Razor-thin close. It's funny watching this fight and then even just 2-3 years later looking at how quickly Gonzalez roboticised and lost his legs.Became a fairly unimaginative fighter relying on strength, size, will and technical soundness rather than finesse to grind out results. Here he made a lot of good moves though.Looked quite like a little Harold Johnson or Conteh at some points with his spingy mid-range work and classy punching.
I thought Gonzalez edged it.. Each time I watch it I think a little more, or a little less but everytime I feel BG should have got it. Great clash of styles and an excellent display of skill and action.. both were willing to take a shot. Saw a bit of Conteh in him for sure...with that mid range slipping and launching of the back leg in his attacks...The way he was at times shifting his feet up close and turning Ohba reminded me of somewhere between a young Duran and Hatton sort of...which is a big gap, so I'm not sure who is falls in there I could compare him to ..Plus it wasn't happening all that often , it was just a couple of sequences..like this 45sec-1min snippet of the Chris Finnegan-Sibbo fight I must have watched 200 times where Finnegan shapes up to bring a right over the top but then turns it into an uppercut right as Sibbo was stepping in close to avoid it..then in next exchange clubs him the punch that Sibbo thought was coming the first time...Sibbo then fires up out of frustration and belts Finnegan into the ropes to see the round out..brilliant.
Having seen the Betulio of the Canto years first and then later seeing Betulio of the Ohba fight, it's hard to believe it's the same guy. Almost as big a transformation as Ramirez from the Arguello to Mancini fights. And yeah, I thought Gonzalez edged it, but as Mante says it was close. Can't really argue with an Ohba win.
Yes, Betuilio became very straight up aggressor after this fight, where in some rounds he looked better than I've ever seen him. Thought Ohba won IIRC scored it not long ago in scorecard thread. Not as close as I thought in terms of Rounds but in terms of ebb and flow very tight.
I've not read too much on Gonzalez outside of the ring exploits, but from what i have it seems he liked the high life and went off the rails a bit when he did initially win his world title. Hard to say without having seen the fight, but i wonder if it was a combination of that and the borkhorsor fight that took a bit out of him.If so it speaks to his character he was still able to come back, hang around for so long and be one of the division's iron men, unlike his countryman Antonio Gomez.
Yeah, a close fight. Personally I thought Ohba edged it. Ohba had an excellent left hand. Wonder how Glassohba would have dealt with Kiyoshi "Speed Metal Warrior" Tanabe.
What I like about Gonzalez (besides his talent) was after his 15 round draw with Sallavarria - the WBC vacating the title after it was ruled that Sallavarria was using sugar water (ilegal stimulant) between rounds - that he refused the championship when the WBC handed it to him. He stated that he would only accept it by winning the championship. Of course he did so by stopping Botato of the Philipines, but wouldn't take it the easy way.
I have just watched the fight again. If I am forced to pick a winner in every round, I have Ohba winning 8-7. If I am allowed to score even rounds it would be a bit wider. Ohba had four good rounds from 7th to 10th round and that made the difference. Great fight!
I had this on my watch list but bumped it up to the top based on this discussion. I've never seen THIS version of Gonzalez. Wow. I definitely see the Conteh comparison. Having said that, I've watched the first 7 rounds and have Ohba just edging it so far. Ohba is pumping that jab out like Harada. Good fight.
Phew and yes it was. Loved it when he jumped into that Jap' Kamikaze attack that so many Jap's did well but Ohba blended very well (Hasegawa does as well actually) Also, he was the Larry Holmes of the flyweights. Didn't have a great chin but his powers of recovery were freakish. Against.....who is it....ah, yes Amores, he get completely knocked out. Wasted. Gone. He wakes up as he's going down, as clear as day. You see this thing but like Larry, it was actually a trait of Ohba's. Chionoi had him dropped a few times as well.
Chionoi's early knockdown is a classic if i remember rightly. Ohba is being patient and trying to establish distance, Chionoi just wings a huge absurdly telegraphed right with no setup or technical skill at all and crashes it right into Ohba's face.
