record behind record

The Record behind the Record

The Record behind the Record

By Ted Sares

Some fighters finish their career with great records that no one ever

knows about. Others, like Salvador "Chava" Sanchez's 44-1-1 record,

Ricardo "Finito" Lopez's slate of 51-0-1 (38 KOs), Khaosai Galaxy's

49-1 (43 ko's) and Rocky Marciano's perfect 49-0 are well documented.

The great Gene Tunney only dropped only one fight finishing with a

remarkable 82-1-3-and 2 no contests. Of coures, Terry Marsh won every

domestic amature boxing title and went on to retire as the undefeated

British, European and World Champion

However, a few others you might not know about include:

"Dangerous" Dana Rosenblatt: 37-1-2 with (23 KOs). His slate includes

wins over Vinnie Paz, Terry Norris, Glenwood "The Real Beast" Brown,

Howard Davis and Brett Lally. He also beat Chad Parker and Sean

Fitzgerald, both of whom retired with great records as well. Dana was

a world champion who quit on his own terms.

Chad Parker, out of Biloxi, MS, never fought anyone of note until he

stepped up to fight Dangerous" Dana and was knocked out in spectacular

fashion in the first round. He immediately retired with a record of

31-1-1 with (25 KOs). Parker was a relative unknown who won his first

fifteen all by stoppage--but his first nineteen opponents had losing

records. Included among them were Jake Torrance (22-79-2) and Anthony

Travis (5-50). He drew with Tim Rabon (14-12-2) and then fought

Keheven Johnson (24-70-5), Anthony Ivory (33-77-5), and David

McCluskey (20-72-6). A year before his Las Vegas fight with

Rosenblatt, he fought Tim Dendy (17-44-2) and won by DQ in nine, which

indicated at the time that Parker might be more hype than fight. All

told, his opponents had an eye-popping combined won-lost record of

252-753!

Richie "The Bull" Melito, 27-1 with (25KOs), also lost when he stepped

up for the first time. He was exposed and iced in 1997 by Bert Cooper

in the first round.

Right out of the professional gate, he had won eighteen in a row,

eleven coming by way of first-round KO. Only one of his fights went

the distance, and that was a four-rounder against the immortal Edgar

Turpin (0-6). In all, he had fought twenty-nine rounds in eighteen

fights or 1.6 rounds per fight. But like many such records, there was

a story behind the story.

None of his first eleven opponents had even won a fight. Finally, he

fought unknown Chris Gingrow, who sported a 1-7 record and dispatched

him in one round. He then stepped up and fought tough journeyman Mike

Dixon in Memphis and did manage a TKO in four, his longest fight to

date. Dixon, 16-30, had been in with may top-level fighters, so maybe

the Bull had a little something after all.

When he fought John Carlo in his seventeenth fight, it marked the

first time he fought an opponent with a winning record. This fight was

for the vacant New York State Heavyweight Title. Carlo's record was

14-2, with his only distinguishing accomplishment being a first-round

KO over a completely shot Leon Spinks in 1994. It was one of Spink's

last fights. Other than that, he had fought no-names with losing

records.

In fact, Carlo's most recent fight leading up to July 29, 1997, had

been against Eddie Curry (13-27-2) out of South Carolina, whom he beat

by a TKO in the third round. Tellingly, Curry had lost seventeen

fights inside of three. Completing the circle, he had even lost to

Leon Spinks by DQ in 1994. Prior to" the Bull," Carlo had been

defeated by one Derek Amos (14-22) and Crawford Grimsley, both by

first-round knockout. Grimsley's claim to immortality would be a

thirteen-second knockout at the hands of Jimmy "From Down Under"

Thunder! At any rate, "the Bull" beat Carlo by KO in the second round

and "captured" the crown.

Richie "the Bull" Melito's 18-0 record had been overhyped by fighting

seventeen opponents with losing records--and most had never even won a

professional fight. Their combined won-lost record was 60-138. To

Richie's credit, he finished his career with a string of wins against

much better competition.

Alonzo Highsmith, 27-1-2 (23 ko's) was a running back out of Miami who

was drafted in the first round, and played football for Houston,

Dallas, and Tampa Bay from 1987 to 1992, but Highsmith never finished

in the top ten in any major category, nor is he in the all-time top

fifty in any major category. Moreover, his boxing opponents were on

the dreadful side, with few wins coming against decent fighters with

even halfway decent records. For example, he managed to beat the

immortal Ed Strickland (0-30), legendary Jim Wisniewski (3-30) twice,

and Terry Verners (8-26-2).

Highsmith is now working on getting his PGA Tour card. At thirty-six

as a college scout for the Green Bay Packers, Highsmith spends a lot

of time mentoring and coaching young football players. And he's still

a big name to many. Highsmith enthusiastically works football camps

and assists seriously ill children at hospitals.

Leroy Jones, this 6'5 heavyweight out of Denver won the vacant NABF

Heavyweight Title in 1978 before losing to Larry Holmes in his bid for

the heavyweight title. Two years later, he retired with a record of

25-1-1 and likely became the subject of boxing trivia questions.

Still, he had very good technical skills and an even better final

record.

Henry "The Gentleman" Maske, 31-1, was a former Light Heavyweight

champion who fought and won after taking a 10-year layoff. His level

of opposition was impressive from the very start of his career, but

the rap against Maske was that he fought too many fights in Germany.

Marshall Simpson was as Boston area light middleweight who retired

with a fine 25-1 record. However, this boxer originally from Jamaica

only fought three fighters with winning records. His lone loss came by

TKO at the hands of Nate Woods who had lost eight in a row before

dispatching Simpson.

So what's the point? Well, for one thing, when analyzing the worth of

a fighter, it's more important to do it on a qualitative basis than on

a quantitative one. A guy who's undefeated at 10-0, for example, might

not be that much better than a more seasoned boxer with a lousy

record. For me, the quality of a fighter's opponents and his

experience level are the key and should be closely analyzed to prevent

dangerous mismatches. Think not? When Melito fought Cooper in 1997,

the "Bull" was 18-0 and had a ko percentage of 94%. Smokin' Bert was

33-17 but his level of competition was light years better then