Did anyone ever see footage of this fight? It was in 1958 and Bassey was the featherweight champion at the time. Willie was in his late 30's and at the end of his career but from reports that I have read he was still able to outbox Bassey rather handily and was ahead in the scoring when he finally fell apart from fatigue and was stopped. What a great champion he was. Imagine winning a round on the scorecards without throwing a punch. Pep was able to do this in one of his fights. Does anyone recall which fight that was?
Great thread! Willie Pep is my # 1 fighter of all time. Willie Pep was 36 years old, but an old 36 years old considering he had over 200 fights by that time and the wear and tear of his legs were all gone by that time. Still Pep had such great fundamentals, defense, clever old school tricks, and ring savvy he was able to badly outtbox the young featherweight champ and make him look fooolish for 8 rounds until bassey came back to stop him in the 9th. Bassey never gave Old Willie a shot at his title after that scare.....rightfully so. I have a ring magazine long description of bassey vs pep ill try to find it Willie Pep in his prime pre plane crash was the greatest thing boxing has ever seen. When Willie Pep fought, you didnt watch the fight.....you watched willie pep!! thats how good he was.
