Jose Napoles vs. Ike Williams

Ike Williams and Jose Napoles were about as great as each other within their respective divisions. Napoles was just a bit bigger and smarter. He'd likely outpoint Williams by a fair margin, I'd guess at about 10-5, catching Williams with tricky shots rather than overpowering him. Williams, though a good boxer, could be outfoxed, and Napoles was not only a great thinker, he was tough enough to take anything thrown at him.

 

Napoles, at his 1968-74 peak, was the best. Only the tendency to cut around the eyes was his weakness, but he didn't let that weakness bother him at welterweight, except for that blip that occured in late '70 against Billy Backus. That was the ultimate freak occurance, as Mantequilla proved in the rematch. Napoles-W15-Williams.

 

Napoles would win on 11th round stoppage.

 

Five years on and my opinion stays the same - and it's true - Napoles was slightly bigger, but only very slightly, but that's not a factor. Napoles was just an extremely clever and natural fighter.

 

I don't agree with this but then I'm sure neither does Red Cobra (opinions evolve; I don't agree with half of the stuff I said years ago) - he would be with me if I said Napoles was sliding by 1972, latest, and was probably less effective (if only by a little) once he moved up in weight.

 

yeah, that's right Manassa...I savvied up over the past couple of years. Napoles's peak was probably from '68 thru ''70 0r maybe '71....he was staring to ebb a bit by '72, but he was still good enough to make his opposition look plain ordinary. Tearing up such stiff competition as Adolph Pruitt along the way...I still think he takes a decision over Williams..and decks him along the way.

 

Would the fight follow a pattern, do you think? Would one be the aggressor over the other? I was thinking that it would be 50/50, with Napoles' naturalness (don't know how better to describe his fluidity) edging the exchanges.

 

I think that it would resemble the Cokes fights in a way, with Napoles maybe putting slightly less punishment on Ike, but still applying the intelligent presure on him throughout.
yes "naturalness"..that's a good description.

 

Napperrrzzz!

 

manassa, as usual, said it well. ike was a tremendous athlete, terrific puncher, and one of the most vicious finishers i've seen on film. just too small for dealing with one of the best welters ever and a head to head demon. ike would be there every step of the way but would be outpointed over 15