How good was Oscar Bonavena?

Yea hard to believe it was almost 40 years agoatsch, the details of his murder were kinda hazy, way back in those days the only social media were the newspaper and the 11 pm news, but he was killed in front of a Nevada *****house just outside Reno, actually he was having an affair with a mobsters ol lady, Ringo was good in the ring, but lacked common sense outside the square:-(..

They made a flick about the 76 killing about 10 years ago, don't know how accurate it was, but Pesci carried the lead role..

In the Summer of 1976, thousands of Argentinians came to his funeral, he was an Icon there..

 

Bonavena had very poor management you can't put a man in the ring with someone as experienced as Folley who's had only 8 fight's what the hell were those stupid asses thinking with:-(, that was just criminal..

Folley basically got paid for a public exhibition, or sparring session..

 

The whole description of Folley as a "master boxer" and gushing because he outpointed an 8 fight pro without a distinguished amateur background is pretty over the top.

 

Just alright. A poorman's francois botha.

 

What kind of "just alright" fighter goes toe to toe with a young Joe Frazier twice?

 

You know you're wrong here Seamus...Bonavena was a tough, strong as hell, hard hitting, awkwardly clever, smart and very capable fighter. He proved that twice vs Frazier. No way he compares to a slab of knockwurst like Botha. Oscar would have trounced Botha, by the way

 

:thumbsup

 

Yes, it was a dominant performance by an 80 fight vet over an 8 fight vet. Pretty much exactly the result you would expect or it would be time to pack it in. What is impressive about that? The only thing impressive about it is that Bonavena eventually became a real top contender. At that point he was a total nobody and the win was nothing special. If he had retired at that point or if it were some other 8 fight vet with no name that we dont have the benefit of hindsight on youd be saying it was meaningless.

 

Steve

Bonavena was the 8-5 favorite to beat Folley, so it was not expected Folley would go out there and massacre bonavena. It wasn't just Folley beating him, it was how easily Folley beat him.

The bonavena-Folley fight is on tape. We Can judge for ourselves.
How good was Oscar in 1965 compared to 1966? Why does he look different on film in 1965 vs 1966 when he almost best joe Frazier?

How many men in the top 10 in 1965 beat that version of bonavena?

 

The fight is on YouTube. In my opinion Folley looks very slick, terrific timing in his punches, very controlled and calculated, smooth. Sharp accurate with his punching. Intelligent.

 

Actually Folley opened the favorite. Betters bet the odds down in favor of Bonavena because they believed Folley was that shot (just like Bonavena's manager). In fact if you read the opinions on that fight every writer was writing about how ludicrous it was that Bonavena had been bet to the favorite.

Uhh, there you go again. Frazier had 11 fights when he fought Bonavena. Lets not pretend Frazier didnt improve from 1966 to 1969. Let not pretend that Folley dominated a prime Bonavena or that Bonavena ALMOST beat a prime Frazier. Neither is remotely true. When Frazier fought Bonavena the first time he had 11 fights to his name and had never been more than 6 rounds and that came against a totally shot Billy Daniels who was just a punching bag for Frazier at that point.

Tell me who the NBA, or even the Ring, rated in the top ten during that month or the month prior in 1965 and Ill tell you who I think would win. Im betting that most of them would beat him handily.

 

Because he was fighting a complete novice. If thats impressive to you (and I say again, take Bonavena's name out of the equation and it wouldnt be) then you are easily impressed.

 

Joe Frazier knocked out Eddie Machen in his own 12th fight while Eddie had over sixty .. then again, your a lightweight anyway ..

 

Yeah and Eddie was shot and never won another fight. I have that fight, the whole fight, other than spot late in the fight where Eddie caught Joe coming in Eddie fought like a mummy who couldnt pull the trigger.

Show us just how stupid you are and tell me that Joe Frazier was Joe Frazier in his 11th and 12th fights. Or that Oscar was just as good with 8 fights as he would be 4 years later. Come on mr. historian...

 

If you guys couldn't find them, here are the WBA ratings the month before the Folley-Bonavena fight in 1965.

(Cleveland Williams had been rated #2, but he was removed from the ratings when he was shot and seriously wounded in November 1964.) https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=iycEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5058,6536612&hl=en


WBA Ratings
January 1965
1. Ernie Terrell
2. Floyd Patterson
3. George Chuvalo
4. Eddie Machen
5. Zora Folley
6. Roger Rischer (only briefly rated after his win over Henry Cooper at the end of '64)
7. Doug Jones
8. Tony Alongi
9. Karl Mildenberger
10. Brian London