1970's ~ Top Heavyweight Upsets

[brocktonblockbust]

'Upset Special #29'

Friday ~ June 9, 1972

Palacio de los Deportes {Sports Palace} ~ Madrid, Spain

Attendance ........ { 15,000 }

'European Heavyweight Championship'

Jose Manuel Urtain ~ 39-4-2 {37 KO's} ~ 5' 9 1/2" ~ 199 lbs. ~ {Age; 29 years, 0 months}
vs.
Juergin Blin ~ 28-10-6 {7 KO's} ~ 6' 1" ~ 193 lbs. ~ {Age; 29 years, 2 months}
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'The Skinny'

Jose Manuel Urtain >
'El Tigre de Cestona' was the super popular Spanish Heavyweight Champion. Jose, a former Stone Mason, was a short
but powerfully built slugger who threw 'stone fisted bombs'.

Jose was also a '2-time' European Champion., as had re-captured the European Championship for his 2nd-time when
he 'upset' {TKO 2} Jack Bodell on December 17, 1971.

But that win over Jack Bodell, was Jose's only win in his past '5' bouts. And, Jose was coming of a loss {L Dec 10} to
Puerto Rican Champion - Jose 'King' Roman {2-Months earlier} on April 2, 1972.

But, Jose had defeated {W Unan Dec 15} Juergin Blin when they fought for the European Championship 2-Years earlier
back on June 22, 1970 in Spain.

What was needed here was a win in defense of his European Championship. If successful, the chances were that Jose
would qualify for a challenge with World Champion - Joe Frazier.

Manager {Yamil Chade} said he had a $800,000 Fight Purse offer 'on-the-table' for Joe Frazier to come to Spain to
defend his Championship against Jose Manuel Urtain, and set for September or October 1972.

Juergen Blin >
The German Heavyweight Champion {from Hamburg, West Germany} was a 'scrappy' boxer, who had an aggressive
style despite the lack of power.

Juergen was rated as the #3 European Heavyweight. And this would be his '3rd' chance at the European Championship.

Besides losing {L Unan Dec 15} to Jose Manuel Urtain on June 22, 1970 - Juergen also lost to {{L Unan Dec 15}
Joe Bugner on May 11, 1971 in his other challenge for the European Championship.

In his most notable bout, Juergen was stopped {L KO 7} by Muhammad Ali on December 26, 1971 in Switzerland.
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'The Bout'

Jose Manuel Urtain was his typical aggressive self early, and dominated the first 3-Rounds by applying heavy pressure
on the German Challenger, by whipping in straight right-hand leads to the head, and short left-hooks to the body.

In Round 4, Jose continued to 'slam' Juergen with hard left-hooks and straight right-hands while driving him backwards.

Just past the {2:00 Mark}, Jose pressured Juergen to the front-right Ring area, and clocked him with big straight right-hand
to the forehead, and a follow up short-left hook to the chin.

Juergen went down backwards on the seat of his pants. Juergen rose at the '4-Count', but looked shaken. Jose attacked,
but missed with wild punches as Juergen moved away quickly for the rest of Round 4.

In Rounds 5 and 6, Jose came out winging bombs, but he could not drop the 'still shaken' German, who took everything that
the hard-slugging Spaniard could dish out.

In Round 7, Jose started to slow down as the 'scrappy' Blin was no longer running, but fighting back by countering with 'pesky'
left-jabs to the Spaniard's face.

In Round 8, Juergen changed the flow-of-the-bout, and took command by scoring with repeated left-jabs and right-crosses
on the shorter Spaniard, who was now limited in his attack.

In Rounds 9, 10 and 11 > Juergen continued to score with left-jabs and right-crosses into the face of Urtain who was not
fighting as effectively as he was during the first-half of the bout.

In Round 12, the Spaniard tried to 'maul-and-brawl' at Center-Ring, but Urtain could not maintain a consistent offense as he
was thwarted by the German Challenger.

Coming out for Round 13, the bout was still 'up-for-grabs'.

In Round 13, both fighters scrapped at Center-Ring. Urtain tried, but could not land his 'vaunted' powerful right-hand on the
Challenger's chin. On the other side, Juergen pecked away with left-hands into the Champion's face.

At the {1:40 Mark}, with both fighters 'mauling' at Center-Ring, Juergen caught Jose with a right-hand lead high-on-the-head.
Jose was 'shaken', and then backed up to the back-right Ropes. Juergen moved in quickly, and landed a 'chopping' right-hand to
Jose's jaw.

Jose went down, and fell on his right-side along the back-right Ring area near the Ropes. Jose got up at the '4-Count', and
was ready to continue.

Juergen then moved in, and raked over the Champion with a series of left-hands and right-crosses to the face and eyes for
the last 50-Seconds. Jose just barely made it out of Round 13, with cuts over both eyebrows.

Were some of those right crosses in the closing secs actually lacings across the eyes and thumbs to his right eye? my friend Carl told me that his eye was a little bit too swollen at the end of round 13 and therefore it could not have been swollen simply because of a few right crosses to the eyes