I watched recently Lionel Rose vs Fighting Harada which was the fight in which Rose won his two Bantamweight Belts. I did not score it but I felt it was a razor close fight and if the decision would have gone to Harada, it probably would have been justifiable as well. I looked through all of Lionel Rose' next fights (without watching them) and they were (almost) all very close Majority or Split Decisions. Rose won against Sakurai via Majority Decision in his first title defense. Then Rose fought Joe Medel in a non title fight and also won by Majority Decision. Then Rose fought Chucho Castillo with his titles on the line and won a Split Decision; - I haven't watched this fight but on boxrec it says This content is protected Then in his very next fight Rose fought Alan Rudkin and also won via Split Decision; then Rose fought Ernie Cruz in a non title fight and won via Majority decision. And after that Rose fought Ruben Olivares in a fight in which he lost via knockout. I have scored basically almost none of those fights and I do not even know if footage of all of them is available. My question is: which of those fights did you guys watch or score and were they "robberies" or just close fights? All that being said, Rose looked like a technically sound, sharp fighter against Harada. So skillwise he is definitely something to watch.
I thought he looked great against Harada, I'd even go as far to say it was a masterclass. I know Masahiko felt hard done by with the decision saying he felt his body punching was overlooked. I thought that was ironic really because I thought me dad's body punching was overlooked against Harada. I will say though in Lionel's defense that all his title fights were against top contenders and away from home. The fight with me dad was the only one he had on home turf which was controversial because most people thought Australian judge Ray Mitchell was out of line with his 75-60 scorecard which meant me dad didn't win a round. Quite some feat really considering another Australian judge gave it to me dad. The feeling from the Australian commentary team was that it could of went either way, up until the verdict was given that is. You can find it on youtube. The version I uploaded (Juzzerbell's channel) is full and in segments and good quality. It's worth a watch.
Thanks. So I know now you are Mr. Alan Rudkin's son. I saw in another Lionel Rose thread you referred to "my dad" but I couldn't figure out your dad's name through that; now I know. I will watch the Rose-Rudkin fight; I saw it is available, just hadn't watched it yet. I also just realised how young Lionel Rose was when he fought all those great fighters. Your father was european champion - pretty awesome that is. If I may ask - did you ask your dad who the hardest puncher(s) were out of all his opponents? My guess is Ruben Olivares maybe? Sad to see your father has passed. My own father died unfortunately in 2008.
Thanks, sorry for your loss! You're right, he said nobody hit him like Olivares though Spain's Augustin Senin hurt him as well, Senin's records worth looking at.
Senin retired undefeated from what I saw....maybe he would have done well against a lot of the top (international) bantamweights.
I need to see his fight with Rudkin, which sounds really intriguing, but I agree with Al that Rose was pitch-perfect against Harada. One of the great boxing masterpieces of that era I think. I didn't think it was terribly close.
I watched and scored Rose vs Alan Rudkin now: I scored it 7 rounds to 6 for Rose with 2 rounds even. I gave the first 5 rounds all to Rose because he looked very sharp and strong at the beginning, but then your father came on strong and won quite a few rounds. Your dad got cut early (in the 4th round if I remember right) but he fought all through the last round and his corner did an excellent job on stopping the bleeding. Your father looked very game, especially considering the fact that Rose looked huge compared to him. The commentators mentioned that Rose looked like a lightweight next to your father. Rose is physically one of the biggest bantamweights I have seen. Close fight because your father won in my opinion a lot more rounds than Rose after the 5th. I gave Lionel Rose rounds 1,2,3,4,5,12 and 13. I gave Alan Rudkin rounds 6,7,9,10,14 and 15. And I scored rounds 8 and 11 even.
