Jose Mantequilla Napoles vs Jose Pipno Cuevas, 15 rounds, 147 lbs, both prime.

Have to imagine Napoles would take a majority of the fights but prime Cuevas could take and dish out hellish punishment. It would only take one of those left hooks to change the trajectory of the match.

 

I'm quite sure that the high majority of respondents to this thread will be picking Napoles to win. I count myself amongst that group. Cuevas had skills but Mantequilla was way too good. Napoles by 11th round stoppage in a fifteen round fight.

 

Napoles. Easy work.

 

Have to go with Jose the Butterboy over Jose the Cucumber here, but with the caveat that Pipino has two distinct and not altogether unlikely ways to pull it out — Napoles was prone to cuts and opposing jaws were prone to getting snapped like twigs when Cuevas’ left hook hit home.

So I’ll go with about 70 percent confidence in my Napoles pick.

 

Jose Napoles as great as he was at the weight, was smallish at welterweight.
Cuevas, though that weight class fit like a glove, and after a loss to A.Price in 1976 ( Don't know how that happened) he wouldn't lose again until 1980.
Unlike today's fighters who fight maybe once or twice a year, he averaged about four fights a year in that time span. Obliterating damn near everyone he fought.
This is not as clear cut a victory as some may think for Napoles, and he'd be literally walking through a minefield fighting Cuevas.
I'll lean towards a Napoles victory because his skill level was top 8 or 9 in the history of the division.
But one misstep from him, and he gets a cut that's so severe the fight has to be stopped. ( See his fight against Backus, now imagine the damage Cuevas could possibly do)
Or he's lunched into the stratosphere by a Cuevas bomb, with no reason for a 10 count.

 

Naples UD 15 Cuevas.

 

Another big big factor--to me anyway---was the speed of that left hook Cuevas threw. It sizzled. Now his right hand technique and speed was not that good.....kind of like Joe Frazier in that regard. But that left hook.......better than Trinidad's even.

But that left hook sizzled and was extremely damaging. And he threw it from way on the outside and does not translate to him having to get on the inside to launch it. In this matchup, I think that would very very important and gives Cuevas a real shot at winning the bout. And he could easily be behind 7 rounds to 2 or something and pull out the W.

In a 3 fight series--it is a 2-1 thing and not a 3-0.

 

Id like to add that Pipino's two ways of winning also came in two ways: a left and a right.

But Napoles takes this IMO

 

I go with the consensus here: Mantequilla should win by UD.

However that is not going to be a walk in the park. Mantequilla would have to be 100% focused.
One slip, one distraction, one miscalculation, and Pipino's hook would go through Mantequilla's jaw just like a hot knife through butter (pun intended).

 

I’d never bet against the old master.

 

He was..to the point of sometimes being even boring, but thats not the point. the point is winning.

Whoever invented his fight with Monzon in Paris of all places, really enjoyed the artistic side of life. but surprisingly, their fight was not boring. it was a beatdown but boring it was not.