greatest come backs of all time?

[psychopath]

Going back to the topic.

Hey Grayfist I'm sure you know something about the Bazooka Lemon/Rolando Navarette fight.

I would say that should be a very good candidate here. I was then too young to remember all the details but I remember Navarete beating the living hell out of Bazooka from round 1 to I think 11th only to be TKOed in the last round. Can you give me more details on this?

[grayfist]

Heya there pal!

You're correct, Navarette was well on the way to retaining his WBC Jr. Lightweight crown at the start of the 12th.

But as the last seconds of the 12th ticked away, Limon caught Rolando with about a dozen consecutive punches (some reports, particularly, The New York Times, counted 13 "straight punches"). Navarette replied in some kind and it was that, added to the fact that he was apparently leading on points (by 2 in one scorecard and 4 in the others), which prevented the ref from intervening at that stage. The final punch however made Navarette fall as the final bell sounded. He was not saved. Under the rules (the fight was in Vegas), a fighter cannot be saved by the bell in any round except the final round. The fight was scheduled for 15 rounds. Limon was declared KO winner; he regained the belt he had lost to Boza Edwards from whom Navarette won the title as a late substitute for Limon (in an aborted return match; Limon failed to make it to the rematch due to injury sustained in training.)

I am knocking myself now for forgetting this fight as one of the incredible come-backs I saw.

I now also recall that in a fight immediately preceding the one described above, Navarette figured in a thrilling open-air contest in the Philippines (the Rizal Ballpark in Manila?) against a Korean named Choi Chung Il. I still vividly recall Navarette scrambling to the ropes on his knees after having been KD'd in the fifth. With the help of the strands, he rose to his feet as the bell sounded. Choi's camp later complained that the bell had rung too early, preventing Choi from finishing the job.

In the 10th Navarette floored Choi then ended the fight in the 11th.

A lot of Filipino journalists wrote the following day that they "pissed in their pants" in the 5th round!

By the way, Navarette avenged his loss to Bazooka some five years later, in a fight in Manila. He KD'd Limon in the second on the way to a UD win. There was no title at stake and the fight was at Jr. Welter (Navarette- about 136; Limon -about 139lbs).

[Hitman932]

an article about great comebacks, from fightwriter dot com

JULY 31: Every so often a fighter rallies from a situation where defeat seems certain, and such was the case in last week's Wednesday Night Fights
thriller when Johnathon Banks came back from two first-round knockdowns to knock out the more experienced Eliseo Castillo in the fourth.

It looked all over for the unbeaten but untested Detroit cruiserweight after that initial three minutes — a most unpleasant welcome to the higher level of competition. Yet the way that Banks came back in the second round with an "OK, now it's my turn" attitude seemed, surprisingly, to intimidate Castillo — and once Banks had his legs back under him he was able to do what he does best, which is to force back and hurt the other man.

Banks's coolness in a crisis impressed me. He had the presence of mind to hang on after getting caught: it was one of those situations in which a fighter who has been dropped knows what is happening but temporarily has lost
control of his legs.

Referee Eddie Cotton recognised what was going on and gave Banks the chance to get himself back together — some referees, I think, might have been tempted to dive in.

Emanuel Steward's calmness in the corner at the end of the round was of course commendable and born of many years of experience. There was not a trace of panic. The message he gave to Banks, from what I could gather, was essentially: "You did very well
to hold on, now let's go to work just like you do it in the gym."

Banks did just that.

There have been many other fights where I thought a boxer was in so much trouble that he could not possibly fight his way back.

One of them also involved an Emanuel Steward fighter — Michael Moorer.

When Moorer went down from Smokin' Bert Cooper's opening-moments barrage he looked absolutely out of the fight. Yet Moorer not only dragged himself up, he managed to drop Cooper heavily before the first round was over — and he went on to win in the fifth after having to survive another knockdown along the way.

Michael Grant was very game against Andrew Golota in battling back from an awful opening round in which he was dropped twice. There were tough rounds ahead, with Golota landing the right hand time and again, but Grant would
not quit and simply by staying on his feet and keeping in the fight he managed to break Golota's will. Yet in that first round it was touch-and-go whether Grant would even last the first three minutes, let alone win the fight.

Richard Hall was dropped badly in the first round by the ill-fated bomber Julian
Letterlough — one of those "falling apart" knockdowns. I thought it would all be over in the second, and so it was — but with Letterlough getting blasted as Hall mounted an astonishing fight-back.

Juan Manuel Marquez's uphill struggle to earn a draw after the three first-round knockdowns he suffered against Manny Pacquiao was remarkable.

Nigel Benn, sent through the ropes in the first round in his ultimately tragic fight with Gerald McClellan, will admit that he wondered if he
could go on, even though he actually managed to hurt the rampaging McClellan right at the end of the round. Benn’s late cornerman, Dennie Mancini, found the right words of inspiration by yelling, in essence: "You've taken the best he can throw at you — the fight's yours!"

And who can forget Arturo Gatti’s miraculous recovery against Wilson Rodriguez? Gatti was down in the second and his right eye started to swell and close in the same round. In the third round, the HBO commentator Jim Lampley remarked: “It’s hard to imagine that Gatti can last much longer.” Gatti not only lasted into the sixth, he knocked out Rodriguez in that round.

In all of boxing history, though, probably the most celebrated comeback from calamity was Archie Moore knocking out Yvon Durelle in the 11th round after being dropped three times in round one by the French-Canadian slugger — one of them a "fight's over" type of knockdown with Ancient Archie flat on his back.

Johnathon Banks has now joined the ranks of fighters whose inspiring efforts of will enabled them to win when all seemed lost. He is in good — in the case of Archie Moore, exalted — company.

[grayfist]

In all of boxing history, though, probably the most celebrated comeback from calamity was Archie Moore knocking out Yvon Durelle in the 11th round after being dropped three times in round one by the French-Canadian slugger — one of them a "fight's over" type of knockdown with Ancient Archie flat on his back.

Johnathon Banks has now joined the ranks of fighters whose inspiring efforts of will enabled them to win when all seemed lost. He is in good — in the case of Archie Moore, exalted — company.

At age 44, Moore had no business coming back from the mat four times in the first five rounds, said most people. Not only that, he had no right to inflict three KDs of his own on the French-Canadian after having been floored that number of times, they added.

But such was "The Ole Mongoose."

With the KO of Durelle, Moore registered the 127th stoppage of his career and eclipsed the all-time record he and Young Stribling had shared.

That was quite a come-back indeed.

But here's another one from about the same era (19 years earlier):

Lightheavyweight legend Billy Conn bewildered All-Time great Joe Louis for 12 rounds and most of the 13th with his speed and combinations at the Polo Grounds.

Seeing that Louis was getting easier to hit, Conn moved in to finish the job.
But before he could pull the trigger, Louis launched one of his own bombs.

Conn was counted out with only two seconds remaining in the 13th.

[psychopath]

Heya there pal!

You're correct, Navarette was well on the way to retaining his WBC Jr. Lightweight crown at the start of the 12th.

But as the last seconds of the 12th ticked away, Limon caught Rolando with about a dozen consecutive punches (some reports, particularly, The New York Times, counted 13 "straight punches"). Navarette replied in some kind and it was that, added to the fact that he was apparently leading on points (by 2 in one scorecard and 4 in the others), which prevented the ref from intervening at that stage. The final punch however made Navarette fall as the final bell sounded. He was not saved. Under the rules (the fight was in Vegas), a fighter cannot be saved by the bell in any round except the final round. The fight was scheduled for 15 rounds. Limon was declared KO winner; he regained the belt he had lost to Boza Edwards from whom Navarette won the title as a late substitute for Limon (in an aborted return match; Limon failed to make it to the rematch due to injury sustained in training.)

I am knocking myself now for forgetting this fight as one of the incredible come-backs I saw.

I now also recall that in a fight immediately preceding the one described above, Navarette figured in a thrilling open-air contest in the Philippines (the Rizal Ballpark in Manila?) against a Korean named Choi Chung Il. I still vividly recall Navarette scrambling to the ropes on his knees after having been KD'd in the fifth. With the help of the strands, he rose to his feet as the bell sounded. Choi's camp later complained that the bell had rung too early, preventing Choi from finishing the job.

In the 10th Navarette floored Choi then ended the fight in the 11th.

A lot of Filipino journalists wrote the following day that they "pissed in their pants" in the 5th round!

By the way, Navarette avenged his loss to Bazooka some five years later, in a fight in Manila. He KD'd Limon in the second on the way to a UD win. There was no title at stake and the fight was at Jr. Welter (Navarette- about 136; Limon -about 139lbs).

Damn you're really a genius in this sport buddy.

You reminded me of a lot of lost memories in just a short write up. As I was saying I was too young then to rememebr all the details now I got it back into my head.

Thanks, peace!

[grayfist]

Damn you're really a genius in this sport buddy.

You reminded me of a lot of lost memories in just a short write up. As I was saying I was too young then to rememebr all the details now I got it back into my head.

Thanks, peace!

Just an old boxing-batty fan, buddy.

Glad to provoke some good memories for you!

Any time, pal! Great talking to ya!

[miron_lang]

Ive watched that too.

[grayfist]

Ive watched that too.

Hello there buddy!

You did too? That loss to Bazooka? That must have been really painful.

[miron_lang]

Hello there buddy!

You did too? That loss to Bazooka? That must have been really painful.

Yeah


im really still high after the choi fight, and Lando was winning the fight before the stoppage. I was really shocked back then.


I remember bobby chacon destroying Limon after this fight

[grayfist]

Yeah


im really still high after the choi fight, and Lando was winning the fight before the stoppage. I was really shocked back then.


I remember bobby chacon destroying Limon after this fight

Limon faced Choi after that Navarette fight and TKO'd the Korean in the 7th. He again had to come from behind as Choi was leading on all scorecards right up to the time of the stoppage.

The Navarette, Choi and Chacon (the fourth and last) fights were all in 1982.

In my initial post on this thread, I had that fourth Chacon encounter as one of the incredible comebacks I can recall. Limon floored Chacon twice (4th and 10th) and needed two points to win. He got those two points by knocking Limon down as the final bell sounded. Limon rose but lost by UD15.

That 4th meeting was, in my view, the best of the four great meetings of the two. It was declared The Ring's Fight of the Year-1982. It was also the last WBC fifteen-round title fight. All WBC title fights were thereafter limited to 12.

One of the judges was a Filipino, Carlos Padilla, who was the only judge who saw it in favor of Chacon by two points. The others had Chacon winning by a solitary point.