Originally Posted by
Randy Gordon
Great picks, all of the above. But here's another name left off the list (which just makes doing a Top-10 that much more difficult: Gustavo Ballas.
Gustavo was just 18 when he turned pro and weighed 106 pounds soaking wet. Although most of his early opponents were beginners of trialhorses, most of them outweighed Ballas by as much as 20 pounds. It was either take the fight or don't fight. He took fight. He took fight after fight.
In his first 53 fights, only a draw blemished his record. When he was 21, he stopped Sok-Chul Bae in the eighth round to win the WBA Super Flyweight Title.
In December 1981, he traveled to the backyard of Panama to put his title on the line against challenger Rafael Pedroza, the first cousin of Eusebio Pedroza, the WBA featherweight champion.
In front of something like 15,000 screaming, partisan Pedroza fans, Ballas and his 52-0-1 record battled Pedroza over 15 of the fastest-paced rounds I have ever seen. And I saw it firsthand, as I, along with Sal Marchiano, had the pleasure of announcing this fight on ESPN. The temperature at ringside was 101 degrees. In the ring, because of the TV lights and the fact this was an indoor dome made primarily of cinder blocks and metal, the temperature reached just under 130 degrees!
After 15 grueling rounds, Pedroza won the fight--and the title--on a split decision. In every round, I'd estimate each guy threw close to 100 punches (there was no Punch-Stat back then). One day I'll sit around and count the shots. It was phenomenal. How they kept it up is still beyond my comprehension.
Ballas fought for nine more years, until he was 31 years old. Over that time, he won another 53 fights and lost just eight times. He finished with a record of 105-9-6, going unbeaten in his last 10 fights.
He wasn't the greatest Argentine fighter ever, but in that 115-pound body was certainly a Top-10 placing amonst the greats of Argentine boxing history.
-Randy G.
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