As I began to follow this great sport, Japan’s ” Fighting ” Harada was already becoming a legend. He had won and then lost the World’s Flyweight championship to Pone Kingpetch. He then moved up to bantamweight and dethroned the seemingly unbeatable Eder Jofre to win that title. To prove it was no fluke, he again defeated the great Jofre. Harada was the ” King “.
Enter Lionel Rose… When this Australian entered the ring to face Harada he was a prohibitive underdog.
Very few gave him a legitimate chance. Yet that night Rose put on a boxing clinic. He raked Harada throughout the match. He followed his fight plan perfectly. He counterpunched Harada silly.
Rose would wear a shaky crown. Many thought that he was the loser in his defense against the very capable Jesus ” Chucho ” Castiilo. The verdict in Rose’s favor created riots.
He lost his crown to an all time great, Ruben Olivares. This was a one sided loss yet in defeat Rose proved his gameness.
Although he fought his way back to a title fight Numata defeated him in a challenge for 130-pound title. After that he drifted into boxing oblivion.
The Lionel Rose that beat ” Fighting” Harada was a great fighter. As the saying goes; ” One fight does not make a fighter”. Oh, that is so true… But in Rose’s case is it?
thankyou martyn,,,great insight …..there is a dvd of Lionel rose called LIONEL a film byEddie Martin ,,its a 2 dvd set…dvd 1 has his life story…the second has 4 fights..ROSE vs….. HARADA..Feb 26..1968….ROSE vs TAKAO SAKURAI,,,,,Tokyo July 2nd 1968….ROSE vs CHUCHO CASTILLO ,,Las Angeles Dec 6th 1968 and ROSE vs VICENTE GARCIA..Melbourne Nov 1st 1969
I got this dvd set at Dymocks bookstore in perth australia,,,some of the fights are poor quality,but the Harada fight is good quality….regards
i have this mans autograph and he was brilliant,he came from jacksons track,an aboriginal man,he partied away his boxing career but he was a pure genius inside the ring.they even had a lionel rose day to honour this occasion.look on a to z of boxing you will see a little piece on the great lionel rose,one of my favourite boxers who we rarely ever hear of,nice hearing about him for once,the man was brilliant and also,yes lucky with decisions and unlucky to run into the hammer fists of the legendary ruben olivares.i am proud of lionels acheivements and last i heard although he squandered his sensational talents with party after party he was rehabilitated and hope he can look back now and smile and say yeah i done it eh,i was the champion
thankyo bill/Glad to know someone appreciates Lionel and thankyou for the insight of his fight with Casillo..I remember reading about the fight in the ring magazine and the pictures were of totol choas..Rose did indeed deserve the decision..Thanks Rosco..perth australia
Lionel Rose was a scintillating performer: the most beautiful boxer, style-wise, that I ever saw. And the riot that followed his victory over Chucho Castillo was completely uncalled-for. I covered the fight for two area newspapers, and scored Rose a clear winner–as did the judges, and most of the press corps.
I am at least glad to see some mention of Lionel Rose one of the most underated bamwight champions,,He indeed did give Fighting Harada a boxing lesson and defended the BANTANWIEGHT TITLE 3 times before he was knocked ot by Rubin Olivaras..What youso called boxing experts rorget that he had to lose up 20 pounds going into the olivaras fight and was so weak you could have blown him over..This is not to take anything away from Olivares who WILL go down as one of the greats..but Lionel rose was up until olivras one the best bantamwight champions and left a great legacy in boxing,,not like these amatuer fighters who have the gall to call themselves champions rosco
Comments are closed.