Toughest fight: Larry Stanton/Norman Goins – I was very nervous, it was my first 10 rounder (vs. Stanton). We fought in an arena that had no air conditioning and after the first round I had nothing. I don’t know how I went 10 rounds. I almost collapsed after the fight. I had nothing, and when I say I had nothing left, there’s no way I could go another round. I felt like I was dying. I tried to KO him in the first round and he just kept coming for ten rounds. It was the most brutal fight for me, mentally. On top of that I had Bell’s palsy. Only my father had known about it. That was painful in itself. I had to deal with that while fighting.
Then my second ten rounder, (was against) Norman Goins. He had a lot of knockouts and he had lost his last 7 fights but for some reason when he found out he was fighting me, he hired a new trainer, went to train in Florida and got in terrific shape. He knocked me down in the first and in the fifth. I knocked him down in the ninth and it should have been a knockout. The referee Jay Edson let it go 13 seconds. I came to him afterwards and said, “You let the fight go a little longer.” He admitted it, he said, “Yeah, but you had the fight.” I guess he wanted to see it through. I didn’t realize it at the time but when I looked at the films, he stopped at (the count of) “8” when the guy got to his knees.
Best boxer: Vilomar Fernandez – One of the most technical fighters I ever fought. He was a consummate boxer, just came off a win over Alexis Arguello. It was an elimination fight to fight for the title. When you think of a slick, high intelligence boxer, that’s what he was about. He was one of those guys who was very smart, very difficult to hit at times. He just had a very high IQ for boxing and I admire that. I fought his brother Jose Fernandez, too. I think it was my second or third fight.”
Best Puncher: Tony Baltazar – I didn’t know anything about him, not even his record. They just told me, “Today you’re fighting this guy.” I usually make it easy for myself by not getting hit but at times I got hit by him and they were pretty powerful punches. If I wasn’t sick, he wouldn’t have hit me at all. I was so weak and ill, I don’t know how I went ten rounds because two days before that I couldn’t go two.”
Best Defense: Edwin Rosario – He was very difficult to hit the first three rounds. One of the things I had going for me was speed and once I find the range for my jab, it’s over for them. I could not hit him with my jab in the beginning. When I started feinting, I started hitting him with it. Even with all the movements, he was still difficult to hit for me.
Smartest: Edwin Rosario – You could tell he studied me. He had all my moves. I had to go into my bag of tricks for him. Boxing is a game of chess. I would make a certain move that would be setting something up down the line. He knew I was setting him up for something later so when I made a move, he made a move to counteract it. I had to make 2-3 moves so I could get him into position.
For that fight, a lot people don’t know that this was a short notice fight. I only trained I think two and a half three weeks. At the time I was contemplating retirement. I weighed 155 and I told my wife the same day that I found out that I think I’m going to retire and she was happy. As soon as I made that decision, my trainer pulled up at my house and said, “You got a title fight.” I said “No, I’m retired.” He said, “Well, here’s the money.” So I said “OK we’re out.”
Fastest hands: Hector Camacho – I think he had great timing and was great counter puncher. Not a hard puncher at all and I don’t think he cared about punching hard. I caught him a couple of times, I bloodied his nose in the fourth and fifth rounds. He was very tricky but he couldn’t do the things he wanted to do to me because I wouldn’t let him hit me. But he won the fight, no doubt about it. He didn’t shut me out. All the rounds were close in my opinion.
Best chin: Larry Stanton – I hit him with the kitchen sink. I’m not known to be a hard puncher, but I can punch hard when I set down and don’t move so much. I never cared about knocking somebody out, my thing was being a mad scientist, taking it to the bunson burners and beakers.
Fastest feet: Hector Camacho – He knows how to avoid with his feet. He’s not a guy who moves his head a lot, he avoids with his legs.
Strongest: Norman Goins – I was either 20 or 21, he was 27 or 28 and had his man strength. One of the strongest fighters I ever fought. I would have to say Baltazar also. I was sick but I could tell he was strong. He was very difficult to clinch.
Best jab: Edwin Rosario – I think the most I got hit by anyone’s jab happened to be Edwin Rosario. It wasn’t much, but I would say he hit me the most with the jab. If somebody hit me with a lot of jabs, it’d be very difficult for me to get my jab off. There were two reasons: he saw my jab, good fighters can figure out when you’re going to throw a punch because they study your movements. You could tell he had studied my jab because every time I would throw it, he would either slip it or block it. He’s a short guy and usually short guys don’t jab, but his timing was good. Mike Tyson was another short guy who had a great jab, his timing was impeccable. Edwin Rosario’s timing was very, very good.
damn thats fukking terrible.
