Gratien Tonna

I remember Tonna from the 1970s. He was an unusually strong and hard-hitting fighter who had a reputation, unfortunately, as being a quitter.

First, in a 1974 WBC title fight against Rodrigo Valdez, Tonna remained on the deck after being floored, refusing to get up and complaining that he was fouled. The referee refused to acknowledge Tonna's request for a DQ win and counted him out. Tonna did the same thing a year later in a WBA title fight against Carlos Monzon. Both incidents made a very bad impression on fans and journalists and permanently stained Tonna's reputation.

On the upside, Tonna beat some pretty good fighters, including Kevin Finnegan, Alan Minter, Max Cohen, and Jean Mateo.

The 1977 Minter victory may have been Tonna's biggest win. Tonna was a taking a beating in that bout and seemed on his way to being stopped by Minter. In the end, though, Tonna busted Minter's face up with some good shots and pulled out a TKO win via cuts.

In 1979 Minter reversed the outcome by pounding Tonna into a sixth round kayo loss. That fight finished Tonna as a world ranked contender.

An interesting sidenote to Tonna's career is that he killed a cop in 1977 in a drunken or wreckless driving accident in France. I remember that incident making headlines.

 

Angelo Dundee theorized that powerful punchers have tighter, harder muscles, particularly in their back and neck, and that this lack of flexibility makes them vulnerable to punches themselves. According to Dundee, these guys lack the loose, supple muscle texture needed to absorb the shock of heavy blows, thus rendering them vulnerable to the full brain numbing effect of a punch. I don't know if it's true, but Dundee said it.

The difference between Hart and Tonna is that Hart really did seem to have trouble absorbing a heavy blow, while Tonna didn't. With Tonna the issue was mental: when he was getting beaten-up, supposedly he would get discouraged and want to quit. They claimed Tonna lacked what is known as "heart".

 

Theres a big difference in between having a poor chin and lacking "heart".

I'd never heard that Dundee theory, Cheers Kenmore.

 

Angelo Dundee is/was a ****ing mental midget. Anything he theorized- outside of being in the right place at the right time- means nothing.

 

Thats a bit harsh mate......

 

I fought for Angelo as an amateur, S. He was an inspiration -- instilled trust. Pulled out more than one fight because of calm tips in the corner.

 

Met him, interviewed him, read shitloads of interviews of him... did not impress me one bit. My own impression remains that he was extremely limited in any intellectual or cognitive sense and that he was damn lucky a certain somebody walked into his gym.

Maybe I am young and mistaken. Forgive me if this be the case.

 

It's a very subjective thing, S, what a trainer's able to do for a fighter. Different courses for different horses.

Sometimes it's like an iceberg: 90% below the surface how a trainer gets the best from a fighter. With Angelo or Freddie Roach, it's a look, a nod, or the sound of his voice. Either way, it's a strong, clear communication; the shorthand between fighter and trainer.

 

The first Finnegan win has always bugged me, Kevin was primed for the shot at Monzon late 1975 and blew it (ala Herol vs Kalambay). Tonna was the only man to knock Kev down as amateur or pro too.

 

Conteh, I don't recall Finnegan being down in either of their fights. I remember Kev had his jaw busted in his previous fight and was surprised when he lost to Tonna. The only time I saw Tonna fight was the Valdez fight. Tonna was strong, a big punch and that was it. Valdez was putting the hurt on him and had Tonna cut over both eyes when, in a corner, the ref was separating them when Valdez nailed Tonna with a right hand. Tonna took it well but looked at his corner who advised him to go down, that he would win the title on a DQ. Bad advice. Tonna was crying to the press that he was only following his corner's instructions. Amazingly, he tried the same thing against Monzon. Monzon had him cut and dropped him in the 5th. Tonna stayed down because he felt he was hit on the back of the head and he again was trying to win the title on a DQ. Ironically, Tonna was warned 5 or 6 times by the ref for holding Monzon and hitting him on the back of the neck. I was surprised when I heard he was fighting Ronnie Harris. The last style you would want your crude slugger to fight was a slickster. It was not unlike Chris Byrd against David Tua. The money must've just been too good to pass up. Tonna was a character and I always thought of him as a French Georgie Best. Never out of the headlines. I looked him up on boxrec and they give no date of him passing away. I thought he died some years back. Anyone know?

Scartissue

 

Tonna gave Valdez a real good fight before punking out imo.Had him staggered at one point.

The first Minter fight is a great bout as well.I'd take him over guys like Roldan and Benn.

He had a Galindez like quality to his style, though more of a pure puncher.

 

It was the rematch mate, Finnegan tasted the canvas and as Tonna steamed in to end it, Kevin (typically) went toe-to-toe and drove him across the ring. Fin took over the fight from then on. R.I.P.

I thought that too. :think