I'll start with Leo Cruz vs. Benito Badilla. This world title fight was overshadowed by the sensational but tragic Ray Mancini vs Duk Koo Kim fight that took place the same day, and, less so, by the fact Wilfredo Gomez was the real world champion of the division, (having beaten Cruz in a classic some 4 years before, and he was still WBC champion) but they say it was a good, 8 round war. Cruz showed all his vast talent here in a barn burner that i may have watched on the WAPA re-transmission days after but do not remember. You?
Alfred Ankamah vs Quirino Garcia I (1999-08-27,WBC International super welterweight title,Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico),Ankamah won by KO in 11 round.Fight organized by Promociones Del Pueblo and televised on Televisa and probably Univision. It was a huge upset ,Garcia before facing Ankamah beat Shibata Flores (TKO 6) and post prime Meldrick Taylor (UD 12) and Simon Brown (UD 12).Both guys had very aggressive styles and hit hard.I think it was a slugfest.And i want see it.
There is a longer version of Willard - Moran that shows the preflight in the ring and you can see a famous , iconic moment when old John L. Is introduced to the crowd. It’s gone. There is also other Johnson Jeffries preflight footage where Sullivans swings at the speed bag. Not the footage we’ve all seen but from a longer angle distance. Also gone. Small golden nuggets.
It has always been funny to me which fighters seem to have a lot of recorded fights out there and which ones don't Is it that film of these fights never existed or that its been lost or held by someone that chooses to just sit on it?
This is a super deep cut, but it’s Billy Hardy vs Ray Gilbody in a British Bantamweight title fight back in the 80s. Not sure if it was on BBC1 or ITV, but I’m not actually interested in the fight. It’s because my dad, my uncle and one of his best pals were sat a few rows from ringside, dead center and on film clearly for most of the broadcast. I’d absolutely love to find it so I can show my kids.
Right now there’s a good 27 mins and so of Johnson - Jeffries, incl. intros. It’s raw and a bit of hard watch but still gold to a boxing fanatic. We can see how well it came up when they “cleaned up” certain segments of the footage - see Burns Doco. I wish they would do same for the entirety of the footage still available.
My POS uncle can be seen with his lover in one of the corners on the Salvador Sanchez-Wilfredo Gomez bout, At the time I was saddened that Gomez lost, but in retrospect, my uncle is such a POS that Im glad to see him. He bet 15 thousand dollars in this fight and you can see him happy at first but his face turns sullen as the bout goes on..LOL BTW..his lover..he was married at the time..but I absolutely loved her. I even called her auntie. She gave me a cousin who I love with all my heart, but sadly, after my uncle left her she went into a life of depression and several other lovers, one of which gave her AIDS. She passed away in 1996 in Mexico, having traveled there from Puerto Rico because she had heard there was a person in Mexico who cured all diseases. I loved her as a kid, just like I loved my uncle's two wives. And her daughter and I , my cousin, are still very close to this day. She was one of the first people to accept me and respect me as a woman. You dont find a lot of people who accept you and respect you when you are like me. Thats another topic but since we are talking about my evil uncle....I had to say that something beautiful did come out of that relationship with his liver, and , as far as her, I wish she knows in Heaven that she is loved and that God forgave her for any sins she , like the rest of us, committed. See Sanchez-Gomez and you will see my uncle near one of the corners lol..losing his money!
Antonio Cervantes vs Rodolfo González "Antonio Cervantes from Columbia ended the win streak of Rodolfo Gonzalez in an upset at the Olympic Auditorium. Referee Lee Grossman stopped the bout at the end of the 8th round with gore gushing out of a cut over Gonzalez' left eye. "It was a free swinging affair with Gonzalez down in the first. Cervantes hit the deck in the 3rd, shortly after Rodolfo was cut. "Two judges, Rudy Jordan and Abe Cohen had Rodolfo in front by one point at the finish. Grossman favored Cervantes by a similar margin." -Ring magazine, April, 1971 issue.