Jorge Luis "JLG" González vs. José Manuel "El Niño" Ribalta

A couple of contemporary glass cannon super heavyweight Cuban fringe contenders - whom, in fact, bear so many similarities I've admittedly gotten them mixed up my whole life. ("which guy had the crazy hair again?")

Within an inch of height and within a year of age, both are far better known for losing to a who's-who roster of notables than for any successes. Indeed, both squeezed a lot of name mileage from a paltry not-even-handful of professional victories - a shopworn Leon Spinks and shopworn Renaldo Snipes, respectively. Plus if you're reaching, David Jaco and Michael Ronay Evans.

Surprisingly, despite being omnipresent figures in the nineties televised heavyweight boxing scenes (Ribalta got nearly a decade's head start in the pros as JorGon remained in the amateurs for a very lengthy and to be honest incredibly fruitful 220-13 run), they not only didn't cross paths but only wound up having one common opponent:

• Tim Witherspoon - Ribalta lost via MD10 in 1990; González lost via TKO5 in 1996.

Ribalta would also lost to Ricardo Richardson, Bonecrusher Smith, Marvis Frazier, Mike Tyson, Bruce Seldon, Pierre Coetzer, Frank Bruno, Michael Dokes, Larry Holmes, Tony Tubbs, Joe Hipp, Axel Schulz, Larry Donald, Vitali Klitschko, Chris Byrd, and Donovan Ruddock. González fell to Riddick Bowe, Ross Puritty, Michael Grant, Paea Wolfgramm, Cliff Couser, Joe Mesi, and Derek Bryant. Twice as many defeats for Ribalta, but he also fought more titlists and very arguably 2-3 more Hall of Fame talents.

Which countryman is taking it over, say, ten rounds circa mid 90s?

A case of "who lands first"? Or do we see it possibly going the distance?

 

Hey, I didn't call him a shrinking violet. He was mentally tough & resilient, but...he was down like a zillion times in his career, on top of incurring nearly double-digit stoppage losses. I know Tyson praised his chin, but outside that fight he was decked by a Puerto Rican novice in his first defeat, in his win over Jeff Sims, and probably well over a dozen times besides.

Much better recovery than punch resistance, sort of like a JMM.

 

I think Ribalta was tougher and more durable (mentally and probably also physically) and more skilled - at least in the pros. González was as spectacular a failure to smoothly translate from elite amateur to good pro as we've seen. Tillmanesque.

Do we think González punched a fair amount harder, though?