Great fighters from the past you never heard of

[Vladimir303]

I'll start with this guy:

Nino Benvenuti

Olympic Gold Medalist in 1960 Rome at welterweight.

Went undefeated as an amateur with 120 wins and no losses......wow.

As a pro, he went 65-0 before losing for the first time.

Was a 2-division world champion. WBC/WBA jr.middle and middleweight champ.

Retired with a overall 82-7 (35kos) record.




Pretty impressive, I never really heard of this guy before. I'm suprised people don't mention him as much as the Willie Pep's, SRR's etc,.

[Mr. Ryan]

I think most people with ESPN Classic will remember Nino Benvenutti. Carlos Monzon put a fierce beating on him.

[Vladimir303]

I think most people with ESPN Classic will remember Nino Benvenutti. Carlos Monzon put a fierce beating on him.

Well that's what I'm talking about. Just look at his record. He went 120-0 as an amateur and 65-0 as a pro. That's 185 wins in a row with a gold medal in the olympics.

And all he's known for to some is the beating he took from Monzon at the late end of his career????

[Saloth Sar]

Eder Jofre 72 (50) - 2 (0) (Greatest bantamweight of all time)
And I never heard of him.

[Vladimir303]

Eder Jofre 72 (50) - 2 (0) (Greatest bantamweight of all time)
And I never heard of him.

Not bad and he lived through the period of time when there was only one world champion changing to WBA/WBC world champ.

I see the same guy handled him twice.

[Mr. Ryan]

Well that's what I'm talking about. Just look at his record. He went 120-0 as an amateur and 65-0 as a pro. That's 185 wins in a row with a gold medal in the olympics.

And all he's known for to some is the beating he took from Monzon at the late end of his career????

I am a little biased against him because he beat my friend Emmile Griffith in their trilogy. Griffith had him down and hurt in the third fight and a younger version of himself would have finished the job. Unfortunately he didn't and to this day I don't understand why not.

Benvenutti was a good scientific fighter with a lot of game. I always gave him props for being an excellent fighter. The problem was that he was already old when he came to America so we don't see much of prime Benvenuti.

[JAB5239]

Young Stribling - He had 290 fights before his death 2 months before his 29th birthday. He was a top 10 ranked contender at either light heavy or heavyweight from 1923 till 1931 and ranks only behind Archie Moore for career knockouts with 128.

[Mr. Ryan]

Eder Jofre 72 (50) - 2 (0) (Greatest bantamweight of all time)
And I never heard of him.

I'm no authority on Eder Jofre but I think Ruben Olivares and his left hook to the body would have given him a run for his money.

[Vladimir303]

Check the great footwork, upperbody & head movment and a good jab:

[Jim Jeffries]

Joe Gans. 162 (106) - 10.



World champ at LW and WW.