Why have I only just found out about John H Stracey??!

I've just watched his fight vs Napoles on ESPN classic and really enjoyed it. Stracey had an amazing jab, impressive even by today's standards, his reach looked huge for a Welter and he was taking Napoles's head off with each one he landed. What concerns me is that i've never heard of the guy, I've heard that racist git Alan Minter mentioned far more.

Have I been living under a rock or is the guy just very underrated? I certainly think that going to Mexico and winning the world title should have gained him more nostalgia with us Brit's!

It's probably because of his short reign that people aren't too familiar with him...

For me he just caught Napoles at just the right time. I think a prime Napoles takes him out inside of 5 rounds. If memory serves me right Napoles dropped him in one of the early rounds. Can't remember which one right now.
Napoles was there for the taking, all the signs of wear and tare had began to show as he almost always had bad cuts over his eyes.

Stracey went on to beat Hedgemon Lewis in his only defense I remember that and he was beating Carlos Palomino until Stracey started to gas out. Palomino rallied back to get the TKO win. Stracey also has a solid win over top contender Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez.

They have shown all these fights on ESPN loads of times.

Stracy did tremendously well to beat Napoli on his own turf but Napoles was old. They will soon show his other fights that CMM mentions. He was brutally knocked out by a left hook from another under rated fighter in Palomino. This guy would lose to the great Benitez.

Stracey just happened to meet, Carlos Palomino who was a very underrated fighter himself, Stracey
also had a lose to Dave Boy Green, very crude but a strong fighter himself who, got sparked
by SRL.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mctaggert

I've just watched his fight vs Napoles on ESPN classic and really enjoyed it. Stracey had an amazing jab, impressive even by today's standards, his reach looked huge for a Welter and he was taking Napoles's head off with each one he landed. What concerns me is that i've never heard of the guy, I've heard that racist git Alan Minter mentioned far more.

Have I been living under a rock or is the guy just very underrated? I certainly think that going to Mexico and winning the world title should have gained him more nostalgia with us Brit's!

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John Stracey was a quality boxer, and his acheivement against Napoles was absolutely outstanding. He was clearly never expected to win and really did us proud.

He lost to Dave boy Green, another great boxer, I was there, unfortunate mix of styles but the best man won. Dave also has a fantastic boxing history but never acheived the same as John in the world title stakes. Napoles was a great fighter who John H. beat, however SRL was a complete step too far for Dave. Happy daze and a decent era for british boxing, I have met both fighters, both cracking blokes who do loads of charity work now.

Minter was a different story if someone cares to start another thread.

Boom boom