Forgotten Fighters

[Ben Bolt]

July 30, 1935, middleweight: future world champion Freddie Steele (97-2-11) takes on former world champion Vince Dundee (117-18-14).
According to boxrec, the only time Dundee got stopped in 156 (or 151, stats differ) fights.

boxrec: "Freddie Steele brought new life into the middleweight division today with a fierce attack that left ex-champion Vince Dundee suffering from concussion and his jaw broken in three places." — United Press.
There was a pre-fight agreement by the commission and the two camps, to not stop the fight, unless a signal was given by the corner's chief second. Referee McCarty defied the order and stopped the bout anyway as Dundee had taken a horrific beating.

[edgarg]

Tommy Burns... Known as the 'forgotten champ'

I agree, And much better than assumed today. Has the unbeaten racors odf 8 straight KO denfeces out of 13 (12 wins)

[edgarg]

Harold Johnson, for sure.

Beat two Top 10 ATG's and he's not known at all to the casual audience.

One of my most favourite fighters. Saw most of his fights, beat top heavyweights as easily as light heavies. Moore seriously ducked him for many years until he was stripped, leaving Harold to fight for a vacant title. Harold beat many heavyweights ranked in the top five, that others were afraid to fight. A truly great fighter, deserves fr more recognition.

[edgarg]

One guy who you hear absolutely nothing about is Bobo Olson. He was a top ten (if not top five) middleweight for about 15 years and held the world title in the 1950s. Most people remember him only for his two losses to Sugar Ray Robinson, but he had an incredibly long, excellent career.

There are a bunch of old great Euro fighters who get overlooked/forgotten (at least on this side of the Atlantic). Two who come to mind are the middleweight great Terry Downes and the immortal Duilio Loi. And actually, speaking of great French fighters, Marcel Thil deserves mention too.

I totally agree with you about Bobo. Also about the great Euros Duilio Loi, as I have mentiojned MAN,Y times had always an extra gear when needed He was a great fighter deserving of the highest honours. Saw him many times. Benvenuti too. AND LEST WE FORGET Laszlo Papp 5'5" the miracle man. voted to9 top boxer of the 20th cent. either amateur or pro,.

Young Stribling another. And a great human being. NIccolino Locche should be one of the top10 ATG. . Marcel Cerdan....
And there was another who deserves the highest honours inc a HOF. Dave Sands the Australian. totally forgotten except by ME alone. I recall seeing him half kill **** Turpin in England the undercard where Randolph Turpin beat Robinson.. The he went to the US won 2 fights there was regarded as capable of beating both Randolph Turpin and Robinson, but never got the chance dues to bad manager trouble and deliberate mis-matchmaking..

And Many Many more.

[edgarg]

FForgotten fighters

Joey Giardello

Gaspar Ortega

Henry Hank

Holly Mims

Virgil Akins

Gaspar Ortega one of my most favourite fighters; fought everybody, gave his very best all the time. a Great guy. When Gaspar was on the programme you knew it was going to be a top notch fight.

[edgarg]

Add to the list (unless I overlooked a mention):

Willie Pastrano, the prototype Angelo Dundee fighter and a wildly colorful character from New Orleans

Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson, a dominant flyweight who seems vastly underrated

Vito Antuofermo, blood and guts -- and more blood and more guts

Simon Brown, the dominant welter from the late 1980s into the early '90s

And "little but Bad" Stevie Johnson. a great (very small) Lightweight never mentioned these days.

[markusmod]

And "little but Bad" Stevie Johnson. a great (very small) Lightweight never mentioned these days.

Agreed. Very rarely do people bring him up.

[Ivich]

I totally agree with you about Bobo. Also about the great Euros Duilio Loi, as I have mentiojned MAN,Y times had always an extra gear when needed He was a great fighter deserving of the highest honours. Saw him many times. Benvenuti too. AND LEST WE FORGET Laszlo Papp 5'5" the miracle man. voted to9 top boxer of the 20th cent. either amateur or pro,.

Young Stribling another. And a great human being. NIccolino Locche should be one of the top10 ATG. . Marcel Cerdan....
And there was another who deserves the highest honours inc a HOF. Dave Sands the Australian. totally forgotten except by ME alone. I recall seeing him half kill **** Turpin in England the undercard where Randolph Turpin beat Robinson.. The he went to the US won 2 fights there was regarded as capable of beating both Randolph Turpin and Robinson, but never got the chance dues to bad manager trouble and deliberate mis-matchmaking..

And Many Many more.

Sands was on the undercard of Turpin v Robinson, but his opponent was Mel Brown and Sands won a decision.

e

Dave Sands

164

79 9 1

W

PTS

10/10

Mel Brown

164½

44 14 2

pro boxing

bout wiki scores

Sands cut by the left eye

Sands beat Turpin on another occasion.

Tuesday 6, September 1949 i Harringay Arena, Harringay, London, United Kingdom commission British Boxing Board of Control promoter Jack Solomons

middle

Dave Sands

159

68 9 1

W

KO

1/15

**** Turpin

157½

79 16 5

pro boxing

bout wiki scores

time: 2:45 | referee: Ben Green Commonwealth (British Empire) Middle Title Turpin down twice prior to the ko Boxing News 14-9-1949 p13

[Willie Pep 229]

I agree, And much better than assumed today. Has the unbeaten racors odf 8 straight KO denfeces out of 13 (12 wins)

I agree he doesn't get the respect he deserves- but on the other hand three of his defenses in Australia were against Billy Squires (who didn't have a bad record down under) whom he KOed three times.

It seems he couldn't find any serious competition down there. I often wonder if he took the Jack Johnson fight simply because he couldn't find a competive opponent the fans were still willing to pay to see.

[QueensburyRules]

Agreed. Very rarely do people bring him up.

- - Nobody mentions tyny Jesus Chavez sending l'l floydy fleeing for his life or holding off Erik Morales with just his left hand after his right dislocated in the 2nd round.

If we need an explanation for that, neither Morales or his team run by his dumb daddy picked up Jesus was a one armed fighter.

And now he's training Kid Munguia who could actually be HOF fighter if he had better training.