When thinking about the thread about lhw champs facing Moore in their first defence, one of the guys coming to my mind was Paul Berlenbach. There was a thread about the film of his and Delaney in their third fight and I was fairly impressed by him - sadly the film isn´t there anymore. Not a crude slugger with nothing but big power like I expected but a fairly decent skilled fighter with some good counter-punching. When looking a bit into his resume, you will recognize some good names. His nemesis was the great Jack Delaney who he faced 4 times. He lose once early and once late in his career. During his prime however he was able to defeat him once but later lost his title to him, which makes me assume at his best he was on the same level. His title run was very impressive. Decisioning McTigue for the title, going on to beat HoFers Jimmy Slattery (by TKO), Jack Delaney and Young Stribling, contenders Emilio Solomon (by TKO) and Ray Neumann. Another interesting fight is his with contender Tony Marullo during his reign. A ND fight in which both qere DQed for "not trying", anybody knowing something more about it? He finally lost his title to his nemesis Jack Delaney. Other noteworthy fights are a draw with Young Stribling in a six rounder, a TKO over an declining Battling Siki, a TKO loss to McTigue after he lost his title and a points loss to Walker late in his career. This is very impressive IMO. More impressive than anything any lhw did since Spinks. He beat 5 Hofers or ATGs. Yep, he had 8 losses but look at them. Two of them came late in his career - his last three fights consisted of two losses and one NC. One against one of the best hws of the time (Risko). One against a Hofer (Mctigue) and it looks as if he may have been on his way out by then and 4 against ATGs (Delaney, Walker) and one of those was in his 13th fight and two were after the McTigue loss. Nothing to be ashamed of. His peak seems to have been very short though. Kinda like Mike Tyson. Should his standing be reconsidered? During his hayday he wasn´t thought of as anything special as far as I can see though. What´s your opinion on him?
I, too saw the Berlenbach/Jack Delaney bout on youtube awhile back and was very impressed with Paul Berlenbach's mobility in the bout.. My dad who saw him in his heyday woukld mention his great "wrestling" strength and punching power,but Oom Paul, could box too. I believe that the great Jack Delaney and Paul Berlenbach would have done very well in the Charles, Archie Moore era...Yes indeed !
Yes I agree that Berlenbach's been somewaht underrated...in the past I've read about him and his bouts with Delaney and Slattery...and admittedly I've been more of a fan of Slattery, stylewise, I think Berlenbach's style needs reappraisal.
Berlenbach made the most of what he had. He started boxing late and was a hard puncher and decent boxer. I dont know if hes underrated though. His fight with Marullo was controversial. Marullo was supposedly winning the bout and giving Berlenbach all kinds of trouble when the ref stopped the fight. Might have been home cooking.
Correct. His IBHOF profile makes this claim, but it was the Finnish four time Olympic medal winner Eino Leno (1891-1986) who won middleweight gold in Antwerp, while American Charley Johnson (1896-1967) won bronze in that class over fellow American Angus Frantz. Still, that doesn't change the fact that Berlenbach was a world class wrestler, and not many of those can successfully transition into boxing, or vice versa.
"Oom Paul " " Punch Em Paul", was born deaf and mute,Paul Gallico described him disparagingly as, slow witted ,and unimaginative ,he was neither.When he was 12 he helped a friend who had gotten his kite entangled in an electric cable Paul freed it but ,in the process received a serious electric shock ,which restored his hearing,with tutelage he gained the power of speech. Though never glib he was far from unintelligent,and a better boxer than given credit for.I have one of his fights with Delaney, a master boxer and Paul holds his own.
Probably the third, in which he lost his title. It was on youtube for a while, I was very surprised by Berlenbach. I knew about his strength and power but didn´t think he was actually that skilled.
. Get outta here with that. No way he beat better competition at 175lb than Ezzard Charles or Archie Moore. Also your prediction of Berlenbach kayoing archie moore in the other thread is preposterous. I have studied up on Berlenbach, and though many underrate him, I am accusing you here of overrating him.
What is it with your eyes? I didn´t write up to Spinks but since. Meaning the time between Spinks´ reign and now. Got it? Or do I need to draw you a picture?
