Forgotten Gem - Julian Letterlough vs. Julio Gonzalez

Discussion in 'World Boxing Forum' started by standing 8countboxing, Mar 7, 2012.


  1. standing 8countboxing

    standing 8countboxing Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Feb 22, 2005
    One of the joys of not being able to sleep at night is to have good fights on ESPN Classic at 4am. This is one I had totally forgotten about, but brought back a lot of great memories.

    Julian Letterlough was one of the main reasons I got into boxing because they showed a lot of his fights on ESPN 2, and they were all exciting. I think the Jenkins, Ahmad, and and Hayman fights were all on tv. If I recall, he was knocked down in all of these fights. In two of them he cameback to win by KO, and the other he got a draw.

    Gonzalez was little heard of at this time, but he was 25-0 and had been knocking out everyone going into this fight. Of course he would go on to be one of the better light heavyweights of this era.

    This fight featured five knockdowns. Every time Gonzalez seemed to be pulling away Letterlough would land a knockdown of his own. In the 9th round he knocked Gonzalez down hard. A more cautious ref would have perhaps stopped the fight. For the rest of the round Gonzalez was close to out on his feet but he couldn't land the last punch (and that's all it would have taken) to end the match. Litterlough had legit power. The knockdowns in this fight in his favor came at the end of combinations, and with both hands. Gonzalez recovered well, even knocking down Litterlough in the late rounds to secure the hard fought decision.

    Gonzalez went on to fight Roy Jones Jr two fights later for all the gold. Litterlough went on to fight Vassily Jirov at Cruiserweight for all the gold. They both lost, but both earned a reputation do to this forgotten gem.

    This fight, and more so the Jirov fight took a lot out of Julian, but he was a pleasure to watch because of his power to the end. His left arm was unable to extend all the way do to an injury, but it didn't stop him from having crazy power. Letterlough died tragically in a shooting in July of 2005. Previous to starting his career he served 7 years for armed robbery. In the mean time he gave us great fights, including that all-time classic.

    Cliffnotes - Letterlough vs. Gonzalez...watch it! It's on Youtube
     
    standing 8countboxing, Mar 7, 2012
    standing 8countboxing, Mar 7, 2012
    #1
  2. PolishPummler

    PolishPummler Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    Oct 15, 2005
    ATG EPIC fight.
     
    PolishPummler, Mar 7, 2012
    PolishPummler, Mar 7, 2012
    #2
  3. dinnynosher

    dinnynosher Active Member Full Member

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    May 6, 2009
    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCR1LTfr5g8[/ame]

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYCFCZz-El4&feature=related[/ame]

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJDWjyyI2HM&feature=related[/ame]

    Great fight. Thanks for the reminder.
     
    dinnynosher, Mar 7, 2012
    dinnynosher, Mar 7, 2012
    #3
  4. standing 8countboxing

    standing 8countboxing Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Feb 22, 2005
    No problem, thanks for adding the video. Man Letterlough was fun.
     
    standing 8countboxing, Mar 7, 2012
    standing 8countboxing, Mar 7, 2012
    #4
  5. Lester1583

    Lester1583 Can you hear this? Full Member

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    Dec 18, 2008
    Letterlough was an exciting fighter.

    Letterlough-Hall was a quick brutal slugfest.
     
    Lester1583, Mar 7, 2012
    Lester1583, Mar 7, 2012
    #5
  6. Axe

    Axe Boxing Junkie Full Member

    12,013
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    Jan 23, 2005
    Yes, two of the three hardest-hitting LHWs of the decade, along with Michalczewski.

    Hall showed his class in that fight.
     
    Axe, Mar 7, 2012
    Axe, Mar 7, 2012
    #6
  7. WhataRock

    WhataRock Loyal Member Full Member

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    Jul 29, 2004
    Letterlough was raw as **** but damn he was in some good stoushes. This one especially is one of my favorites from that year.
     
    WhataRock, Mar 7, 2012
    WhataRock, Mar 7, 2012
    #7
  8. guru059

    guru059 TV Packager Full Member

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    Feb 22, 2007
    both guys were exciting, and this was a great fight. RIP Letterlough
     
    guru059, Mar 7, 2012
    guru059, Mar 7, 2012
    #8
  9. Snakefist

    Snakefist Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Feb 20, 2007
    I remember watching it and flipping out. That last KD by Letterlough was sick. I didnt think Gonzalez was going to get up, let alone survive it. Gonzales was a G, which his defeat of DM proved. And Letterlough, Mr. KO, was always a G. A hard challenge/contender to ANYONE due to his power.
     
    Snakefist, Mar 7, 2012
    Snakefist, Mar 7, 2012
    #9
  10. Lester1583

    Lester1583 Can you hear this? Full Member

    4,426
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    Dec 18, 2008
    Each KD of Gonzalez was harder than the previous.

    Even though I knew the result of the fight beforehand I still couldn't believe it when Gonzalez rose from the third KD.

    Both guys were warriors.
     
    Lester1583, Mar 8, 2012
    Lester1583, Mar 8, 2012
    #10
  11. Florez

    Florez Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Sep 7, 2011
    Florez, Mar 8, 2012
    Florez, Mar 8, 2012
    #11
  12. standing 8countboxing

    standing 8countboxing Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Feb 22, 2005
    Can't believe I just posted about this and now he's passed...both of them, so sad to hear this...ugh
     
    standing 8countboxing, Mar 11, 2012
    standing 8countboxing, Mar 11, 2012
    #12