Hey Red! Wanted a spring/summer 75 Victor-Conte for all the marbles! IMO could have gone either way but I was the Galindez 'nut hugger' and my late friend was the Conte fan. For all the youngsters or semi-youngsters out there, you should remember this was when Victor wasn't battle torn and before John had his broken right hand issues. My friend and I wasted the better part of a year discussing when they would fight. After Foster had 'retired', I knew Victor copped the WBA version leaving the talented Len 'The Stinger' Hutchings on his stool after the 13th and John had copped a hard fought UD against the TOUGH Ahumada for the WBC version. In closing, Victor was always a 'text book' counter puncher but he seemed to 'bask' in that style in all his subsequent defenses which may have taken more out of him than he should have let happen. Given his talent, IMO, he should have never let so many of his defenses go the full 15; seems like he had a ton of them. Again just my $0.02
What's up jowcol? The Galindez who fought Stinger Hutchins for the vacant WBA Lightheavyweight title was a brute...a cavemanlike bomb thrower who put Hutchins in the hospital. Although that Galindea would resurface from time to time (in Kates l and Rossman ll), that style was abandoned pretty much as his trainer Amilcar Brusa retooled Galindez into being a "back against the ropes counterpuncher" for the purposes of Victor's longevity as a fighter/champion. He was pretty much an artist in negotiating the 15 round distance, like his great contemporary Carlos Monzon. He sure did have more than a few cliff hangers though. I was also very much of thge belief that Galindez would have beaten Conteh, though I respected and highly regarded the Brit. I just was convinced that Victor was stronger, meaner and a more convincing, established champion.
so many great lightweavies back then, Victor was kind of a dirty fighter if I remember correctly, but I liked him a lot, actually, liked them all, Gregory, Conte , Franklin, Lopez, damn, what a crew!!!
I will always remember Victor for his courage he showed in his fight with Richie Kates in South Africa. The fight almost ended in the 3rd rd when a head butt from Kates , split open the eye of champ. Victor screamed in agony as blood gushed out of the cut ( from ringside reports ). He was forced into the corner & the fight stopped while he received attention. The ref Stan Christodulou (he ref Pryor vs Arguello 1 )should have disq Kates but let it continue. Victor showed tremendous will to fight through the pain and took opportunity to wipe the blood pouring from his eye on the ref shirt. Victor won by ko & ahead on pts to win with one sec left in the 15th rd. The fight was later described as one of the most savage fight ever seen in SA. Watch headbutt at 7.40 This content is protected
Greetings Joe! With all due respect, I disagree with your saying Victor was a dirty fighter. You should watch several of his fights. He got hit low several times and touched gloves after recovering as if to say: "no prob, you didn't mean it. Let's just get back to the fight". When he threw the occasional low blow, he seemed quick to apologize. Watch his reaction when Rossman stopped him; he jestered towards Rossman to say "good fight". Of course I loved Victor taking out Rossman in the rematch. It's funny that I never realized that Victor, with all his swarm attack, was really a pretty nice guy in the ring until years later???
Great post jowcol,...really great post. This needed to be pointed out. Galindez was pretty clean...and a sportsman..much like Monzon was, coincidently.
The punch Marvin Johnson nailed him with and sent him ass-over-teakettle across the ring was one of the hardest punches ever landed at 175 IMO.
