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CAN YOU HELP I am trying to obtain any information on Ted ( Henry ) Saunders who was a sparring partner for Tommy Farr. I understand Reg Gutteridge has mentioned him in one of his books and in many newspaper articles.  Any help you can provide is much appreciated Rob Snell
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The Welterweights It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the welterweight division began to be recognized. The original limit was around 10 stone (1401b) and was raised to 1421b, before settling at today's 1471b limit in 1910. Paddy Duffy, an Irish-American bare-knuckle champion, won recognition as the division's first title holder under Queensberry Rules when he knocked out England's William McMillan, at Fort Foote in Vancouver, Canada, on 30 October 1888. Unfortunately Duffy died of tuberculosis in 1890, leaving two main claimants to his crown, Mysterious Billy Smith and Tommy Ryan, both outstanding boxers. Ryan beat Smith in 1894 to become the undisputed champion, but around 1895 he found he could no longer make 1421b, although he continued to claim the title until giving it up in 1898. Smith, who had fought a No Contest with Ryan three years earlier, gained universal recognition in 1898 when he outpointed Joe Walcott over 20 rounds. The title changed hands on a regular basis after Smith had lost it, until Walcott finally managed to stamp his authority on the division and reign for nearly five years. He did lose to Dixie Kid in 1904, but Kid left for England without taking up the title, and Walcott continued to be regarded as champion until 1906. Walcott lost his title to Billy 'Honey' Mellody and after him there were a number of claimants, including some who were recognized in only Europe or Australia. Harry Lewis, who had beaten Mellody, was accepted as champion in 1910 and defended in Paris and London, where he raised the limit to the English norm of 1471b. However, it was not until 1916 that the division finally settled down with its next outstanding champion, Jack Britton. JACK THE LAD...AND THE KID Britton claimed the title in 1915, lost it later that year to Ted Kid' Lewis, and was then universally recognized after a 20-round points win over Lewis in 1916. Britton, whose real name was William J. Breslin, and Lewis, who was christened Gershon Mendeloff, were all-time greats who between them held the title for over six years. Lewis fought for over 20 years and won a record nine titles from feather to middleweight at world, European, British and British Empire level. He also challenged for the world light-heavyweight title. Britton eventually lost the title in 1922 to Mickey Walker, another excellent champion who reigned for over three years before losing it in turn to Pete Latzo. Like many other great welterweights, Walker went on to achieve even greater fame as a middleweight. The welterweight title changed hands frequently in the late 1920’s and early 1930s, until the first round knockout of Young Corbett by Jimmy McLarnin in May 1933. McLarnin an Irishman who grew up in Vancouver, los his crown to Barney Ross in a three-match series that heralded a golden period for the division which was to last for the next 40 years. BERYL THE BREADWINNER Ross was born Beryl Rosofsky on 23 December 1909 in New York and brought up in an Orthodox Jewish family that was firmly opposed to fighting. They wanted him to be a Hebrew teacher, but Ross discovered his talent for boxing in the usual boyhood street brawls in Chicago and became a Golden Gloves champion. The death of his father, who had run a grocer's shop and was shot by gunmen in a hold-up, left Ross as the family breadwinner, and he convinced his mother he could earn more as a professional boxer. In 1933 he won the light and light-welterweight titles from Tony Canzoneri, but was forced to give up the lightweight title, because of weight problems, just before he took the welterweight title. This denied him the chance of holding three world titles simultaneously. Ross was not a great puncher, with only 22 of his 72 wins coming inside the distance, but he built a superb record on fast, all-action punching which gave opponents no rest. He relinquished his light-welterweight title, remaining welterweight champion until being beaten by Henry Armstrong in 1938. He was decorated for bravery while serving in the Marines in the Second World War, but became addicted to the morphine he took to ease the pain of his wounds. He later overcame this, wrote his autobiography – which was made into a film – and campaigned against drugs until his death in 1967. `HOMICIDE HANK' Henry Armstrong was a phenomenon: a fighter with such a slow pulse rate that he was able to box at a ferocious pace for 15 rounds. Born Henry Jackson in Columbus, Mississippi on 12 December 1912, he achieved what Ross was unable to do, and became the only man to hold three world championships simultaneously, winning the featherweight crown in 1937 and adding the welter and lightweight belts a year later. Armstrong defended his welterweight title 20 times before it was taken from him in 1940 by Fritzie Zivic. After retiring in 1945, Armstrong overcame alcoholism and became a Baptist minister. founding the Henry Armstrong Youth Foundation. In his latter years, however, he suffered from numerous ailments. He died in 1988. Fritzie Zivic, who took Armstrong's title, was the youngest of five boxing brothers from Pittsburgh and was, by general consent, one of the dirtiest boxers ever. He just beat Armstrong in their first match, but stopped him in a Madison Square Garden return. However, he lost the title on his next defence, to Freddie 'Red' Cochrane. Zivic fought until 1949, having 233 bouts of which his 64 defeats is the most by a world champion. Zivic won 159 contests. The title was held in abeyance during the war while Cochrane served in the US Navy, and then he lost it on his first defence to Marty Servo, who was forced to give up his career through injury. Sugar Ray Robinson then held the title from December 1946 to February 1951, but relinquished it on winning the middleweight crown. Robinson is undoubtedly one of the best-ever welterweights, but he achieved even more fame among the middleweights. BEGINNING OF THE BOLO Kid Gavilan was the next champion to be recognized by all the authorities. Born Gerardo Gonzalez, in Camaguey, Cuba, on 6 January 1926, Gavilan worked on a sugar plantation. When he became a pro boxer he perfected the `bolo' punch, a looping uppercut delivered with the same action he employed with a machete to cut down the canes on the plantation. Gavilan lost twice to Robinson, but having won the title he proved a good champion, though a split decision in his favour against Billy Graham was thought to be Mob influenced. There were also rumours that when Gavilan finally lost the crown by a unanimous decision in 1954 to Johnny Saxton he would have needed a knockout to win. The fight was staged in Philadelphia, home of Saxton’s manager, the Mobster Blinky Palermo. Gavilan was never given another title shot, but he carried on for another four years. Half of his 30 losses came during this period, but in his whole 143 fight career he was never beaten inside the distance. Saxton lost his first defence to Tony De Marco, who in turn lost first time to Carmen Basilio. Basilio was born 2 April 1927 in Canasota, New York repeated the win, then lost to Johnny Saxton. Although a unanimous decision the majority of reporters thought Basilio had won it. Basilio stopped Saxton in the return, then beat him again in a rubber match. Basilio also outpointed Sugar Ray Robinson for the middleweight title and relinquished the welterweight title as Robinson had done. Unlike Robinson however Basilio did not have a long career as middleweight champion. He lost a decision to Robinson in the return, and failed to regain the title in three further attempts. Virgil Akins, Don Jordan and Benny Kid Paret were all good champions before the outstanding Emile Griffith took over with a 13th round knockout of Paret. Griffith was to reign for five years with two slight interruptions. He was outpointed by Paret in 1961 but regained the crown six months later in tragic circumstances. Paret taunted Griffith about his manhood at the weigh-in. then nearly won the fight in the sixth round, when Griffith was saved by the bell. However, Griffith had Paret in trouble on the ropes in the 12th and, as he lay between the top two ropes. Griffith pummelled him with uppercuts and hooks. Paret collapsed and was taken to hospital with brain damage. He died 10 days later. Griffith put the tragedy behind him and continued with his career. He dropped a decision to Luis Rodriguez in 1963. but won the title back less than three months later. In April 1966 Griffith emulated Robinson and Basilio in winning the middleweight title by beating Dick Tiger and relinquishing the welterweight crown. He had a good career as a middleweight before losing his title to Nino Benvenuti. In a long career between 1958 and 1977, Griffith had 112 bouts. winning 85, drawing two and losing 24. with one No Contest. Curtis Cokes had a run of nearly three years when he won the vacant welterweight crown, defending five times before the next great, Jose Napoles, stopped him in 1969. A superb stylist. Napoles was known as Mantequilla', the Spanish for butter, because he was such a smooth mover and reigned for nearly seven years. Born in Oriente. Cuba. on 13 April 1940, Napoles was a brilliant amateur who turned pro in 1958 and is the fifth boxer in Video Action. In 1962, with 17 wins and one loss under his belt. Napoles left Cuba when Fidel Castro banned professional boxing, and based himself in Mexico City. The defeat of Cokes was the first of 18 world title fights, including one challenge for the middleweight crown, when he was knocked out by Carlos Monzon. SPLIT DIVISION There had been the first signs of a split in the welterweight division in 1972, when the New York authorities stripped Napoles for not giving Billy Backus a rubber match. New York recognized Hedgemon Lewis until Napoles beat him to unify the crown again, but in 1975 Napoles decided to relinquish the WBA title voluntarily. The WBC produced good champions in Carlos Palimino, Wilfred Benitez and Sugar Ray Leonard and the WBA belt was also held by a number of fine boxers, such as Angel Espada, Pipino Cuevas and Thomas Hearns. In 1981 the champions of the two authorities met to unify the division again, and Leonard proved to be just the stronger in the later stages and stopped Hearns. Leonard was one of the most charismatic of modern boxers and won versions of world titles at four other weights, as did Hearns. He lost and regained the welterweight title in two memorable battles with Roberto Duran before beating Hearns. Leonard's greatest victory after this was to beat Marvin Hagler for the WBC middleweight title in 1987. CURRY FOLLOWS SUGAR Leonard's retirement as undisputed and undefeated welterweight champion in 1982 split the division again. The WBA had an excellent champion in Don Curry, who for two or three years was regarded as the best pound-for pound boxer in the world. Meanwhile the WBC had a good champion in Milton McCrory. Curry knocked out McCrory in the second round in 1985 to unify the division and he looked set for a long reign. However, in only his second defence, his image was comprehensively shattered by Britain’s Honeygham, who stopped him in the sixth round in 1986. Honeygham, a 6-1 underdog, backed himself to win $25,000 and became one of a handful of British boxers who took world titles from Americans on their own soil. Name: Paddy Duffy
Career Record: click
Nationality: US American
Birthplace: Boston, MA, USA
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Born: 1864-11-12
Died: 1890-07-19
Age at Death: 25
Height: 5′ 7″ Paddy Duffy Considered the first welterweight champion, Paddy Duffy, like John L. Sullivan, was an Irish-American from Boston. His first fight, at age nineteen, was a knock-out victory over Skin Doherty in 1884. Duffy won his first four bouts before fighting three draws with Paddy Sullivan. After one loss in a bout with Jack C. McGee, Duffy never lost again. He fought in Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia in 1886 and 1887 before returning to Boston, where he entered a four-fight series with Jack McGinty. Their first two fights ended in draws. Duffy won a six-round decision in the third fight and solidified his reputation by knocking out McGinty in the ninth round of the fourth fight. At this point, Duffy sported a record of 21-1-11, which earned him the right to face William McMillan, the English welterweight champ. Fighting at Fort Foote in Vancouver, Canada, Duffy knocked McMillan out in seventeen rounds to claim the world title. In Duffy’s next fight, he faced Tom Meadows, the Australian champion, in San Francisco. At the time, the welterweight division had an upper weight limit of 142 pounds. Duffy tipped the scales for this bout at 140 while Meadows came in at 143. The two battled for 45 rounds before Duffy won on a foul. Duffy never fought again and died in 1890 at the age of 25. Name: Ruben Olivares
Career Record: click
Alias: El Púas
Nationality: Mexican
Birthplace: Mexico City, DF, Mexico
Hometown: Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Born: 1947-01-14
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 5′ 5½″
Trainer: Cuyo Hernandez Ruben Olivares Ruben Olivares was born on 14 January1947in an area of Mexico City called Colonia Bondojo, a tough district where street fighting was commonplace. His father, Salomon Olivares, and mother, Esperanza Avila, had 12 children, but only six survived – Felipe, Emma, Margarita, Raul, Ruben and David. While Ruben was still a toddler, his father left to work on a construction site in Oregon. When he eventually returned to Mexico City, having mastered the building business, he invested his earnings in some land on which he built houses. 'He's not rich, but I wouldn't call him poor', Olivares said of him in later life. Father and son would eventually form a partnership building apartments. It did not take the young Olivares long to find that his talents were fistic rather than academic and, consequently, he took 10 years to finish elementary school due to losing so much time through suspensions for fighting. The headmaster told him: 'Better go home and come back at the end of the courses – we'll give you the diploma anyway. Just keep yourself far away from here.' DUMB DECISION Olivares took up boxing at 15. with his fathers approval while still at junior high school. Football had previously been his first love – he captained a local side called Santander – but his interest in boxing was sparked by his friendship with two local fighters who were regular performers at the famous Arena Coliseo, in Mexico City. `We didn't have a TV set at home,' said Olivares. 'So I remember paying a lady 25 centavos to allow me to watch one of my friends, Dumbo Perez, fight Chucho Hernandez. Dumbo was winning until Hernandez knocked him out with a left hook in the last round, and that decided me on becoming a pro fighter.' The following day, Olivares went to the Jordan Gym in downtown Mexico City, where the trainer was Manuel `Chilero' Carillo, an old man with vast experience of the game. 'He was a shy, bashful boy', recalled Carillo, who told Olivares that if he took the business seriously he could become Golden Gloves champion. Six months later, he would fulfill that prophecy. After early losses to Fernando Blanco, in the final of the Olympic trials, and Octavio Tamoso' Gomez, Olivares pestered his newly-recruited manager Arturo Hernandez to let him turn pro. Hernandez was suitably cautious. 'Go pro now and they'll make chopped meat of you,' he warned the youngster. 'It's tough, and you're not ready yet. Maybe in a year. Olivares was therefore forced to spend a further 10 months in the amateurs, during which time he fulfilled Carillo's prediction, winning the Golden Gloves title after sustaining a broken jaw in the semi-final, against Rafael Resindez. It was the only knockdown Olivares suffered in his amateur career. 'I was beating him easy until he caught me with a right to the chin,' Olivares remembered. 'It was the second round, and I knew immediately the jaw was broken. I didn't tell my corner until after the fight, and Hernandez took me to a dentist before the final to have a special gumshield made. The dentist warned me: "Whatever you do, don't open your mouth once the fight starts." I won the title on a second-round knockout.' That painfully-won success meant that it was time to turn pro, which Olivares did with a first-round knockout of Isidro Sotelo, at Gomez Palacio, in January 1965. The shrewd Hernandez, recognizing the special relationship between fighter and trainer, hired Carillo to look after the youngster and the team stayed together throughout the glory years, even though Olivares's relationship with Hernandez was often strained. The flyweight with the heavyweight punch was an instant sensation, ripping through 23 knockouts before being taken the distance for the first time, by Felipe Gonzalez, a hard man of whom Olivares said: 'I must have hit him a thousand times, but he wouldn't go down. He restored his reputation in his next fight, a fourth-round knockout of local rival Julio Guerrero, who had also been making a name for himself as a knockout artist. Unusually for the left-hooking Olivares, the winning blow this time was a right to the body which left Guerrero gasping for breath on the canvas. By now, weight was becoming a problem for the growing 20-year-old, and a move up to bantamweight was inevitable. GOOD NAMES In July 1967, German Bastidas fought back from two knockdowns to earn a 10-round draw to spoil Olivares's one hundred per cent record. However, six months later, Bastidas was knocked out in a rematch as the fierce-hitting Mexican continued his drive towards a title shot. His list of victims included an amateur conqueror, Octavio Gomez, the ex-flyweight king Salvatore Burruni of Italy, and Jose Medel, one of a generation of great Mexican bantams. It wasn't all plain sailing, however, as Olivares had to come off the floor to win against both Ernie De La Cruz and Takao Sakurai, the 1964 Olympic champion. `OLIVARES WAS THE BEST FIGHTER I EVER FOUGHT. HE WAS A COMPLETE FIGHTER, VERY SMART FEATHER AND SUPER-FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPION ALEXIS ARGUELLO Olivares was already a comparatively wealthy young man who boasted of owning two houses, four vacant lots, two trucks, two cars and a furniture workshop'. But he knew the real money would come with the world title, then in the keeping of Australia's Lionel Rose, a pipe-smoking Aborigine who had taken the crown from the great Fighting Harada of Japan. Rose had been a fine champion who was always willing to travel to risk his title, retaining it in Japan and Los Angeles, and beating off the challenge of Britain's Alan Rudkin in Melbourne. He put his title on the line against Olivares, at the Inglewood Forum. Los Angeles, in August 1969, but the Mexican proved too strong and won easily in five rounds, as featured in Video Action. GRATEFUL CHAMPION Immediately after the contest. Olivares belied his aggressive ring image with the class and sensitive way in which he treated the beaten champion. Hugging the loser in the dressing room afterwards. he told him: 'You gave me the chance, and I will never forget that. If you want another fight you can have it: it would be a pleasure to go into the ring again with a gentleman like you. My home in Mexico City is yours. Come whenever you want – you will always be my special guest.' Olivares later told the press: 'I want to say that Lionel was a great champion. He had guts and he didn't quit, even when he was hurt. He shook me a couple of times but I knew I could take his punch and keep coming. I just overpowered him. He's the best boxer I ever met. Lucky for me he doesn't punch very hard, otherwise I would have been in trouble. The new bantamweight champion's first challenger was Alan Rudkin, a Liverpudlian who had fought well in losing 15-rounders for the title against Fighting Harada and Rose, each time on the champion's home ground. The match was made by Los Angeles promoter George Parnassus, who signed contracts with the English camp when Rudkin was boxing a routine non-title fight in Shoreditch Town Hall, London's most famous small-hall boxing venue. The British challenger would earn around £8,000, pushed to £12,000 with ancillary rights, which was good money for a bantamweight contender at the time. The fight took place at the Forum, in December 1969,and Rudkin was butchered in five minutes 30 seconds in front of a crowd of 15,000, paying $175,000. There were also television links to Britain, Mexico and Australia – where both men were respected for their battles with Rose. A left hook dropped the challenger after two minutes, and, although he counter-attacked gamely, the fight was effectively over from that point. He missed with a wild left early in the second and Olivares used his own left to bring the second knockdown. The Englishman got up quickly to take the mandatory eight. and was then led to his corner to have his gumshield rinsed before being waved back into action. When a precise right and two hooks put him down for a third time, referee John Thomas had seen enough. LONG STAY Olivares had certainly looked the part against Rudkin and most observers agreed that the little Mexican had the ability to be champion for a long time. 'He's the greatest, there's nobody to compare with him', Rudkin acknowledged after their fight. 'I tried boxing him, but that was no good. He feints and picks punches. Every time he hits, he numbs. I didn't even feel the punches that put me on the floor, and those are the ones that really hurt.' With Rudkin out of the way, Olivares was now set for an even stiffer test, against Jesus Castillo, in April 1970 The showdown between Olivares and his Mexican rival Jesus `Chucho' Castillo was a huge attraction. Castillo's points defeat by Lionel Rose in his previous title bid, in December 1968, had set off a chair-throwing riot which wrecked the Inglewood Forum, but promoter George Parnassus decided to risk staging the fight there again. The gamble paid off, with 18,762 fans paying a Californian record of $281,840 which, with closed circuit TV revenue, boosted the overall take to $458,240. After a quiet start, the fight burst into life in the third round when Castillo clipped the champion with a perfect right-hand counter which caught him coming in and dropped him to his knees momentarily. Olivares was up before referee George Latka could start a count, but the damage had been done. Castillo stayed on top for the next few rounds until Olivares forced his way back in the seventh and then pinned the challenger against the ropes for most of the eighth round. Castillo rallied again, but the edge was with Olivares and he controlled the final third of an action-packed fight to run out a clear points winner with scores of 10-5, 9-4-2 and 7-6-2. 'Sure, I'll give him another chance', Olivares said. 'I'll give anybody a chance. I'm a fighting champion.' THRILLING SERIES He kept his word and the pair met again at the Forum in October. It was another blockbuster for promoter Parnassus, with 16,007 paying a gross $215,902. The fight was not quite as thrilling as the first, with the champion massively handicapped by a horrible cut over the left eye which appeared in the first round. He claimed he'd been butted, but Castillo denied the allegation and said an overhand right had done the damage. Either way, the wound was too bad to allow Olivares to complete the full 15 rounds. Referee Dick Young gave him every chance to salvage the fight before, acting on the advice of the ringside doctor, he called a halt after two minutes 27 seconds of the 14th. Olivares's title was gone, and with it his proud unbeaten record. It was his first loss in 61 fights, of which he had won 56 inside the distance. Naturally, there had to be a third and deciding fight, and this took place at the Forum in April 1971. It was not quite edge-of-the-seat entertainment, but the crowd of 18,141 still got full value for their money as Olivares dominated for long periods. He was nailed by a long left hook in the sixth which dumped him on the seat of his pants, but, once referee John Thomas had completed the mandatory eight count, Olivares made sure that Castillo couldn't get close enough to follow up. Olivares opened a cut on the champion's right eye and his footwork made Castillo miss repeatedly. There was no dispute about the outcome, Olivares winning by wide margins of 9-4-2, 12-3 and 10-3-2. The fight drew a gate of $254,155, meaning that the three-fight series had grossed over a million dollars, a remarkable tribute to the popularity of the two Mexicans. Olivares's next defence saw him go over old ground when he stopped Kazuyoshi Kanazawa, in 14 rounds, at the Forum, in October 1971. Olivares had stopped the Japanese fighter in two rounds in 1969, but Kanazawa had improved enormously in the interim and this time gave the champion all he could handle. Twice, in the eighth and again in the 13th, he had the Mexican tottering on the edge of a knockdown, but somehow Olivares kept going and, in the 14th, summoned one last effort which finally broke the challenger. Kanazawa was down three times for an automatic stoppage after two minutes of the round, and both winner and loser finished exhausted. Olivares sustained damage around the left eye, which later required corrective surgery. WEIGHT PROBLEMS A long rest might have been sensible after such a gruelling contest, but instead Olivares was back in the ring in December, defending against Mexican rival Jesus Pimentel, a tough contender who was unbeaten in his previous 15 fights. A fierce attack in the sixth sent the challenger through the ropes and onto the ring apron and Pimentel took steady punishment thereafter. At the end of the 11th round Pimentel's manager, Harry Kabakoff, waved his fighter to the corner and said to Olivares: 'Ruben, you're the winner.' Pimentel, a 31-year-old veteran of 85 pro fights (78 wins), immediately announced his retirement. `Five years ago he'd have beaten Olivares, but now it's too late', said Kabakoff. The fight is featured in Video Action. It was an open secret that the champion was struggling to make the bantamweight limit by this time, and the chances were that even if he had been successful in his defence against compatriot Rafael Herrera, in Mexico City, in March 1972, he would have relinquished the crown and moved up to featherweight. As it turned out, Herrera saved Olivares the decision, snatching the title on an eighth-round knockout which stunned the boxing world. Herrera won easily, outboxing the sluggish champion in the first six rounds and cutting him on the right cheek before despatching him with a clinical right to the jaw after 85 seconds of the eighth round. It was a measure of his superiority that not one of the three officials gave Olivares a single round: the cards showed 70-65, 70-66 and 70-67 at the finish. Curiously, Herrera was in tears in the dressing room afterwards while Olivares laughed and joked with the press, presumably relieved that he would never again have to endure the rigours of boiling down to 1181b. CHACON SHOCK Olivares took a five-month break from the ring before returning to outscore world-class Chilean featherweight Godfrey Stevens. He then lost a 10-round rematch to Herrera, who had himself moved up a division after being dethroned by Enrique Pinder. It appeared that Olivares was having trouble settling in the new division, and the power which had carried him to so many bantamweight victories was not so evident against the heavier men. He began 1973 with an easy win over Walter Seeley, of New York, and then found himself cast as the 'test piece' for Bobby Chacon, the explosive Californian who had replaced him as the darling of the crowds at the Inglewood Forum. Chacon had won all 19 of his fights, 17 by knockout, but the step up came too quickly for him and Olivares gave him a boxing lesson, stopping him in nine rounds to win the vacant North American Boxing Federation title. The victory put Olivares in line for a featherweight world title shot, but he neglected his training and was surprisingly stopped in five rounds by Art Hafey, a rugged Canadian, in his next outing. With his career on the line, Olivares got himself into shape for the rematch and won a hard-fought split decision which gave him a shot at the vacant WBA version of the world title, against Zensuke Utagawa, of Japan, at the Forum, in July 1974. It proved an easy night's work for the Mexican, who floored Utagawa three times for a seventh-round knockout.after a couple of non-title wins, Olivares risked his belt against the power-punching Alexis Arguello. Relations with manager Arturo Hernandez were sour, which may have been why Hernandez told reporters before the fight that Olivares seemed to lack the desire he once had. The match, like all Olivares's appearances, was a big draw and a crowd of 14,313 at the Forum paid $186,000 to see him build a wide points lead...until Arguello found the punch to knock him out after 30 seconds of the 13th round. `He hurt me in the eighth, ninth and 10th rounds,' the new champion acknowledged. 'I thought I was going down. I knew I was behind on points and had to knock him out to win. LAST GREAT SHOW The irrepressible Olivares bounced back immediately, taking the WBC crown from Bobby Chacon, at the Forum in June 1975. The champion had a run of seven straight knockouts behind him and his confidence was high, but he was wiped out in two rounds as Olivares gave the last truly devastating performance of his career. Three months later, he was an ex-champ again after David Kotey, a lanky puncher from Ghana, outpointed him over 15 rounds. In his next outing he was knocked out in seven rounds by future WBC champ Danny Lopez, and that was effectively the end of him as a serious performer. He fought on for a few more years and his victims included future WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Ramirez, but the defeats accumulated. He had one last shot at glory when Eusebio Pedroza gave him a crack at the WBA title, in Houston, in July 1979, but he was stopped in 12 rounds. RUBEN'S PRODIGY After losing to Margarito Marquez in 1981, Olivares announced his retirement, but he returned to the ring in 1986 and again in 1988 for a pair of four-rounders which were little more than exhibitions. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991, and continues to take an interest in the game. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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This is the third book in Adam Pollack’s series on the heavyweight champions of the gloved era. Bob Fitzsimmons was boxing’s first pound for pound great, winning the world middleweight title before becoming the world heavyweight champion (and later lightheavyweight champ). Combining both crafty skill and crushing power, Fitzsimmons was able to knock out heavyweights when he only weighed 158 pounds!