This was the second Loughran fight I watched tonight (the first was w/ Mickey Walker), and the first Braddock fight. I had not been impressed w/ Loughran in the Walker fight, and had no expectations here. Let's get to it: 1-Braddock stalked Loughran, but was slow and wild when he punched. Almost everything Braddock threw was a foot off from target and came seconds late. Loughran's good defense and boxing skill made this round easy for him to win. Loughran. (rounds 2-5 do not appear on film) 6-Loughran clinches the round away. Loughran. 8-Loughran clinched less here and struck Braddock throughout w. stringing punches. Loughran's best round on film in this fight. (rounds 9 through 14 do not appear on film) 15-Loughran moved around fantastically, striking w/ big punches. Loughran. This was one of the worst shut-outs I had ever seen in boxing. It's like Braddock wasn't even there. No kidding. I had no idea what an awful fighter Braddock was early in his career. I've never seen such a useless performance given in boxing before. Verdict: Don't bother. Dull shut-out victory.
I bothered. Right on evaluation, especially about Braddock. He showed nothing. Despite his big height advantage, I don't think I remember seeing him throw a jab. He fought as an untutored mauler. (aside--he used a jab against Baer and had improved a lot). Also, I have never seen a boxer who looked so weak physically. He was pushing 24, but looked a gangly 12 year old boy. You had to wonder about his nutrition growing up and in his early boxing career. Loughran looked good, but it is hard to judge how good he was as his opponent was so inept. He moves well, and has a good jab, but seems very limited.
Yeah, the commentators for this fight kept saying how Loughran was such a great fighter, and I'm thinking, that may be true, but it wouldn't take a great fighter to beat Braddock!
