I was wondering, has anyone watched this? I know it was a tko or ko 15 for Hope but I wanted to see how did he ko such an iron chin as Antuofermo...I tried seeing it on you tube to no avail.
I was amazed at the result when this bout took place. But I was also amazed that Vito went down to jr. middle in the first place. He had been competing very solidly at middleweight and I just didn't see him doing this, but he was such an avid trainer he probably felt he could do this and maybe get to a title quicker. Anyways, the story I heard at the time was he was exhausted in the 15th - and BTW, I never saw Vito exhausted. But he never fought at 154 again so there may be some credence to the story.
Where there's hope, there's Mickey Duff..... The fight was even going into the last round so it was on the line. Maurice, as the challenger, and fighting in a country where you had to KO an opponent and be thankful you got a draw, really went for the kill and battered Vito for most of the round, forcing two standing counts and wailing away until the ref stopped it with a few seconds left and, and Hope would have won on points due to that big last round. Vito chin was so iron that he took all that punishment but, as Scartissue said, a mixture of struggling with the weight would have contributed to him having nothing left and if & when iron chins do get stopped, it's usually on cuts or due to being exhausted late on. Still, Vito was the reigning champ and had a few fights at the weight that year and Maurice was a fine boxer-puncher and a southpaw of course (as was Minter, and Hagler of course) so lefties had some success against him.
I'm surprised Vito even became a boxer, he bled worse than a woman on her period. I remember the article in the early 80's how he visited a surgeon to have his facial bones shaved down, to stop him from getting cut. It didn't help.
Hi Buddy. Agreed, also the Hagler draw notwithstanding was he one of the poorest MW champs of all time, up there with McCoy, Chip, Odowd, etc.
ODowd was a terrific fighter. Hes in the hall of fame and rightly so. He should have been inducted long before he got in. Classing him with McCoy is ridiculous. Chip wasnt a bad fighter either. He may not have been an all time great but he was certainly dangerous.
Hi Buddy. You make a good point regards O'Dowd, will have to take my original wordage back, thanks for the kind correction. stay safe
