Eder Jofre - the bantamweight Sugar Ray

Continuing the theme of shipping over some of our archived material from the BBC forum, I thought I'd share with you my appreciation of the great Eder Jofre by reproducing an article I submitted over there :


Eder Jofre - the bantamweight Sugar Ray.


In May of 1965 Eder Jofre lost his bantamweight crown to Fighting Harada in Japan. As a fresh faced youngster who had been following boxing for a mere year or two I didn't take a great deal of notice. We were only a week or so from the Ali v Liston rematch, and although an Uncle was passing on his Ring magazines at the time the only thing I knew about Jofre was that he had been a permanent fixture atop the bantamweight division. I hadn't even seen him fight, and had I done so would have been too young, anyway, to form an intelligent opinion of his skills. In any case, Ali and Liston were at the centre of my Universe.

The next issue of Ring magazine was full of the controversy surrounding the ' phantom punch ' which felled Liston, with still frame analysis and opinions from past greats such as Dempsey and Marciano. At least, it appeared to be full of it. Further reading led me to the Jofre v Harada fight, and it suddenly occured to me that the fact that Jofre had been beaten had impacted fight insiders every bit as much as the controversy surrounding the heavyweight title fight. The after shock to Jofre's loss could have been measured on the Richter scale, since it was commonly believed that he had been unbeatable.

As an insatiable reader I continued poring over Ring magazine and everything else boxing - related which I could lay my hands upon and I learned more and more about the great fighters in boxing history. Being young and impressionable, I was deeply influenced by the writings of Nat Fleischer, and somewhere along the line I decided that Terry McGovern was the greatest bantamweight in history. In point of fact, I believe that Fleischer, in 1958, had picked George Dixon, but I'd read an awful lot about McGovern and I was captivated by the man. For some reason, Jofre slipped under my radar, though the little which I did know about him was sufficient for me to regard him as the second best bantam.

So it remained until the day, a few short years ago, when I found myself discussing the greatest bantamweights with captaincarrantuohil here 606. During our discussion, captaincarrantuohil argued very persuasively that Jofre was the best bantam of the lot and, finding myself in the middle of a flashback to the day he lost his title, I was sufficiently impressed by the captain's reasoning to revisit Jofre.

I'm glad I did.

This time round, there was film of the man in action, and plenty of terrific information on the web, and within a very short time I was hooked. Jofre was one of those rare fighters like Robinson who really did have the lot. He was a sublime boxer ; he had genuine knockout power in either hand ; he had an excellent chin, and he could scrap it out when necessary, and for as long as necessary. There wasn't an opponent or a style to which Jofre could not adapt. I often make little notes when I'm watching contests, and in watching Jofre I noted that he had every punch in the book, from a snappy and accurate jab to leading hooks, withering uppercuts to the body and everything else besides. I also noted how beautifully balanced he always was, how he rarely wasted a punch, and how marvellously elusive he was with ducking and slipping skills which are a delight to watch. On the inside he applied unrelenting pressure and threw vicious short hooks and uppercuts in the manner of a miniature Jack Dempsey. He also had that special quality that great practitioners of any discipline seem to have - the appearance of having had more time to get his work done than his opponents did. Zidane and Pele had it in football, Campesi in Rugby, and Benny Leonard had it in boxing. So, too, did Jofre. Sugar Ray Robinson, the yardstick by which all fighters are measured, set the bar almost impossibly high, but if any boxer / fighter came within spitting distance of him, then it was surely Eder Jofre. Not for nothing had Fleischer dubbed him ' The bantamweight Sugar Ray. '

I am indebted to captaincarrantuohil for having re - awakened my interest in Jofre, whom I also, without a shadow of doubt, now regard as the greatest bantam of them all, and the third best p4p fighter in history, behind only Robinson and Armstrong. While I am sure the majority will not have overlooked him as I did, I'd just like to pass on the torch to any who might not be overly familiar with this great little fighter by referring you to a couple of excellent articles :

www.ibroresearch.com/?p=200

http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/casey/MC_Jofre.htm

Enjoy.

Windy

Where's the rebuttetted article?! Or whatever that lunie was saying?! Was it Fedor who came out with that now infamous line?!

Or maybe McGuiganGate?!

coxy0001 wrote:Windy

Where's the rebuttetted article?! Or whatever that lunie was saying?! Was it Fedor who came out with that now infamous line?!

Or maybe McGuiganGate?!

Which one, mate ?

Great article HW

Can't argue with your placing of Jofre as the greatest bantam. Still think number 3 overall is a lofty rating as his record is not on a par with some of the guys you rank below him, but I can't argue with your reasoning.

How do you think Jofre would have faired if he was born 10-15 years earlier and moved up to take on Pep and Saddler at feather, rather than Saldivar?

wow_junky wrote:Great article HW

Can't argue with your placing of Jofre as the greatest bantam. Still think number 3 overall is a lofty rating as his record is not on a par with some of the guys you rank below him, but I can't argue with your reasoning.

How do you think Jofre would have faired if he was born 10-15 years earlier and moved up to take on Pep and Saddler at feather, rather than Saldivar?

Thanks for the props, wow_junky.

Jofre v Pep or Saddler at feather ? My word I'd need to think about that one. First impression is that Saddler is just too big, given that he was also champ at superfeather and hit like a lightweight. Pep would be favourite, also, in my opinion. Jofre did fantastically well to come back at the age he did and take the feather crown but, in all fairness, the Saldivar whom he toppled was also coming back. On the other hand, José Legra, from whom Jofre took the featherweight title, was a fabulous boxer on his day ( I vividly recall his coming to Wales to take Howard Winstone's title, ) and so I wouldn't rule Jofre out altogether. Styles make fights, etc.

Realistically, Pep and Saddler to win, but I can't think of any bantam in history who would have turned the trick, either, though you'd give each of McGovern, Zarate and Olivares a puncher's chance, I suppose.

At bantam, though, I've no doubt that Jofre beats all comers.