In a battle of undefeated Heavyweight Champions, International Boxing Hall of Famer “Iron” Mike Tyson unified the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association, and International Boxing Federation World titles after winning a 12 round unanimous decision over Tony Tucker by the scores of 119-111, 118-113, and 117-112 at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 1st, 1987. The 21 year old Tyson improved to 31-0, 27 KO’s, while the 28 year old Tucker dropped to 34-1, 29 KO’s.
International Boxing hall of fame member Lupe Pintor made the sixth defense of his World Boxing Council Bantamweight Championship after stopping Jovito Rengifo at 1:21 of round eight at the Showboat Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 26th, 1981. The 26 year old Pintor trailed on two of the scorecards, 66-67 twice and led on the third 67-66 at the time of the stoppage and improved to 46-5-1, 36 KO’s. The 24 year old Rengifo dropped to 28-3, 14 KO’s.
World Boxing Council Welterweight World Champion Milton McCrory made the fifth defense of his title after stopping Carlos Trujillo at 2:03 of round three at the Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco on July 14th, 1985. The 23 year old McCrory led 20-18 twice and 20-17 on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage and improved to 27-0-1, 22 KO’s. The 24 year old Trujillo dropped to 19-3, 14 KO’s.
International Boxing Hall of Famer and World Boxing Council Light Heavyweight World Champion Matthew Saad Muhammad made the fourth defense of his title after stopping Yaqui Lopez at 2:03 of round 14 at the Great Gorge Playboy Club in McAfee, New Jersey on July 13th, 1980. The contest was named Ring Magazine “Fight of the Year” with round eight named the “Round of the Year” by the same publication. The 26 year old Saad Muhammad dropped the 29 year old Lopez four times in round 14 in improving to 27-3-2, 19 KO’s. Lopez fell to 49-10, 33 KO’s. This was the second time they fought each other with Muhammad winning the initial encounter, also by stoppage, in round 11 in 1978.
World Boxing Council Jr Middleweight World Champion Maurice Hope made the second defense of his title after stopping Rocky Mattioli at 2:52 of round 11 at the Conference Centre in Wembley, London on July 12th, 1980. Hope led 98-91 twice and 98-92 on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage. This was a rematch from March of 1979 when Hope won the WBC title after stopping Mattioli in round 9. The 28 year old Hope improved to 29-2-1, 24 KO’s, while the 26 year old Mattioli dropped to 59-6-2, 46 KO’s.
World Boxing Council Super Lightweight World Champion Bruno Arcari made his first defense of his title when Rene Roque was disqualified for head butting at 1:29 of round six at Stadio Beach, Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy on July 10th, 1970. The 28 year old Arcari improved to 40-2, 22 KO’s, while the 28 year old Roque dropped to 43-8-6, 6 KO’s. Arcari would go on to make nine successful defenses before vacating the belt to move up to welterweight.
Alfredo Escalera won the WBC Super Featherweight World Championship after stopping Kuniaki Shibata at 2:56 of round two at the Kasamatsu Athletic Park Gym in Hitachinaka, Japan on July 5th, 1975. The 28 year old Shibata was making his fourth defense of the title and entered with a record of 44-5-3, 25 KO’s. The 23 year old Escalera entered with a record of 29-7-1, 18 KO’s and this was his first World Championship bout. Escalera would go on to make 10 successful title defenses before losing to future International Boxing Hall of Fame member Alexis Arguello in 1978.
Castro's Kingdom 