Home town hero/Backyard Champions

[Jersey-Jim]

I don't have the time to take on this project right now, but I always had an interest in researching boxing's "Hometown Hero/Backyard Champions." By "Backyard," I'm talking about the fighters who seemed a lot tougher to beat when fighting and defending their titles in their hometowns and in their "backyards" so to speak. Basically, you have to knock them out to beat them there! These weren't great fighter/champions - but decent ones.

Tony "The Tiger" Lopez (LW)
Billy Costello (JWW)
Barry McGuigan (FW)
Vinny Pazienza (LW - JMW)
Henry Maske (LHW)
Ricky Hatton (JWW)

Those are just a few examples.

Using fighters in your universe like Ali, Joe Louis, Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong, etc. - while it's fun, there are not a whole lot of surprises. Have champions who are flawed, protected, one dimensional or outright strange (Remember Jorge Paez - the former circus clown who stopped Calvin "Silky Smooth" Grove to win one of the FW titles back sometime in the 80's?), these are the type of guys who ad real color to the game/universe.

I think a few of these guys are rated sort of low in the game, so you'll have to make some adjustments. Some fighters are remember better for their post-prime performances.

I recently re-rated Mark Breland after watch several of his fights again and am thinking about making him a "Jersey House Fighter". As long as he steers clear of people with a really good chins, he can win a lot of fights!

Just a few thoughts (at a quarter till two in the morning!)