Because I live now in Germany and see most of the fights here, I can give a good opinion I think. Maske was one of the best German fighters ever, you really can´t compare him with protected jokes like Ottke, Beyer, etc. (although Sven was a good fighter, but the many robberies and some very weak opponents hurts his legacy, nothing personal against him, more to his managment). Henry was a very smart fighter with pretty good boxing skills and a big ring intelligence. He always used his advantages and made it to the opponents disadvantages (reach, skills, jab, etc.). He also studied his opponents well and was always in shape, he never showed a very bad fight. The 1st Rocchigiani- fight he normally lost, but therefore he won the rematch. Melio Bettina, who was also a southpaw, on the other side fought in an extremely strong LHW-era, he beat very good/ great fighters like Tiger Jack Fox, Aposteli, Valentino, Bivins, etc., he also fought and defeated many good fighters who were much heavier than him (for example Barlund, a 200 lbs HW), he had a style, who was very difficult to fight against, his weakness was his discreteness, in the one fight he was world-class, in the other fight he was just good. Both at their best, I would pick the tricky Bettina to win a pretty close UD in a fight where it teems only so from boxing skills and tactic... Bettina UD 12 Maske (8-4)
Hallo Luigi1985, Melio Bettina seems to be a forgotten fighter among the great light heavies. It is good, that You make this thread about him. You are right about the virtues of Henry Maske. But Henry had another weakness: His punching power was not so good. Maybe, that Bettina has an advantage here.
Going against the grain here, Maske beats him. Henry may not have been terribly dynamic but he handled fighters of every style, and good quality, modern conditioned fighters. He is vastly under-rated for his effectiveness, if not for his aestetic values. And he was very strong, even if that didn't translate into punching power.
Yeah, Maske didn´t have elite power, that´s right. His KO- wins were mostly because of cuts or so. Bettina could hit pretty hard, one-punch- wise surely one or two leagues above Maske.
