The Boxing History Blog

In January 1977, aged twenty-one, Luigi Minchillo made his professional debut, stopping fellow Italian Silvano Bischeri in the fifth round. Minchillo went 17-0 before suffering his first defeat, a fourth-round stoppage due to cuts against Alvaro Scarpelli. In April 1979, only five months after his first setback, he challenged Clemente Gessi for the vacant Italian light-middleweight title, winning it in the maiden round. He defended his national championship four times and in July 1981 he challenged the French-Algerian Louis Acaries for the European light-middleweight title. Minchillo became champion by unanimous decision and the following month had a second-round TKO victory over America's Danny Myers, before his big date with Roberto Duran in September 1981.  Duran returned to Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, in his second bout since losing his world welterweight crown against Leonard. In the opposite corner was 'Il Guerriero Del Ring' or 'The Ring Warrior' Luigi Min...

Mike McCallum One of the most complete ring technicians of the modern era, Mike McCallum first came to prominence in the 1978 Commonwealth Games, held in his home country, picking up the gold medal in the welterweight division.  Born in Kingston, Jamaica on 07th December 1956, he left his native country to turn professional in the United States as a light-middleweight in January 1981. He stopped the American Rigoberto Lopez in the fourth round, going 12-0 before fighting in his home country in his thirteenth contest against Gilberto Almonte. Unfortunately for the Kingston crowd they only got to see 66 seconds of their man in action, issuing a sixth straight and final stoppage defeat on the Dominican's ledger. It would be Kevin Perry who stopped McCallum's stoppage spree, lasting the full ten rounds in front of the Madison Square Garden crowd in the Jamaican's fifteenth pro outing in June 1982.  Two fights later he faced the biggest name of his career to date in the guise of...

03rd December 1982, Superdome, New Orleans WBC Light-middleweight Title Wilfred Benitez Vs Thomas Hearns Thomas Hearns and Wilfred Benitez were due to face each other at New York's Madison Square Garden for the formers WBA welterweight title on 23rd February 1981. The card was billed as 'This is it' and would feature Gerry Cooney against Ken Norton, WBC light-heavyweight champion Matthew Saad Muhammad taking on WBA counterpart Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and WBC super-bantamweight champion facing Mike Ayala. However, the show never happened when promoter Harold Smith, who was the chairman of Muhammad Ali Professional Sports (MAPS), disappeared amid allegations that he was involved in a $21.3 million fraud against Wells Fargo National Bank. Before Benitez outpointed Roberto Duran last time out he claimed he would move up to middleweight. However, the $1.5 million dollars promised by promoter Don King was too much to resist. The promoters had h...

30th January 1982, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas WBC Light-Middleweight Title Wilfred Benitez Vs Roberto Duran Wilfred Benitez returned to the ring in March 1980 after suffering his first defeat to 'Sugar' Ray Leonard. His opponent was Brooklyn light-middleweight Johnny Turner, who boasted a solid record of 34-3-1 and twenty-six knockouts, one more than Benitez.  Remarkably the former two-weight world champion was still only twenty-one-years-old and he went on to score a ninth round technical knockout over the New Yorker, who played French boxer Laurent Dauthuille opposite Robert DeNiro in 1980's Raging Bull. He continued 1980 with an eighth round TKO over Tony Chiaverini in the August and finished the year by clearly outscoring Pete Ranzany over ten rounds. "Ranzany made me change my mind about a second round knockout. They told me he would be easy, but he gave me a hard fight," said Benitez. "He's a very difficult man to hit. He k...