Underrated champions of the 80s

Sadly too many remember Gene for the Honeyghan fight. By then he was a little over the hill and coming off a loss to Frankie Warren so its a bit of a mystery how he qualified for a title shot against Honeyghan, who was on fire at that time.

Hatcher had some good wins though against Joe Manley, Alfredo Escalera, a big upset against Jonny Bumphus and a couple of wars against Ubaldo Sacco and should be remembered for more than just the Honeyghan blowout.

I did email a little with Gene on facebook yrs ago - he came across as a pleasant enough man, quite religious if i recall correctly. He told me his toughest opponents were the aforementioned Escalera (with whom he split 2 fights) and Sacco.

 

Good call on Mcguigan , I recently watched his win over E. Pedroza and he was relentless in that fight.

 

Yes! Kaokor Galaxy held the WBA bantamweight belt twice. They were twin brothers.

 

Watt just about gets into the criteria for this thread he gives anyone short of the elite a tough night.

 

One of my favorite performances of the 80's.

 

Hector Macho Camacho. Not sure he got the credit he deserved for his heart and willingness to engage.

 

I detect a note of sarcasm here, but when it was time for Hector to catch his whupping he never found a soft spot nor took the easy way out. He was there from start to finish for all the hurt Tito Trinidad and JC Chavez could put on him.

Never stopped and rarely ever down. There are a lot of ‘braver’ fighters who didn’t take the beatings he took from those two and Oscar while staying there til the bitter end.

 

Carlos De Leon was the original king of the cruisers and had a dominant run through a good part of the 1980s.

Antonio Esparragoza held he WBA featherweight title for four years (going into 1991 actually) and made six successful defenses in the 1980s, giving him seven title-fight wins in the decade (counting his effort to win the championship off Steve Cruz).

 

Jiro Watanabe

 

You'll like Yuh. His first fight with Demarco was such an insane pace for 15 rounds. Both deserved medals.

 

Sot Chitalada

 

He didn't win his world title until 90? Not sure now but Paul Hoko Hodkinson obviously got his start in the 80's. All action fighter

 

Love Tim. When he was right, he was brilliant

 

Great thread, Lads! Kudos to all of you!