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This Day in History (October 23, 1962)

Today in Boxing History: Dick Tiger Beats Gene Fullmer

On this day in 1962, Dick Tiger won the WBA Middleweight Title, beating Gene Fullmer by unanimous decision at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park.

Dick TigerFullmer had won the belt for the second time with a 14th round stoppage of Carmen Basilio in August of 1959. Tiger would be his eighth title defense. Of his previous seven, three were rematches with Basilio and Sugar Ray Robinson, and one was a 10th round knockout of Benny Paret.

Tiger, meanwhile, was just hitting his stride. After beginning his career 36-11-2, the Nigerian fighter went on to win 10 of his next 11 bouts and the British Commonwealth Middleweight Title. Wins over contenders Henry Hank and Florentino Fernandez earned him a shot at Fullmer’s belt.

From the opening bell, Fullmer’s bull-rushing charges played perfectly into Tiger’s counterpunching attack. While the bout featured many intense moments, the judges ruled that Tiger had won a vast majority of the rounds.

The two would fight twice more. Their rematch in February of 1963 ended in a draw. In their rubber match in August of 1963, Fullmer took so much punishment that his corner stopped the fight in the seventh round.

Fullmer retired after that bout. Tiger lost his next title defense by decision to Joey Giardello in December of 1963. He would go on to win the middleweight belt two more times.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 23rd, 2006 at 12:33 am and is filed under Aaron Tallent, Boxing News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “This Day in History (October 23, 1962)”

  1. VINCENT EZEDIKE says:
    October 24, 2006 at 3:34 am

    I REMEMBER VIVIDLY SEEING SOME SCREEMING HEADLINES ON MANY NEWSPAPERS OF HOW DICK TIGER WON THE MATCH. DICK TIGER’S PICTURE APPEARD WITH A TIGERS HEAD PUMELLING OR BENDING OVER GENE FULMER. AS A KID OF ABOUT 8 YEARS I WAS WONDERING HOW A HUMAN WILL BE FIGHTING AN ANIMAL-LIKE HUMAN.

  2. jeff fey says:
    November 27, 2006 at 12:11 pm

    Been trying unsuccessfully to obtain a DVD or tape the first fight. Any suggestions? I was in 8th grade at the time and remember reading newspaper articles about it.

    Strange how two absolute gentlemen outside their professions could engage in one of the great slugfests of the 60’s

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