Laszlo Papp's Greatest Victory As A Pro?

If we take that as true, then its pretty revealing as regards his stature over time don't you think?

 

Nobody stopped Papp fighting top level overseas fighters,he concentrated on the second/3rd tier guys.
Ray was ring rusty from his retirement and Jones outhustled him, that wasnt the real Ray ,and neither was it the Jones Papp fought!

 

Thnx for the invitation. I would have to say unequivocally his best win was over Ralph Tiger Jones, though Jones was about finished. Of course wins over Pete Mueller, Chris Christensen, Harry Scott, and Mick Leahy were modest wins at the time as well.

 

He could have fought these guys in Hungary couldn't he.

 

I think Papp's record is being overly criticized and distorted to an extent. Jones is far from his biggest win. I think Luis Folledo would be a better choice. He was 26, had a 71-2-1 record, and was rated through most of the sixties. I was just reading Rummy's ten top middleweights off the ratings per decade and Folledo made the top ten in th 1960's. Also, the fight was in Spain. Papp never fought in his home country as a pro, I believe, and his two draws were against Ballarin in Paris and Garbelli in MIlan. Besides Jones, such as Mueller, Annex, Scott, Leahy, and Christiansen were decent wins.

I don't want to build Papp up too much, but his record is more of a ?? than any definitive verdict. A challenge against Giardello might have defined him better, although I think Papp was nearing 40.

There is no good reason to put down Euro middle competition from the end of the war through the 1960's. They seem to have been more or less the equals of their American counterparts. Cerdan, Turpin, and Benvenuti were middle champs. (as was the African Tiger who came up through Britain). Mazzinghi was light-middle champion. Villemain, Dauthuille, Langlois, and Mueller were good enough to beat American champions LaMotta and Giardello. Downes beat Pender once.

So my take is Papp might have been champ if he had gotten a shot against someone like Pender or Giardello despite his advanced age.

 

Who is putting down other fighters? What ranking was the best fighter Papp beat?
Villemain,Dauthille,Cerdan Turpin,Benvenuti, Giardello,Langlois, have several wins over world class opposition.
Where are Papp's.Pender was a cheese champ.

 

Title of the thread.

Laszlo Papp's Greatest Victory As A Pro? Got it now Moron?

 

Obviously a great amateur, arguably the best ever but his pro record is decidedly moderate.
His best win? I don’t think Jones could be described as so as it was his last fight he was finished.
Christensen or Folledo could be his best wins but both were European level and got beat every time they stepped up.

 

Okay, but my point is that Papp's top wins were not against Americans, but Europeans, so concentrating on Americans like Jones is distorting.

It is a fair point that he only beat Euro level fighters. It is also a fair point that he certainly didn't fail against American competition. That leaves in my judgment a ?? over how good he was. Going to Spain to stop Folledo was impressive. It seems to me that there is a hole in our knowledge of Papp (and for that matter Folledo and Gustav Scholz) as he was never matched with the top Americans. Giardello did go to Europe to lose to Downes and Mueller. Pender lost to Downes. Papp was certainly better than Mueller, and it is not over the top to consider that he might have been better than Downes. I admit we don't know for certain.

As for the European middles generally from 1946 through the 1960's, they held their own with the best Americans and Papp seems to have been at the level of the others and was Euro champion for quite a while.

"Pender was a cheese champ"

But he was the man who beat the man. All contenders aim for a fight with the man who holds the title.

 

But I'm not concentrating on anyone, I'm saying Papp does not have a signature win as we understand the term. Is that a fair assessment or not?
Giardello also ko'd Mueller and early, Joey was never a very dedicated trainer and this accounted for some of his upset losses.
Nobodies fault, but his own but a fact nevertheless.
Papp may have beaten Pender but that wouldn't ring any bells for me.Downes was a moderate champion on a par with Pender, who ducked Tiger and Fullmer.

 

The Giardello-Mueller fight was a farce. When Joey went to Germany the Germans wouldnt let him train at the gym he wanted, shut off the heat to the gym he trained at (and it was winter), and denied him access to quality sparring partners from the local crop of fighters. Hence the total reversal in a fight against a guy he had easily beaten prior. There was a lot of speculation that Pender tanked the Downes fight in order to double up on the purse. Pender absolutely was a cheese champ not the least by the fact that he got a robbery against Robinson to win his title to begin with and the title only existed because Robinson was refusing to fight legitimate contenders. Thats why he picked soft touch in and outer Pender who was somehow rated #9 as a defense for a title that was only recognized in two states. The answer to the question of who Papps best win is happens to be the perfect example of why the mystique around Papp is sort of ridiculous. Not only did he never beat any legitimately world class fighter but he also struggled with a couple of decidedly non world class fighters.