Jose Pipino Cuevas vs. Flourentino Fernandez

Oh, my. I like Fernandez to somehow outlast Cuevas, but who really knows. One thing is certain. The judges will probably not be the critical factor.

 

This fight ends in a KO one way or another, and I can see Pipino getting him out of there early if he manages to land his left hook on Floro who usually needed a few rounds to warm up. Rocky Kalingo and Rubin Carter both caught him cold early and KOed him, and I can see Pipino doing the same thing as unlike Floro he was a fast starter and came out winging bombs as soon as the bell rang. But if Fernandez survives the early onslaught the fight becomes much more interesting because once Floro got the sweat going the man could punish! I am still leaning towards Cuevas and his doubled even tripled up left hooks to find their mark before Floro`s more wide, telegraphed left hooks do.

 

What an entertaining fighter was Florentino Fernandez. I watched him many times on the old "Fight of the Week" back in the sixties and always looked forward to an exciting battle when he was involved. I well remember the tough battle that he gave Gene Fullmer for the Middleweight crown. Those left hooks took alot of starch out of Gene toward the end of the fight. One of them even broke Fullmer's elbow in the 12th round. Ouch!! Can you imagine being hit side the head with one of those bombs? Pipino was also devastating with his punches.He mowed a path through the welterweight division in the late 70's and then kind of fell apart after being KO'd by Hearns. I think I would favor Florentino in a match with Cuevas as IMO he had more moxy than Pipino when the going got rough.

 

At welter I go with Cuevas. Looks like Fernandez really matured at MW when he fought Tiger, Fulmer, Torres etc. Even though he lost a lot of key fights at 160, he won a bunch too. Cuevas wouldn't want to fight him at MW.

 

bravecubs, check your pm box when you have the time.