By Steve Corbo
(Part #2 of 2)
In Part 1 of “Boxing’s Unsung Heroes”, I referenced an article by Ted Sares. In his piece, Sares mentions a couple of Chicago guys, Anthony Ivory, and Alfredo “Freddy” Cuevas. Two tough pros who took on all comers. With an overall record of 26 wins – 10 losses -1 draw, in a career that spanned 13 years, Cuevas had KO wins over Charles Murray and Wilfredo Rivera. He came up short in bouts against Marco Antonio Rubio, Jermain Taylor, John Duddy, Santiago Samaniego, Kasim Ouma, Kingsley Ikeke, Michael Rask and he split a couple of bouts with fellow Chicagoan Anthony Ivory.
Ivory’s Herculean record is a virtual “Who’s Who”. Boxrec lists his record as 32 wins – 78 Losses – 6 draws . But in those 78 losses, he was stopped only 5 times. Ivory went the distance and lost decisions to the following future, or former, World Champions . Their records, at the time they fought Ivory, are in parenthesis: Kelly Pavlik (18-0), Yuri Foreman (12-0), Keith Holmes (36-3), Felix Sturm (6-0), Silvio Bronco (35-4-2), Mikkel Kessler (7-0), Sammy Serrano (49-6-1), Julio Cesar Vasquez (Twice 37-1 & 58-3), Davey Hilton (27-1-1), Carl Daniels (25-0), Simon Brown (35-2), Laurent Boudouani (18-1), Winky Wright (Twice 27-1 & 30-1), Chris Pyatt (42-4), Vincent Pettway (42-6-1), Hacine Cherifi (25-3-1), Diosbelys Hurtado (16-0), Akhmed Kotiev (twice 14-1 & 18-1), Armand Krajnc (15-0) and KO Artist Yori Boy Campas (52-0). A true globetrotter, Ivory fought in 15 different countries. This is a guy who knew how to survive in the ring…
It seems unique to boxing that often times extremely talented and gifted fighters get cast in the role of opponent. Perhaps due to management, or lack thereof, they never seem to “get the breaks”. Sometimes they train themselves and, more often than not, work a full-time job in addition to boxing. Because they are talented and can be competitive with just about anybody, they are often overmatched or rushed into fights on short notice for the purposes of a quick payday. Their careers are seldom allowed to progress over time and naturally develop to their full potential. For example, in 1992 Ivory dropped four decisions in a row, to fighters with a combined record of 119 wins- 7 losses- 1 draw. As the losses pile up, the ultimate irony occurs. They find they can get more fights, and make more money, losing than they can winning.
But don’t sell them short. These guys are tough, they know how to fight, they look like a professional fighter should look and there is no quit in them. They’ll go rounds and always give the fans a good show. They are good enough to beat the “B” level fighters and on any given night, they can give an “A” fighter a rough time. All of which conspire to make them the perfect opponent and an “Unsung Boxing Hero.”
NOTE: Part #1 was published on www.dmboxing.com Saturday, February 13, 2021
Talk about tough! I also think of Cassius Green when I think of tough journeymen.