BOOK REVIEW: Legendary British fight figure Mickey Duff called him: “The most outstanding boxer from this county never to have fought for the world title.” Former flyweight champion Charlie Magri said of him: “He was fantastic. He should have earned a fortune.” Terry Lawless, London manager of world champions John H. Stracey, Maurice Hope and Magri, reflected: “He’s probably the most gifted boxer I have ever managed, different to everyone else. I’ve never seen people do things like him.”
Born in England in 1942. Life as a boxing writer began with a weekly column in a newspaper called the South London Advertiser in the early 1960s. Moved to the far bigger-circulation South London Press, writing a twice-weekly boxing section, in 1966. Joined the weekly Boxing News in 1970 and became editor in 1972. Moved across the pond in 1977 for marriage-related reasons and covered the American scene for Boxing News until joining Boxing Monthly in 1990.
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Sheer guts and determination allowed Giacobbe Fragomeni to retain his WBC cruiserweight title in Saturday’s exciting fight with Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in Rome. Down twice in the ninth round and seemingly out of the fight, the 39-year-old Italian rallied to outpunch and outlast his 10-years-younger opponent in the last three rounds. It wasn’t quite enough to pull out a win, but it did earn Fragomeni a draw.
Watching on the internet, I had Wlodarczyk one point ahead, 114-113, but he blew his opportunity by twice hitting Fragomeni when the defending champion was on one knee in the ninth.
British referee Ian John-Lewis let it go the first time although he did yell at Wlodarczyk: “Don’t hit him while he’s down!”
So, what happens? When Fragomeni went down again, Wlodarczyk, almost predictably, took a swing at the Italian fighter’s head. It was the sort of crazy act that one would expect from Andrew Golota. Referee John-Lewis didn’t take a point from Wlodarczyk, instead telling the judges to disregard the knockdown while allowing Fragomeni several seconds to pull himself together. What would have been a 10-7 round in favour of Wlodarczyk thus became 10-8, and that “lost” point prevented the Polish fighter from leaving Rome with the title.
What a good fight this was, though. Wlodarczyk was the harder puncher, and he triggered off some impressive combinations as well as ripping some wicked-looking hooks into Fragomeni’s thick body. Fragomeni was often the busier man, though, pumping out his punches in quick bursts — and his every success was greeted with roars of approval from the fans.
It was a tough, tense, fight, with the older man showing the greater tenacity and staying power in the home straight.
Wlodarczyk bored in with his head dangerously lowered, and the referee was practically screaming at him: “Watch your head, Krzysztof — watch your head!”
Some might have interpreted this as harassment of the Polish fighter. However, had there been a collision, and had Fragomeni suffered a cut — no matter how minor — the referee would have been obligated, under the WBC head-clash rule (not applicable in the U.S.), to deduct a point from Wlodarczyk. I think that John-Lewis was all-too aware of this and was imploring Wlodarczyk: “For heaven’s sake, Krzysztof, don’t make me take a point from you!”
Wlodarczyk put a lot into the ninth round and I think it left him rather drained. When Fragomeni came steaming back into him, the Polish fighter couldn’t hold him off. Wlodarczyk did draw on his dwindling resources to make a big effort in the last round, but even then he was barely able to hold his own with a sturdy veteran who was prepared to fight to the last gasp.
One of my Italian readers, Matteo, emailed to say that he was proud to be from the same city — Milan — as Fragomeni. If I was from Milan I would have been proud of him, too.
