The 10 Greatest Bantamweights

Al, not to detract from this bantam thread, but I hope you can clarify something for me. Remember the story of Henry lined up for the title against Jimmy Ellis? Why was it that the BBBC told Cooper no? Was it how they didn't have ties to the WBA? Cooper turned in his British title in protest, but I don't think anyone would have blamed him if he said I'm going for it.

 

Yes it was because the board didn't recognize the WBA. Buchanan also had a bit of a problem when he beat Laguna. Basically he wasn't recognised as World champ in Britain.

 

Have you ever thought of moving into boxing promotion? You're building the anticipation beautifully!

 

I was sort of expecting to see Kid Williams on the list, he did indeed seem to be a beast. Not one that I was fully up to speed on though, it was nice to read summat new; you've put some obvious legwork into this Flea. I wish I had the time and money to do similar.

I'm gonna watch some stuff of Brown maybe later tonight if I get the chance. He always struck me as a SRR prototype, quite similar the way he laced and lashed them long-armed combos.

 

Harking back to some of the earlier comments by Flea, Al, Chris, scar etc earlier on......

I must be due a rewatch of some aforementioned fights, I didn't think Legra was robbed against Jofre as I recall. Not by a long stretch, I thought he edged it if anything, though it was close throughout and hard to score. He got off to a rough start with the knockdown and took some time to get going but I thought he did the cleaner work throughout with harder single blows and slipping a lot of Legra's flurries. He did struggle with Legra's rangyness, bounce and speed though, no doubt. Jose was harder done against Fammo I thought. Cracking fighter, Legra.

It's been years since I've watched either of the Jofre-Harada fights all the way through and I don't have my old scorecards anymore. I recall thinking that I had Harada by about 3 in the first fight. Jofre was about as slow as I've seen a great fighter with such ability by that point and his slow start bit him in arse through him not having the energy or workrate later on as he usually did. He looked very drained to me. I thought the second fight was very close though as a I remember it, I need to watch it again probably to see if what Flea says holds water, as I trust his judgement. I remember it being an either way type affair and had a card where I scored it to Jofre by a point. I recall that Sweet Pea/Bujia did too, we talked about it iirc.

Harada-Medel II was also close I thought, I agree with Chris and Al on that, though can see where Flea is coming from that the winner wasn't in doubt despite the very competitive nature of it. Harada fought a very patient and disciplined fight and Medel didn't quite up the ante enough as he should've and sometimes failed to do on other occasions. He hit Harada a lot though and visibly hurt him numerous times, and he had him reeling in the 15th towards the end. Great fight that one.

Flea, did you really score the Harada-Kingpetch rematch for Pone? Wow, I dunno about that, I thought Harada was robbed tbh. Very bad decision. Harada did flag though over the second half, he seemed to take Kingpetch lightly after the dominance of the first fight, and to the latter's credit, he really redeemed himself and fought an excellent fight worthy of remembrance, particularly as he was so brutally beaten in the first fight. I didn't think he did near enough to win though despite Harada not looking at best.

 

Also, from what I've seen, I thought Ebihara was hard done by too against Kingpetch in the rematch. Again though, Kingpetch did marvellously to make it a competitive fight after the way Ebihara bombed him out first time around. And admittedly it isn't the full fight I've seen, with a couple or few rounds amiss. If Kingpetch had taken those rounds then it might have been legitimately close.

 

So...is it continuing this week?

 

It’s been a while since I saw the Harada-Kingpetch re-match and Legra-Famechon but I agree I think both verdicts were wrong. Famechon having a better case of winning but still falling short. I’m going to watch and score both this week. I heard that the first Legra-Winstone fight was controversial too with Legra probably getting the short end but I’ve not encountered anyone who saw that fight.

Harada-Caraballo was another damn close fight that could have gone either way IMO. Caraballo showed some excellent skills and intelligence in that fight.

 

The few people I've spoken to who saw Legra-Winstone I live back in the day, either on the original BBC broadcast or the actual fight itself mostly all said the same thing; that it was close and Winstone got the benefit of the doubt. My Grandad thought Winstone won, and unless I'm mistaken, TED822 (I think that was his username) who used to post on here also thought Winstone won a close one. It's not beyond the realm of possibility though that Legra deserved the decision but was on the wrong end of a close but controversial one. He, Winstone and Fammo were on a similar level imo ability-wise, one approaching great/near great. All brilliant but beatable types.

I didn't think Harada-Caraballo was too close tbh. Very competitive, especially in the early going where Caraballo gave an excellent account of himself and really ran Harada hard. I recall Harada taking over in the later stages though and pulling clear. 10-5 sort of decision I thought, maybe a rounds swing either way. 9-6 is fair. Caraballo was brilliant too, like Rudkin and Medel a proper champ in most other eras type. Just a bit loopy and ungainly with his punches sometimes I think.

 

My score on Harada-Caraballo. The 14th and 15th became a bit of a clinchfest, but other than that, a good fight. The first round needs some explaining. I didn't score it 5-3 which might be the norm with a knockdown, but it was one of Caraballo's best rounds because he stunned Harada about three times during the round and then Harada caught him towards the end. I gave Harada the round but didn't feel it was worth two points.

Round 1: 5-4 Harada (scores a knockdown)
Round 2: 5-5 Even
Round 3: 5-4 Caraballo
Round 4: 5-4 Caraballo
Round 5: 5-4 Harada
Round 6: 5-5 Even
Round 7: 5-4 Harada
Round 8: 5-4 Caraballo
Round 9: 5-4 Caraballo
Round 10: 5-4 Harada
Round 11: 5-3 Harada (Caraballo loses a point for excessive holding)
Round 12: 5-4 Caraballo
Round 13: 5-4 Harada
Round 14: 5-4 Harada
Round 15: 5-4 Harada

Total: 70-66 Harada