Kid Gavilan said he wanted to fight Marciano in 1954

My same response to Gavilan wanting to fight Marciano. Talk is cheap.

 

Difference between back then and today:

Back then the best called out guys multiple weight divisions above them and didn't fight them.

Today the best call each other out in their own divisions and don't fight them.

Kid was obviously full of **** here, but he had balls on him beyond any fighter today.

 

It won´t happen, believe me....

 

There were Japanese who wanted to be Kamikazes

 

Classic example of a fighter focusing on an opponent's weaknesses and ignoring that fighter's strengths and/or what he does to compensate for those weaknesses.

 

Maybe, but the extent to which he went into detail, outlining step-by-step the strategy that he would use to win, suggests to me that he might've actually given serious thought to this, and quite possibly believed in his own mind that he could do this - perhaps similar to the way Harry Greb was always dead certain in his own mind that he could take Dempsey. Remember, Rocky was tabbed far and wide as a "crude" and "limited" champion, and there were a lot of classy boxers in and around his weight class who were confident they could take him.

Also, Gavilan seemed to have misapprehensions about what he would gain from bulking up in weight. He seemed to believe (as some other experts at that time did) that bulking up to 155 for his upcoming fight with Olson would give him some newfound power - hence his "prediction" that he was going to KO (not simply outpoint) Olson in their fight. As it turned out, the extra weight failed to do him any noticeable good, and if anything just slowed him down.

Ironically, following his own win over Gavilan, Olson likewise professed his own intentions to pursue a fight Marciano, and there was talk that this was the next step for Olson if he could somehow get by Archie Moore.

Incidentally, Gavilan did fight a LHW in his career (Dogomar Martinez).

 

ROFL :rofl

 

Had that fight happened, Kid had go down into boxing history like "Kid Fried chicken"


Anyway, lets agree that for calling Marciano, Kid proved that he had a huge pair, if nothing else