Eduardo Lausse W10 Gene Fulmer. MW WAR.

This is my favourite 10 rounder at MW.

Lausse is mad underated IMO, and this might be his peak perfomance. He had strung together 30+ on the bounce and was unbeaten since Kid Gavilan had beaten him in 1952. He had avenged that defeat on points beating the kid on points two months before this one - Lausse had stopped his other three victims of that year, with only one man out of ten surviving the 12 months of '53, he was a huge puncher.

Fulmer probably hadn't hit his peak yet, but he was only 14 months from his career defining win over Sugar Ray Robinson for the MW title, and he had already beaten Paul Pender, 9 months earlier.



Lausse boxes out of a pretty orthodox, shuffling stance and has good balance and you can see why he is a hitter. He dominated the first couple of rounds with this left, both jab and hook, the second of which is an astonishing punch, all torque and leverage. I honestly haven't seen many better looking left hooks - when it lands. When it doesn't land he is a bit overexposed, though he has such fine balance that he can draw himself back in with decent speed. He has the base and you can see why he was such a good puncher. It's hard to say who is making the fight, Lausse providing the stalking pressure but without leading too often, Fullmer doing most of the leading off the back foot with commited lunges - a dangerous game against a pressure counter-pucher with Lausse's power.

Lausse is a really strong human being and he handles Fulmer ok when Fulmer closes the gap to work the body.

Fulmer arguably won round 3, but he was dropped by a picture perfect double hook, one down, onw up, from Lausse. The referee ruled a slip - Lausse does lean into him but the fall was caused primarily by punches IMO. Still, you have to go with the referee, and i would say this was Fulmer's first frame.

Fulmer also did well in an excellent round 4, but Lausse beautifully re-establishes his jab at the end of the round and has Fulmer in a bit of trouble at the bell. The fight has now reached a boiling point with both guys throwing out fully commited heavy bombs, and although Fulmer is the one most often giving ground, he's also always back for more.

Six is the round that sets these two apart as elite MW's IMO. Not many MW's would have gotten out of this round regardless of which corner they were boxing from, and these two not only take what the other is giving but continue to dish out their own hellacious violence. And although they look wild at times, Lausse when he misses, Fulmer regardless, they are boxing pretty well, maintaining balance, Lausse recovering himself and throwing out more leather, Fulmer doing what needs to be done to deliver his punches, often to the body. At one point, Fulmer lands a full blooded dead on body shot that would have snapped a lot of guys in half and Lausse doesn't even take a breath - instead he fires back with a sickening picture perfect left hook. Basically this round is the fight in microcosm and IMO one of the best in MW history.

So round seven should be a rest round, right? Wrong. Fulmer is leading mostly with his head whilst Lausse takes after him with lead hooks and a lead uppercut which mostly miss. There IS some wrestling and clinching in the first minute and a half, but by the end they are back in a rareified war zone, they are duking it out in Fulmer's corner and he looks in some trouble, but incredibly comes battling back with body shots. It's a breath-taking moment and the crowd is on it's feet.

Eight is quieter, but Fulmer is dropped, shipping three murderous left hooks in moderate succession, one down two up, he was stepping onto the last one. He is up at "1" and fighting back. Round 9 is quieter and belongs to Fulmer, but 10 is beyond belief Fulmer shipping brutal, sickening punches but always always coming back, mainly to the body.

At the final bell they go arm in arm to Lausse's corner. And that's the most striking thing about a really striking fight. Fullmer is naughty with the head throughout, it's a rough fight, they both fire bombs at each other but they are also both gentlemen. When Fullmer gets tangled in a seated position in the ropes, Luasse steps away and gives him time to stand up. When he feints Fulmer headfirst into the turnbuckle, Lausse waits for hisman to turn and they touch gloves before proggressing. It's realy special to see them touch up at the end of every brutal, savage round.

I'm kind off high or Lausse right now. Rugged, savage, great punch resistance with real patience, great balance and a good jab he'd be a handful for any MW, ever based upon this performance. His right hand isn't as good as his left and like i say, he punches with such commitment he sometimes leaves himself exposed, but an excellent fighter. It would be a precise puncher with a good chin that would cause him trouble I think.

Maybe this fight took something out of him though, because he would win only 2/6 in the following year. He would only leave Argentina on two more occasions going 1-1.

Fullmer of course would go on to become one of the most highly regarded middles in history. I would bet he learned some lessons here though.


Sorry for this essay, but this fight isn't on YouTube or whatever, and I wanted to give you guys a sense of this fight, which you should track down if you possibly can. It's not good, it's great, a wonderful ten rounder and perfect for being that - Fullmer might not have made it to the bell in a 15 rounder and he deserved to finish on his feet.

Judges had it 7-3, 7-3 and 6-3 for Lausse.


Who's seen the fight? What did you think? Anyone know the story on Lausse-Gavilan II? What do you make of Lausse?

 

Highlights from Sweetfights!!!!!! Don't ask me how i missed em first time round, i found them googling for pictures! Anyway, enjoy. Please skip my now redundant write up :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtp0LxAP_t0


Let me know your impression of Lausse.

 

Newton's third law, god damn right.

I don't think i've seen a better formed hook than Lausse's. If he was a more accurate, intelligent puncher, I think it would be my pick for top 5 all time, if that means anything at all which it doesn't. I'll post it up anyway, hahahaha.

Anyway, great punch.

 

Dick Tiger, Marvin Hagler and Mickey Walker.

How about Hank?

 

Well you didn't ask how Hagler would fight, you asked me who would beat him in a shoot out. And I pick Hagler.

Yeah, Hank is a bit of a letfield shout, but he'd really be letting it all hang out which might be the way to take best advantage of Lausse in style.

 

Nobody thinks Walker would be a good match for him?

 

Very, very impressive to beat Gavilan by by way of aggression, even with the size advantage. Cheers RB.