Fritzie Zivic vs Sugar Ray Leonard

greynotsoold · Jan 6, 2025

surfinghb said: ↑

Hearns was definitely overconfident for this fight thinking he was going to KO Ray . I wouldn't use the word scared, but maybe late it turned into that when he was gassed and hurt as he never went that distance before, but Tommy was ahead in the fight late
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That's fair. The point I was trying to make was that he didn't come out fighting like "The Hitman", if that makes sense. I think you hit it on the head when you said he hadn't been that distance before- that may have been the source of his approach to the fight.

thistle · Jan 7, 2025

Mike Cannon said: ↑

Hi Buddy.
You make a valid point, as you do in your all of your post, I have come to realise you are a learned and knowledgeable fight historian, whose prowse is intelligent and noteworthy, as to Roderick I am in full agreement, he was a most rugged and determined boxer, who could both punch and box, physically he looked strong, strong of leg and a thick sturdy chest, most imposing, as to his championship fight with Armstrong the great and underrated Peter Wilson wrote a piece about the preparation and eventual fight, with your permission I will from memory recite some of his musings, " We, over here in England had heard plenty about this freakish phoeneom named Armstrong, tales of his inhuman stamina, his non stop workrate, pretty much how invinceable he was, we were not impressed, on the day after he arrived on our shores, I took a train down to the seaside resort of Clacton where he had set up his training camp, he skipped hit the heavy bag, for longer than I had seen a fighter do in the past, then came the main event the sparring, suffice it to say I have witnessed many a fighter spar, but I was unprepared for what was about to come, he entered the ring sweating profusely, when I say entered what he did in fact was run, yes run from the shed where his did his skipping etc, he had four hired hands at the ready, the first was a small, stocky, fighter from the south, once the bell rang, Armstrong was across the ring in a second, for most of the 3 minutes he punched and mauled the poor chap all over the ring, not for second did the torture subside, after the bell Armstrong would stand in his corner, straining at the leash for the next round to start, he did much the same to all the partners, over 15 rounds, without any disenable fatigue , now we were impressed, as to the fight, Roderick fought a magnificent battle, time and again he tried to fend off the on rushing Armstrong, all to no avail, he was battered from post post, if you can imagine a small boat in a storm ridden sea, I was impressed, doubtful the boxing world will ever see such a fighter in a long long time"
stay safe thistle, chat soon.
Mike.
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Cheers Mike, yeah Hammerin' Hank was a tough one to beat, just ask the many.

Roderick was just over a bad case of Influenza, as it was called then, a bad case of the Flu, not an excuse, but a fact, which given the busy scheduled of every other week or so, these guys often went into the ring, not always 100%... Roderick also stated he though Armstrong was a bit of a Slapper type hitter and wanted a rematch believing he could pull it off.

Anyway Ernie Roderick was Top Class, tough & beautiful boxer fit for any proper sized Welter, pre the bigger men fighting down eras.

here is some proper clear footage revealing just how good & normal these fighters actually were, plus they did it every month against Top Men. Cheers Mike.

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FThabxinfan · Jan 7, 2025

Reinhardt said: ↑

Leonard would outpoint him, probably but he ain't stopping Zivic with a hammer. You need to take a peek at who Zivic beat and who he went the distance with. Leonard better have a good ref or Fritzie will mug him like he was in an alley,,,,cause if this was in an alley I got Fritzie by KO.
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Ditto,if Leonard didn't get a modern,good eyed ref for this fight he'll never going to outpoint nor defeat Zivic, especially if he hires Arthur Donovan.

JohnThomas1 · Jan 7, 2025

greynotsoold said: ↑

When you read about Zivic, you read about a very versatile fighter. He won fights with his jab, his right hand, with body work, with uppercuts inside, and he could win by being the aggressor, or by countering. He had 2 fights with Robinson and was not outclassed in either of them.Hefought Charly Burley 3 times.He fought LaMotta close in all but their last fight while being much smaller. It is safe to say that Leonard would not bring him anything that he hadn't seen before or that he wasn't prepared to deal with.
On the other hand Leonard would be fighting a guy that legends like Conn, Robinson, and Armstrong called the smartest man they ever faced. I would suggest that the only fighter that Leonard faced that was crafty like that was Duran.
Ray Leonard may well win this fight- he was a very good fighter and, at his best, he didn't like to lose. But people get blinded by the Hearns fight and you need to put that in perspective; Hearns was tall and rangy and had a big right hand but he didn't have many rounds and fought scared most of the fight. And they are blinded by the Benitez fight which, in my opinion, was not a great fight or even all that good of a fight because Benitez offered him nothing offensively.
Ray can win this fight but it is far from a certainty. I imagine that they would end up fighting more than once. Zivic would win at least one.
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Come on Grey. Robinson was a comparative kid when he fought Zivic. He'd had 25 fights over just a year of boxing when he first fought Zivic and weighed just 139 pounds. Three months later Robinson beat him good and knocked him out in the 10th. Robinson was half a decade off even winning the welterweight title. Zivic was fresh off losing the world title.

The fights bode brilliantly for Leonard who i'd take every time out. Zivic is tough but he's outclassed here.

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Fritzie Zivic vs Sugar Ray Leonard

greynotsoold Boxing Addict

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Fritzie Zivic vs Sugar Ray Leonard

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