Who wins this battle of slick, technically superb MW greats? I do consider both fighters to be great or near great. Archer seems to fly under the radar even more so than Giardello though.
Giardello had something Archer lacked serious pop in his right hand,I take him to win this ,but it would be close.
I read on the CBZ one time that these two were close to fighting at one point. I think New York wouldn't license Giardello due to his management and Giardello himself was concerned about getting a fair shake in defending his belt against Archer...I guess this was about the time Archer had taken a contraversial decision against Holly Mims (a fight I haven't seen...RB has it and says it's great). Anyway, I think Giardello at his best would narrowly beat Archer...I like the way Giardello can parry a left jab, then counter.
That statement is unfortunately very true. As for how this fight would go I agree with mcvey, Joey just had more in his offensive arsenal than Archer who relied mostly on the jab although that jab was one of the best I`ve seen at the weight and would have given Joey fits. I`ll say this though Giardello better be in top form because if he shows up out of shape Archer wins going away, he unlike Joey was always in great condition and did not abuse his body the way Giardello did. Archer kept a busy pace and would have defeated him if he came in poorly prepared as he often did.
It was indeed a great action fight.... Mims buckled Joey`s legs a few times and really took the fight to him all night, its a shame he was robbed of the decision but then again Holley was used to that since he had to carry many an opponent and took orders from the mob for almost his entire career.
Agree with all that has been said so far: Giardello in top form nicks it. However Archer would definitely trouble him, much like Billy Graham gave Giardello trouble in all their fights. Joey's jab was a thing of beauty and if he had a better right hand to back it up he would have been one of the very best middleweights of all time. as it is, he is already one of the best pure boxers the middleweight division has ever produced.
