VIDEOS: Bernard Docusen W 10 Frankie Fernandez; Yoshio Shirai W 15 Dado Marino III

Bobo Olson W 15 Rocky Castellani

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Gil Turner W 10 Johnny Saxton I

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Turner, the one-time WW title challenger, was already starting to decline at this point in his career, but he still had enough left to temporarily halt the rise of the unbeaten Saxton on a very close, disputed decision.

 

Here's ultra rare footage of Dick Tiger's first fight with Spider Webb, in England:
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At this time, Webb was a very highly regarded, leading MW contender, while Tiger was still largely unheralded outside of England. Webb received a surprisingly tough test from the "young" Tiger, but his class and experience managed to see him through to a hard-fought decision.

A rematch a couple years later was a much different story:
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Gregorio Peralta W 10 Wayne Thornton I

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Two top LHWs of the '60s collide in an eliminator for a title shot. Starts off slow, but stick with it - It'll be worth your while. :yep

 

Peralta was a fighter of contradictions. He had a brilliant left hook, but a sloppy, chopping right hand. He was awkward and ungainly-looking, but as his later HW career showed, he could be a deceptively clever and difficult boxer. And perhaps most notably is that he was too small to be a real top fighter at HW, but too big to consistently make 175.

 

Sammy Mandell W 15 Jimmy McLarnin I:
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This was McLarnin's first shot at a world title, but he found the fellow future HOFer Mandell to be a bit too slick and clever. McLarnin would subsequently beat Mandell in two over-the-weight matches. Mandell's own aspirations for greatness would come to a screeching halt when he was shockingly blasted out in the 1st round by Al Singer, who was himself then shockingly blasted out by McLarnin.

 

Tony DeMarco W 10 Eddie Connors:
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Typical DeMarco slugfest, from Tony's post-championship career.

 

Dave Sands W 10 Bobo Olson II:
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Here's footage of one of boxing's most famous "couldda bins," Aussie MW Dave Sands. Sands was often likened to Les Darcy during his rise to the top, and that comparison proved to be tragically prophetic. Here is Sands scoring the biggest win of his career, clearly outboxing and outpunching up-and-coming Bobo Olson for a second time. Within a year after this fight, Sands was killed in a car accident. Like Darcy, Sands' career and life came to a sudden and tragic end just as he appeared to be on the cusp of big things.

It's almost shocking to look at this fight and think that it's Olson who would go on to be the distinguished champion and HOFer.

 

Vicente Saldivar KO 2 Floyd Robertson:
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Here's Saldivar scoring one of the best and most explosive wins of his career, against rugged African contender Floyd Robertson. Many people had thought Robinson had been "robbed" in a title match with Saldivar's predecessor, Sugar Ramos, and many considered him the "uncrowned champion" heading into this fight. One big left hand from Saldivar erased all doubts about who really was the champ.

Incidentally, Robertson would claim after this fight that he had been drugged by his own manager. I tend to think he was more likely drugged by Saldivar's brutal left hand. :yep