The deal was that if Gaz did Ray, Wallet would do Tommy :-( I admit it would be harder to take the time to produce an entry if you actually have a life, but Gaz's posting regularity and innate knowledge of Leonard shows he has the potential to do a great job. My Muangsurin one will obviously encompass some prime Tommy as well ;-)
At least I'm reliable while being lazy. Benitez aside, I've done one on everyone I said I would. Still though, how freakin' awesome is Thai boxing? Like, ****ing hell, dudes fighting and beating proven world champions within ten fights, and it's not like they have the amateur experience of Rigo or someone like that.
Actually, forget about having Hearns done today, I'll have it by tomorrow or Monday. I'm going to Dublin-Tyrone later, and I'll have a Hitman-fest for the next few days.
Name: Jose 'Mantequilla' Napoles Nationality: Cuban/Mexican Height: 5'7 1/2 Boxing record Total fights 88 Wins 81 KO's 54 Losses 7 (4) This content is protected When P4P greats are discussed, it's only ever so long that someone pipes up with 'Jose Napoles?' It's a name that always resonates with me. 'Mantequilla', or butter, one of the first true Professors of The Sweet Science that I ever witnessed. A master thrower of hooks and uppercuts, with pinpoint accuracy, a stout chin, and beautiful movement, as well as a jab designed to set his opponent into his traps, he had all the qualities that add up to a perfect operator. Except for one glaring fault: his skin was as smooth as his ring generalship, and cuts were a major problem in some of his biggest fights. With an amateur record of 113-1, Napoles ventured into the pro ranks, with an unspectacular start against basic opposition to amass a record of 12-1. As a lightweight, his quality of opposition started to rise, and he lost a decision to contender Alfredo Urbina, who would fight many the lightweight greats of the 60s including Sugar Ramos, Carlos Hernandez, Ismael Laguna, and had a win over an ancient Joe Brown. Napoles beat the aforementioned Hernandez, in an impressive win over a top contender, a lanky fighter and a dangerous puncher. Napoles would soon leave Lightweight in search of opportunities at Welterweight, but before he left, he gave us a glimpse of how much of a beast he would've been there, not hinting much at the slick operator he would become. After avenging a decision loss to unheralded Tony Perez by stoppage, he rematched Alfredo Urbina. Here we see Napoles at his offensive best, laying to rest the thoughts of the decision loss, and laying to waste a capable contender inside a round. Vs Urbina II [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5oVr4jN7Ek[/ame] Growing into Welterweight, Napoles suffered a cut stoppage (avenged) but generally carried on blitzing average opposition. Napoles was not a big Welter by any means; but he was about to show his Ring I.Q was humongous. After beating journeyman Fate Davis, he was given a chance to fight Curtis Cokes, a quality Welterweight of the time and the undisputed Welterweight champion. This is Napoles in his Welterweight prime putting on one of the best performances I've ever seen. It is a clinic, with the rangey Cokes landing a few of his formidable jabs but little else. Napoles' upper body movement, navigation of the ring, punch selection, combination punching and general dictating of pace is a sight to behold. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=docDwU1zzUM[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx73_4XdUUE&feature=related[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvdY8Jx-mEM&feature=related[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvdY8Jx-mEM&feature=related[/ame] Napoles followed that up with a defence against Cokes, another dominant win, not on yt. Napoles then met head-to-head with another man who would be regarded as a P4P great: legendary Welter/Middleweight Emile Griffith. Griffith has maintained he was okay at the weight, but an early knockdown scored by Napoles clearly upset Griffiths rhythm, and Napoles won well, defending his title for the third time in six months against ATG Welterweights. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmLYtClVbjo[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLYySO9x_Zo&feature=related[/ame] Napoles was demonstrating serious finesse in his displays. Counter punching, combinations and defensive movement were all exceptional, and whilst he didn't have blinding handspeed, his timing and accuracy were sublime. After punishing Ernie Lopez (brother of future Featherweight great 'Little Red') in a defence of his title, Napoles lost to Billy Backus (Nephew of Carmen Basilio) on cuts; re-starting a trend that would haunt his career. Trying to tame the rugged southpaw, Napoles finds him a game challenger, and engages in all-out war! Napoles seems incensed at the referees decision to stop the fight, and take his title from him. Vs Ernie Lopez I [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awVRsC-odc8&feature=related[/ame] Vs Backus I [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTWAzx7hijQ[/ame] Six months later, Mantequilla had a chance to regain his championship, and again faced a game and competitive Backus. Napoles showed Backus what is was really like to suffer from cuts, as a weary and bloodied Backus was saved from further punishment by the referee in the 8th round. Napoles was champ' again! Vs Backus II [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQvrf9lIGUQ&feature=related[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTXfnV72ZL8&feature=related[/ame] Napoles went on a 9 (6) fight winning streak, which included 6 title defences, against contenders Hedgemon Lewis, British and Commonwealth champ Ralph Charles, and old foe Adolph Pruitt, who had retired injured against Napoles when they were still learning their trade. He also rematched Ernie Lopez, and beat him in destructive fashion. He also faced top contenders Clyde Gray, and European champion and top contender Roger Menetrey Vs Hedgemon Lewis I [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8beOdBxOcMQ[/ame] Vs Ralph Charles [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf_vV-lOeUc[/ame] Vs Ernie Lopez II: at 4:46; see Napoles unleash a beautiful right counter uppercut [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tccXjGHUimU[/ame] With a dominant Welterweight reign, Napoles, who was taken in by Mexico after the Cuban revolution and was a firm fan favourite there, decided to take on the biggest challenge of his career, and probably an insurmountable obstacle for any ATG Welterweight. He jumped up to middleweight, to face dominant champion and ATG Carlos Monzon, who was making the tenth defence of his Middleweight championship, whilst running on the momentum of a 70 fight undefeated streak. Napoles, as always, is full of heart, and has a degree of success early on, getting underneath Monzons stiff offence and firing off combinations of his own. But as many found out the hard way, Monzon found his range and dictated the pace once he'd adjusted to his opponent and found his odd rhythm, and once he started to use his size advantage and drop his heavy hands onto Napoles, the smaller man, remember, a natural Lightweight, was given the first true stoppage loss of his career; pulled out between rounds after shipping a tremendous beating from Monzons perfectly timed thudding punches. Monzons ability to adjust and dominate is perfectly demonstrated here. I've never seen Napoles in anywhere near this kind of trouble before, but it was a solid showing for his resilience and P4P toughness. He wouldn't be hurt like this until his reflexes had left him almost completely. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7-TBvPZd4U[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbWaSB-hGYY[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjlQCTfwNPA&feature=related[/ame] Napoles returned to the Welterweight division after a good effort against arguably the greatest Middleweight of all time (Not IMO; but it's definitely hard to argue against Monzon) but partying, wear and tear and facial damage had started to take it's toll on the great Cuban. Still, he took the number of successful title defences up to 13! He stopped Hedgemon Lewis, had a controversial win over Armando Muniz stopped due to 'fouls' and with Napoles awarded the win; Napoles was starting to slip, getting caught more often than at his best, and busted up badly again, but Muniz was a dirty fighter. Funnily enough, you can hear the name of one Jose Sillyman during the commentary, who was accused of snatching the victory away from Muniz by calling a halt to proceedings and allowing Napoles to escape with his title on a technicality. Napoles set the record straight with a clear cut win over Muniz. But Napoles' time at the top of the 147lb division was nearly up by the time the European champion John H Stracey came over to Mexico City to challenge Napoles for the WBC belt. A pumped-up Stracey fought back from a first round knockdown with one of his own and the great fighter couldn't recover: Napoles lost his status,cut and fatigued with Stracey pressuring him on the ropes. Napoles retired a legend, knowing full well he wasn't as sharp as he used to be. Controversial 1st Muniz fight [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4u8FWGn1lo[/ame] Final fight: Loses title to Stracey [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12kkRKzE9bo[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR2VKYXopAA[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvpZ-oUbVmU&feature=related[/ame] This was one of the greatest away wins in British boxing history, despite the champ being past his best. Stracey showed heart to keep the pressure on once he saw blood, and especially after a bad start. Stracey would go on to defend against that man again Hedgemon Lewis, before being brutalised with body shots by Carlos Palomino: thus kick starting the next generation of Welterweights, which was a truly great era. Jose Napoles was a fighter that was never shamed, beat a number of very good fighters as well as ATGs, and displayed the consumate blend of skills and guts you'd expect of an ATG. His propensity to cut did let him down somewhat, but he also tried to settle the score when he could and show he was the superior man, whilst also having the smarts to know when to bow out. He has one clear-cut loss in his career IMO: to Carlos Monzon, way out of his best weight in a brave showing. Against Stracey he was past prime, and still refused to fold under the punishment, but was beaten by a fresher, hungrier fighter. Napoles is undoubtedly one of the greatest Welterweights of all time. He is, simply, one of the greats of all time, P4P one of the most impressive fighters I have ever seen.
It was gone midday :deal And anyway, the last bit of tidying up is to do with rankings, I'm trying to find out where Muangsurins opponents were ranked when he defended his title against them, I have a feeling he took on some top contenders. I already know the Mamby fight is supposed to be a robbery....my problem is not having seen enough of the fight to give an accurate breakdown of it :twisted:
That was about half 12 I rang you You're more of an expert on Napoles than I am: anything I've mis-remembered above? Anything else you think Napoles deserves mention for, or anything you feel I've got the wrong end of the stick on? It's been a while since I immersed myself in his career...I have to say, I still find him sublime after so many viewings
Who's Armando Ruiz? His Lightweight-Light-Welter career is really interesting, although I aint researched it that much. His fights with Hernandez, Perkins etc... Also you could have mentioned that he was old after he came down to Middleweight, people was sort of waiting for him to grow old overnight from the second Lewis fight, because of his party ethic.
I wasn't aware he was that much of a party animal: please elaborate :good Also, has been a couple of years since I watched the Stracey fight, and remembered it being stopped primarily on cuts. But it was a barrage from Stracey that ended it, so I'll have to amend that atsch All these years, I haven't rated this win as highly as it should be. Obviously mixing it up with a different fight I watched at the same time...I was very sure of myself as well, my mind is playing tricks on me ;-) :good Thanks for noticing the stream of consciousness mess-up with the names :good
Aye he was a party animal, Sports Illustrated mentioned that he more often say the dawn after being up, than seeing it as he was running. Loved booze and girls.