Two rough, tough middleweights, and two of the hardest punchers at 160 of all time. Who wins, 15 rounds?
I think Graziano should be rated below the top tier MWs personally in terms of greatness at the weight. But i would possibly take him here, stoppage somewhere, will be a grueling fight. Papke could very well do this, but like i say, im taking a Rocky stoppage.
Papke was a level above Rocky ,imo ,he was a rough tough man who fought great hard middles like Ketchel and iron men like Klaus,solid fighters like Mantell,Carpentier,Moha,Sullivan ,and Lewis.Rocky beat a past it Zale once,was destroyed by SRR,and feasted on a few Welters,he would never fight Lamotta.Rocky had a great right ,but was overated imo.
I agree McVey, they're the reasons for the first line of my post. But for some reason i pick him here, maybe i picked wrong, but i'll have to stick by it now! H2h he may win this one?
I'll take that as you bein nice! Thanks for not hoing all out on me! Kidding, yea, hard one to decide h2h actuakky for me. No question who i have as the greater 160 pounder though,
Jesus could you imagine what their faces what look like if it went 15 rounds with these power sluggers? Great matchup IMO Papke was better than most give him credit. Billy Papke KO-5 round.
Personally I'm inclined to give the edge to Papke, because I believe he had a superior chin. He went dozens of rounds against Ketchel, who was the only fighter to ever KO him, and only in one of their 4 fights. He also beat Georges Carpentier and fought Frank Klaus, both of whom were excellent punchers.
Graziano was not a top forty all time middleweight, most likely even less ... he was a hell of a right hand puncher and a legendary character ... Papke would have destroyed him ...
You may not believe this but it was once rumoured that Billy Papke had a torrid love affair with none other than Mary Papanicolaou. And if he did, well, I guess he probably had the ability to beat Graziano too.
I was never really impressed by Papke, or Ketchel. They look awful on video, very crude. Question is, which era of rules are they fighting under? If Papke has to fight in the 1940's, he won't be allowed to clinch and wrestle as he did in the early 1900s. He was basically a wrestler who threw punches. Without his excessive clinching I don't think he gets very far. I'm inclined to favor Graziano on this one. Though he lost to Robinson by brutal 3rd round KO, he had dropped Robinson a minute prior. To my knowledge LaMotta was the only other fighter to ever knock SRR down.
