Essa inesquecível luta foi na cidade de Los Angeles em 1960. Nessa época eu tinha 10 anos e junto com meu irmão, ouvímos a luta na integra, transmitida pela rádio Bandeirantes de S.Paulo. Foi considerada uma das maiores lutas de boxe de todos os tempos, realmente espetacular, culminando com a vitória do grande Eder por nocáute. Na minha opinião, Joe Medel foi o melhor adversário que o Eder enrfentou na sua carreira, porque o cara realmente era muito bom, e só perdeu porque o nosso Eder, era um fenômeno de pugilista, imbatível, tanto que se tornou campeão mundial. Nunca mais,mas nem de longe, apareceu outro boxeador no Brasil com a técnica e a garra do Eder. Ele foi junto com Pelé e Garrincha, meus ídolos de infância no esporte. Imortal! Mito!
Belíssima análise e relato! Tem fotos dele com Pelé que são fodas! Éder foi um cara com talento moldado muito bem pelo pai. O filme sobre a vida dele apenas fez crescer minha idolatria por ele. Galinho de Ouro já tem 83 anos se não me engano, uma verdadeira lenda do boxe.
I pick Jofre in the top five along with Robinson, Armstrong, Duran and Willie Pep. In the Medal fight, Jofre demonstrated excellent balance, movement, punching and defensive skills.
To say as much is to underrate the incredible resilience of Jofre though. Eder could be hurt but stopping him is a whole other matter. His mettle was legendary.
A little known fact is, that a fighter from Juarez Mexico, Edmundo " Mundo" Esparza, was the first fighter to defeat Harada, who was unbeaten at the time, the date June 14 1962, In Tokyo Japan , no less.
eso es porque Jofre es mayor en edad; pero sin duda le gano a Vicente Saldivar por KO y tuvo una brillante pelea contra el Cubano Legra a la edad de 37 y gano.
Wow, What a fight!! The mexican fighter was throwing some vicious body shots. Eder Jofre's head movement was good, he should've thrown more straight right hands though, ever time he did, he hurt the mexican fighter. Amazing fight!
@iljn1988 I'm sorry, friend, I didn't mean to be that way. You say Olivares was upset by lesser fighters. To whom do you refer? Chucho Castillo and Rafael Herrara? Both of them were great fighters and far superior to Jose Medel, who gave Jofre such a rough time. Or perhaps Arguello, against whom Olivares was giving a boxing lesson while on his back foot through much of the fight before gassing out? Ruben liked to party, no doubt about that. But when fit and prime, he was a lil' crusher.
As great as Eder Jofre was, this version of " El gallo de oro de Brasil, Would have been knocked out by the 69-70 version of Rock a bye Ruben. If Jose ( Joe) Medel, almost knock him out, On pure talent,Charisma, and just being one of those,rare superb boxers ,Ruben, #1, Salvador ##2, Julio#3 +Ricardo#4#Zarate, #5, Marquez, Barrera,Morales,Saldivar,Pipino Cuevas,que con todo y sus faltas de tecnica,arrastraba multitudes, y esta en el #10 .
Remember that Jofre never lost a fight other than by decision. And as far as I know the only knockdown in his career was in a fight in 1958 - in an interview (in Portuguese, sorry), he said he was showboating for his fiancée, and let his guard down. Either way, 1 knockdown in 78 fights means he is a tough SOB to KO. I think he was never down in his 25 fights as a featherweight either, against stronger guys. So my guess is that Zarate and Olivares could beat him, but by decision.
@iljn1988 Olivares could only fight one way? Perhaps you can explain what you mean by that because I see him fighting all sorts of ways--boxing beautifully (e.g. Alexis Arguello, Chucho Castillo, et al.) or slugging (e.g. Chacon, et al.). Ring Mag rates Zarate, Jofre, Olivares, and Ortiz as Nos. 1-4 all time. And you say Jofre "by a considerable distance"? Spare me. Medel hurt him badly with a left hook to the liver. What do you think Olivares would've done to him? Knocked him out, that's what.
I seen Jofre, Zarate, Olivares and Ortiz fight live and imo Ortiz was the best of the four with Jofre second and Olivares and Zarate followed in that order.
@iljn1988 Appreciate the exchange--one final note, however. Of course Herrera and Castillo were in Harada's "league." In fact, Harada was (1) knocked out by Medel, who was beaten by Castillo; and (2) was dethroned by Lionel Rose, against whom Castillo lost a very unpopular decision and was brutally kayoed by Olivares. Not in Harada's league? C'mon, dude, that's ridiculous. Both Castillo & Herrera were right there with anyone. I suggest you watch their fights--they were terrific prizefighters.
This is a great clip of Jofre. His opponent here gives him all he can handle. They both took some shots! Jofre's an all-timer but I think the two Mexican superstars, Zarate and Olivares KO him. Same with Manuel Ortiz, who'd enjoy all that in-fighting and make good use of all those wide Jofre punches. He'd have flattened him, IMO.
@Kedbuka, no worries. You've half answered my question - Castillo and Herrera were very fine fighters but not on Jofre's league, and nor were they in the league of Jofre's only conquerer, Harada. Yes, Medel troubled Jofre but the bottom line is he still won. And Jofre isn't the only great to be troubled by a lesser opponent. No disrespect to Olivares though, he was a phenomenal fighter and is a favourite of mine. I just feel Jofre was a more rounded fighter and the best Bantamweight of them all.
@Kedbuka, I've seen their fights, otherwise I wouldn't be commenting on them. By "not in Harada's league", I meant that in overall terms, they were lesser fighters; surely you'd agree that in the all-time pound for pound stakes, Harada would rank above the both of them? Like I said, I'm not trying to devalue any of these guys, I was merely alluding to the reasons and factors which make Jofre, in my mind, the greatest Bantamweight. But thanks for the intelligent debate - a rare thing on RU-vid!
Top ten maybe too high but if you look at his record he fought really amazing comp, Mitsonuri Seki gave Vincente Saldivar two tough fights, he KO'd a prime Fighting Harada and lost a competitve points decision in the return, he gave Jofre a very tough fight the first time around, not to mention his trilogy with Jose Beccera. I watched a video of him against Jesus Pimentel where he comes from behind to drop Pimentel twice in the 9th to take a close decision. His record is very deceptive.
It's obvious Medel knew what he was doing in there but I didn't know he was rated so highly. I didn't mean to disparage him but he really got blasted by Alacran Torres. And Olivares absolutely demolished Alacran.
@Kedbuka, I'd have to disagree. As great as Olivares, Zarate and Ortiz were, I don't see them beating Jofre and certainly not "flattening him." Olivares and Zarate, for all their greatness, could only fight one way - this certainly wasn't a problem that Jofre had. Nat Fleischer didn't call him the "Sugar Ray Robinson of the Bantamweights" for nothing. I'd make Jofre the greatest Bantamweight in history, and by a considerable distance to be honest.
Boxrec is probably the worst source you could bring up when it comes to rankings. They're an absolute joke, done through a computer ranking system. They have Floyd Patterson as the #2 HW of all time.
@Kedbuka, there's no need to be so aggressive and patronizing, mate. My opinion is no better or worse than yours, just different that's all. Maybe my "one way" phrasing was badly-chosen, but Olivares always liked to fight coming forward. On the back foot, he was a much lesser fighter. Jofre had no such problems. Olivares was upset by lesser fighters than Jofre, whereas it took a possible all-time top 10 Bantamweight in Harada to dispose of Jofre. I think Jofre's mettle and chin would be key.
