Harold had the misfortune of fighting at a time when the Big 4 were just arriving, ala Leonard, Hearns, Duran and Benitez. He did fight Hearns and Benitez and gave good accounts against both but came up short. He also had to contend with HOF'ers Cuevas and Palomino and was stopped by Pipino in their title fight. He has wins over future champions Mattioli and Antuofermo. His fighting style was often difficult to judge as noted by 5 draws in his career including such notables as Benitez, Saoul Mamby, Johnny Gant and Hedgemon Lewis. He was scrappy but had very little power with only 7 ko's among his 26 wins. I do think if he had had the title chance against a fading Napoles or either Stracey or Espadas, he could have copped the title. It's a shame his career ended with a detached retina against Hearns, a fight he had a real shot at winning. The scorecards were all extremely close at the time of stoppage. As a final note, has anybody read his book, Always Stand On Your Feet? I plan to pick this up. Should be a good read.
I can think of nothing not admirable about Harold Weston Jr. He fought anybody they put in front of him — one glance at his record and it’s clear they put a LOT of tough guys in front of him. He acquitted himself well in victory and defeat, and it’s hard to imagine anyone ever walking away from fighting him doing so without respect.
Just got finished reading Harold's book, "Always Stand On Your Feet", and really enjoyed it. The best part is that he covers virtually all of his fights, including his early ones through his last fight with Hearns, in great detail, often round by round accounts. Of course, most of his memories favor himself, but still, it's interesting reading especially since he also covers the prep work, publicity, etc. of each fight. He also covers in detail his detached retina from the Hearns fight which cost him his career. He does go into some rather tawdry details of his life. He doesn't present himself as an unblemished, all-american type but that was his life, for better or worse. Anyway, I do recommend if you're a Weston fan or if you're a fan of the 70's welterweight scene.
Harold Weston Jr was defeating WBC Welterweight Champion Wilfred Benitez on March 25 1979 in fight no 2 for them. Papa Benitez inspired his son to get going between rounds with a hard slap to the face, Benitez retained his title with a points win in 15 rounds.
Yes, he covers both fights with Benitez pretty extensively. In the championship fight, 2 of the judges had the fight really close, like 1 point wins for Benitez, while the 3rd judge had it way big for Wilfred. In any case, Harold put up a good fight but just wasn't able to pull it off. He did say the fact that they put his corner in the sun while Benitez was in the shade played a factor.
Harold Weston Jr. only would've been a champion in another era if he got to fight someone like Billy Backus or Jorge Vaca for a belt, someone who was more of a one-off, upset winner-type champ. Weston was a good contender. But I don't know if he was even as good as someone like Cory Spinks, who fought well against other names. I saw a number of Weston fights that didn't involve name contenders, and he doesn't look so dominant against any of them, either.
