buy it. He made no attempt to do anything, could have been disqualified, and should have had his purse withheld, just as Tyson later said after Bonecrusher Smith. (At least Sibbo produced an honest hustle for 12 rounds, not as if any fix was in, but he clearly couldn't hurt or muscle Dwight. After Hagler, Tony blew out John Collins with his hook impressively in two before Dangerous Don Lee upset him. Will mention that Sibson was classy with his in ring interview after getting knocked out by Lee.)