Willie Pastrano - School me...

Pastrano is a hard fighter to assess, since he basically expended his best years fighting above his best weight, and didn't win the title until after he was somewhat shopworn.

At one time, Pastrano was actually considered one of the best HWs in the world, rated right on par with Machen and Folley, and considered a likely challenger for Patterson's title, but upset losses to Roy Harris and Brian London spoiled that. After being stopped by London on cuts, his career went into a decline, as he lost more often than he won and fought much less frequently. He eventually went back down to LHW, but this failed to revive his career (at least initially), and he lost a crucial fight to Chic Calderwood that would've put him in line for a shot at the LHW title. His career was eventually revived when he came into a fight with hot prospect Wayne Thornton as a late sub, and he ended up losing a very close, but exciting decision. This earned him two rematches with Thornton, a draw and then a win, which put him into the mix of top LHW contenders. Around this same time, Harold Johnson (who was still performing very impressively at this time, and was very highly regarded despite his age) was looking to make a defense of his title, but two prospective challengers (Mauro Mina and Henry Hank) had backed out with injuries. Pastrano took the fight on short notice and ended up scoring one of the biggest upsets of the decade when he took a SD from Johnson. It was also one of the most controversial decisions of the decade, as many observers felt Johnson had controlled the middle and later portions of the fight with his pressure and harder punching. Soon after winning the title, Pastrano was soundly beaten in a non-title fight with Gregorio Peralta, but Pastrano came back to turn in the last great performance of his career when he outboxed Peralta and stopped him on cuts in a title rematch. After that, Pastrano looked lackluster in a fight with ex-MW champ Terry Downes, who was himself making his "last hurrah" and mugged and hustled Pastrano throughout the fight, until Pastrano rallied in the late rounds to score a surprising uncharacteristic KO. After that, another ex-MW in Jose Torres proved to be too quick and sharp a puncher for Pastrano as he pounded him into a late stoppage to take his title. Pastrano was floored by a brutal body shot halfway through the fight, which was reportedly the first and only KD of his career. After that, he never fought again.

I will also add that even though Pastrano was a "boxer/mover" type, he was actually known for competing in a lot of exciting, fast paced fights, and had a rep for showing a lot of toughness and grit in some punishing battles.

 

I'd say he was a pretty important inspiration for young Clay.

Pastrano was with Dundee when Clay sought Angelo up. I think he asked to spar Pastrano, who was one of Dundee's main fighters of the time.

 

That's true...Pastrano influenced Ali...Willie was a dancing master with a great pair of legs...an excellent jab..a light hitter due to the fact that he rarely "sat down" on his punches. he was...when in shape, a constantly moving, dancing rapid-fire jabbing boxer par excellance...but an unsung attribute of Willie's was his toughness..he had an absolute mania about not getting hit..for one thing that messed things up for him and the ladies. He never gave a rats ass about proving his toughness, but because he wasn't always the most dedicated trainer, and he showed up for many fights in woeful shape, the legs didn't take him out of harms way and he had to take more punishment than was his custom. He had a first class chin, and in fact, was never decked from a shot to the head..the only career kd he ever suffered was in his last fight via that wicked left hook to the liver from Jose torres

 

Robinson is often named for the main source of inspiration for how Clay developed his movement, but I actually thinks he was a lot more similar to the two Willies, Pastrano and Pep.

 

Oh of course..Robinson's style pertained so much to planting his feet and punching...he was the puncher's puncher in addition to his other great skills..he saw action in the trenches far more than Ali. The two Willies ESPECIALLY Pastrano provided the blueprint for the young Cassius Clay more than anyone else.

 

Let's hear it for Willie Pastrano!!!

 

Johnson got robbed against him

 

I agree.

 

Ali worked in the gym with Willie Pastrano and Ralph Dupas. I think they taught him a few tricks.

 

http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles/3704-angelo-dundee-talks-about-the-past

 

Pastrano claimed that the Torres' liver / pancreas shot was so severe that he never ever recovered (and eventually led to his death).

 

Willie told the story of when he got offered the title show with Harold Johnson:

His manager called to tell him someone had fallen out due to injury and Willie could fill the spot. Wanted to know if Willie would take it, fully expecting to jump on the opportunity.

Willie: "I don't want to fight Harold Johnson."

Manager: "Why? It's for the championship!"

Willie: "That mutherf*cker can hit."

That was Willie's story on how it happened, and sounds like it was probably true.

As for Harold Johnson getting robbed: define the term. Does that mean HJ convincingly won 10 of 15 rounds, none of which were close enough to debate? Or does that mean you gave HJ the closer rounds?

 

I felt that Pastrano won very few rounds because he did very little effective work. It was bit like Benn-Eubank II in that way: not much effective blows landing from either fighter, but one fighter forcing the action and controlling the centre of the ring while the other mainly staying elusive. Wlad-Haye is an even more current example.

But perhaps Pastrano was landing a lot of jabs that weren't visible on the film but from ringside. That could be the case, but I don't remember Johnsons' face being marked, though.