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Super fight night

1969-11-05, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas

WBA/WBC/WBO - Joe Frazier v Muhammad Ali

Argentine championship - Gregorio Peralta v Oscar Bonavena

Larry Middleton v Dave Zyglewicz
Billy Daniels v Ken Norton
George Foreman v Franco DePiccoli
Earnie Shavers v Boroda Belov

A completely packed Caesars Palace and the streets of Las Vegas is full of tension as we await these great fights leading up to the first fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship.

Earnie Shavers 8-0-0 (7) v Boroda Belov 16-10-2 (1), 8 rounds

Another tough test for the new youngster of the game. An extremely hard puncher with the potential to be a world champ some day.

Round 1:
Earnie starts out rough. A minute in the round and Boroda is down. As
Boroda gets up he still looks shaken. 20-2

Round 2:
A close round with Shavers landing his bombs but Boroda taking them. 14-12

Round 3:
Earnie shows strong hands landing two big combos but failing to follow up on the hard chinned Boroda. 18-5

Round 4:
Boroda is send down for the second time with a big combo. Boroda shows heart fighting to get up and he just does it at the count of 9. Earnie lands some more big shots but doesn't put him to sleep. 28-2

Round 5:
Another combination sends Boroda down. And once again shows bravery getting up. Earnie then pounds until the ref rightly stops the fight.

Earnie Shavers wins by TKO 5 and moves to 9-0-0 (8) while Boroda moves to 16-11-2 (1)

George Foreman 8-0-0 (8) v Franco DePiccoli 33-8-0 (28), 8 rounds

An extremely tough test this early in a fighters career is very rare to see. With Francos chin this is going to be a very very tough fight for Big George. Franco also has bigtime power which his 28 KO's in 33 wins clearly shows.

Both look in their best of shape.

Round 1:
Foreman lands some wicked punches, but Franco also want's part landing good at the end. 22-7

Round 2:
A good round for Foreman without pounding Franco 12-5

Round 3:
How Franco can take this is a mystery. 26-4

Round 4:
After pounding the defensless Franco the ref finally stops the fight.

George Foreman wins by TKO 4 and moves to 9-0-0 (9) after an impressive showing. He is definately for real. Franco moves to 33-9-0 (28) but he never really stood a chance against Foreman.

Billy Daniels 28-8-1 (9) v Ken Norton 17-1-0 (15), 10 rounds

Ken looks to rebound from his stupid 10 rounds disqualification against Chuck Wepner against Billy Daniels.

Both are in top shape.

Round 1:
Ken pounds Billy who doesn't land a single punch 0-17

Round 2:
Another biiig round for Ken as he just pounds Billy Daniels. 0-23.

Billy hasn't landed a single punch yet.

Round 3:
As Billy lands his first punch he gets it going and wins the round. 10-4

Round 4:
Ken lands more and bigger. 4-11

Round 5:
Ken sends Billy to the floor with a body shot. Ken must have taken his air completely out as the count goes to 10.

Impressive 5th round KO for Ken Norton who rebounds and moves to 18-1-0 (16) while Billy moves to 28-9-1 (9)

Larry Middleton 24-1-0 (8) v Dave Zyglewicz 25-3-0 (19), 10 rounds

Larry is the favorite in what's expected to be a close fight. With a win here, Larry could be moving in the top 10.

Both fighters show up in good shape.

Round 1:
Larry simply boxes better and wins. 9-4

Round 2:
Larry keeps making Dave miss and countering himself. 12-4

Round 3:
This is really impressive stuff from Larry, moving in and out, countering. 13-0

Round 4:
Dave starts this round out a little better, but then Larry starts throwing fast combinations and wins the round. 24-8

Round 5:
Once again, Larry is giving Dave a boxing lesson, right until a power left hook to the body by Dave sends him down for the count. Larry is up at the count of two though and seems alright. He is down again, but it is ruled a push. Larry actually wins the round, but because of the KD the judges will probably give it to Dave. 14-10

Round 6:
It starts out even until the last minute which Larry completely controls. 18-11

Round 7:
Another good round for Larry as Dave is tiring out, making it easy. 12-4

Round 8:
At the beginning of the round Dave is hurt after a big uppercut. Larry then takes it easy and keeps Dave away to win an easy round. 10-0

Before the last two rounds my scorecard is: 79-73 for Larry Middleton.

Round 9:
Larrys countering is very impressive as he makes Dave look like a fool. 9-4

Round 10:
The tired Dave Zyglewicz will need a knockout to win here. Zyglewicz does land some good punches but it isn't enough. 10-10

The scorecards are:
98-92
96-94 (???)
98-92

All for the winner by unanimous decision, Larry Middleton!

Larry moves to 25-1-0 (8) and might go into the top 10 after this impressive perfomance. Dave moves to 25-4-0 (19) and his days as a top contender are most likely over.

Gregorio Peralta 32-8-1 (20) v Oscar 'Ringo' Bonavena 27-4-0 (23) 12 roundsfor the Argentine and Latin American championship titles.

Two top contenders going at it for national pride. This should be a great fight. Gregorio Peralta will most likely try to outbox Oscar, and he will probably try to get on the inside to land his hard and fast shots. As for the styles Gregorio might be the favourite, but he is not young anymore and Oscars heart and punching might be enough in a 12 round bout.

Both show in great shape.

Round 1:
Bonavena scores early with a big left and then follows up nicely to win the round. 4-16

Round 2:
Once again, Oscar starts best landing a big hook, but this time Gregorio recovers better and lands a one two. Oscar, as we know him, doesn't stop and lands many more good punches to win the round. 6-20

Round 3:
Peralta finally gets his boxing going and edges out a close round. 9-7

Round 4:
Another round too close to call. 6-7

Round 5:
Bonavena lands better as Gregorio isn't fast enought to get away from him. 8-15

Round 6:
Oscar is winning quite clearly at the moment. 4-17

My scorecard after half the bout: 56-59 for Oscar.

Round 7:
A good action round that Oscar won. 8-13

Round 8:
Gregorio looks tired as he goes into clinches everytime Oscar is near him. Oscar is just pounding on now. After two and a half minute of this Peralta goes down. He gets up, but looks very tired and hurt. 0-32

Round 9:
Oscar starts to become wild with his punces and Peralta makes him miss but doesn't get much in himself. 6-6

Round 10:
Easy round for Oscar against a very tired opponent. 4-15

My scorecard with two rounds to go: 92-98 for Oscar

Round 11:
Oscar lands a beautiful combination that sends Peralta down. Peralta just can't regains his legs and is counted out here in the 11th.

Oscar Bonavena wins by KO 11 and becomes LABA champ, Argentine champ and moves to 28-4-0 (24) and might very well go into the top 5 here. Gregorio Peralta moves to 32-9-1 (20).

The big main event is coming up..