By Lee Groves
It has often been written that records are made to be broken. On many levels that sentiment rings true because the most ambitious people use these benchmarks to push themselves toward perfection.
Not all records are created equal, however, because some standards are simply unapproachable.
In baseball, pitching standards such as Cy Young’s 511 victories, Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 strikeouts and Walter Johnson’s 110 complete game shutouts will last forever because most starters today will never rack up enough starts, innings – or pitches, for that matter.
Johnny Vander Meer’s back-to-back no-hitters will never be surpassed because one would have to hurl three in a row to beat it.
On the hitter’s side of the plate, Ty Cobb’s .367 lifetime batting average, Pete Rose’s 4,256 hits and Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak are equally elusive marks. In terms of stick-to-itiveness, Cal Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive games played stands alone.
In NBA annals, Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game, 55-rebound outing and 50.4 yearly scoring average will never be approached. Of Wayne Gretzky’s 61 NHL records, his 2,856 points, 1,982 assists, 51-game point-scoring streak and single-season marks of 92 goals and 215 points are locks to survive.
Finally, in the NFL, Otto Graham’s 10 consecutive championship game appearances, Don Shula’s 347 coaching wins and Brett Favre’s consecutive starts streak for quarterbacks (285 in regular season, 309 including playoffs – and perhaps counting) will likely stand the test of time – though Peyton Manning is making his own determined run.
Boxing, too, has its collection of unconquerable mountains. No matter how much force is applied or how much energy a fighter works up, there are feats that cannot be improved upon. Many of the following marks can never be equaled due to jurisdictional, safety-oriented oversight but there are some that require overwhelming levels of dominance and longevity that the paltry twice-a-year schedule of today’s superstars can never handle.
So without further delay, here is one man’s sampling of boxing’s unbreakable records:
Archie Moore’s career knockouts mark: Over the years the final number has floated between 129, 131 and 141 but whatever the figure it will never be reached because the sport’s financial structure has changed so much. Why would today’s elite fighters risk life and limb 20 times a year when they can make millions – and for some tens of millions – in a single night?
And you can bet that Moore would have followed the same path had he fought in this era. He didn’t fight 220 times and 1,479 rounds over 27 years because he loved the sport so much; he did it because that was the only way he could earn a semi-comfortable living.
Moore’s own record reveals the truth of this statement: Moore fought 52 times during his nine-year reign as light heavyweight champion (5.7 fights per year) as opposed to the 160 he tallied in the 16 preceding years (10 per year). Why? The bigger pay checks he attracted as a champion, whether he was defending his belt or not, allowed him the luxury of throttling down a bit.
It is fitting that Moore would hold this distinction because while he had rocks for fists his cerebral approach epitomized boxing’s “Sweet Science” reputation. Only after thoughtfully sizing up his victims and thoroughly assessing their strengths and weaknesses did he choose the proper punch – or sequence of punches – to put his man away. It was a formula that worked to perfection more often than for any fighter in history and it will remain so for eternity.
One modern fighter made an inspired run at the Old Mongoose – veteran road warrior Buck “Tombstone” Smith. His eye-popping 179-20-2 mark included 120 knockouts according to Boxrec.com but age and ring wear eventually took its toll on the Oklahoma City battler as his last 17 fights either resulted in defeat or no-contest. His last KO was a four-rounder over Ken Manuel in September 1997 but the onetime welterweight/junior middleweight fought on until April 2009 when, at age 43, the now-cruiserweight was stopped in a single round.
Joe Louis’ 25 consecutive title defenses and 11-year 8-month tenure as champion – At one time holding a single championship for years on end was the ultimate demonstration of dominance. Being introduced as the reigning world champion – especially in glamour divisions such as heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight – carried extra status in the public consciousness. Those who were fortunate enough to hear those words took obvious pride in their ability to maintain the status quo.
That all changed when Wilfred Benitez and Alexis Arguello captured their third divisional crowns within 28 days of each other in May and June 1981. The press coverage the future Hall of Famers received for their feats served to redefine championship greatness in the minds of those who followed. The results now can be seen in the introductions of “10-time world champions” and the bucketful of belts that accompany today’s stars into the ring.
In other words, the bling is now the thing.
In Louis’ era, substance triumphed over flash and his record reign was its ultimate manifestation. From June 22, 1937 to March 1, 1949 Louis was “the man” in boxing, and for good reason. Twenty-one of his 25 defenses took place over his first 57 months as champion and all but three of them – Tommy Farr (W 15), Arturo Godoy I (W 15) and Buddy Baer I (DQ 7) ended in knockout. Louis may have had shuffling footwork and understated charisma but no one held his title with a firmer grip than “The Brown Bomber.”
Several old-school souls made serious runs at Louis’ mark. Dariusz Michalczewski defended his WBO light heavyweight belt 23 times in a nine-year reign while Ricardo Lopez notched 22 defenses of his WBC strawweight title in a tenure that spanned eight-plus years. Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins neared Louis’ doorstep with reigns lasting more than 10 years and featuring 21 and 20 defenses respectively. Super middleweight Sven Ottke (with the help of some friendly judges along the way) assembled an eight-year, 21-defense reign. (Interestingly enough, only Michalczewski and Hopkins lost their belts in the ring; the other three voluntarily halted their historic pursuits by vacating their crowns.)
Through all the challenges, Louis remains the last man standing and unless there is a wholesale change in attitude it will remain that way for decades to come.
Saensak Muangsurin winning a major title in his third professional bout – Muangsurin had been a Muay Thai champion before turning to western-style boxing in November 1974 with a first-round KO of Rudy Barro. But it was his seventh round TKO of two-time title challenger Lion Furuyama that caught the WBC’s attention. That’s because Furuyama lost a split decision to reigning champion Perico Fernandez when they fought for Bruno Arcari’s vacant belt less than five months earlier.
With that victory, the WBC surmised that the novice 24-year-old was a suitable first defense for the new champion. Somewhat unusually, the bout was held in the challenger’s hometown of Bangkok instead of the titleholder’s native Spain. Once the opening bell sounded the southpaw Muangsurin’s lethal left hand paved the path to history as he produced a surprising eighth round TKO.
Over the next three years he proved he was no fluke by registering quality wins over two reigns. His victims included Furuyama, Miguel Velazquez (against whom he lost and regained the belt), Monroe Brooks, Guts Suzuki, Fernandez, Mike Everett, Saoul Mamby, Jo Kimpuani and Francisco Moreno before losing the belt to Sang Hyun Kim.
Of those who followed, another Thai – Veeraphol Sahaprom – came the closest to duplicating Muangsurin’s feat, and one can strongly argue that he put together a superior body of work.
Just 10 months after turning pro – and in his fourth pro fight – Sahaprom dethroned WBA bantamweight champion Daorung Chuvatana in September 1995. After losing the belt to Nana Konadu in his first defense, Sahaprom acquired seasoning with 16 straight wins before toppling Joichiro Tatsuyoshi to capture the WBC belt. He went on to register 12 successful defenses over the next six-plus years and at age 41 he continues to fight – and win. His current record is a decidedly grizzled 67-4-2 with 48 knockouts.
Two fighters somehow secured world title shots in their pro debuts – Rafael Lovera and Pete Rademacher. Lovera’s padded record convinced the WBC to pair him with Venezuelan Luis Estaba in the WBC’s first junior flyweight title fight. His fistic inexperience – and to some the WBC’s incompetence – was graphically exposed when Estaba stopped him in four rounds. The Paraguayan never fought again.
As for Rademacher, he had several assets working in his favor: His Olympic gold medal, his charismatic personality and his salesmanship. His hustle – along with a $350,000 guarantee – convinced manager Cus D’Amato to allow his champion Floyd Patterson to “risk” his title. A second round knockdown nearly propelled Rademacher to an unthinkable victory but order was restored as Patterson scored seven knockdowns en route to a sixth round TKO.
Although the sanctioning bodies’ choices for mandatory challengers are as questionable as ever, it is highly unlikely in this worldwide electronic age that someone with two pro fights will ever secure a world title shot, much less win it. Therefore, Muangsurin’s place in history will remain safe.
Miguel Canto’s 12 consecutive 15-round decision wins in championship fights – The reason this record will stand is straightforward: The era of 15-round title bouts ended in the mid-1980s. Nevertheless, Canto’s feat is a tribute to his consistency, his mastery of technique and good fortune in terms of who judged his fights and how they executed their jobs.
After stopping Jiro Takada in 11 rounds – the only KO in Canto’s five-year 14-defense reign – “El Maestro” began assembling his unique string with a nod over Ignacio Espinal in Canto’s hometown of Merida. What made this skein so impressive, however, is that the majority of Canto’s wins were achieved away from his native Mexico.
One particular stretch stands out: Between October 3, 1976 and November 20, 1978 Canto risked his title nine times. Eight of those defenses were staged away from home and of those six were on the challenger’s turf and two were on neutral ground.
He defeated Betulio Gonzalez and Luis Arnal in Caracas, Venezuela; Kimio Furesawa and Shoji Oguma (twice) in Tokyo, Japan; Martin Vargas in Santiago, Chile and, in his only two U.S. appearances, Orlando Javierto in Los Angeles and Tacomron Vibonchai in Houston. The lone “home game” for Canto during this period was his first fight with Vargas in Merida.
Even more striking was that four of Canto’s wins were by split decision – the two fights with Venezuelans Gonzalez and Arnal, one of his encounters with Oguma and Vibonchai in the U.S. This was especially difficult for Canto to pull off because he was a Fancy Dan flyweight with paperweight power.
Without the safety net of one-punch clout, Canto had no margin of error. It was crucial for him to build a working margin on the scorecards and he had to do it through eye-catching displays of defense, footwork and counterpunching – traits his role model Willie Pep used to score dozens of road victories a few decades earlier. Because Canto executed this blueprint round after round without pause, it enabled him to overcome whatever hometown advantage his opponents might have enjoyed.
Few long-reigning champions combined Canto’s lack of power with his level of scorecard success. WBA flyweight champion Hilario Zapata ran off six straight 15-round wins -- three on the road – before Fidel Bassa upended him. Another defensive wizard, Nicolino “El Intocable” Locche, notched five consecutive 15 round victories but all took place in the friendly confines of Argentina while every fight of Masahiko “Fighting” Harada’s five-fight string were all staged in Japan. Emile Griffith – who engaged in a record 339 championship rounds – boasted a four-fight streak that bridged his third welterweight title stint with his first at middleweight.
Therefore, it is safe to say that even in the 12-round era there may never be a champion quite like Canto again.
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These are only four of boxing’s most unassailable marks. Others that come to mind include Henry Armstrong’s simultaneous possession of three undisputed championships and his 27-0 (26 KO) campaign of 1938, Willie Pep’s two winning streaks of 60 or more fights in a career, Julio Cesar Chavez’s 31 title-fight victories and Lamar Clark’s 44 consecutive knockouts. One celebrated standard – Battling Levinsky’s three fights in one day – is probably the product of manager Dan Morgan’s lively imagination.
While these records are safe, today’s fighters have an excellent chance to establish their own immutable standards – though most of them will be financial in nature. If the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight is made, it may well set very high bars in terms of pay-per-view buys (and event price), ringside ticket price, media credential requests and fighter purses. If it is staged at Cowboys Stadium, it will likely shatter the all-time indoor record of 63,350 held by Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks II in September 1978. The possibilities are too tantalizing for all parties to pass up and that’s why the fight will eventually be made.
While the pursuit of records creates excitement, every sport must also have its monuments. They serve as the foundation of a sport’s legacy, a bridge between eras and a tribute to the highest levels of human performance.
Many records will come and go in years to come but some are meant to last forever. In a world fraught with instability on numerous fronts, that is a very good thing.
E-mail Lee Groves at lgroves@hughes.net
To purchase Lee Groves’ new book “Tales from the Vault: A Celebration of 100 Boxing Closet Classics” visit www.amazon.com or https://www.createspace.com/3418039