Fight of the week #4: Hurricane Carter double feature (Georgie Benton and Giardello)

Once again....great to hear Don Dunphy as announcer.

 

Seriously..come on man. How did you score this for Carter. Are you related to Byrd?

 

Yes I did watch the entire fight as I was one of those young teenagers that read the 16th round around 1980 thinking this guy must be one of the baddest men ever. So fast forward to the trading of VHS tapes befor YouTube then YouTube itself and I made a point of watching many Carter fights as again back it up to when I was a young teen and finding myself in certain predicaments I would ask myself WTF would the Hurricane do?! Well if you read the book you know the answer and I read that damn book 10 times befor I turned 16. That being said. I have alot of old affection for Carter for being a driving force of getting me out of some situations that I may not have had the confidence to do so befor reading his book at an impressionable age. So even with all that nostalgia going for him I couldn't remotely score this fight for him. I'm also one of the few here that give Carter a good shout out in fantasy match ups but no dice here man...not at all.

 

I scored it close too but for Giardello, 8-6-1. It could easily have gone to Carter IMO. I prefer RC's boxing style, I was impressed with his explosiveness, speed, and technique but I felt that he let Giardello lull him into his fight for some key rounds that cost RC the decision. There were a lot of close rounds that could have gone either way, IMO, no robbery regardless of who you picked as the winner.

 

As I've said in other posts about Carter when he was firing on all cylinders he was one hell ov a fighter. Fast ..powerful..great snap on his punches. Just like Monzon I separate the fighter from the personal life as I believe should be here unless it's a specific thread. Carter when hes on is underrated. That being said I still have Joey G a unanimous clean winner here.

 

Joey Giardello v Rubin Carter

Competitive, if a little one paced, this fight is probably best known for the rewrite it received in the movie of Carter's life where the screenwriters tried to inject some controversy into the official decision. In truth, this fight lacked any real drama (neither man within an inch of being hurt, let alone knocked down) so maybe Hollywood had to fantasize some of their own excitement just to keep the audience from nodding off. Giardello rightly sued the filmmakers though.

The first third of the fight saw Carter following Giardello round the ring with little success before tightening things up in the second third. Giardello just about edged the final third although there were some close rounds.

Not a great watch but a fundamentally fair decision.

1 10-9
2 10-9
3 9-10
4 10-9 (close)
5 10-9
6 9-10
7 10-9
8 10-9
9 9-10
10 9-10 (close)
11 10-10
12 10-9
13 10-9 (close)
14 9-10 (close)
15 10-10

Giardello 145 - 142 Carter

Giardello wins 8 rounds to 5 with 2 even.

 

Really nice post. Carter far more skilled then people give him credit for when hes firing on all cylinders. I had it for Benton by 96-95. Too tight of a fight to argue about. Really enjoy this fight. Benton was a real master mechanic.

 

My favorite era of middleweights. Just think, Giardello, Benton, Fullmer, Tiger, Archer etc. All of them had their own style and they all fought each other multiple times. Hell, Giardello and Tiger fought four times! A fantastic era with no real top dog.

 

I actually thought it was a good fight. I''ve never seen Hurricane, but I've read that since it revolves around Carter, that the filmmakers tried to make the decision appear as though Carter was robbed. Carter gave Giardello a tough fight, and it was close, but not close enough to go Carter's way. I thought that was the injustice of the film.