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Countdown To Mayweather-Pacquiao: Why It’s A Dead-End Super Fight

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What does the upcoming Mayweather-Pacquiao Super Fight mean for boxing’s future landscape?

In the past, “Super Fights” there often were residual effects from the outcome which set up the next highly anticipated bout. When “Smokin” Joe Frazier clipped the wings of “The Butterfly” Muhammad Ali on March 8, 1971, it set forth a four year period in which Ali fought George Foreman and Frazier two more times as they exchanged the undisputed heavyweight title between the three of them. That period is considered one of the best eras in heavyweight history. And it all started with the super fight in which all super fights are measured, Frazier vs. Ali in 1971, the most widely anticipated and comprehensively covered boxing match ever.

In June of 1980 Roberto Duran 71-1 (55) beat Sugar Ray Leonard 27-0 (18) in the “Brawl In Montreal.” Duran’s win as a 9-5 underdog set up a rematch with Leonard five months later. Leonard won the rematch and within a year met undefeated destroyer and WBA welterweight title holder Thomas Hearns 32-0 (30) in a bout that was billed as “The Showdown.” Leonard stopped Hearns in the 14th round of a tremendous give and take bout to become the undisputed welterweight champion. Five months later he was forced to retire due to suffering a detached retina in his left eye. During Leonard’s absence after setting the stage fighting both Duran and Hearns, “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler emerged as the baddest middleweight in the world. And between the three of them (Hagler, Hearns & Duran) there were some really big super fights which captivated the boxing public circa 1983-85. A few years after Hagler stopped Hearns in three rounds, Leonard fought Hagler in his initial come back bout and won the WBC middleweight title in April of 1987. As you can see as a result of the first Leonard-Duran bout, a series between four all-time greats encompassing nine fights was set in motion, taking place in between 1980-89.

The 1988 undisputed heavyweight championship bout between Mike Tyson 34-0 (30) and former undisputed light heavyweight champ Michael Spinks 31-0 (21) was a monumental bout because it would clear up the confusion as to who the undisputed champ was. After Tyson dispatched Spinks in the first round the consensus was Mike would hold the title as long as he wanted to. With Olympians Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis both turning pro in early 1989 the table was set for them to eventually meet Tyson for the title in future super fights in the early nineties. Then the unexpected happened and Tyson lost the title in his third defense against James “Buster” Douglas 29-4-1 (19) in what many consider to be the biggest upset in boxing history. So it can’t be said Tyson-Spinks was a dead end super fight because there were dream fights out there for Tyson had he been able to hold onto the undisputed title a couple of more years as expected.

However, there have been many dead end super fights since the “Fight Of The Century” between Ali and Frazier 44 years ago. Hagler-Leonard, Tyson-Holyfield and Lewis-Tyson come to mind, just to name a few. A dead end super fight is like a match race; its single purpose is to determine the winner between two superstar fighters who have been on a collision course that haven’t yet clashed. There are usually no residual effects from them and the result doesn’t set up other big fights down the road other than perhaps a rematch.

Hagler-Leonard was huge because Marvin and Ray, along with being all-time greats, were two of the most dominant fighters of the eighties and were close in weight and physical stature. Everyone who even casually followed boxing wanted to find out who was better between them. And after losing a split decision to Leonard in a bout he was certain that he won, Hagler retired from boxing and never flirted with returning to the ring again. Leonard, after scoring the most gratifying victory of his career, milked the public for a few more years, fighting a rematch with Hearns and a rubber match with Duran. Two years after beating Duran in their third bout he was taken apart by Terry Norris in 1991 and that was pretty much it for Sugar Ray Leonard as a superstar fighter. His ill-fated comeback against Hector Camacho in 1996 was virtually ignored by the boxing world, and rightly so.

Tyson-Holyfield I, like Mayweather-Pacquiao, also happened five years after its original sell-by date. And the only reason why it was so big was because everyone wanted to find out after all those years of anticipating–as is the case with Mayweather-Pacquiao–who’d win between career rivals Mike and Evander. The same applied to the Lewis-Tyson and De La Hoya-Mayweather mega bouts. They were nothing more than match races between superstar fighters with one of them on a severe decline (Tyson & De La Hoya). There was no discernible fallout from either bout in regards to being the springboard for another big fight.

When examining Mayweather-Pacquiao under a microscope, it doesn’t matter whether or not you believe it will be a terrific fight from an action point of view. But there can be no conclusion other than it really is a dead-end super fight. And that’s not because it’s happening five years too late….Actually, like the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, more commonly known as the “Thrilla In Manila,” Mayweather-Pacquiao can still be an exciting/great bout.

When Ali 48-2 (35) and Frazier 32-2 (27) fought their rubber match during the fall of 1975, Muhammad was four months shy of turning 34 and Joe was four months shy of turning 32. Much to the surprise of many boxing observers, Ali-Frazier III turned out to be a real war and great fight, despite neither being close to the great fighters they were the first time they met four years earlier in 1971. And the reason for that was neither Joe nor Muhammad had much left defensively and couldn’t get out of the others’ way. The older and slower versions of them landed almost everything they threw at each other, resulting in a back and forth bout in which ruined both of them as all-time greats. But the fight was very relevant because it was the culmination and final chapter of what is truly the greatest sports rivalry in history. So Ali-Frazier III certainly cannot be considered a dead end super fight.

The same cannot be said for Mayweather and Pacquiao, who have never faced each other. They’ve both defeated practically every big name fighter currently campaigning at welterweight. The biggest reason why the fight between them has finally been made is simply because neither Floyd nor Manny have anyone left to fight that boxing fans really care about seeing them in the ring against. Once they finally fight and the result is history, then what? Where does Pacquiao turn? It’s not like the world is waiting with baited breath for him to fight Amir Khan or Keith Thurman. Manny has nothing left to prove to anyone or himself. He’s already established himself as one of the all-time great pound-for-pound fighters in boxing history having won a world title in eight different weight divisions. If Pacquiao loses to Mayweather his legacy won’t be the least bit diminished, and if he beats him his legend grows in leaps and bounds almost to Roberto Duran-esque stature. Manny Pacquiao is pretty much done as a professional fighter aside from fighting Mayweather again in a rematch.

As for Mayweather…..it all depends on what happens against Pacquiao. If he wins and controls the fight most of the way, I would venture to say we’ll never see them fight again. Why? Because it’s not like Pacquiao can change his stripes and beat Floyd by fighting a different style in a rematch, and most boxing fans understand that, and if they don’t they should. If Mayweather wins a close fight, say 115-113, and the decision is seen as being disputed or controversial, he’ll probably have to fight Manny again to erase any lingering doubt. And if the worst possible for Mayweather is realized and he loses to Manny, then he has no choice but to exercise the rematch clause in their contract (which stipulates Pacquiao must give Mayweather a rematch if he wins). Let’s say for argument sake Mayweather beats Pacquiao, which I have no doubt he will. What’s next if he doesn’t fight him again? Nobody can convince me that there’s interest in Mayweather fighting Keith Thurman or Amir Khan after finally beating Pacquiao. Add Canelo Alvarez and Timothy Bradley to the list. Nobody wants to see Mayweather-Alvarez II, and Mayweather-Bradley is something I’d use as a threat to make prisoners watch if they didn’t snitch on their partners in crime, that’s how terrible that would be to have to sit through. So who or what’s left for Mayweather?

Gennady Golovkin for the middleweight title without a catch-weight stipulation? Perhaps, that would certainly be something, but it wouldn’t be as big as Mayweather-Pacquiao to quasi boxing fans because they don’t know who Golovkin is yet. In the boxing world Golovkin-Mayweather is huge, but not outside of it.

As you can see Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is really just a match race between two world renowned thoroughbreds that have been on a collision course for almost six years. Once it’s over only one of two things will happen. Either Floyd and Manny touch gloves once more or, they will fight a swan song bout affording their fans one last chance to celebrate their hall of fame careers before they move onto the next stage of their lives. What does the fight really mean for boxing’s landscape? It’s a super fight because of the money it will generate.

But it’s one of the only recent super fights along with Hagler-Leonard (1987), Lewis-Tyson (2002) and De La Hoya-Mayweather (2007) that has nearly a dead end, other than a rematch and that’s about it.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t be a terrific fight on the night of May 2nd 2015 regardless of who wins.

Frank Lotierzo can be reached at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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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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