Did Willy ever talk about this bout and whether he dived or not? The other question is does anyone know why he would have taken a dive at that point in his career? Lulu's resume wasn't that of a ko puncher and Willy seemed to ad-lib with his head shaking after the,,,ko. Any insites?
I was ringside at the ol' Garden that night, t, 'n thought the fight was kosher. Willie took Perez lightly 'n paid for phoning it in. (He spent most of his time in gin mills 'n at the track) He could just as well have taken a ten-count the first or second time he got dropped. Because he was Willie -- incomparable at his best -- fans refused to accept it. For me, it was just one'a them things.
John, wow, you were there, that is fantastic! Yours is the first insite I've come across on that bout. Thanks
When I originally looked at this, I thought it was a dive, but subsequent viewings make it clear Pep went down all three times after getting hit solidly. If the referee had counted ten, that would have been one thing, but this was ended on the three knockdown rule. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIk465gqc6Q[/ame]
Willie had to be in poor condition because he got hit with shots that he normally would have avoided. It does not look like a dive to me,Ali vs Liston was a sure dive and Lamotta-Fox.....but this was not Willie Pep
Unless Pep simply forgot how to box, it looks a clear dive to me. The first and last knockdowns looked iffy. Sure, shots landed, but the fall didn't convince me on either one. I've never seen him fight even remotely as poorly as in this fight. He looked like he was phoning it in from the beginning, biding his time until he could take the fall in a semi-believable manner. He basically threw his head at Perez's fists.
According to Willie he was in good shape but just caught by a good shot, he was caught cold. He was stopped on the 3 knockdown rule but felt he could of carried on. He said he was 32 at the time and had been boxing for 16 years, his reflexes just weren't the same as when he was in his 20's and you feel the shots more. Interestingly he said a couple of years earlier he had been stopped by Tommy Collins and was quite candid in admitting he was glad the ref stopped that one as he was hurt and who knows what can happy when your groggy. Source: Fridays Heroes
The way he fell in an exaggerated manner suggests to me that he dived. There's no way to be sure though, without Pep's admittance. Pep was far from shot at this time, but the way he looks here is as if he had nothing left. This was hardly the case as in other filmed fights of his in this period his reflexes still looked fine, he took good care of himself and took the punches well whenever they landed. Perez was hardly a puncher either. Tommy Collins on the other hand was a solid belter, who had Saddler on the floor, so it's more believable that he could stop Pep, although there are some questions about that one as well.
Just looked at it for the first time there in about 25 years. Looked like a good shot for the first knock down. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt. When you've had that many fights there is always the chance of an occasional blip. On the other hand, for a guy with his experience you might think that he would of tried to hold or something. He does look like he's going through the motions a little bit even before the knockdown.
It's impossible to know. JG was there ringside, and says he thought it was kosher. That's as a good an opinion you will get.
