kenneth

After his huge defeat to Marvin Hagler on March 10, 1986, John Mugabi was out of the ring until December. He traveled back to Las Vegas to take on Duane Thomas for the vacant WBC Super-Welterweight title at the Caesar’s Palace Sports Pavilion on December 5. I didn’t see the bout live, since we didn’t […]

 John’s first bout of 1985 was on March 17, 1985 against Earl Hargrove in Tampa, Florida. ‘The Beast’ easily disposed of his opponent in the opening round in his last bout for a while at super-welterweight. He wouldn’t climb through the ropes again until August 6 in Atlantic City, where he knocked out Bill Bradley

 John Mugabi was born on March 4, 1960 in Uganda. He was a talented amateur boxer who won a silver medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. John won his first bout at a pro on December 5, 1980 with a first round knockout of Oemer Karadenis in Cologne. Not long after, he moved to London,

After losing his WBC super-welterweight belt to Thomas Hearns on December 3, 1982, Wilfred took six months off before returning to the ring on May 18, 1983 at the Dunes Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Now campaigning as a middleweight, Wilfred won a 10 round unanimous decision over Tony Cerda. Two months later at

Wilfred Benitez and Roberto Duran met in the ring on January 30, 1982 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. I was working weekends at my airline job at the time, and didn’t have HBO, so I wouldn’t have seen it anyway. Years later I bought a VHS copy of the bout from a guy who

After the huge loss to Sugar Ray Leonard on November 30, 1979 in Las Vegas, Wilfred Benitez had no choice but to stage a comeback. He returned to the ring on March 16, 1980 against Johnny Turner in Miami, and stopped him in nine rounds. Five months later he took on the tough Tony Chiaverini

   Wilfred Benitez was climbing the rankings as a welterweight as the year 1977 marched on. He won a split decision victory over Bruce Curry on November 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York, and three months later defeated Curry again. Wilfred won the rematch easier on February 4, 1978 back at the Garden,

Wilfred Benitez was born on September 12, 1958 in Puerto Rico. He turned professional at 15 years of age, and was managed by his father Gregory, who also managed his two brothers. He grew up training in New York gyms, and split his early career boxing between Sint Maarten, San Juan and New York. He

After his huge knockout of Ken Norton on ABC tv on March 23, 1979, Earnie Shavers was back in the ring two months later against Eddie Parotte at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. Earnie knocked him out in three rounds, which set up a shot at Larry Holmes’ WBC heavyweight championship in September. At

  After losing to Muhammad Ali on September 29, 1977, Earnie Shavers didn’t lose a step in his career. His fine performance against the champ actually helped it, so much so that he was matched with Larry Holmes on March 25, 1978 in Las Vegas, with the winner promised at shot at the WBC championship.