Told you, you'd like it! I'd probably need to score this one again to give you a total, but I thought Harada won clearly. Dunno if you weren't interested more in these guys, since you seemed pretty impressed by them, but both were in some amazing fights with José Medel. Although I think the quality of those is a little below what you want for these vids. I think Harada is the greater of the two here, and should he have gotten the decision in the fight with Johnny Famechon (which, BTW, might be the worst decision I've ever seen), he'd be the only man in history to win the flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight titles. Great work as always mate, and I look forward to the next one!
Jofre was still great, but the weight cut had been taking its toll on him for some time. He had become an inactive champion by the standards of that era as a result. I know he was never a speed demon, but at times here he looked more Limon than Arguello. Compare his follow through and defensive recovery in this fight to his fights against Jose Medel several years prior. Much tighter then. That version KOs Harada, in my opinion. I thought the rematch could’ve gone either way as it was. In fact, I believe I had Jofre nicking it. Been a long time, though. Great fights and great fighters, regardless.
Both fights were superb. The second got a little sloppier so the first was the best fight overall. I think Jofre won this fight but it’s obviously close. That’s an opinion shared by a lot of the Japanese press and Harada himself was humble enough to admit he felt he got “lucky”. Both wonderful fighters. Jofre the more consistent and dominant over a career hence why he’s regarded higher. As George pointed out, Harada was robbed of the Famechon first fight and I felt he was robbed off his flyweight title. He was soundly outpointed by Lionel Rose but like Jofre against him, I think he was also tight at the weight by then. He’d probably peaked young too. Barring the Fammo performance, lost to Colter, considered lucky to get the win over Hawkins and of course KO’d by Fammo. Hard to keep that style up and his spartan lifestyle. His peak run with the Jofre fights, Rudkin, Caraballo, Medel re-match was special. Awesome fighter. Had the pleasure of interviewing him last year and what a classy man. Full of respect for Jofre, Medel etc; Jofre’s runs are probably underrated. Unbeaten first 50 fights in an era that was rare, reached the point of being considered the best pound for pound despite not fighting on US TV. Close losses a million miles from home, a dominant reign withoads of great performances and a ton of depth. Then to come back close to his mid 30s at featherweight in the non PED era and go 25-0, winning the title against a nightmare style in Legra. A testament to his dedication to his craft and his mentality of underestimating nobody. Incredible fighter and person.
Yeah, I can’t see how he wouldn’t KO Harada to be honest. It’s not emphasized enough but Jofre had one fight which went just 7 rounds in a whole two years coming into this and on top of that had actually struggled to get down to 118 since 1958. I think Jofre nicked the first, the second I have a draw or Harada by a couple rounds. He lost a point but should have lost more he was leading with his head and I don’t think it was entirely accidental. Both close fights with a lot of class.
