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THE BREAKDOWN: Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley

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PacquiaoBradleyLAPC Blevins9THE FIGHT:

Manny Pacquiao Versus Timothy Bradley, Saturday, June 9
At the MGM Grand Garden, Las Vegas, on HBO pay per view and Primetime {UK}
12 rounds, for Pacquiao's WBO welterweight title {147 pounds}

STATISTICS:

                 Manny Pacquiao                                        Timothy Bradley
                        33                            Age                              28
              General Santos City         Hometown              Palm Springs, California
                     Filipino                   Nationality                    American
                  Jan 22, 1995               Pro debut                   Aug 20, 2004
                    54-3-2 {38}                Record                          28-0 {12}
                    5ft 6 1/2ins                 Height                           5ft 6ins
                       67ins                       Reach                             69ins
                     Southpaw                  Stance                         Orthodox
                        353                     Rounds boxed                    194
                         64%                       KO rate                           41%
                         38%                 Connect rate                        33%
                         27%           Opponent's connect rate           25%
                         +11                     Compubox +/-                  +8
                          n/a               Common opponents                 n/a

                                           Previous five opponents
  W MD 12 Juan Manuel Marquez                                 W TKO 8 Joel Casamayor
  W UD 12 Shane Mosley                                             W TD 10 Devon Alexander
  W UD 12 Antonio Margarito                                       W UD 12 Luis Carlos Abregu
  W UD 12 Joshua Clottey                                            W UD 12 Lamont Peterson
  W TKO 12 Miguel Cotto                                              NC 3 Nate Campbell
                                         
                         ***1/2      Recent opposition quality    ***
                                       
                        ****1/2     Career opposition quality     ***
 
 
 
STYLE, STRATEGY AND SHOT SELECTION:

Manny Pacquiao:
Considered by most to be boxing's premier offensive fighter — No longer the one-handed searcher of his featherweight days, has now evolved into a dynamic ring stylist–Is able to counter, stalk or employ stick and move tactics depending on the opponent at hand — Athleticism and reflexes compliment his excellent coordination and balance — His potent combination of speed, power and explosiveness may be unrivaled in the modern game — Rapier left hand remains his most sinister weapon –Counter right hook from the southpaw stance is also dangerous –Prefers to utilize the jab as more of a decoy before launching an attack — Lateral and upper-body movement along with added patience and a far less deliberate approach have made him tougher to hit — Despite the steep rise in weight, his chin remains formidable — Brilliant at feinting an opponent out of position — His uncanny ability to string five-or six punches together which are thrown in unpredictable patterns,from unconventional angles and with great speed,equates to him being one of the most effective combination punchers around — Outstanding multi-dimensional footwork that allows him to drift in and out, and around his opponent is arguably his greatest asset.

Other Issues:
Is his hunger and desire still once what it was? Will his leg cramps continue to be a problem? Are recent poor showings the result of erosion in a 33 year-old fighter who relies heavily on physical gifts?

Timothy Bradley:
Tremendously versatile,is able to fight from the outside or at close quarters –Short, stocky and muscular, he is right at home either by taking the lead and pressurizing or by laying back and countering –Solid technical skills –Often the smaller man, his exceptional timing allows him to outbox taller opponents — Makes up for lack of knockout power with volume, grit and a willingness to take risks and trade–Good combination puncher — Has an excellent overhand right — Determination and hunger are possibly second to none –Quick reflexes — Can sometimes become reckless when throwing his counter left hook — Possesses an accurate, rapid fire jab — Very good body puncher — Lack of height and tucked in chin makes for a small, difficult to hit target — Phenomenal conditioning and stamina — Recovers fast when hit — Hand and footspeed are vastly underrated — Has been accused of head butting his opponents throughout his career. <br >
Other Issues:
Will he be out of his depth facing one of boxing's consensus top two? Can he fight effectively at 147 pounds having only fought there just once before? With only 12 knockouts on his record, a win inside the distance seems unlikely….Can he secure a decision against, who is quite possibly,boxing's most marketable commodity?

THE SCENARIO:

Make no mistake about it, this is a very tough fight for Manny Pacquiao. For the first time since his featherweight campaign, Manny will be facing an opponent in Timothy Bradley, who is young, skilled,athletic and in his prime. He is also undefeated and hungry. Simply put, unless we see a Manny Pacquiao who is firing on all cylinders on June 9th, it's a fight he could wind up losing. Ever since the fight was first announced, I've had my doubts. I believe that Top Rank -and Pacquiao for that matter- made a questionable decision in choosing Bradley as their next opponent. Tim Bradley is the stereotypical young and hungry fighter who is regularly avoided by other top fighters -I'm reminded of Clubber Lang in the movie “Rocky 3” . Men like Charley Burley, Aaron Pryor, Mike McCallum and Mark Johnson-high risk with little reward-were never granted their day in the sun against boxing's best whilst being in their primes.Bradley's wish is Pacquiao's command. It is my belief that Pacquiao's representatives view Bradley as a Ricky Hatton-type fighter -a one-dimensional reckless aggressor- who is going to allow their prized asset to get back on the knockout trail on June 9th, without posing much of a risk due to his low knockout rate. If this is indeed the case, they are sorely mistaken.

Despite Pacquiao being the clear betting favourite, I believe Bradley possesses the kind attributes and experience to pull off the upset.Bradley is five years younger than Pacquiao.Bradley will be undoubtedly, the fastest fighter -both of hand and foot- that Pacquiao has ever faced.Bradley can fight effectively in close or at range.Bradley can lead or counter. Bradley is also aware of what problems are presented when faced with a southpaw -he has faced no fewer than ten, including a switch-hitting Junior Witter, throughout his career,which is a vast percentage of his 28 fights.

A quick glance of the above illuminates the essential ingredient to Bradley's chances. Versatility. Tim Bradley,like Andre Ward, is a boxing chameleon.Look at his fights with Alexander, Abregu and Peterson, you will see a different tactical approach from Bradley in each. He is also capable of adjusting and adapting throughout a fight, something quite frankly, no Pacquiao opponent has been capable of doing other than Erik Morales back in 2005, who remains to this day, the only man to defeat Pacquiao beyond doubt on American land.

Manny Pacquiao, just like Floyd Mayweather, can be beat.

If we look at Pacquiao's welterweight opponents up until the Shane Mosley bout -De La Hoya to Antonio Margarito- they all fought Pacquiao the same way -standing right there in front of him. Pacquiao's ability to feint, step around and attack is too much for static fighters. Pacquiao's handspeed rates very high, but his mobility is the foundation of his attack. His superb footwork allows him to create punching angles on offense and enables him to evade counters on defense. Pacquiao's offense is his defense. Pacquiao's fluidity around the ring is the reason flat footed fighters, particularly larger ones, get caught up in an offensive storm. It's why all of Pacquiao's opponent's share the same downfall -they don't see his punches coming.

Against Floyd Mayweather and Sergio Mora, Shane Mosley fought flat-footed. Against Pacquiao, we saw something different. When Shane got knocked down in the third round and then got up, Pacquiao -one of the better finishers in boxing- couldn't get to him. Yes, Mosley was hesitant to exchange, but he succeeded in keeping Manny from hitting him for much of the remainder of the fight -something no other welterweight Pacquiao opponent could muster.

So how did Mosley achieve this?

Simple, he remembered that he was fighting a southpaw and, unlike Pacquiao's previous opponents, remembered to get his lead foot outside of Pacquiao's lead foot. Mosley survived the rest of the fight by moving to his left and maintaining distance using the jab. This strategy was repeated with even better results during Pacquiao's next fight against Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez however, unlike Mosley, is a natural counterpuncher. Marquez was able to constantly keep Manny off balance by moving to his left, feinting and landing with right hands from the outside. Both Mosley and Marquez were able to make Pacquiao fall short through subtle foot adjustments, but they both lacked the speed to get back into firing range after the evasive maneuver. Pacquiao is an ultra aggressive fighter who has an easier time with opponents who are aggressive like him. Mosley and Marquez were the opposite, they used Manny's aggression against him.

Just making Manny miss however, is not enough to win a fight. This is what, I believe, cost Marquez in his last attempt at trying to better Pacman. For me, the ultimate blueprint in derailing Manny Pacquiao lies within Erik Morales' work against him in 2005. Morales, like Mosley and Marquez, also realized he was facing a left handed fighter and kept moving to his left, away from the power hand. But what Morales was able to do differently, was to be aggressive at the right times -between Pacquiao ambushes. If you go back and view the fight, you will see Morales always staying out of range of Pacquiao's left hand. Everytime Pacquiao stepped to his left -Manny is unconventional in this regard- Morales stepped to his left. We were left with a visual of two fighters constantly circling clockwise around the ring. With Manny's left hand taken away, Morales, through his astute sense of timing, was able to catch Manny with double jabs and straight right hands over the top of his right shoulder. Morales always knew when to be aggressive and when to defend.

Many will argue that Manny is a different fighter now, that he is more complete. I agree. But he is still a southpaw, and I believe that Bradley, just like Morales and Marquez, knows how to deal with them. Going one step further, I believe if Bradley can get by the first few rounds -Pacquiao will likely land something substantial- then he could dominate the fight.

I believe Bradley is going to have the perfect strategy on June 9th, by using his defense to aid his offense. Bradley will be preparing his positioning to attack while defending. Like I mentioned earlier, I believe Top Rank are anticipating Bradley to come out like a bullet from a gun at the opening bell. Bradley is better than that.

Here is what I believe to be Timothy Bradley's strategy on June 9th:

~ Always move to the left and away from the left hand, keeping the lead foot outside of Manny's lead foot ~ As Manny falls short, fall in with a double jab, with a right hand behind it, Manny's response will be to either back up, or stand and trade, and if it's the latter, Bradley could wind up inside, where I believe Manny will be at a huge disadvantage in this fight ~ Always avoid the mid-range where Manny does his most dangerous work, stay on the outside where you can make him reach, or get right inside where you can exploit any inside weaknesses ~ Manny is a rhythm fighter, disrupt his rhythm with the jab, throw it in threes and fours to stop him countering, keep him from entering his range ~ Never charge in, wait until he's reaching, use your own footwork to step around and get inside that way, once there, work the body ~ remember the angle, circle left, jab as you rotate.

On the other hand, there are areas that Pacquiao can exploit. Bradley can sometimes get wild at the end of exchanges; if he opens up, Manny could catch him with his straight left hand down the middle. Bradley also likes to double up on his left hook -upstairs and down. When he throws it, he needs to maintain defensive responsibility as this is how Kendall Holt caught him during their bout. Bradley cannot afford to become over aggressive either. Against Ricky Hatton, Pacquiao's ability to side step the Briton's attacks and connect with an overhand left is what turned his lights out. Pacquiao also had success with his counter right hook as Hatton was steaming in. Manny Pacquiao possesses the type of explosive offense that, if an opponent is not one hundred percent focused, can end a fight early -there is the fear that Pacquiao,with his superior handspeed and power,will be able to overwhelm the smaller Bradley.

One thing we must pay attention to is Timothy Bradley's use of the head. Personally, I don't think it is his intention -as was claimed on Jim Lampley's Fight Game- to use the head in this way. Bradley is often the smaller fighter, who tucks in his chin to lower the risk of walking onto something as he advances. Pacquiao has been in this situation before. Against Agapito Sanchez in 2001, Pacquiao suffered two separate cuts from “accidental” headbutts. Both Pacquiao and Bradley dip low when they throw their power shots…let's hope this is not an issue on June 9th.

PREDICTION:

I've long said, that if Pacquiao and Mayweather ever decide to get into the ring with one another, then I would pick Pacquiao as the winner,based on his superior footspeed at this stage in their careers. Mayweather is a lot more stationary these days, relying more on his upper body movement as opposed to his legs. This is where Bradley differs from Mayweather. I actually believe that Bradley's foot speed is comparable to Manny's, which I think is key to the fight. Manny has the best A game in boxing, which is to come in with fast punches, then move off at a different angle. However,I'm not sure he can adjust during a fight if things are not going his way. For the first time since Erik Morales,I think Pacquiao is going to have to adapt to his opponent during a fight. If Bradley is able to avoid the Pacquiao mid-range and control the action at distance by keeping Manny off balance, and in close,by putting Manny on the back foot and smothering, then I think Manny will be in for one of the worst nights of his legendary career. I really do believe Bradley has everything going for him in this fight to get the job done. Youth, technique, speed, desire, determination, stamina, knowledge of fighting southpaws…you name it.

If Bradley can avoid a gun slinging contest, which I think he can by isolating Pacquiao with his feet,then use his footspeed and superior in-fighting skills to capitalize on Pacquiao falling short after reaching, then I don't think it matters that Pacquiao is the marquee fighter here. I believe Timothy Bradley could beat him beyond doubt winning a decision in what would be one of the biggest upsets of this era.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.

Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.

Hopefully the worst is over.

Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.

Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.

“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.

He knows talent.

Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.

Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.

Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.

Can Trinidad reach world title status?

Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.

It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.

Mizukii Hiruta

Mizukii Hiruta

Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.

Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Boxing and the Media

The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.

Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.

Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.

Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.

MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.

Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.

Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.

It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.

Photos credit: Lina Baker

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Boxing Trainer Bob Santos Paid his Dues and is Reaping the Rewards

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Bob Santos, the 2022 Sports Illustrated and The Ring magazine Trainer of the Year, is a busy fellow. On Feb. 1, fighters under his tutelage will open and close the show on the four-bout main portion of the Prime Video PPV event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Jeison Rosario continues his comeback in the lid-lifter, opposing Jesus Ramos. In the finale, former Cuban amateur standout David Morrell will attempt to saddle David Benavidez with his first defeat. Both combatants in the main event have been chasing 168-pound kingpin Canelo Alvarez, but this bout will be contested for a piece of the light heavyweight title.

When the show is over, Santos will barely have time to exhale. Before the month is over, one will likely find him working the corner of Dainier Pero, Brian Mendoza, Elijah Garcia, and perhaps others.

Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) turned 28 last month. He is in the prime of his career. However, a lot of folk rate Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) a very live dog. At last look, Benavidez was a consensus 7/4 (minus-175) favorite, a price that betokens a very competitive fight.

Bob Santos, needless to say, is confident that his guy can upset the odds. “I have worked with both,” he says. “It’s a tough fight for David Morrell, but he has more ways to victory because he’s less one-dimensional. He can go forward or fight going back and his foot speed is superior.”

Benavidez’s big edge, in the eyes of many, is his greater experience. He captured the vacant WBC 168-pound title at age 20, becoming the youngest super middleweight champion in history. As a pro, Benavidez has answered the bell for 148 rounds compared with only 54 for Morrell, but Bob Santos thinks this angle is largely irrelevant.

“Sure, I’d rather have pro experience than amateur experience,” he says, “but if you look at Benavidez’s record, he fought a lot of soft opponents when he was climbing the ladder.”

True. Benavidez, who turned pro at age 16, had his first seven fights in Mexico against a motley assortment of opponents. His first bout on U.S. soil occurred in his native Pheonix against an opponent with a 1-6-2 record.

While it’s certainly true that Morrell, 26, has yet to fight an opponent the caliber of Caleb Plant, he took up boxing at roughly the same tender age as Benavidez and earned his spurs in the vaunted Cuban amateur system, eventually defeating elite amateurs in international tournaments.

“If you look at his [pro] record, you will notice that [Morrell] has hardly lost a round,” says Santos of the fighter who captured an interim title in only his third professional bout with a 12-round decision over Guyanese veteran Lennox Allen.

Bob Santos is something of a late bloomer. He was around boxing for a long time, assisting such notables as Joe Goossen, Emanuel Steward, and Ronnie Shields before becoming recognized as one of the sport’s top trainers.

A native of San Jose, he grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood but not in a household where Spanish was spoken. “I know enough now to get by,” he says modestly. He attended James Lick High School whose most famous alumnus is Heisman winning and Super Bowl winning quarterback Jim Plunkett. “We worked in the same apricot orchard when we were kids,” says Santos. “Not at the same time, but in the same field.”

After graduation, he followed his father’s footsteps into construction work, but boxing was always beckoning. A cousin, the late Luis Molina, represented the U.S. as a lightweight in the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, and was good enough as a pro to appear in a main event at Madison Square Garden where he lost a narrow decision to the notorious Puerto Rican hothead Frankie Narvaez, a future world title challenger.

Santos’ cousin was a big draw in San Jose in an era when the San Jose / Sacramento territory was the bailiwick of Don Chargin. “Don was a beautiful man and his wife Lorraine was even nicer,” says Santos of the husband/wife promotion team who are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Don Chargin was inducted in 2001 and Lorraine posthumously in 2018.

Chargin promoted Fresno-based featherweight Hector Lizarraga who captured the IBF title in 1997. Lizarraga turned his career around after a 5-7-3 start when he hooked up with San Jose gym operator Miguel Jara. It was one of the most successful reclamation projects in boxing history and Bob Santos played a part in it.

Bob hopes to accomplish the same turnaround with Jeison Rosario whose career was on the skids when Santos got involved. In his most recent start, Rosario held heavily favored Jarrett Hurd to a draw in a battle between former IBF 154-pound champions on a ProBox card in Florida.

“I consider that one of my greatest achievements,” says Santos, noting that Rosario was stopped four times and effectively out of action for two years before resuming his career and is now on the cusp of earning another title shot.

The boxer with whom Santos is most closely identified is former four-division world title-holder Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. The slick southpaw, the pride of Gilroy, California, the self-proclaimed “Garlic Capital of the World,” retired following a bad loss to Omar Figueroa Jr, but had second thoughts and is currently riding a six-fight winning streak. “I’ve known him since he was 15 years old,” notes Santos.

Years from now, Santos may be more closely identified with the Pero brothers, Dainier and Lenier, who aspire to be the Cuban-American version of the Klitschko brothers.

Santos describes Dainier, one of the youngest members of Cuba’s Olympic Team in Tokyo, as a bigger version of Oleksandr Usyk. That may be stretching it, but Dainier (10-0, 8 KOs as a pro), certainly hits harder.

Dainier Pero

Dainier Pero

This reporter was a fly on the wall as Santos put Dainier Pero through his paces on Tuesday (Jan. 14) at Bones Adams gym in Las Vegas. Santos held tight to a punch shield, in the boxing vernacular a donut, as the Cuban practiced his punches. On several occasions the trainer was knocked off-balance and the expression on his face as his body absorbed some of the after-shocks, plainly said, “My goodness, what the hell am I doing here? There has to be an easier way to make a living.” It was an assignment that Santos would have undoubtedly preferred handing off to his young assistant, his son Joe Santos, but Joe was preoccupied coordinating David Morrell’s camp.

Dainer’s brother Lenier is also an ex-Olympian, and like Dainier was a super heavyweight by trade as an amateur. With an 11-0 (8 KOs) record, Lenier Pero’s pro career was on a parallel path until stalled by a managerial dispute. Lenier last fought in March of last year and Santos says he will soon join his brother in Las Vegas.

There’s little to choose between the Pero brothers, but Dainier is considered to have the bigger upside because at age 25 he is the younger sibling by seven years.

Bob Santos was in the running again this year for The Ring magazine’s Trainer of the Year, one of six nominees for the honor that was bestowed upon his good friend Robert Garcia. Considering the way that Santos’ career is going, it’s a safe bet that he will be showered with many more accolades in the years to come.

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Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong

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Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong

There’s not much happening on the boxing front this month. That’s consistent with the historical pattern.

Fight promoters of yesteryear tended to pull back after the Christmas and New Year holidays on the assumption that fight fans had less discretionary income at their disposal. Weather was a contributing factor. In olden days, more boxing cards were staged outdoors and the most attractive match-ups tended to be summertime events.

There were exceptions, of course. On Jan. 17, 1941, an SRO crowd of 23,180 filled Madison Square Garden to the rafters to witness the welterweight title fight between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. (This was the third Madison Square Garden, situated at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue, roughly 17 blocks north of the current Garden which sits atop Pennsylvania Station. The first two arenas to take this name were situated farther south adjacent to Madison Square Park).

This was a rematch. They had fought here in October of the previous year. In a shocker, Zivic won a 15-round decision. The fight was close on the scorecards. Referee Arthur Donovan and one of the judges had it even after 14 rounds, but Zivic had won his rounds more decisively and he punctuated his well-earned triumph by knocking Armstrong face-first to the canvas as the final bell sounded.

This was a huge upset.

Armstrong had a rocky beginning to his pro career, but he came on like gangbusters after trainer/manager Eddie Mead acquired his contract with backing from Broadway and Hollywood star Al Jolson. Heading into his first match with Zivic – the nineteenth defense of the title he won from Barney Ross – Hammerin’ Henry had suffered only one defeat in his previous 60 fights, that coming in his second meeting with Lou Ambers, a controversial decision.

Shirley Povich, the nationally-known sports columnist for the Washington Post, conducted an informal survey of boxing insiders and found only person who gave Zivic a chance. The dissident was Chris Dundee (then far more well-known than his younger brother Angelo). “Zivic knows all the tricks,” said Dundee. “He’ll butt Armstrong with his head, gouge him with his thumbs and hit him just as low as Armstrong [who had five points deducted for low blows in his bout with Ambers].”

Indeed, Pittsburgh’s Ferdinand “Fritzie” Zivic, the youngest and best of five fighting sons of a Croatian immigrant steelworker (Fritzie’s two oldest brothers represented the U.S. at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics) would attract a cult following because of his facility for bending the rules. It would be said that no one was more adept at using his thumbs to blind an opponent or using the laces of his gloves as an anti-coagulant, undoing the work of a fighter’s cut man.

Although it was generally understood that at age 28 his best days were behind him, Henry Armstrong was chalked the favorite in the rematch (albeit a very short favorite) a tribute to his body of work. Although he had mastered Armstrong in their first encounter, most boxing insiders considered Fritzie little more than a high-class journeyman and he hadn’t looked sharp in his most recent fight, a 10-round non-title affair with lightweight champion Lew Jenkins who had the best of it in the eyes of most observers although the match was declared a draw.

The Jan. 17 rematch was a one-sided affair. Veteran New York Times scribe James P. Dawson gave Armstrong only two rounds before referee Donovan pulled the plug at the 52-second mark of the twelfth round. Armstrong, boxing’s great perpetual motion machine, a world title-holder in three weight classes, repaired to his dressing room bleeding from his nose and his mouth and with both eyes swollen nearly shut. But his effort could not have been more courageous.

At the conclusion of the 10th frame, Donovan went to Armstrong’s corner and said something to the effect, “you will have to show me something, Henry, or I will have to stop it.” What followed was Armstrong’s best round.

“[Armstrong] pulled the crowd to its feet in as glorious a rally as this observer has seen in twenty-five years of attendance at these ring battles,” wrote Dawson. But Armstrong, who had been stopped only once previously, that coming in his pro debut, had punched himself out and had nothing left.

Armstrong retired after this fight, siting his worsening eyesight, but he returned in the summer of the following year, soldiering on for 46 more fights, winning 37 to finish 149-21-10. During this run, he was reacquainted with Fritzie Zivic. Their third encounter was fought in San Francisco before a near-capacity crowd of 8,000 at the Civic Auditorium and Armstrong got his revenge, setting the pace and working the body effectively to win a 10-round decision. By then the welterweight title had passed into the hands of Freddie Cochran.

Hammerin’ Henry (aka Homicide Hank) Armstrong was named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990. Fritzie Zivic followed him into the Hall three years later.

Active from 1931 to 1949, Zivic lost 65 of his 231 fights – the most of anyone in the Hall of Fame, a dubious distinction – but there was yet little controversy when he was named to the Canastota shrine because one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who had fought a tougher schedule. Aside from Armstrong and Jenkins, he had four fights with Jake LaMotta, four with Kid Azteca, three with Charley Burley, two with Sugar Ray Robinson, two with Beau Jack, and singles with the likes of Billy Conn, Lou Ambers, and Bob Montgomery. Of the aforementioned, only Azteca, in their final meeting in Mexico City, and Sugar Ray, in their second encounter, were able to win inside the distance.

By the way, it has been written that no event of any kind at any of the four Madison Square Gardens ever drew a larger crowd than the crowd that turned out on Jan. 17, 1941, to see the rematch between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. Needless to say, prizefighting was big in those days.

A recognized authority on the history of prizefighting and the history of American sports gambling, TSS editor-in-chief Arne K. Lang is the author of five books including “Prizefighting: An American History,” released by McFarland in 2008 and re-released in a paperback edition in 2020.

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