This fight I had long awaited in my mind, not that I was anxious to get through the fights I had been watching, but I was looking forward to this one. Being the two flashy boxers with possible bad blood between them, not to mention the upset surrounding the match, I was ready for this one when it came. This content is protected 1. Both danced on their toes a lot. Gavilan naturally was the offender. Graham offered little opposition for the meanwhile. Gavilan. 2. Gavilan doing it all, and still not requiring much of a work rate for him to win. Gavilan's work rate was about 4x as much as Graham's but had little effect, and I don't know why. Graham wasn't really pulling a lot of clever moves to avoid or lessen the potency of Gavilan's punches. So far, Gavilan had not won a round in his usual impressive, domineering style. Gavilan. 3. Graham now began to open up with some quick combinations; Gavilan scored with a hard right to the body. Gavilan landed his first right-handed bolos of the night. The latter half was pretty closely contested. Even. 4. Graham, probably encouraged by 3, his best round so far, now jabbed quite frequently and with confidence. Actually Graham outdid Gavilan when they traded, jab-for-jab. Gavilan's best success on the other hand had been in the slugging matches of the fight so far, either or short or long range. Gavilan won the second half of the round and landed a powerful right hand before the bell. Even. 5. Very little to say. The two just going at if for all they're worth. Gavilan. 6. A lot of close in-fighting. Gavilan. 7. Both feinting a lot, but slugging hard when they come in close. Gavilan. 8. Graham used his left jab and the clinches to his favor. Gavilan once again stole the late moments of the round with superior power and slugging ability. Graham. 9. Graham landed a short chopping right, a left hook, and another right, and Gavilan fought back with a vengeance. Graham's persistent jabbing angered Gavilan again, who once again responded furiously. A close round and hard to judge. Gavilan. 10. Gavilan and Graham both began to tire, and thus their punches became sloppier. Close. Gavilan. 11. Here, only Gavilan was tired. Graham was not, but he held back nevertheless. An excellent right cross by Graham angered Gavilan once again, Gavilan fired back with a flurry to the body, and they both proceeded to land cleanly in a furious exchange. The two closed battling at long range, with Graham declining in accuracy at the end. Gavilan. 12. Little throwing by either man. Gavilan. 13. Graham landed the left-right (his most successful throughout the fight) and angered Gavilan to action again, but it turned into mauling. Even. 14. Pretty wild, all-out-round unlike many of its predecessors. Even. 15. The two just kind of pelting away inside, doing no damage. Although the two battled freely in the final 30 seconds or so, Graham shots looked stronger. Graham. Final score: 9-2-4 for Gavilan. This shocked the hell out of me. lt was a close match within each round, but once totaled up, the Kid took most of the rounds. I was actually expecting it to be much closer, but it wasn't. The Kid won fair and square. The "supposed" upset that was sprung from peoples' belief that Graham won is overstated. I am very open to the notion that Graham won more rounds than I gave him. After all, there were three or four rounds I said were close, but it still wouldn't have been enough for Graham in my eyes. Graham was too reserved for most of the fight, and Gavilan wasn't. There's no substitute for effective aggression. That's what wins fights. Verdict: A decent fight. Certainly not a bore, but it's sporadic "action sequences" followed by long lulls that could last as many as four rounds were awkward and at times frustrating. I think I would just give this fight an "Average" label as it was not decidedly bad but did not fulfill any expectations. So I might suggest it, but I have no intention of seeing it again.
I thought I was going to almost totally agree with you during the first half of the fight. Gavilan was pressing the action, throwing many more punches, and effective with left hooks to the body. But the fight turned around during the second half for me. Gavilan threw a lot fewer punches and even began retreating with Graham the one coming forward. Graham got that quick right home quite a bit. Gavilan seemed to give up his body attack. Gavilan was working a lot harder during the first half and I got the impression he somewhat ran out of gas as Graham came on. I ended up scoring it 7-6-2 for Graham due to a great late rally. The two officials who had it 7-7-1 saw it like I did. Why the decision was so controversial, though, is hard to understand. It was a very close fight and I have no problem with anyone seeing Gavilan winning. As for quality, this is a first rate fight for me. Graham was an excellent boxer, but somewhat limited offensively to a jab and straight right. Gavilan appeared not quite able to hold his own when boxing with Graham but had a much wider variety of punches and quicker hands. He could overcome Graham with aggression, but it required I think over 15 rounds a stamina edge he didn't have. Gavilan won 6-3-1 over ten, but faded for me down the stretch. So this was an A+ fight for me. Thanks for posting. By the way, I think this is the fight in which the crowd rioted after the decision was announced.
This was among the first fights I bought years ago. I thought that Graham won but I will admit to a bias because I love his style and educated jab.
Ranking the Billy Grahams: 1) Superstar Billy Graham, professional wrestler (the prototype for Hulk Hogan) 2) Rev. Billy Graham, religious figure (counseled presidents, preached his gospel) 3) Boxer Billy Graham
Saw Superstar Billy Graham vs Wahoo McDaniel when I was a kid. Classic bloody war. Graham was larger than life in the 1970s.
Kid Gavilan - Billy Graham III (NY scoring which was the rounds basis) Round 1: Even Round 2: Gavilan Round 3: Graham Round 4: Gavilan Round 5: Gavilan Round 6: Graham Round 7: Gavilan Round 8: Even Round 9: Graham Round 10: Graham Round 11: Graham Round 12: Graham Round 13: Even Round 14: Graham Round 15: Graham 8-4-3 Graham
June 1973. The Coliseum at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois. Just looked it up. They appear to have wrestled each other about 50 times that year. (LOL) Great time to be a little kid and not know that they basically traveled around the country putting on roughly the same match over and over. (LOL) Great memory.
I saw him against Eric Froelich in 1972. That was at the Olympic in LA but they also wrestled in El Monte, which is 20 minutes from LA.
I really, really enjoyed this bout when I first saw it. The constant shifts and one-upmanship interspersed with action was awesome to watch. Graham was a brilliant Boxer with a striking ability to judge the distance. Here is my old scorecard from last year, in which I had Graham winning. This is like the 'Pacquaio - Marquez 3' of it's time, in terms of who people thought won the score imo, since most people seem to score within 3 points for one or the other. @George Crowcroft had it a draw if I remember correctly, whilst @Jel had it for the Keed. Kid Gavilan vs Billy Graham III Gavilan - Graham R1: 10 - 9 What a class opener! Gavilan the aggressor and uppping the work rate on Graham. R2: 10 - 9 Gavilan trying to pour it on. Sneaky headbutt from Graham near the end then. Well timed R3: 10 - 10 My God this is getting close! Supreme ability. R4: 9 - 10 Masterful Boxing. R5: 10 - 9 Very close action, and possibly a swing round. R6: 9 - 10 Lots of glancing work due to the skill level. Graham wins on his crisp inside work, and is starting to get the jab down. R7: 10 - 10 Very close. Graham with the jab and lead, Gavilan working more. R8: 10 - 9 Gavilan on the jab now; responding with right counters. R9: 9 - 10 Great action again. Billy more compact. R10: 9 - 10 Graham rapier sharp this round. R11: 10 - 9 Very close again! R12: 9 - 10 Graham with the masterful jab and infighting. He has also made the Keed really respect his power now. R13: 9 - 10 Graham again more compact and effective with his work. R14: 9 - 10 Close. Graham's short hooks take this. Great action. R15: 9 - 10 Great finale! TOTAL: 145 - 142 GRAHAM Notes: Magnificent, magnificent bout. ATG / Legendary skills is truly an appropriate term here, especially for the criminally forgotten Graham (shout out to @red cobra for being the original appreciator and introducer of Graham for me a long while back!) A thinking mans fight, but not boring, with plenty of high class action. Graham ultimately won on being the more compact, crisp fighter, especially with his inside work. Gavilan was hitting shoulder and elbows all night. Second time watching this, first time scoring. Renowned by hard-cores for it's perceived 'scoring difficulty', it definitely lives up to it IMO.
I had a similar experience when I watched this fight for the 1st time. For decades, this fight was considered the poster boy for "highway robbery" in boxing. When I finally got ahold of a copy (about 2 decades ago on VHS - remember those?), I kept waiting & waiting for this supposed "domination" by Graham to emerge, but it never did. I thought Gavilan built up a big lead over the 1st 2-thirds of the fight w/ superior workrate, & Billy didn't really come out of his shell until the championship rounds. No matter how many times I watch the fight, I have Gavilan winning by a roughly 3-round margin. For me, the fight is a lesson in never trusting reports of a "robbery" w/o actually seeing it w/ your own eyes. Irrespective of the controversy surrounding the decision, I think the fight is one of the ATG technical battles in boxing history.
