Both of these men are all but forgotten and neither have any claim to greatness. But I find it interesting to compare fighters of the lower tiers and who weren't mainstream attractions.. Ossie Ocasio spent his career teetering back and forth between heavy and cruiser. He ultimately retired with a record of 23-13-1-12. He challenged Holmes for the heavyweight title and eventually won the WBA cruiser weight strap with a few defenses. His better wins include Jimmy Young, Pierre Coetzer, Dwight Qawi ( thought considered a robbery by some ) and a draw with Michael Dokes. Towards the end of his career he was primarily a build up opponent for some of the younger crop at the time. Randall Tex Cobb left boxing with a respectable record of 42-7-1-35. His win column contains names like Earnie Shavers, Bernardo Mercado and Leon spinks, though at least two of those were long past their best when he beat them. He was stopped only once in some 50 fights, and like Ocasio, also challenged Holmes for the crown. So who's career was better? Cobb obviously had the better record and fewer losses but it should be noted that he also fought fewer top quality men.
Cobb looked unskilled and slow, but he somehow won against good opponents (Shavers, Mercado) and gave tough fights to much more talented fighters than him (Norton, Buster Douglas, Dokes twice). He was better than another iron-chinned HW Mariusz Wach who looks unskilled and slow too but can't be more than a punching bag vs any elite HWs. Ocasio was pretty good boxer with good wins (and draw) on his record, and decent performances vs young Mercer and Lewis at the end of his career. His 'win' vs Qawi was definitely a robbery though. I think these two completely different fighters are pretty even in terms of achievements, and in actual fight either man can win a close fight, or it ends a draw.
What always surprised me in Cobb, it's how competitive he was against fighters, who were much more skilled, way quicker, and hit harder than him.
totally different styles They both fought competively with a young Dokes I think prime for prime Ocassio may win a close decision. He was fairly slick.
I watched Occasio fight Tyrell Biggs, he was a skilled boxer, with good defensive skills. He was too small at heavyweight.Cobb was a tough guy. Good matchup . I would always go with the more skilled guy,so i pick Occasio UD ,but i could understand somebody having a different view.
I saw that fight too on USA Tuesday night fights in another lifetime. That was on the undercard of Witherspoon vs Sims. Ocasio was long past it by then and brought in as a last minute replacement for Carl The Truth who was injured in training. Boring fight and lackluster performance by Biggs as well.
Cobb was tough as nails...might lose a decision but certainly wouldn't get KO'd by Ocasio. It would have been a good Saturday afternoon TV bout.
In a pound for pound sense, Ocasio was better. But in the ring Cobb's toughness of mind and body allowed him to compete against the fighters above his class. Ocasio could not do this at heavyweight.
They were both pretty good fighters. I mean, relative to the way they are perhaps remembered (or forgotten). Lots of fighters on their level get more praise than them, or won heavyweight alphabet belts. Here's an old out-of-shape Ocasio against an 11-0 Lennox Lewis. This content is protected Ocasio actually outweighed Lennox at the weigh in, 229 pounds to 224.
Very true, Over the years Ossie Ocasio has been commonly labeled as one of the weaker contenders Larry Holmes faced. At one point I listed him as such too. But looking back, he twice beat a top 3 contender in Jimmy Young when Jimmy was still not quite past prime yet. That's actually more than a lot of Holmes' contenders did prior to getting in the ring with him.
To be fair to Biggsy he was on the comeback trail after defeats at elite level to Tyson,Damiani and Mason. He went back to basics and got behind his jab. I remember the fight being on a Thursday for some reason. They may have shown it the following Tuesday. Yes it does seem a while ago !
It might have been. They used to have it on Thursday but they switched it to Tuesday night fights but I don't remember when it happened. And yes Biggs and Ocasio were both past it by then, probably even more so Ossie than Tyrell
Better is a bit hard to define here, but Cobb seemed to trouble just about everyone he went up to bat against other than Holmes, whereas Ocasio seemed to not do a lot more than spoil and annoy. I think if you want cold hard facts to decide, Ossie scored better wins overall- Whereas Tex didn't beat too many notable fighters.
