I'm confident some the the "1970s" experts will have the low down on Elisha Obed. What happened ? Overrated ? Did Dagge ruin him ? How good/bad was the division is those pre-Benitez era ? They all seem kinda obscure now.
I recall vividly when he was coming up and there seemed to be no stopping him. There were some legitimate names on his record like Bunny Grant, Sandy Torres and I think he fought Paco Flores (not sure on that one) who were all decent fighters and the mags were raving about him. Then he got his title shot and stopped Miguel DeOliviera, who was for real. Then he beat a couple of no-hopers and then the fight with Dagge. Now, he dropped Dagge and was winning, but he retired in about 10 rounds by just walking away. I think he had an eye injury but he just walked away. After that he got beat up by Ayub Kalule and then just turned into a win some-lose some fighter. I remember thinking at the time that it must have been from the eye injury or whatever it was against Dagge, but he never produced again.
Yeah, I've heard there was some strangeness or mystery about the way he lost. If he was worried about his eye that's a reasonable explanation to quit the fight. But he fought on for several years after that, maybe another decade, and as you say, he became a "win some,lose some" type of fighter. Never regained the old promise. His early years are a bit mysterious too. He fought for years in the Bahamas, started out professional while still a kid, maybe 14 years old or less.
Crappy footage and audio but here's Obed getting stopped by Rocky Mattioli This content is protected He was on the wane going into this fight but was pretty much done afterwards.
Good stuff. I like the way he mesmerized him with the jab, chased him and tired him, then smashed him with the hooks and uppercuts.
