Ode to Pipino Cuevas

I wouldn't call him p4p best puncher or even the best puncher at welter but there's no doubt the mans got lead in those mitts.

 

Hearns was a better puncher than Cuevas but i don't think he hit as hard.

Jackson had a very unique kind of power he probably has more 1 hit KO's than anybody and he literally poleaxed guys, they look like they had just been struck by lighting the way their body just stiffens and collapses to the canvas. Scary ****.

Joe Choynski was basically a super middleweight who KO'd legit heavyweights, damn near everybody who faced him said he hit them the hardest even Johnson who faced Langford, Fitzsimmons, Jeffries etc.

Curtis Sheppard was a 185 pounder who also had freakish power, he KO'd a guy by punching him on the top the temple and broke a guys collar bone by hitting him in the shoulder. Archie Moore said his legs were numb for weeks after fighting Sheppard.

Then you got Jimmy Wilde who looked like a starved child who apparently KO'd guys who literally weighed twice as much as him when he fighting in the booths, you only have to look at him KO record to know the man had serious power.

These 4 guys, IMO, are the top 4 p4p hardest punchers in whatever order. Cuevas i think has the heaviest punch at welterweight and probably the record for most broken bones :good.

 

Joe, actually Pipino did not break Weston's jaw. Weston was cut in the mouth causing his jaw to swell and was fighting 2 months later. But I agree with what you're saying, Cuevas had frightening power. I'll give you another with chilling power. Carlos hernandez of Venezuela. For example, Broke Davey Moore's jaw and stopped him in 7. Bunny Grant was stopped only twice during his career. Once at the end of his career and in 2 rounds by Hernandez. Teo Cruz was stopped twice in his career. On cuts to Mando Ramos and in 2 rounds to hernandez. Paolo Rosi was stopped only on cuts, but Hernandez took him out in one round. He also stopped Joe Brown, Kenny Lane and Alfredo urbina. Also, in losing efforts he had the rock-jawed trio of Jose Napoles, Nicolino Loche and Eddie Perkins on the canvas. That's freakish power.

Scartissue

 

This thread is complete ****ing boxrec analysis.

He fought Espedas and loads ofNapoles offcasts. One of the most overrated title 'reigns' in history.

 

Yes, and he didn't just wing shots either

 

Scott Clark BTW, was like, a kid.

 

Cuevas was a terrific fighter. I am an oldtimer who lived in the L.A. area and saw Pipino many times during his reign of terror. Look at the welter ratings from 77-80 and Pipino fought the top guys and destroyed them, while except for Armando who was a reject of Napoles, Palomino fought nobodies. Just reading all the old Rings you see the rise of these fighters. Cuevas crushed them. He was wore out by 1980 from his offensive style and fared litlle after but in his prime, he was one of the hardest punchers I ever saw. And add the fact that it took hearns 200 right hands to down him and what the mags said about his iron jaw, and you have a very formidible opponant. He threw an awkward left hook uppercut and caught good guys with it and hurt everyone in his 76-80 prime.add the fact his speed caught a lot of guys off guard and in the L.A. papers, trainers of Palomino and others gave him maximun respect. Cuevas sold out for sparring sessions. He was a superstar in L.A. I thought he stunned Shields every round but took so many right hands that his end was starting. Ranzany and weston were good fighters who were peaking and pipino crushed them like bugs. Noone else ever did. Leonard took 4 rds later and Pete admitted he was terrified of Ray. That Cuevas-Ranzany fight was huge for Sacramento and everyone who was ther was stunned by Cuevas power and fury. And for the guy who said Clark was a kid, Pipino was 20! If you don't like the thread don't comment. I saw Cuevas live, did you? I never understood why if someone doesn't like something they have to put down the others who do. I may be way older than most, but this has always been the sign of a spoiled child.

 

I read in a magazine sometime in the 80's that Cuevas had rotator cuff problems in his "pitching" arm, his left. If true, could this be one reason for his decline? His punch, which is usually the last thing to go in a fighter, didn't seem to have the same power later in his career. Does anyone have any knowledge of any rotator cuff problems with Pipino? Wish I could remember where I read this.

 

Agreed.

Outside of his initial upset of Espadas and his quicker-than-expected blowout of Ranzany, there really wasn't much spectacular about his quality of opposition. Also, his defense was terrible and he ate right hands like candy. IMO, he was always ripe to be taken by a big puncher.

 

OK. Lets balance this thread a little, shall we?

Cuevas was not a stilistic nor a great technical boxer, but he was not a tomato can neither.

He was basically a great puncher with frightening smashing power. He overwhelmed his opponents by a combination of sheer raw power and non stop aggresion.

The problem with Pipino is that he crossed paths with a guy called Tommy Hearns; an even better puncher who, incidentally, had all the technical skills that Pipino lacked.

Hears vs Pipino was basically like the Barracuda trying to tangle with the Killer Whale atsch

 

I think Flea Man got shorted on naps as a child.

Cuevas had frightening power.

And I know Scott Clark personally. He was no "kid". Beat a certain 175lb contenders' ass out in the alley after a gym workout in Orlando and is angle iron tough.

Cuevas made Pete Ranzany look like some guy who just wandered in from the corner bar. Clyde Gray, who went life and death with the great Napoles, didn't fare much better.

Revisonist history. No one thought Cuevas was fighting castoffs in 1978.