Shoulda' but Didna' -- Great Fights That Never Were

[BigBoyBrackey]

We interrupt the building hype for Zale-Burley with this special championship presentation: Alexis Arguello vs. Roberto Duran, 15 rounds for the undisputed lightweight championship of the world.

Duran, who has ruled the 135-pound division throughout the 1970s, has agreed to delay his planned move to the welterweight division in order to face Arguello, his lone rival in terms of both ring prowess and national adoration from his Latin American countrymen in boxing's lower divisions.

Duran will defend his unified world championship over 15 rounds at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The date is June 12, 1978. We'll be back with more after this message. (A little off-topic, but can anyone tell me -- is she gutting a buffalo while he's talking?)

[BigBoyBrackey]

PRE-FIGHT

After organizers realize the capacity of 12,000 at Coliseo Roberto Clemente will be wildly inadequate for the demand created by Duran-Arguello, arrangements are made to set up a temporary outdoor arena near the facility.



Still, the 32,000 available seats sell out in less than three days and tens of thousands of the countrymen of both fighters swarm into San Juan from Panama and Nicaragua, along with fight fans from the U.S., creating a pan-American boxing festival.

A sold-out concert at the venue by Puerto Rican salsa pioneer Hector Lavoe the night before the fight intensified an already-electric atmosphere. By the time Duran (64-1, 52 knockouts) and Arguello (60-4, 49) enter the ring, the evenly divided crowd makes it impossible for Jimmy Lennon's introductions to be heard.



Can Duran's iron chin endure against Arguello, perhaps the hardest puncher he has faced to date? Has he weakened himself by making it to 135 one more time? Can Arguello's technique and power ward off Duran's relentless attack?

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 1

Roberto Duran and Alexis Arguello open by circling and sizing each other up -- for about 10 seconds.

Then Arguello feints with the left and launches a right cross that lands flush, snapping Duran's head back and forcing Manos de Piedro back a step. Arguello follows with another right that lands just as cleanly.

Duran soon seems more inspired than hurt by the twin bombs, ripping home a left hook just under Arguello's ribcage, then a left uppercut that sends the lanky Nicaraguan staggering backward on suddenly unsteady legs.

A snarling Duran tears into his prey, thudding shots to the body with both hands in a furious onslaught.

Arguello saves himself with another enormous right, this one leaving Duran glassy-eyed as the bell sounds.

The crowd, of course, goes wild.

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 2

After scoring heavily inside in the opening round, Duran opens the second content to fight at a distance. Though the tactic seems to favor the taller Arguello, Duran shows his boxing skills with a pretty left-right to the face.

After Arguello pulls his head down during a clinch, though, Duran shows his less-civilized side, drawing a warning from referee Carlos Berrocal for rabbit punching.

Arguello frustrates Duran by making him miss with several punches, then connects with a hard left jab. Duran retaliates with an obviously intentional head butt, again incurring Berrocal's wrath.

Duran goes back to the body, punctuating a two-handed flurry to the ribs with a left hook to the jaw. Arguello responds in kind, landing an upstairs-downstairs sequence of left hooks.

Clearly hurt again, Duran hangs on until the bell.

After two rounds, ringside expert Romy Alvarez has it 20-19 for Duran, giving Roberto the first round and calling the second even. Either frame could easily be scored either way, from this vantage point ...

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 3

The action slows in the third as Duran, perhaps growing wary of Arguello's power, adopts the role of counter-puncher.

Little happens in the first half of the round, other than a solid right uppercut by Duran.

Another booming right cross reminds Duran of why he came out so cautious in this frame. He recovers enough to land a short left uppercut and the two finish the third trading jabs at a distance.

It looks like Duran's round and Romy Alvarez's unofficial ringside card has it 30-28, Duran.

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 4

Duran is more aggressive in the early going, working his way inside Arguello's superior reach. Once there, though, he focuses more on interior defense than on attacking, deflecting several shots and slipping a couple more.

After they trade right crosses, Duran slips one and retaliates smashing home a left hook to the jaw and following with a short right to the other side of Arguello's chin.

After landing a solid right at the beltline, Duran responds to taking a hard right cross to the chest by landing a harder one slightly lower. He follows with a snapping left uppercut that sends Arguello into the ropes, but Arguello protects himself with a clinch that lasts until after the bell.

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 5

Needing something to turn the momentum, Arguello finds it inside his right glove. A blazing cross lands over Duran's jab with enough force to roll El Cholo's eyes, and another puts him in unfamiliar territory -- against the ropes, his knees sagging.

After missing with a couple more home run swings, Arguello detonates another right cross to the chin, then scores heavily with both hands to the head and body.

After Arguello delivers a clean jab-cross-hook combo, an off-balance Duran stumbles into Arguello and manages to grab hold of his tormentor. He emerges from the clinch with a gushing cut in the middle of his right eyebrow, forcing Berrocal to call time and take him to the ring doctor. After some back-and-forth between the two officials, Berrocal indicates that the cut is the result of an accidental head butt during the clinch and signals for the fight to resume.

This time, it is Duran who refuses to let go of his opponent until after the bell sounds.

The fifth clearly goes to Arguello, who now trails 49-47 on Alvarez's unofficial scorecard. A liberal judge could have scored the fifth 10-8 for Arguello, who did everything but floor Duran.

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 6

Duran comes out looking to work the body and lands a pair of shots that score, but don't necessarily do much damage.

The same can't be said for yet another big right cross by Arguello, who follows up with his best left hook of the fight thus far.

The hook reopens the cut over Duran's right eye, with the renewed bleeding causing Berrocal to again call time to look over the wound. Again, he and the ring doctor decide to let the fight continue.

Unwilling to let the fight be decided by the judges after an early stoppage due to the cut, Duran tears into Arguello. He lands his own right cross to the jaw, then has a shot to the body blocked.

After absorbing another cracking left hook to the face, Duran scores with a jab-cross combo up top that lands cleanly.

After pushing Duran away, Arguello steps in to fire a left hook, but Duran beats him to the punch with another left-right, this one landing flush. Arguello's knees buckle, he takes a halting half-step with his right foot, then plummets to the canvas.

Lost in the noise of the delirious crowd, Berrocal counts to four before Arguello gets to his feet. Despite his blank expression, the referee waves the fighters together, but the bell rings before they can reach other.

A 10-8 round, due to the knockdown, giving Duran a 59-55 lead on Alvarez's unofficial scorecard.

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 7

Cut man Freddie Brown does an expert job on the cut over Duran's right eye, but he comes out a bit tentative, perhaps trying to protect the injury.

All it takes is one of Arguello's right-hand bombs about a minute in to reignite his aggression, though, and Duran lands every meaningful punch for the rest of the round. He works combinations to the head and body, then nearly drops Arguello again with a right uppercut with 30 seconds remaining.

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 8

After the fighters spend the first 45 seconds demonstrating their considerable defensive skills, Duran breaks the ice with a hook to the chest.

Arguello, who seemed to be wearing down in the previous two rounds, blocks a left hook up top and returns fire with a hard jab-cross combination, then delivers a sharp jab that reopens Duran's cut yet again.

The cut has become a gash, with the flow of blood making it impossible for him to see clearly. After conferring with the ring doctor, Berrocal waves the fight over. After tabulating his own score card, he collects the judges' and hands the tallies over to ring announcer Jimmy Lennon, with the crowd's reaction a mixture of boos and cries of "Let them fight!"

Lennon steps to the microphone and shouts over the growing din ...

[BigBoyBrackey]

DECISION

"Referee Carlos Berrocal scores it 68-64 ...

Judge Chuck Hassett scores it 69-63 ...

and Judge Yusaka Yoshida scores it 68-64.

All for the winner, and STILL the undisputed lightweight champion of the world, Roberto Duran!"

[BigBoyBrackey]

POST-FIGHT

Arguello and Duran embrace as they step to the podium.

"You are a great champion," Arguello tells Duran as they sit down at their respective microphones.

"As are you," Duran says through an interpreter.

"I just wish it hadn't ended the way it did," Arguello tells reporters. "I know I caught him good a few times and would have liked the chance to get into the later rounds. I think a rematch maybe would be great for everyone."

Duran chuckles and shakes his head.

"This man hits harder than anyone I've ever fought," Duran says. "A few times, I don't know where I am after he hits me with that right cross. If he wants a rematch, he's going to have to come with me up to welterweight. I don't want to lose so much weight any more, and 147 pounds is where the big money is."

[jdphx]

Awesome BB!!


This one HAS to be a rematch.... Show Roberto the $$$
He'll fight him in a phone booth!!

Only thing I hate about my Uni... You wait and hope and
beg for these matchups... some that never come. But I
can't not let it play out the way it plays out!! Call me a
purist....

I'm thouroughly enjoying this thread!!

[Infinity]

I heard a rumour that the well known promoter Donnie Queen will offer an insane amount of money for the rematch. (The question is, will he/she pay?.....)

[BigBoyBrackey]

Originally Posted by jdphx

Awesome BB!!


This one HAS to be a rematch.... Show Roberto the $$$
He'll fight him in a phone booth!!

Only thing I hate about my Uni... You wait and hope and
beg for these matchups... some that never come. But I
can't not let it play out the way it plays out!! Call me a
purist....

I'm thouroughly enjoying this thread!!

Thanks, JD - I'm having fun with it, too. One of the cool things about a fully imagined universe, like most of them on here, is that they build up their own histories and back-stories for matchups. For this, I like using the actual back stories to set up the hypothetical fights.

I was planning on this being only one-off fights, but where it works, rematches might well be in order. As for as Arguello and Duran, several sites in South and Central America are already bidding for the return, as well as some venues in the U.S. Is there enough money to keep Roberto away from the table (and, perhaps more importantly, the bar?) ... stay tuned.

[BigBoyBrackey]

In memory of one of his generation's most exciting fighters, SBD will present Arturo Gatti v. an opponent or opponents yet to be named. Since there are obviously a lot of his fans on these boards, let me know who you would like to see him trade blood with. While I've been trying to keep this relatively realistic (in terms of guys who could have actually met at a particular weight), we could stretch it out a little here for a particularly good matchup.

So, you make the call: Arturo Gatti vs. ?

[jdphx]

My vote is for Thunder vs Thunder!
Or Thunder from down under that is...

Arturo Gatti vs Kostya Tszyu

Gatti wore the crown in 2004 only after Tszyu
was stripped of it. Could he have taken it in the
square?

Two big bombers... two huge hearts... two Thunders!

[Crimson]

Gatti-Tszyu would have been exciting.

I'm gonna cast a vote for Gatti vs. Jeff Fenech. The fight was a reasonable possibility immediately after Gatti won the IBF title from Tracy Patterson in December of 1995. Jeff Fenech was still a ranked contender and although past his prime, the 27-2-1 (20) Australian, would have been a formidable foe for the 24-1 (20) newly belted titleholder's first defense.

The last boxing card at the Montreal Forum was in December 1995, so maybe there could be one last exchange of leather there, GATTI vs. FENECH! Get all the snacks ready before the fight starts!


The fight would be a for sure sell out. Gatti's only pro fight in Canada (2000 at the Molson Centre) drew over 20,000.

[BigBoyBrackey]

Both Fenech on Tzyu are great suggestions. And, since we're making up the rules here, no reason we can't do both (and some others, as/if they're proposed).

Also, in order to give respect where due, I'm also working on a couple preliminary fights featuring Johnny Caldwell and Cesar Brion. Sort of like a multi-site Showtime or HBO card, except with the added dimension of time travel.

For Caldwell, it will be a rematch of his 1962 war with fellow Irishman Freddie Gilroy for the BBB of C and Commonwealth bantam crowns. Caldwell lost on a cut in the ninth of what several sources call the greatest fight ever in Belfast and never got a rematch, since Gilroy retired after getting shafted out of his promised world title shot and offered short money for a return with Caldwell.

Not sure about Brion yet -- have to do a little more digging on him ...

[Mad Bomber]

I think both Tszyu and Fenech are excellent ideas, but shouldn't we wait until there is a Junior Lightweight version of Gatti before we have the Fenech fight ?