Now napoles is ranked as one of the greatest 147 pound fighters that ever lived and i have read a great deal about him. and he is always discribed as a brilliant, extremely smooth type of fighter. but from what i have seen, i cannot confirm this. first off let me say that i have not seen all of his title fights. the ones i have seen were vs the excellent hedgemon lewis, vs monzon, vs armando muniz and vs one fighter i at the moment cant recall. in those fights i could never detect any "brilliance" if you so want. he was just a real savy pro who made few mistakes and had good power. but he wasn´t that fast, nor was he flashy. nor was he a defensive genius. he pressured his opponents and wore them out to the body. coming in, he showed good headmovement. but he cut easily. to me he appeared more like a guy who was good at everything, very solid..........but not THAT talented. a guy like leonard or robinson both appeared a lot more gifted and powerfull. now as i have said, i do not exactly have a phd on the guy. so could it be that i missed the fights in which he looked different??? am i on the wrong track here?? cause from what i have seen, i would give a guy like oscar de la hoya, with his great jab and speed, as well as his hight and power a great shot at beating napoles. especially cause napoles cut so easily and oscar was good at slicing up opponents who cut easily.
Don't confuse flamboyance with brilliance. (Consider his nickname, and watch his footage very, very carefully.)
I think part of the problem here is the fights you've seen. Against Muniz, he was a 35-year old drunk at the very end of the line. Against Monzon, he looked like Mini-Me when compared to the huge (and hugely skilled) middleweight champ. Physically, he had very little shot there. I haven't seen the Lewis fight, so I can't comment. Try watching him against Cokes and Ernie Lopez. You'll see a cat-quick aggressive counterpuncher with good power and perhaps the most educated left hand you'll ever see. Every punch he threw was perfect, and he threw them in bunches. His stamina was superb, terrific chin, you name it. I think it's just the fights you've seen.
Actually I feel the same way.I have his bout with Griffith and while Napoles was good in it I wouldn't call him brillant.Soild is the word I would use.
Jose was a smooth operator, who was a tad undersized for a welterweight. What a technician! Cuts and merely good hand speed were his drawbacks.
never saw the cokes fights........i heard they were brilliant exhebitions of napoles class. the first hedgemon lewis fight was a good fight.....not an exciting fight but a nice chess match. lewis was a very stylish boxer from alabama but training out of the brewster gym in detroit. a real stylish pro, quick on his feet with a nice long left jab. napoles was the stronger fighter and pressed the fight, lewis looked to keep him at the end of the stick and counter him coming in. napoles looked to get under the jab and get his left hook working.....and he really had an educated left hand i must say. both had their share of success but eventually it was the harder working, more aggressive napoles who rightfully got the nod after 15. but as i said, as good a fight it was, it couldnt see any "brilliance". i saw too seasoned pros going at it. napoles didn´t display any defensive genius like say a whitaker. he didnt have the speed of leonard or the power of hearns. nor was he awkward or anything. just highly competent, well schooled boxing. anyway, as i said i never saw the cokes fights. do you have any idea where i can find them on the net???
..........I guess what I think of with Napoles is how seamless he was. No one thing really stands out with him, so in some circles that could be considered perhaps not dynamic enough. Clearly you know what you're looking at, so this is already understood, I know that. I got my Napoles stuff from Raging B()ll. I only shop at his store, so I never bothered to look on the net for anything.
I have a telephone call into Curtis Cokes' manager regarding the Napoles fights. I will post up his comments if he calls me back (I do remember Cokes' eyes were pretty swollen up at the end of both fights)
.............That would be great Longhorn, thanks much! I was watching the first fight again just this morning.
Longhorn, I remember that Cokes never was willing to give Jose his dues. One thing about Napoles, when he had a mind too man could he punch. The right uppercut he ko'd Indian Red with cut his cheekbone, under the eye, and over the eye. Oh yeh, and Earnie didn't get either.
My conversations with the boxing community here in Dallas indicated Cokes was past his prime when he met Napoles,... the old champ lost and the great new fighter won....no excuses. (13 rd & 10 rd TKO's I believe). The first fight was in LA late at nite, and the second was in Mexico City. Dallas twice woke up disappointed that "Our Champ" had lost. Napoles beat Cokes twice and Emile Griffith all over a period of 6 months. So he was obviously at top of his game. I always held Napoles in high regard.
