Jones, Gastineau and Highsmith - Any Good?

Gastineau couldnt fight a lick.

 

I saw Gastineau get knocked around by Tim "Doc " Anderson. I saw Alonzo HIghsmith get dropped by a jab from some pug. Two big muscle-men who couldn't fight worth a crap -- at least not professionally. I'm sure both guys were good barroom brawlers though!

 

All of "Too Tall's" bouts were either televised live on CBS, or recorded on camera. Against Yaqui Meneses in his debut, he was flicking his jab out. In a later appearance on CBS, it was obvious trainer Murphy Griffith had him working hard on developing it properly, and Gil Clancy noted the progress in his post fight evaluation. Jones packed those half dozen career bouts of his into a span of less than three months. Getting decked late by a Meneses hook and shove suggests he couldn't take that good of a punch (he was so obviously stunned when he got up that Griffith illegally jumped up on the ring apron to administer smelling salts). But given a couple years of proper development, his jab might have been cultivated into a very serviceable weapon.

My suspicion has always been that he wanted to improve on the gridiron, and used his training and competition in boxing as a means to that end. He returned to the Cowboys having trimmed down from 295 to 255, and was immediately observed in his next training camp to not surprisingly be much quicker and better conditioned than before. He never missed a game with Dallas, and retired holding the franchise record for longest career span, covering a period of 16 years from 1974 to 1989.

I don't think his chin, speed and power were that great, but he was a tremendous physical specimen who might have attained a top ten ranking on the strength of a well developed jab alone. The frequency with which he was competing would have allowed him to continue improving quickly, but he made a better choice returning to the Cowboys.

Surprised boxing footage of Jones is not on youtube. Expect that to change eventually.

 

They sucked as fighters. I've been a boxing fan all my life and admire and respect what these guys do to try to earn a living the way they do.

It just pisses me off when some jocks like these guys think it's no real deal to switch from a sport where they may actually physically play 10 minutes an entire 3+ hour game to one where in the course of a 39 minute, 10 round fight, you are actually working your ass off for 30 of those minutes.

It cheapens the integrity of the sport and I, for one, love it when they get their asses handed to them by nothing more than journeymen fighters.

 

I consider them the Murderer's Row of the 80's-90's.

Uncrowned Kings, each and everyone of them. Just goes to show what real athletes can do in boxing.

 

I saw Gastineau on the Mancini/Haugen undercard in 1992 in Reno. They matched him well is all I can say. Jones fought on that card knocking out Art Serwano.

 

I don't know about the other two guys, but Gastineau's career was pretty much a joke.

It's difficult coming from one sport and trying to do another. This is where lacking an amateur backround often hurts a fighter, since they'd be learning things and trying to develop skills that amateurs have learned long before.

 

I'm not sure it's safe to say they thought it was easy. Maybe they just found the transition and learning curve too difficult.
Take a former heavyweight champion and try and make him a linebacker. Let's put Wlad in an NFL team.
He'd suck too, not because he's physically inferior, but because he'd be trying to learn skills that these guys had learned over a lifetime.

 

Gastineau was a complete joke as a boxer. I usually dont knock anyone who has the balls to climb into the ring, but Gastinaeu took part in fixed fights where his opponents took dives and one opponent was even poisoned before Gastineau fought him.

 

All pretty ****ing bad.
They all looked like first fight amateurs.

 

Gastineau was pretty much a complete joke as a person.

 

Boxing murderer's I guess you mean?

 

I remember Tony Mandarich calling out Mike Tyson in 1989.

 

Gastineau's loss to Doc Anderson cost him a fight with George Foreman (and sadly was the catalyst for Elvis Parkers death and Andersons incarceration).

A pity as this was a fight that Gastineau deserved.

A real sadists dream match.