By Cliff Rold

The Eight, Pt. 1

For any new boxing fan, the time is not long before a fellow fan points out a magic number which grows more mythologized with time: eight.  As in boxing’s original eight weight classes.  The number represents in the mind of many a time when the sport was compressed into fields which couldn’t help but be talented, couldn’t help but draw crowds, because there were so few places on the scale to go.  They were divisions marked by single champions ever challenged by a depth of contenders today’s seventeen weight classes rarely know.

Reflection and research reveals this was not always the case, but it was true often enough to bestow a mystique on boxing’s ‘original eight weight classes’ which carries through to the modern day.  As good as they can be, as great as some of their competitors have been and still are, weight classes prefixed by a “Jr.” designation will always be seen some as bastard spawn which took something away from the game no matter what they added.

Even with classes taking up space in between the old markers, the eight continue to provide memories and spilled blood today.  Over the course of this series, homage is paid to boxing’s original eight by identifying the best of their lot through the years.

Flyweight

Flyweight is technically the youngest of boxing’s ‘original eight’ with early incarnations at the end of the nineteenth century.  Its first professional champion in terms of the class which exists today was crowned in the U.K. in 1911 when Sid Smith defeated Louis Ruddick on points under the British Boxing Board of Control.  The division had other early incarnations.  It existed in Olympic competition as early as 1904 and a previous sub-Bantamweight class, Paperweight, lived a brief life fluctuating between 95 and 105 lbs., the latter of which is the line for the modern Strawweight class.  Ultimately, Flyweight became and remained marked at 112 lbs.

While today Flyweight is marked by a mass of title belts and geographic boundaries and markets which preclude fights between most of the division’s best, the following list provides a look at many years and eras where greatness could be earned at 112 the old fashioned way: tough fights with the toughest foes. 

In determining the top twenty five, a few ground rules applied as did some tough choices.  While men like Jimmy Barry, Johnny Buff and Johnny Coulon could all be rated here, the arcs of their careers and the titles they contested made them easier to characterize at Bantamweight.  No one who fought almost exclusively below Flyweight, once the Jr. Flyweight and Strawweight classes were established, is considered here so men like Ricardo Lopez or Yoko Gushiken will not be found. 

Finally, no fighter currently active in the division was considered so the record setting reign of Pongsaklek Wonjongkam excludes him from what might have been a lower top 25 spot.  Better to let today’s fighters complete their Flyweight legacies to figure out exactly where they belong.

Without further ado, here are the men who fill in the slots from 25 to 11.

The Top Twenty-Five

25) Guty Espadas (1971-84): Mexico’s Espadas was overshadowed by the parallel title reign of countryman Miguel Canto but his fights provided the sort of action Canto’s rarely could…career mark of 39-6-5, 28 KO…WBA titlist 1976-78, 4 defenses, all by knockout…Working his own way up the ranks, a vastly more experienced Espadas would ruin the pro debut of future champion Freddy Castillo in the fourth round…Espadas began his title reign with a 13th round knockout of undefeated Alfonso Lopez in a savage brawl and turned the trick again in the same round in 1977…He traveled to Venezuela to face native son Betulio Gonzalez and dropped a competitive majority decision to end what had been a short but fiery prime…Espadas would pick up all of his three knockout losses in his final nine fights against championship level foes Chan-Hee Park and Eleoncio Mercedes and in a final challenge for a 115 lb. belt versus Payao Poontarat.

24) Yoshio Shirai (1943-55): Call him the Godfather of the vibrant, modern Japanese fight market, Shirai was the first world champion from the land of the rising sun…career mark of 46-8-2, 18 KO…World champion 1952-54, 4 Defenses…Shirai learned his craft in the ring, losing 3 of his first 13 bouts before beginning his rise through the ranks, not losing again from 1947-51…dropped two straight from March to May of the latter year and avenged both…critically, he avenged a non-title split decision loss to champion Dado Marino via knockout, earning a shot at the crown…Shirai would defeat Marino twice by decision, the first time for the title…Also posted a successful defense over former champion Terry Allen…retired in the corner in a shocking non-title upset versus a 7-4 Leo Espinosa and narrowly found revenge in a split decision title fight…traveled to Argentina and left with a draw against the undefeated Pascual Perez in a non-title affair but fell to Perez twice for the World championship in his native Japan, first by decision and by knockout in his final fight.

23) Jackie Paterson (1938-51): One of many in a long tradition of fantastic flyweights from the British Isle, Paterson was a fighter through and through…career mark of 64-25-3, 41 KO…World Champion 1943-48, 1 Defense…That’s no misprint as Paterson spent most of the time in his reign fighting well above the limit…Paterson’s career was bookended in many ways by a rivalry with Rinty Monaghan…Paterson practically turned pro against the man, handing the then-veteran of over 30 fights his second, and only knockout, loss in 1938…In 1943, he blasted a fading and weight drained Peter Kane to win the title…a non-title knockout loss to Monaghan in 1946 helped to pave the way for a 1948 rubber match where Paterson was stopped again for the crown…Paterson would go 3-9 after the second Monaghan loss, including losses to Bantamweight notables Manuel Ortiz and Vic Toweel.

22) Rinty Monaghan (1934-49): The Northern Ireland product wasn’t a big banger but he came to fight and saw a long battle to become champion cut short by chronic bronchitis…career mark of 51-9-6, 20 KO…World champion 1947-49, 3 successful defenses…Monaghan could occasionally lose some head scratchers but also posted wins against some of the best of his day…as noted earlier in this list, he avenged a stoppage loss to Jackie Paterson twice over by seventh round knockout…a disqualification loss in non-title action versus champion Dado Marino in July 1947 led directly to a rematch three months later for the vacant World title, Monaghan victorious over fifteen rounds…he dropped an eight round non-title decision to Terry Allen between his first two defenses and would escape Allen with a draw in what would turn out to be his farewell fight.

21) Sot Chitalada (1983-92): The Thai battler spent over half of his career bouts competing for major titles…career mark of 26-4-1, 16 KO…two-time lineal World champion and WBC titlist from 1984-88 and 89-91 with ten total defenses…Chitalada’s first loss came in his fifth pro fight, competing for the great Jung-Koo Chang’s WBC belt at 108 lbs in March, 1984…he’d bounce back to defeat Gabriel Bernal in October of the same for the title at 112…Chitalada would trade the crown with Korea’s Yong-Kang Kim and avenge the early career loss to Chang in his second reign…in total defeated five Flyweight champions (Bernal, Charlie Magri, Freddy Castillo, Kim, Carlos Salazar) before running into the man he couldn’t solve…Muangchai Kittikasem took his crown in 1991 and held off Chitalada’s bid for a third title in a 1992 rematch, handing Chitalada the only knockout losses of his career…Chitalada retired still only 29 years of age.

20) Mark Johnson (1990-2006): Washington, DC’s Johnson may well have been the most talented American Flyweight since the 1920s and 30s and was the first African American titlist in the division…the one-time U.S. Amateur champion had a pro career mark of 44-5, 28 KO…IBF titlist 1996-99, 7 defenses…the southpaw was one of the most criminally avoided fighters of the 1990s and suffers historically for it with a lack of elite competition in the division to point to …despite ducks, Johnson carved a niche at the old Forum shows as a sort of Mexican Assassin, including wins over former 108 lb. titlists Josue Camacho and then-future WBO Flyweight titlist Alberto Jimenez…Lost only once in the decade, a four round points defeat in his second pro bout…defeated former IBF titlist Francisco Tejedor for the vacant belt in 1996, destroying him in one round…Johnson would later add two titles at 115 lbs., the second a late career affirmation against a young Fernando Montiel.

19) Yuri Arbachakov (1990-97): Arbachakov was Russia’s first post-Soviet professional world champion after a stellar amateur career capped by a World championship in 1989…career mark of 23-1, 16 KO…lineal World champion and WBC titlist 1992-97, 9 defenses…Arbachakov announced his presence by stopping former IBF titlist Rolando Bohol in two rounds in his first paid year…In his 13th pro bout, stopped two-division titlist Muangchai Kittikasem to begin his title reign and turned the trick again in his second defense…was the first man to stop then-future WBA titlist Hugo Soto in 1994…Easily decisioned Chatchai Sasakul in 1995 but hand problems and years in the ring caught up in 1997 as Sasakul lifted the crown over twelve in what would be Arbachakov’s final fight…The lack of a fight in the 1990s between Johnson and Arbachakov is a historical tragedy and Arbachakov gets the nod here for having faced slightly better overall opposition in the division.

18) Chartchai Chionoi (1959-75): Thailand’s Chionoi was the sort of give and take, knock out or be knocked out, warrior who make boxing what it can be at its best…career mark of 61-18-3, 36 KO…lineal World Champion and WBC titlist 1966-69 and 1970 with four successful defenses in his first reign…later held the WBA belt from 1973-74 with two more defenses…Chionoi faced a deep pool of opposition, contesting with eight men who had or would hold a share of the 112 lb. crown (Hiroyuki Ebihara, Salvatore Burruni, Walter McGowan, Efren Torres, Bernabe Villacampo, Erbito Salavarria, Masao Ohba, Susumu Hanagata) with wins over Burruni, McGowan, Torres, Villacampo, and Hanagata….Chionoi’s first of three fights with Torres was selected as the 20th greatest title fight of all time by Ring Magazine in 1996 and as the greatest Flyweight fight of the Magazine’s first 80 publishing years in 2002…Chionoi won his three titles against McGowan, Torres, and Fritz Chervet.

17) Peter Kane (1934-51): The U.K.’s Kane battled often with a scale that wanted him at Bantamweight and the long shadow of Scotland’s great Benny Lynch…career mark of 89-8-2, 54 KO…Kane won his first 42 professional bouts to secure a 1937 shot at an aging Lynch just past the 100 fight mark for his own career…after a classic October battle in front of over 40,000, Kane succumbed in the thirteenth frame…an intended title rematch ended up a non-title affair when Kane came in just shy of eight pounds over the limit in March 1938; Kane earned a fifteen-round draw…when Lynch vacated the crown, Kane was matched with Jackie Jurich for the title and left with a points win…focusing on the Bantamweights, where he would net a decision win over former 118 lb, champ Baltazar Sangchili, Kane would briefly return to Flyweight in 1943 to be stoned out of his crown by the heavy handed Paterson…in the latter days of his career, he would earn a points win over future Fly king Dado Marino and completed his career halting a three fight losing streak with a knockout win in 1951.

16) Newsboy Brown (1922-33): Born David Montrose in Russia, Brown was a steady presence among some of the best of one of the division’s golden eras and is remarkable for success without a knockout punch…Career mark of 66-14-8, 11 KO…one of multiple title claimants following the retirement of champion Fidel LaBarba in 1927, briefly capturing recognition as World champion in California with a win over rugged Johnny McCoy…couldn’t defeat LaBarba in two tries, settling for a pair of draws, but managed two wins over Hall of Fame great Frankie Genaro…would have success well past his prime at Flyweight against championship level foes, defeating Bantamweight great Panama Al Brown and Featherweight great Chalky Wright among others and Hall of Famer Baby Arizmendi.

15) Pone Kingpetch (1954-66): One of Thailand’s greatest, and it’s first world champion, Kingpetch got by with precision and smarts where power was lacking…career mark of 28-7, 9 KO…three-time World Champion reigned off and on from 1960-65, making all three of his successful defenses in the first reign…Snared his first crown with a split decision in Thailand over the great Pascual Perez and bettered the feat in becoming the first man ever to stop Perez in his first defense…was stopped in eleven by Fighting Harada in Japan in 1962 but regained the crown with another home turf split decision in 1963…the cycle began anew later in the same year…Kingpetch would be shocked in a single round by Japan’s Hiroyuki Ebihara in Japan only to return home in 1964 to again become king via split decision…His final title was lost on enemy turf in Italy via decision to Salvatore Burruni and no rematch would come with only two more fights, a loss and win, remaining in his tenure.

14) Hiroyuki Ebihara (1959-69): The Japanese southpaw could bang or box with the best of his day…career mark of 62-5-1, 33 KO…reigned as lineal World Champion and WBC titlist for only a few months from 1963-64 without any successful defenses and later added a WBA crown in 1969 but his career was more than just a title…Ebihara faced six men who held the lineal or other major title at 112 (Fighting Harada, Chartchai Chionoi, Kingpetch, Efren Torres, Horacio Accavallo, Bernabe Villacampo)…defeated Chionoi by decision and bested Torres twice…Accavallo held him off in two WBA title attempts in his native Argentina in 1966 and 67, the second of which many felt Ebihara deserved…decisioned Jose Severino for the WBA strap but lost it in his first defense, and final fight, to Villacampo…Ebihara was never stopped in 68 career starts.

13) Betulio Gonzalez (1968-88): Over two decades, Venezuela’s Gonzalez faced 13 men who held the lineal crown or some other major belt at Flyweight, more than any other man in the division’s history…career mark of 77-12-4, 52 KO…Gonzalez held the WBC title on two occasions and the WBA title once…it took three tries to snap the first belt on…after defeating former titlist Villacampo in 1970, he fell short in a WBA opportunity against Masao Ohba in 1971…another shot would come later in the year for the lineal and WBC honors against Erbito Salavarria resulting in a draw…the WBC stripped Salavarria for testing positive for drugs and Gonzalez would capture the vacant belt in 1972 only to lose it in his very next fight by stoppage versus Venice Borkhorsor the same year…when the belt became vacant again in 1973, Gonzalez would regain it with a majority decision over Miguel Canto to kick off a serious rivalry…Gonzalez would manage two defenses before dropping a decision to Shoji Oguma in 1974…losses in 1975 and 76 to then-champion Canto would keep him out of the title picture until defeating Guty Espadas for WBA honors in 1978 to kick off his best title reign…three defenses included a draw and knockout of Oguma before a decision loss to Luis Ibarra in 1979…he would fall short in two more WBA title tries against Juan Herrera in 1981 (TKO by 7) and Santos Laciar in 1982 (SD 15)…after stepping away in 1984, he would try a brief three fight comeback in 1988, going 1-1-1 and losing his final fight via knockout to future titlist Rodolfo Blanco.

12) Santos Laciar (1976-90): Laciar is one of the unsung greats from the land of Carlos Monzon, Argentina, and one of the more dominant titlists of the 1980s…career mark of 79-10-11, 30 KO…Laciar held the WBA belt twice in 1981 and from 1982-85 with all of his nine successful defenses coming in the second reign…Laciar would win his first belt from Peter Mathebula by knockout only to lose it in his first defense versus Luis Ibarra…He bounced back less than a year later to stop Ibarra’ conqueror, Juan Herrera, in thirteen and would hold the title until a move up to Jr. Bantamweight…in total, Laciar faced nine men who had or would hold a share of the Flyweight title (also including Charlie Magri, Betulio Gonzalez, Hi-Sup Shin, Prudencio Cardona, and Hilario Zapata, and Hugo Soto)…Magri and Soto were the first and last of those he’d face, both handing him decision losses, Soto in Laciar’s final fight…Laciar would also briefly hold the lineal World and WBC titles at 115 in 1987.

11) Fighting Harada (1960-70): A serious case can be made for Japan’s Harada as the greatest Asian fighter of all time…career mark of 55-7, 22 KO…the World Flyweight champion from 1962-63, Harada lost the belt in a debated split decision to the man he’d taken it from one fight prior, Pone Kingpetch…prior to Kingpetch, Harada also posted an early career six-round decision over future champion Ebihara…Harada was a whirlwind of activity in the ring whose speed and pressure made him a force in three weight divisions…He would later add the Bantamweight crown in 1966, lodging both of the only losses the great Eder Jofre ever had in the class…Harada should have beaten today’s Manny Pacquiao to the feat of being the first to win both the Flyweight and Featherweight crowns but suffered from a criminal robbery on champion Johnny Famechon’s Australian home turf in 1969…his career ended in a stoppage defeat to Famechon two fights later…Harada was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) in 1995.

To Be Continued Tomorrow with the Top Ten

Semantics

The results here are compiled in two parts which tweaks the format used for the review of the nine Jr. Divisions conducted earlier this year.

First, a points-based comparison assigns points in part based on:

1. Number of fellow champions faced (total) then divided into a competition score to flatten the field due to the fluctuation in titles recognized.

a. Lineal World Titles

b. Sanctioning Body Titles

2. Title Defenses

a. 2 Points per KO; -2 per KOBY; 1 per UD against fellow titlists

b. Quality Wins (Points Assigned based on opponent accomplishments; i.e. lineal champions can count for 1, a single sanctioning body champion based on their sanctioning body total, discretionary points for established champions from other weight classes)

3. Quality Losses (Losses to champion opponents -1 point; selective non-title losses)

Draws (.5 points)

From this, a baseline is established and the top fifty fighters are identified.  Further analysis focuses on the context of wins and losses, the relative dominance displayed in a fighters prime, and the strength of one’s era versus the competition faced, to get to a final top twenty-five.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com