|
|
Post by llecha on Oct 24, 2014 16:22:05 GMT -5
Greatest Underweight Heavy of all time - Methusela Islamabad
Posted by: Sammy (Noble and Ancient Order of the Spurting Gibbon) [Moderator] [Winner of 141 Specialty Region Titles] [Winner of 263 Regional Titles] [Winner of 4 World Titles]
Date: 2014-07-23 01:55 | IP: | Moderate This Post
I don't know how many of you know the legend of Methusela Islamabad, but he was a struggling regional level Super Feather back shortly before week 200 in the UK South. He made it to a regional title fight at 16 wins, 2 draws and one loss, but lost three straight title fights, and looked set to become one of those regional gatekeepers, stuck in the win/loss cycle. In week 199, his manager, at the time known as Draconian Empire - The Bolshevik Revolutionaries, but known to us on the UKS forum simply as Uber (after his original gym name, UberTsar), made a bold decision, and moved him to heavyweight. This was no cynical move to get a quick and attention getting title shot; even though he won his heavyweight debut, giving away a foot in height and 116 pounds in weight (that's right, he was nearly a whole bantamweight lighter!) against a fighter with an 18-10 record, that only got him to 10th in the rankings. With a 13 (15) R/S, and the title held at 18(18), he would have to work his way up, and none of us thought he had a chance. Frankly, we thought Uber would take his one heavyweight win, and leg it back down to where he belonged. We were wrong.
He put together a pair of victories against Peter "the Defector" Stasny (a UKS legend, who had made it to a couple of losing title fights, and wouldn't quit trying. He's even active again now, with a record of 71-110-6, and still with only 4 kos to his name!) to return to equal rating and status before he took his first heavyweight defeat, losing a close one against the very capable Goodison, and then getting spanked by Bird, who was just rising then. This convinced Uber to retire Methuselah, but the bug was too strong, and after 11 weeks he bounced back, stringing together a couple of wins (one against me at a huge height and weight disadvantage), and fought an extraordinary 3 fight series against Porkpie's future world champ I'm Calling A Raver On Her. Raver won a relatively bloodless first fight, but Methuselah won the rematch on a foul, and then upset the odds by getting an absolutely genuine victory on points, surely the lightest fighter to ever defeat a future heavyweight world champ.
One more win, an emphatic 118-112 victory over a fighter with a 16-1 record (a worthy final eliminator), and he got the most unlikely heavyweight title fight in UKS history. It looked, though, as though the fairytale was too good to be true, as Mickeybeard (later Greenbank Gibbons')'s Vitali Robotsko was a bit more successful in pressing his 130 pound weight advantage, and by the 10th, had a 1 round lead while the plucky Islamabad was in desperate trouble, sucking wind whilst his opponent was merely grabbing his water bottle. In that fateful tenth, however, Robotsko threw caution to the wind to get the KO when he could have been conservative, and after Islamabad rose from the canvas from an 8 count, managed to get himself disqualified at 2:38 of the round, and UKS had a 134 pound heavyweight champ.
It was all too good to last sadly, and Islamabad got blasted out in 2 rounds in back to back title fights by "Brawn" Ross Terry, of the redoubtable Rock Hard Rootes, who had realised that there was little to prevent him from just allouting a 6'1 super feather off the face of the planet. A repeat win over his previous final eliminator victim got Islamabad his last truly big fight, a 4th match with Raver, but Porkpie had been watching the Terry matches, and after using his height advantage to get Islamabad opening up, allouted him into the 12th row to take defend his newly won title and even their series. Regrettably, Islamabad never made it to Contenders to fight a decider with his nemesis, and neither did he know when to quit. A continued heavyweight campaign led to a few more unlikely wins allied with some damaging defeats, a try at Cruiser only led to a 1-2 record, and a return to super feather showed that the ghost of Islamabad wasn't enough to keep a younger slugger at bay, as Arkle's Aryl D
It was all too good to last sadly, and Islamabad got blasted out in 2 rounds in back to back title fights by "Brawn" Ross Terry, of the redoubtable Rock Hard Rootes, who had realised that there was little to prevent him from just allouting a 6'1 super feather off the face of the planet. A repeat win over his previous final eliminator victim got Islamabad his last truly big fight, a 4th match with Raver, but Porkpie had been watching the Terry matches, and after using his height advantage to get Islamabad opening up, allouted him into the 12th row to take defend his newly won title and even their series. Regrettably, Islamabad never made it to Contenders to fight a decider with his nemesis, and neither did he know when to quit. A continued heavyweight campaign led to a few more unlikely wins allied with some damaging defeats, a try at Cruiser only led to a 1-2 record, and a return to super feather showed that the ghost of Islamabad wasn't enough to keep a younger slugger at bay, as Arkle's Aryl Dung Dwarf battered him into submission in the 9th round of a fight he was dominating on points. His final hurrah was a return to heavyweight, where he faced a fighter from the moderate Makai's gym, a man who he might well have beaten in his glory days at the weight, but the younger and bigger man showed him no respect, and finally convinced the old man that it was time to hang up the gloves with a brutal 4 round hammering. At 7 status and 18 rating, he had clearly carried on far past his time, but he will be fondly remembered as a fighter who dared to dream, and who achieved a feat which will surely never be repeated.
|
|
|
|
Post by llecha on Oct 24, 2014 16:24:02 GMT -5
Pintov Premier - the tale of a guy who was almost good enough
Posted by: Sammy (Noble and Ancient Order of the Spurting Gibbon) [Moderator] [Winner of 141 Specialty Region Titles] [Winner of 263 Regional Titles] [Winner of 4 World Titles]
Date: 2014-10-23 04:38 | IP: | Moderate This Post
You wanted more of this? Here is your wish fulfillment. Tonight, I was looking at fighters that belong to Magadan, many of which are old, and from other gyms. I found a gym called Ale Can Gym; I've fought nearly everyone, but I'd never heard of, or faced, this gym. I went through his retired, and status 9 was the top for most, but there was an exception, an Unsanctioned Feather called Pintov Premier. His record is frankly crappy; 39-34-0 (34/16), but he made status 18 and had a title fight. I don't know what you think of Unsanctioned, but I have loved it. It's a place where B grade gyms, like me frankly, could make their mark. My fighters could battle for multiple titles against guys like Tyrone (I wonder if this is actually Tyrone Trice), who never won a WT, and have some epics. The top fighters are from gyms a level above; Shinra and GA, not royalty, but better than me. That's what I loved, the chance to have establish a mark (I'm #7 all time, and my best fighter, with 26 titles, ranks #19.
What I really love is the little characters that make the game, and Pintov Premier is one, the undoubted star and legend of his gym, but a footnote elsewhere. At 5'2 and featherweight, Pintov was no slapper, but neither was he a monster. His gym struggled in the old UKN, never winning a title, providing nothing more than background, and Pintov's start hinted at nothing more. In his first five fights, his only win was against a guy who ended 2-6-0 (Spend Abzi), but he turned a corner in stopping Luther to Luther, from Big Luke Daddy, a gym who managed positive win percentage in every region but contenders, and won titles in several. That dominant win, well taken despite being a clumsy fight between fighters who couldn't play to their strengths, set Pintov off on an unlikely run.
These were the days before win streak, when being good just got you a win, not a huge advantage over the opposition, so even though Pintov's meeting with regional royalty Jefferson Wade, of the Tyrone gym, who ended at 64-30-8 with 16 titles, ended in a crushing defeat, he still made progress not far behind Wade. A patchy career of more wins than losses against opposition which was poor enough to make moderate seem a complement followed, and brought him to an inconsequential seeming fight against an apparent nobody, the 18 wins, 2 draws, and 15 Maximilian Zapata, who at the time had nothing to commend him, but would have an unlikely late career renaissance after Pintov's retirement. From week 154 to week 287 Zapata went 55-48-20, before taking what should have been a permanent retirement. Nonetheless, he came back less than a year later, and began to make unexpected progress. From week 328 to week 365, he made the transition to unlikely challenger, and even better, won 2 titles on the bounce! After losing the title, he never reached those heights again, but fought on til week 407, ending at 15(18). At the time, Pintov's dominant win seemed like nothing, a bum win in a bum fight. What a difference history makes.
Premier continued to flatten poor quality opposition early til he came head to head with 11-1-2 Treehuggin' Scrambler IV, from the unlikely titled dojo 3000 -- pacifistic melting pot dominated their brief encounter, and went on to win 8 titles at lightweight, including a win over my lightweight ATG, Purile. Pintov was unperturbed, and continued to rout poor quality opposition, whilst losing to some more regional lights including future champs like Atomic Tit IV from the same gym, who would win 4 titles before he lost again and ten in total, and Tears roll down, who would lose only once before picking up 4 titles himself. The pattern was established; against the lesser lights, Pintov Premier was unstoppable, and the unquestionable hero and leader of his gym, whilst against the division's quality, he fell short.
Despite the occasional setback, he made his way to four fights which would define his career, both pairs of back to back wars. The first was against a young prospect, yet little known but with a lot before him, Mongus, from the Xtremebl@st gym. This is one of those "might have been" gyms, with big winning records in regionals, but only 2-5 in Contenders, and 2 titles in Unsanctioned, both with Mongus. When they stepped into the ring, it was a mismatch. The wandlike 5'11 Mongus was 15-1-0, a big contender, whilst Pintov was the journeyman, with an unflattering 27-15. Even a pound under the feather limit, Pintov battered his touted opponent pillar to post, winning with ease, and emphasised it a week later with a KO victory in the 5th. Now this could be just another tale of the old mongoose taking out the young paper pretender, were it not for the fact that Mongus proved his class, coming back to beat quality opposition en route to the title, losing only to Tyrone's later 5 time titlist Jack Shaw, who he ended up 3-1 against before facing my very own Slappers Begone, 26 title winning thoroughbred, in 4 title fights. In these he went 2-2, all by KO, losing his first title challenge, but stealing the title second time, and perhaps only losing it because of a bizarre style change. Had he stuck to his guns, the Slappers Begone story might be very different, but in fact, Mongus retired, never to fight again. Once again, a fine win for Pintov.
After Mongus, a brief setback vs a Tyrone fighter led Pintov to perhaps his defining moment, the two match series with Vinny the Pocket Rocket, from Time Bomb2. This was never a big time gym, in fact, Jimmy was by far their star, and he only shone very briefly. Vinny, too, had struggled on his way up, and was 24-13-1 when he faced Unsanctioned My Arse for the Featherweight title. In the unquestionable highlight of his career, he won his gym's only title, battering Arse to a crawl and scoring a decisive knockdown in the 12th to take the title. He never defended it, stepping down next week to Super Bantam, and losing two straight. Thus he was 25-15 when he fought his ill-fated title fight against regional legend Marshall Zhukov for the criminally now defunct Unsanctioned Super Bantam title. This never looked a remotely fair fight; eventual 53 title winner Zhukov, who often fought and won underweight, was actually at a natural weight for this fight, and whilst he had 16 losses, had 58 wins and many titles under his belt, and was happy for a respite from fighting the very tough Twiki, with whom he had shared dominance at the weight. An inch in height was enough for Zhukov to win, never dominating, and only taking a 2 point victory, but never under threat. Undeterred, Vinny returned with a win, and made the rematch, this time leaving it all in the ring, and succumbing to valiant defeat in the 11th. So hard was this to take the Vinny retired for 15 weeks, whilst Zhukov, clearly feeling he had cleaned up the division, headed to bantamweight, where he had won and lost the title by Vinny's return. Return he did though, to face Twiki, who would not retire til he had an amazing 33 titles on the board, but to no avail. 3 weeks on the trot Twiki, who would later move down in weight and finish at Super Fly, battered poor Vinny in title fights. Defeats to Tyrone fighters and a final eliminator with Slappers Begone spelled the end of Vinny's tenure in the upper reaches, and by the time Pintov reached him, he was making up the numbers, but still too much for the bums. With Pintov at 30-16, and Vinny just on the verge of losing territory at 33-29-1, this was hardly a headline fight, but the two provided an intriguing encounter. Vinny turned dancer, and won the first 4 with the jab. In the 5th, Premier imposed his will and won the round, but a rattled Vinny raised the stakes in the 6th to restore his lead. Premier was too close to his big chance to let it go, and as he applied more pressure, Vinny was stunned in the 7th, knocked down in the 8th, and painfully stopped in the 9th. For Premier, this was the marque win, whilst Vinny, despite fighting on, would manage only one more win on a long slide. The fight was good enough to merit a rematch; the newly recognised dangerman Pintov got no action the next week, so despite Vinny succumbing to another 9th round KO, the match was made, but ended with a first round KO to the surgent Pintov. Vinny was a broken man.
As for Pintov, he scored another 1 round KO over a washed up ex champ before facing the man who beat Vinny in between their fights, securing an arguably unfair title shot, Hard as... This man was no stranger to the upper reaches, having lost two prior title fights, and proven his place in the top 10 in between. Hard as... was simply a class above, and despite it being his big night, Pintov lost every one of the first 8 rounds before his opponent shut up shop and ran. Hard as... would go on to 13 titles, but for Pintov, that was the one chance. He lost his next 3, and despite pulling it round and finding winning form again, he never made it back to the title, losing his last 9 and ending 39-24 8(18).
Until today, you'd never heard of Pintov Premier, and that's sad. He was the greatest fighter his gym ever boasted, he had some marque wins, and he made it to a title fight. Today, let us remember him.
|
|
|
|
Post by llecha on Nov 1, 2014 17:22:31 GMT -5
Prodihole - robbed of a career by the judges
Back in week 40, I'd just completed my first 3 months in Webl. I'd made the usual rookie mistakes, created a bunch of fighters which broke every rule (24 chin on one. 7 conditioning on another, etc etc0, but I was starting to learn the craft, troubling some title fights, and generally getting competent at the time that Prodihole joined the gym. Generally balanced, with a slight favour towards STR and AGL at the expense of speed, he was the sort of fighter who could do well in any era, and named in tribute to The Prodigal, and Hole, whom Prod had just flagged up as The Next Big Thing. He had a promising start, going 4-1 in his first 5 against fighters from gyms ranging from multi regional title winning to never-were little startups who quit after 40 fights. In his 6th fight, Prodihole got a nice international matchup with Vito Ragu, of monsters gym. Ragu had had an interesting career; representing eternal gatekeeper and forum legend Evilscooby (how we miss him), he had made it to contenders with only two defeats, and thereafter had faced the most extraordinary range of talent. Out pointed by Prodigals future champ Marcus Aurelius, he was shortly after KOed by the man who would end Aurelius's reign, African Monk's Uppercuttin' Uri Turner. He beat comebacking former champ Cloud, but after losing to fighters from Simon Gagnon and the master of Jejejejeje, Philip, Evilscooby decided he was never going to make it, and put him out to pasture. 5 weeks later, he found a new home with monsters gym, who took him back to regional level, and despite losing his first 4 in his new gym, he came to the Prodihole fight off the back of a two fight winning streak. Prodihole, with a 5 inch height advantage, won as he pleased despite being 3 pounds underweight, dominating the fight without really hurting his opponent, and providing a new area of focus for Sammy, how to get more knockouts from him.
Prodihole's growing rep was cemented in his next fight, dominating and wearing down Boleyn's Billy Wozza (a slappy 6'2, and a regional champ and contender to be), before facing a well managed slugger, Barry White from I'm havin' a (get it? Cockney rhyming slang. Havin' a Barry White). Prodihole used his speed to feint into a strong 2 or 3 round lead, but White knew how to work the body, and Prodihole was slowing when he started to headhunt, stunning him in the 10th, knocking him down in the 11th, and drawing a suicide allout which left Prodihole bloodied and battered on the canvas. Coming back from this defeat, he strung together 4 points wins over moderate opposition before facing Rick O'Shea, from <*Kronk Fighters*> in a final eliminator for the title. By now, Prodihole was 6 pounds underweight, and should probably have been fighting at super feather, which didn't help him against the brutal, powerpunching O'Shea. Rick O'Shea's record was moderate, but he was coming in having won 5 of his last 6 by KO, against much better opposition than Prodihole had faced, including a 12th round KO derailing Barry White the week before he beat Prodihole. Rick brutalised Prodihole, stunning him in the first and winning every round before stopping him in the 6th. This seemed to set the seal on the taller fighter; talented, but too light and too fragile to compete with sluggers, he certainly didn't seem to belong at super lightweight, though O'Shea's next two wins, both for the title, were against opposition which didn't come close to the stars Prodihole would end up facing in his own title matches.
A comeback fight against another Kronk bruiser, Fitman Burns, might have spelled the end for Prodihole, but he showed his growing smarts, using the ring rather than feinting, and whilst Burns ran away with the early rounds, the damage the taller man did to his body enabled him to accelerate in the later rounds, breaking Burns' jaw in the 8th, stunning him in the 10th, with the doctor sparing him extra punishment by stopping the fight thereafter, with Prodihole poised to apply the coup de grace. Burns fought on for a long time, eventually making it to Contenders, and this win was truly a statement of intent for the young prospect, who suddenly acquired a reputation for being able to bang a bit. At this point, Sammy's Gym was closed for 30 weeks due to health and safety concerns, and the world was a very different place when it reopened. Prodihole returned to the ring 6 pounds heavier, finally making weight for his division, putting together back to back batterings of Sam's Suite slappers to earn a title fight, and what a fight it would be.
Back in Week 86, there as a lot of noise around Un Stable. Before his enforced gym closure, Sammy had almost always found a way to win against the warriors from Finsbury Park, but during the time out, Un had risen to be pretty much the undisputed number 1 in the UK South, and had returned the region to winning ways in Contenders as well, building up an impressive run of WT wins. 5'3 Ernest Shackleton had scythed through the field at super lightweight, reaching his title fight undefeated. Indeed, the only blemishes on an otherwise perfect knockout run were an impressive UD over a fighter from the world class Dave Black gym, and a terrible hometown decision against a man he had battered and well beaten. Prodihole's 18-3 record, whilst impressive, was definitely second best, and the manner of two of those defeats, overpowered by stronger men, favoured Shackleton. Prodihole's confidence was high, however, coming into a vacant title fight off three straight knockouts, and he fought an unexpectedly aggressive fight, muscling Shackleton into the ropes with a clear intent to wear him down and score another knockout. It made for an exciting fight, but Shackleton wisely clinched early on, secured an all-important endurance advantage while keeping the score close, and when he switched to inside in the 8th, was immediately able to hurt Prodihole, knocking him out in the 9th with the scores dead level. Shackleton lost his next two title fights before securing his contenders spot, won his first fight at the higher level before being retired, such were the standards in the Un Stable gym. He had one comeback fight for a lesser gym, losing by knockout, and has never fought again, finishing up 15-3-1, and leaving one to wonder what might have been different if Prodihole had fought defensively.
Prodihole blamed the loss on difficulty making weight, hard to believe for a man who weighed 135 three fights earlier, but his comeback was at welterweight, where he claimed to feel a lot stronger. For 10 rounds against Arnold Downe everything went to plan, but in the 11th, and at a two point deficit, Downe went for broke, stunning his more feted opponent, and then flattening him in the 12th as Prodihole attempted to slap to victory. It was not an auspicious start at Welter, but Downe, who had knocked out Un Stable's future world champ Gary Mac in his previous fight, was on a roll which continued as he won his final eliminator and two title fights in the best period of his career. Prodihole was used to setbacks by now, and undeterred, won his next two (a worryingly life or death struggle with a journeyman, followed by an impressive domination of another young prospect, to set up a title fight with Stretch A.F.F.A of Gidion's. Stretch had suffered three reverses on his way up, one against Prodihole's conqueror Arnold Downe, and two against Gary Mac, who had provided Downe's marquee win. An even match it looked, and an even match it was, both men looked to have promising careers ahead of them, and at the final bell, Prodihole appeared to have done enough to edge it by a round. The judges called it a draw, however, and whilst this might seem minor compared to the brutality of some of his earlier reversals, this was really where his career started to come off the rails. Had he won, his defence would have been a tough one against Brown's slappy Snowdonia, but winnable, and he still had plenty to offer in Contenders.
As it was, three men on the same status and rating meant no title fight the next week, Stretch and Snowdonia fighting to another draw, whilst a dispirited Prodihole slumped to two defeats against relatively non-punching journeymen. A couple of points wins over moderate opposition set up a title rematch with Stretch, who had won 2 out of 3 against Savio, dethroning Porkpie's star to finally lift the title the week before, and setting up high expectations. Two pounds underweight again, however, Prodihole's hard punching confidence had deserted him, and he danced and slapped to a three round lead over Stretch before the shorter man shifted to the inside in the 4th, just as Prodihole started throwing power shots, allowing Stretch to score multiple knockdowns and levelling the fight in a single stroke. There was no coming back from Prodihole, who got smashed to pieces before finally being stopped in the 7th. Had so much changed in such a short time? Apparently it had.
Prodihole's comeback was a statement of intent however, he was at his best demolishing a slappy opponent in 4 rounds, to secure a 4th title attempt, this time against KO Kid Si, a good but not world class opponent who had unexpectedly flashed Savio to win the title in his last fight. Prodihole was tipped to win a tough one, but in reality, Si was at the very peak of his career and came out like a monster, stunning or knocking down Prodihole in every round before finally ending it in the 6th. The only good thing to come out of the fight was that the former prospect wasn't badly beaten up, and looked as though he could have continued. Motivation can be hard to sustain after losing 4 title fights, and despite having been part of an amazing rivalry at the top, Prodihole's form slipped badly, and it was 10 fights in the wilderness before he was able to haul himself back to the top, interleaving marquee wins against the likes of the undefeated Jeremy Paxman with dispiriting losses to journeymen. Finally, after dropping back down to super light, in week 111 and now with a record of 23-13-3, he faced off with the eternal hard luck fighter Kevy Robertson, of eternal hard luck gym Winters. Robertson would eventually rival Prodihole for unsuccessful title tilts, and it took Winter a long time to finally get a title. This was a tight fight, Prodihole successfully leveraging his strength against the taller Robertson to edge the fight before being robbed again by the judges. Many fighters would have quite by this time, but Prodihole was made of sterner stuff, and granted an immediate rematch, he didn't let the fact that he would have been in Contenders but for the judges stop him, but instead threw himself into the fight, and this time edged the win. Robertson would go on to have seven title fights without a win, making Prodihole's struggle in 5 look easy.
From here, gym politics played their part; there was no defence available for Prodihole the following week, nor would there have been the week after, so he retired to let gym mate Uberslapper, later to be a world champ with Bird's Bashers, take and win a title fight at lower status, before defending it in style against a fighter from the impressive Coxys Crunchatorium. Coming back in week 115, Prodihole went straight in to a title fight with future world champ Simon "Sinbad" Howard. For all Howard's evident quality, he was 2 aps down, and did well to give Prodihole a tight fight, but once again, the judges went against Prodihole, and since he'd vacated the title for Uberslapper's benefit, he didn't get the benefit of champ's advantage; Contenders had evaded him again. Porkpie's future WT challenger We've All Boosted Helen With A was next, this time a genuine draw got in the way, and the rematch was made with Howard. In the meantime, Howard had gained status, and a foul win in round 2 of this rematch got him to status 15, equal with Prodihole. With Prodihole down at least one AP by now, Howard was able to wear him down and score a knockout in their third title fight, with Prodihole in a commanding lead. By now this was unprecedented in the gym, in the region, and maybe in the game. In 11 title fights, most of them competitive, he had only lifted a single title, and been robbed by the judges no less than three times. One more title fight defeat, to Goodison's Sam Aiston, left Prodihole looking like he was on the scrapheap for sure. Yet another draw with Kevy Robertson seemed to underline it, but nevertheless, Sammy was able to secure yet another final eliminator against ever present struggler Dave "Green" Pashley, who had won only one of seven following his title fight defeat to Uberslapper during Prodihole's ill-advised sabbatical. The legitimacy of this as an eliminator can be called into question, but Prodihole's performance cannot; he executed to perfection, battering Pashley inside out before a 6th round stoppage.
The card which Prodihole headlined the next week was titled "One last chance", and you can see why. A man who had first fought for this same title at 13-3, back in week 86 was climbing into the ring again at 26-16-6, after no less than 11 title fights with only one win. To put that into perspective, his record since reaching that title fight was 13-13-6, and had been a rollercoaster, with marquee wins against hyped contenders, crushing defeats against fighters who ought not to have posed a threat, and so many unfair draws, robberies in the common parlance. His opponent, Seamus "Wanderer" Walls, was an interesting proposition. At 16-4-1 he was not as feted as Prodihole had been in his day, neither had he faced anything approaching the quality of opposition Prodihole had, but given the context, almost everyone picked him to win against the man who couldn't seem to buy a win in title fights. This time, however, Prodihole left no room for doubt. He attacked the taller man with a passion from the first bell, taking a three point lead before he finally applied the finish in round 7. Walls had only one win by KO, and the with nothing to lose, Prodihole had left it all in the ring. The parallels then become interesting, as Walls would fight for the title 10 times before making it to Contenders, and one of those wins was against the ever unlucky Kevy Robertson.
For Prodihole, it was nearly the end of the road. At 13-3, there had been high expectations that he would follow some of Sammy's bigger stars into the world top 10, and maybe provide that elusive first world title. The title was in fact still 14 weeks away, when Jimmy Trulio finally brought home the gold star. For Prodihole, down 2 aps after the most painful regional title career imaginable, all that was left at 26-16-6 was for him to have one contenders outing, which he lost. Can any promising career have been so comprehensively derailed by the judges? I doubt it.
P.S. He still frustrates me now. So many questions! What if I'd used ring instead of ropes in is first title fight? What if he hadn't been robbed against Stretch AFFA (he never got to fight Snowdonia, who would have been his defence)? What if I hadn't elected to slap in the rematch? What if I'd spotted the flash that suggested some recently acquired KP on KO Kid Si, and started with a high def? What if he hadn't been robbed in the first Robertson fight? What if I hadn't stepped him aside in favour of Uberslapper? By the time of the Howard robbery, it was probably too late anyway, but still. Such a combination of bad luck, poor wee laddie.
|
|
