Only just saw that he passed away a couple of dsys ago - he was 89. Involved in one of my top 10 favourite fights, his incredible battle with Carmen Basilio in the rematch of their first fight a few months before - also a great fight by all accounts. Would love to see his battle with Virgil Akins in full. From the highlights it looks like another classic. Each time I've been to Boston, I've gone to the entrance of the North End where there is a statue of him and he also has a road named after him there (Tony DeMarco Way). Rest in peace, champ.
Jesus. I didn't even know DeMarco was still alive. His second fight with Basilio is one of the best welterweight fights of all time. RIP.
Aside from the incredible war he had with Basilio, his first fight with Akins looks amazing in what we have of it. The Ortega trilogy, Carter and Gavilan fights must be absolutely amazing.
5'5" Welters. FFS. Said one day he'd just "Had enough" and that his heart wasn't in it. I should imagine if I was a 5'5" Welterweight fighting people like Basilio and Ortega and Gavilan that, yes, pretty soon, my heart wouldn't be in it either.
Most of today's top welterweights are short. Boots is the tallest one and Boots is 5'10. Spence is 5'9. Bud is 5'8. Thurman (no longer relevant) is 5'7. Gavilan was pretty tall for a welterweight. He was 5'11. Robinson was also 5'11.
Yeah i can imagine even for the toughest guys you might start considering other options even if they're limited. I suppose it was different back in that era but it seems in boxing as opposed to most other sports you have to at least one point believe you're the best in your area/weight division or the entire world. At a minimum you're in the discussion. Whether it's reality or delusion is largely unimportant. When many fighters are taken off that elite stage and have to admit to themselves somebody (or anybody) is better it's like they think the entire exercise is pointless.
He was also Carmen Basilio, which is where I imagine DeMarcos problems became immediately more pronounced.
I make these gifs so you fucks can be grateful. Here is some neat defensive work by DeMarco, he draws Basilio, steps back, then leads with a right, then a left, catching Basilio before getting out of range again.
Pacquaio......... you're too young to remember but there was a whole other era in here ......before Covid, before fucking BLM, before Trump and Biden and all that shit where the ONLY place to be was the "Big Head Manny Pac Steroids vs Floyd" thread. Fuck knows what year that was, 2010?
I hated those threads tbh . I feel like the longest threads in forum history, meaning either here or on Second's Out, remain those early 00s Roy threads. There were some extremely long Trinidad threads also, because after he smashed Joppy, people thought he could walk on water.
There's no way of being certain, but I would think that the build-up to Lewis-Tyson was probably the deepest thread ever. I know when Esk made his infamous "Tyson in 1 in a performance so tight they'll call it virgin" thread, that went on forever.
Johnny Whitehead used to write for the Wrong Magazine "The Libel of Boxing" and he came on here- a guy I respect- and said that the left hook that Trinidad dropped Joppy with would have dropped ANY MW Champ. Foreman vs Tyson was another long thread.
Robinson i think was a legit 5'11. He was pretty tall. Compared to Leonard, Robinson was taller, and a heavier framed guy. Which is why he could carry 160 better than Leonard could. Robinson would have been amazing if he had a junior middleweight division.
I've always thought Robinson's best came with less weight on his frame. Even at WW, he seemed to peak at 144ish.
