By Gene Fullmer
I hope I'm not a fool and I know I'm not just another optimist. I've now fought **** Tiger twice and most sincerely I feel that I can beat him. I thought I beat him in Las Vegas last Febuary but the officials called it a draw and I'm a law abiding citzen.
I have already admitted and will again restate that **** Tiger whipped me fair and square in San Francisco in out first meeting on Ocotber 23, 1962. There have been many more stories about the fight and alot alibis have been attributed to me.
I never made one personal claim about that fight. I lost and that was it. A professional fighter has no right to alibi. We're not rookies. The men who manage and train us are also pros. Sure fighters are human beings who feel right one moment and bad the next.
But it is also out job to come up for a fight in the best possible mental and physical condition we are able to attain. If things go wrong it is nobodus fault but our own. **** Tiger beat me in San Francisco. Thats is a matter of record. I will never dispute it.
Now, in Las Vegas is another matter. I honestly thought I won that fight and it might have been my thinking so that cuased me to ease up in the last round. That made it a draw on the cards of the judges and referee. Had I won that round, there would have been no draw and I would have been the winner.
For this fight I felt right physically and mentally. I fought him just the way way we planned it and we made him fight out kind of fight, I felt that he thought he lost it when the fight was over, that the announcing of the scores of the officials were just a formality. But I'm never surprised at what happens. Officals are human beings, just like fighters. They see things, each in a different way. They just saw it a draw and thats what it was called.
I have to acceppt it, just as I may have gotten similar edge in one or two close fights I have particpated in. Everybody sees a fight differently. It happens all the time.
But that's all over with. I'm hopeful that I will in next month in Nigera. I feel that I earned this chance and I also feel that he knows it. He is too good a fighter and too fine a gentlemen to be satisfied with a debatable draw. He is proud and he wants to be a champion without any question marks.
**** Tiger is not just a good fighter. He is not great but better that just good. He is the best fighter I've ever faced and I don't bar Suger Ray Robinson. He can punch alot harder than he appears to, take my word for it. He's also a excellent boxer.
In our first fight, he made me fights his kind of fight. In the second, I forced him into mine. He missed alot and there was the difference. What out third fight will be like I don't know. I've made no plans for that far ahead. But it should be quite a battle. I respect him and know that he respects me. We both may have to change a bit.
The Las Vegas fight was a key one for me. It meant the difference between quitting and going on. I'm satisfied that I have enough left to continue. I also think I satisfied the fight fan that I'm not a man fighting just for money. I want the title back.
I hope I'm not a fool and I know I'm not just another optimist. I've now fought **** Tiger twice and most sincerely I feel that I can beat him. I thought I beat him in Las Vegas last Febuary but the officials called it a draw and I'm a law abiding citzen.
I have already admitted and will again restate that **** Tiger whipped me fair and square in San Francisco in out first meeting on Ocotber 23, 1962. There have been many more stories about the fight and alot alibis have been attributed to me.
I never made one personal claim about that fight. I lost and that was it. A professional fighter has no right to alibi. We're not rookies. The men who manage and train us are also pros. Sure fighters are human beings who feel right one moment and bad the next.
But it is also out job to come up for a fight in the best possible mental and physical condition we are able to attain. If things go wrong it is nobodus fault but our own. **** Tiger beat me in San Francisco. Thats is a matter of record. I will never dispute it.
Now, in Las Vegas is another matter. I honestly thought I won that fight and it might have been my thinking so that cuased me to ease up in the last round. That made it a draw on the cards of the judges and referee. Had I won that round, there would have been no draw and I would have been the winner.
For this fight I felt right physically and mentally. I fought him just the way way we planned it and we made him fight out kind of fight, I felt that he thought he lost it when the fight was over, that the announcing of the scores of the officials were just a formality. But I'm never surprised at what happens. Officals are human beings, just like fighters. They see things, each in a different way. They just saw it a draw and thats what it was called.
I have to acceppt it, just as I may have gotten similar edge in one or two close fights I have particpated in. Everybody sees a fight differently. It happens all the time.
But that's all over with. I'm hopeful that I will in next month in Nigera. I feel that I earned this chance and I also feel that he knows it. He is too good a fighter and too fine a gentlemen to be satisfied with a debatable draw. He is proud and he wants to be a champion without any question marks.
**** Tiger is not just a good fighter. He is not great but better that just good. He is the best fighter I've ever faced and I don't bar Suger Ray Robinson. He can punch alot harder than he appears to, take my word for it. He's also a excellent boxer.
In our first fight, he made me fights his kind of fight. In the second, I forced him into mine. He missed alot and there was the difference. What out third fight will be like I don't know. I've made no plans for that far ahead. But it should be quite a battle. I respect him and know that he respects me. We both may have to change a bit.
The Las Vegas fight was a key one for me. It meant the difference between quitting and going on. I'm satisfied that I have enough left to continue. I also think I satisfied the fight fan that I'm not a man fighting just for money. I want the title back.
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