Ruben Carter vs Farid Salim - 1963-09-14 - Fresh Footage

thanks!

fast and heavy hands, parring everything good D, great combinations.

 

Good scrap Russell! This guy Farid had a pretty sturdy chin, didn't he? To beat Carter however, just a chin didn't cut it. You had to be either Dlck Tiger the Indestructible, or a cutie like the two Joeys were.
I sure like boxing from this particular era...I like the guy who was calling the fight...one guy by himself...not this **** we've been saddled with for years...what, three+ guys calling a fight...Lampley, Lederman, Kellerman, Fellerman, and Yellerman all competing with one another...hell, I just liked one guy..a Dumphy, a Cosell, whoever this guy was who called this fight...clean and simple like boxing used to be in the 50's and 60's.

 

Regardless of what Carter was outside the ring when he was focused and inshape he was one hell of a fighting machine in my book.

 

Espn used to play this fight in a carter bundle all the time.

Carter was average at best. His two best middleweight wins were supposedly fixed (Benton and Mims). Beyond that he got all of his mileage over a stoppage of Griffith that I doubt he could have ever repeated in a million years. He lost 7 of his last 15 fights, several to journeymen despite ending his career at 29 in his prime. He was handpicked as an opponent for Joey Giardello because Joey wanted a relatively easy defense rather then have to chase the #1 rated Joey Archer (who had beaten Carter) around the ring on his aging legs. As Larry Merchant, who covered his career and knew him well said: If Carter couldnt hurt you or stop you he ran out of ideas. And despite his conditioning he admitted that he let the Giardello fight get away from him because because he was concerned about the 15 round distance.

 

My understanding is that in order to get the fight he had to agree to take it easy on Carter, same with Benton. Just watch light punching Holly drop Carter to everyones surprise then continually rush in, smother his own punches, and initiate clinches. He wasnt trying to knock him out. But like I said, its just what Ive heard. I have no proof. But it doesnt change the fact that he was a mediocre fighter.

 

I don't believe Benton-Carter was "fixed." It was a split decision. One judge scored for Benton. One scored for Carter 6 rounds to 4. Maybe a judge was fixed, but that was a pretty useless fix if it was, since both fighters boxed evenly for 10 rounds. It was Benton's third fight in three months. He was 30 years old. He had nearly 60 pro fights. His career had become a slow dirge, ranked but in limbo. In cases like that, some nights you're on, some nights you're off, and some nights you just fight to the level of your opponent, which seemed to be the case that night.

 

I was a little disappointed in Carter in this bout...oh, nothing to do with his performance or anything, it's more like, where the hell was that cool ass Franciscan robe with that cool cord that he wore in his previous fight vs Fernandez?

 

I didnt say a judge was fixed. There are several ways to fix a fight. Supposedly Benton had the cuffs on. Regardless, if Mims and Benton, who combined for 40+ losses) are two of your best wins at 160 it says a lot about the mythologizing around the man. I hear people on regular basis claiming he was great, or could have been a champion, or was robbed of a championship. On Facebook right now there is a thread question who would win between he and Chris Eubank, a LOT of people picked him over Eubank. Its crazy. He was never championship calibre, his time a legit contender was super brief and at every stage of his career he was an unreliable performer. Perfect example of a one trick pony. He was average at best.

Oh, and Eubank would have beaten him in any number of different ways.

 

Eubank showed FAR more in the ring than Carter ever did. Eubank could box, he could punch, he could take a punch, was naturally bigger, and was far more consistent over a much longer period of time than Rubin Carter ever dreamed of being. Id love to hear a breakdown of how Carter would beat Chris Eubank. The real Hurricane Carter, not the superhero from the movies but the one who was washed up and losing every other fight to journeymen by the age of 29 and not even having a huge amount of ringwear relative to the time.

 

If he was able to hit you, unless you were Dlck Tiger of course, you were either going or gone.

 

I do know the commentator said he was born in Argentina to Syrian parents. Tough guy, ate a ton of Hurricane's big left hooks.

Also, Carter's awesome robe shows up in the end, guess he already had it off by the time he hit the ring at the start.

 

Eubank wasn't testing himself against the divisions best. Had he faced Toney, Roy Jones Jr., McCallum, etc he would have had way more losses.