Customer Reviews

VOL. 16-SALVADOR SANCHEZ VS ROCKY GARCIA

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Maybe the most gratifying feature on GRANDES PELEAS Vol. 16 is that, unlike the other DVDs in this series, you can actually jump straight to a specific fight, instead of forced to hit play from scratch and watching the whole thing in order, or maybe fast forwarding the sucker until you get to where you want. Volume 16 delivers a good set of fights, this series rarely offering skunkers. We get Salvador Sanchez vs. Jorge "Rocky" Garcia, Wilfredo Gomez vs. Azumah Nelson, and Jorge "El Maromero" Paez vs. Calvin Grove. All three fights come with English fight commentary.

When once asked what he does to kill time, Sanchez readily replied, "I hammer watches." and who knew this guy had that sense of humor? Salvador Sanchez's classic fights with Little Red Lopez, Wilfredo Gomez, and Azumah Nelson are so glowing in memory that sometimes I forget that there were bouts in which Sanchez went the distance with his challengers. May 8, 1982, for example, against Jorge "Rocky" Garcia, who was game as game can be. Garcia wasn't exactly a hard-hitting banger but, man, dude was feisty and a tough little fu----. Garcia willingly traded, for all the good it did him - although, okay, it did win him the crowd. But Salvador Sanchez reminds me of the Terminator. The champion was simply this superbly conditioned punching machine, not to mention that he could out-impassive a Vulcan.

Even though one never got the sense that an upset was brewing, this was an interesting fight to watch. Either Sanchez simply wasn't sharp that night or Rocky Garcia was good enough at covering up and ducking punches and soaking up punishment that he was able to survive Sanchez's continued assault. Garcia did get stunned at several junctures, and surely Sanchez's low blow in round 7 must've felt like the final insult. Sanchez was penalized for that by the referee, but the champ still easily piled up the points. A relatively "easy" win.

Next on the DVD, and this being the most "sexy" fight of the bunch, this was the one I instantly jumped to. Brother, you have got to be in some demonic shape to go up against "the Professor," Azumah Nelson. I can't help but think that, on December 8, 1984, Wilfredo "Bazooka" Gomez (his record then 41-1-1 and busloads of KOs) underestimated the very impressive Ghanan (then 19-1, 14 KOs) whose only loss at the time was a brutal, brutal war against Salvador Sanchez. I anticipated fireworks, expected both fighters to come forward, but Nelson dictated the fight from the opening bell. His good hand speed and sheer gusto for combat immediately had Gomez uncharacteristically going backwards (although, initially, yeah, Gomez himself opted to box around). Nelson advancing, Gomez retreating - this would become the overall pattern even though the Bazooka would turn aggressor at times. But the anxious crowd in San Juan, Puerto Rico would find few occasions to cheer for their guy on that day.

In the pivotal fourth round the Professor would stun the Bazooka with an overhand right. Nelson would keep his dazed opponent on funky street for the rest of that round. Then, in round five, something odd happened. Nelson began to dance around the ring, and maybe the thought was that he wanted to show Gomez a new look. But that quickly sorted itself out and the Professor was soon back to his seek-and-destroy tactics.

A harried Gomez soon resorted to dirty pool, in spite of repeated warnings from the referee, and if the Marquess of Queensberry had been there, Gomez probably would've decked him below the belt, too. Gomez also hit Nelson with hellacious legal shots, but Nelson just had that unbelievable stamina and fighting spirit. In the eleventh round, a right hand by Nelson placed Gomez in serious, serious jeopardy, and it was only a matter of time from then on. A thunderous right-left-right combo soon had Gomez collapsing to the canvas in sections. Fight, over.

Of all the boxers I've seen, surely Jorge "El Maromero" Paez sported the craziest hair styles and the most colorful trunks. But there wasn't much razzle-dazzle to start with in his pier six brawl with the smooth IBF Featherweight champion Calvin Grove. On August 4, 1988, in a sweltering outside arena, Grove and "The Clown Prince of Boxing" - because Paez tends to clown in the ring - engaged in ugly shenanigans, quickly putting the lie to the sweet science.

As a psych-out gesture, Paez had even shaved his hair overnight to match that of Grove's high and tight. Ever the extroverted showman, he treated the crowd to his brand of showboating - a shimmy here, a bit of bolo action there. Grove himself, not to be outdone, engaged in similar extracurricular stuff. It was obvious from jump that Grove's evasiveness and quickness frustrated Paez who found it rough going trying to solve the champion's style. Paez had a hard time all afternoon trying to land his punches He started doing better once he concentrated on hammering in his body shots. "El Maromero" easily lost the first half of the fight but started coming on in the latter rounds, to the tune of whistling exchanges which had both fighters occasionally rocked. The broadcasting team's opinion was that Paez was losing the fight going into the 15th round, and that he needed to do something epic to eke out a win. Three knockdowns in the 15th, courtesy of Paez, that probably qualifies as "epic."