Was a good KO but it’s not the greatest, even in MMA……
signed a pissed off CroCop fan
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I can’t think of a better one
Gabe was the U/D. He was supposed to be the sacrificial lamb to the greatest HW kick boxer mma had ever seen.
Instead he KO’d him with his own speciality. And it was brutal/ugly too
Yeah did the same with Naz’s fights, was buzzing when it came in the mail. VHS copies. Now its all up on Youtube.
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One of the best sparring sessions between Hearns and McCallum. @sweetviolenturge , any stories mate?
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Barboza on Etim was a better kick KO, most of CroCops knockouts were better, Hendo vs Bisping , there’s loads I’d put above it.
Yeah it was shocking and it was his own weapon used against him broken ankle made it worse, it’s up there alright.
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Duran/Hearns was high level, like Hagler Hearns & others.
Of course “best KO” is too subjective as there are a thousand great choices.
Even with Cro Cop, the most underrated to me and “best” is by far Igor Vovchanchyn, as it was high-level, tense, unknowing quick & devastating.
And with hands I’d even say Igor vs. Francisco Bueno was easily more visually aesthetic than Hearns/Duran.
Like Mercer/Sylvia & others.
But for sure & for reasons you described, Gonzaga/Cro Cop deserves a place among the greats in its category of…shock & awe/irony?
This was Hearns best professional KO in my book.
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Spot on here uri, Igor on Bueno was one of my favourites as well , the cro cop one gets the irony and shock factor and that elevates it ,Coleman vs Williams is a better kick KO for me.
Rizzo on Barnett with the hands as well, flattened his face Arlovski too, Arlovski on Buentello there’s too many good KOs with bigger stakes.
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I hated the outcome and was really hoping Pettway would have fought Trinidad. I wanted to see Pettway get destroyed. I liked Simon Brown quite a bit. Julian Jackson has a few pretty wild highlight KO’s.
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Just a couple, bro.
While I was at the Fighter of the Decade
awards show at Trump’s Taj Mahal back in 1990, I was talking to Tommy & Manny Steward & after I was through telling them about all the guys I’d worked for as a sparring partner they looked me up & down & told me that I was welcome to come to the Kronk & work with Heaarns any time I wanted & this was my expression at the time.
Then, Manny winked at me & laughed, acknowledging that at 5’8" 154 I was way too small to get in with Tommy at that point. Just the thought of it made me want to piss myself a little. Lol.
I mean, I’d spar with basically anyone around my size if the money was good enough but there were 3 guys I had no interest in working for. Tommy, Julien Jackson & John Mugabi. I had a rock for a head but even rock can be broken. So, I drew the line at those guys.
As for Duran, back in 1992 we were both promoted by Mike Acri so when Duran was set to fight in my native Buffalo, I was set as one of his sparring partners & I was excited as hell at the opportunity. But a week before camp was set to open I tore my knee up while doing roadwork & I was in a fucking knee stabilizer for 6 weeks & missed out. I was gutted as hell. As a consolation of sorts, I got to work his corner though.
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I worked with Simon from '88-'91 & damn, that man had a chin on him.
But when it went, it went to hell.
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Some of the biggest KO’s of that era.
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That’s pretty cool. Simon was a pretty damn good fighter. He was technically very solid, and yeah he did have a pretty damn good chin. It is weird how some guys, when it goes it is GONE. I wasn’t shocked when he knocked out Terry Norris. When he hurt him badly with that step-jab, shotgun-jab or whatever different names its called. Terry was very good, but he had too much dog in him and not near enough chin. He got into too many brawls that he could have won much easier just boxing and taking his time. He loved going after guys. It hurt him in some fights, and has taken its toll on his health now. He always soft and quietly, but he is terrible now. I remember talk of him moving up to fight Gerald McClellen, Nigel Benn or possibly James Toney or Roy Jones. His tendency to get into fire fights and inability to take much punishment would have gotten him merk’d by any of those guys. Him and Tito Trinidad were supposed to fight a few times. He lead with that left hand kind of uppercut jab a lot. Tito bent down and forward a lot when being defensive. I think Terry would have touched him up. Tito went down A LOT too, but always got up. Them two in a fire fight could have been something. I seen Tito getting hurt, but catching Terry when he would go for the finish. Terry was also supposed to fight Julio Cesar Chavez. I think he would have hurt him. He was bigger and stronger, and younger
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Wow, imagine sparring with Duran.
How do you think Hearns would have done with Toney?
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That is Awesome! Forever, I hated Duran. I’ll never forget when he beat Ray Leonard, June 20th 1980. I was a little kid and had a little league baseball game that evening. After the game when were in the back of my of my friends parents truck driving home (the old days). They were listening on the radio getting round by round updates. I was so sad, I cried when they anounced “Winner by Majority Decision, Roberto Duran.” I hated Duran, everything about him.
Fastforward to 1995-1996. I’m at some fights at the old Aladdin. It might have been the night before Tyson fought McNeely. I’m standing talking in a group of guys and I noticed Ray Leonard is right next to me. I didnt show it, but I was almost starstruck, I always thought he was the greatest. I tried making small talk while everyone is B.S’ing. He was one of the most smug, arrogant guy I’d ever met. It was so off putting I couldn’t believe it.
Not 5 minutes later up walks Roberto. His nephew (Santiago Samaniego) was on the card. He was shaking everyone’s hand. He talked to everyone around him, signed autographs, took pictures. The guy I had always looked at as a nasty mean guy was the exact opposite. In 15 minutes, the way I had viewed two of the greatest fighters had flipped. Duran seemed like a genuine guy. Ray was fake and a fraud. It allowed me to view Duran completely unbiased. Only then I could watch his old fights and appreciate him. It is a weird sport. A few fighters that I thought were certain ways turned totally different.
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Toney would have needed to be in great shape. When he was feeling good at 160-168, he was a monster. I think he touches Tommy’s chin at some point. He would have had to go through some real fire to do it though. Toney seemed to get the better of Gerald McClellen in sparring. He beat Mike McCallum when he was still near his prime. Toney is the most natural, born to fight guy I’ve ever seen. He hated training. He’d rather spar 300-400 rounds to get inshape than run, jump rope, drill, etc.
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Hence the fact that he can barely talk these days.
Agreed on all counts, bro.
In fact, if I’m not mistaken Brown’s KO of Norris was what prevented the Tito-Terry fight from happening.
As for Norris-Chavez, yeah, Norris was all wrong for Chavez.
And not to brag but back in 1986 Don King & the Chavez camp borrowed me from the Camacho camp ( I was helping Macho for Rosario ) for a day so I could fill in for one of his regular sparring partners who called in sick. Needless to say, that was an experience. I was still a welterweight at the time & Chavez was set to defend his 130 lb title vs Refugio Rojas on the Macho-Chapo card but Chavez still put a whooping on me that day. Lol.
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Got to agree with u on that one. Only KO ever in the ufc where I kind of felt physically ill afterwards.
I imagined that’s what it would feel like to see your dad get the shit beat out of him.
My pick at their bests would be Toney. Tough, tough contest though.
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