Willie Pastrano vs. B Hop

Pastrano-Johnson

 

I don't know about the drugs, but Willie was a *****-holic for sure and wasn't the most dedicated fighter in the world inasfar as training and keeping himself in shape as a rule..he lost a few fights that he would have won if his work ethic in training camp was better...and there are some hilarious stories of the problems that Angie Dundee had in trying to keep Willie in line as all good trainers do. He liked to sneak whisky into a carton of milk alot...and Dundee was curious for a while at how a guy could be so happy while swigging from a carton of milk, lol..and finding Willie one time in an elevator with a broad, in a compromising position of course. He could have been a great, IMO, if he had been more dedicated..he sure had the ability to be great.

 

Willie was a sub for a sub for a sub to fight Johnson that night...Dundee had to push him into that fight..Pastrano was one hell of an honest guy..he asked Dundee "why do you hate me?" when he found out that the fight had been made, lol. He was really motivated in that fight, and I love his strategy going in..he just didn't believe that a challenger had to go after the champion...like Joe Louis..he believed that you could make the champion come to you..so his strategy was to keep moving, and counter all night..which again, was a masterstroke in that it forced Johnson to be the aggressor, which he wasn't used to doing. I love strategies like that...like Carlos Ortiz's strat when he upset Joe Brown for the title in'62...Carlos decided that he'd only use his left all night...and it worked...and when Alfonso Peppermint Frazer used his strategy against the brilliant Nicolino Locche..he never tried to ko Locche...an impossible thing, or even go for his head..instead he was in and out with body shots...and he stayed with his plan to upset Locche. In Pastrano's case, the fight was razor close and disputed...so many thought that Harold Johnson won it.

 

Has me beamin' seeing Ol' Bones's name, rc. Gave me boxing tips 'n encouragement in ring two at Stillman's. Transports me almost 60 years.

 

Only chasin' trim, N.

 

!

 

Willie had a pathological fear of being hit...it might have disfigured him and made him less successful wid da wimmen..so that more or less made him tailor his style into being a consumate, fast moving, fast handed, light hitting, left jabbing points collector, so to speak. If he planted himself, he could sock, as Terry Downes would testify, but in general, boxing and moving was Willie's forte...and he was a major influence on Ali, it goes without saying.

 

I'd love to see an article in ol' trusty Ring magazine, or anywhere else, for that matter, on 'Ol Bones"..he's one of those champs of the 50's that intrigues me. Just a bizarre sidebar, but I'd welcome a boxing mag that would dedicate itself to the "classics"..not a likely thing..or maybe even a special edition mag on just the greats of the past. Wish in one hand and...you know the rest.

 

give the man a cigar!