- 1 hour ago
Frank Fletcher faces Juan Roldan in a Middleweight bout. This fight aired on the undercard of Roberto Duran vs Marvin Hagler in a Closed Circuit PPV. This is a replay version that aired on NBC as part of the Holmes-Frazier card. Plus an interview with new WBA Heavyweight Champion Gerrie Coetzee
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00:00And Frank the Animal Fletcher, and we'll be seeing that in just a moment.
00:03First, we want to acknowledge a couple of very important faces in the crowd at ringside.
00:07There he is, Muhammad Ali, as we said, in 1978.
00:10It was in this town, much like the fight we're about to see.
00:13The champion, the veteran Holmes against the youngster, only 10 pro fights, Marvis Frazier.
00:18It was Ali who lost a 15-round unanimous decision to Leon Spinks, then the Olympic gold medal winner.
00:25Ali signing some autographs.
00:27Looks in good shape here to see whether or not that same fate will befall the champion, Larry Holmes,
00:33or will the man that he fought in those dramatic fights, Joe Frazier, Joe Frazier's kid, Marvis Frazier,
00:39become the first father-son act ever wear a heavyweight championship.
00:44Although he'll not be acknowledged as champion, Frazier, certainly he will be the uncrowned king.
00:49Larry Holmes getting ready.
00:50He certainly has other ideas about the affair that will be just moments away.
00:55But first, let's go back to Marvin Albert, Freddy Pacheco.
01:01Carlos Padilla bringing the fighters together.
01:03Frank the Animal Fletcher on the light.
01:07Record of 17-3-1.
01:0912 by knockout.
01:1029 years old out of Philadelphia.
01:12Woo a shot at the champion, Marvin Hagler, by losing a 12-round decision to Wilfred Sipion this past February.
01:22And Juan Domingo Rodin, 26 years old, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, the WBA's number one contender at 160 pounds.
01:30But that ranking has been earned without fighting any of the top contenders.
01:33And Rodin, right to the body of Fletcher, and then to the head.
01:40Look it up! Look it up!
01:41Look it up!
01:42Look it up!
01:42Look it up!
01:42Look it up!
01:42Look it up!
01:43He's a car!
01:44He's a car!
01:44Skipped jack!
01:46All of Animal Fletcher's bouts have not stopped action, a slurking southpaw, constantly in motion,
01:52strumming.
01:53But here is Rodin coming out, and he is the one applying the pressure.
01:58Hold it!
01:59Hold it!
01:59Look it up!
02:00Stand up!
02:11Rodin with good power in his upper body.
02:13Look it up!
02:14Look it up!
02:14Look it up!
02:15Has a strong right hand that was held in stretch the last time we saw him against a very difficult
02:22man to fight in Teddy Man.
02:24He did not come out in this fashion.
02:28Oh!
02:28Look it up!
02:30Look it up!
02:30Good right hand by Rodin.
02:34Fast pace being set by Rodin.
02:36Look it up!
02:37Look it up!
02:37Look it up!
02:37Look it up!
02:37This is usually what Animal does.
02:40Comes out and just swarms all over here.
02:42Rodin is out swarming Animal Fletcher, if that's possible.
02:49And again the right hand!
02:50Fletcher is smiling, but he got clipped.
02:54That's one of those objects that didn't hurt, but in the meantime he staggered back.
02:59Rodin is pushing him down in the back of the head.
03:01He has not drawn a warning yet from the referee, but he will if he keeps that up.
03:06Oh!
03:07And he caught him with the right hand!
03:08Rodin!
03:09Well done!
03:10With the right hand!
03:11Oh!
03:12Fletcher was off-balance and he went down!
03:15A legitimate knockdown, though.
03:16A legitimate knockdown.
03:17He missed and he got nailed with a counter and went down.
03:19Animal Fletcher, who had a string of impressive victories in a running single turn, each round knockdown, decision over Tony Blackson and Tim Jackson.
03:32He stopped James Cargway three, number six, but then lost to Cipriot, flowing for title shot, and he has his hands full here with one Rodin in the opening round.
03:44I'll say one thing, you never see a boring fight with Animal Fletcher. Look at the way Rodin is striking on him on the road.
03:51Bring it up!
03:52Bring it up!
03:53And the referee Carlos Padilla had a difficulty separating the two.
03:58Rodin, right back, continuing to score as you see under 40 seconds left in the sports round.
04:04Look it up!
04:05Look it up!
04:06Look it up!
04:07Look it up!
04:08Look it up!
04:09Look it up!
04:10Look it up!
04:11Look it up!
04:16Come on!
04:17Look it up!
04:18Stand up!
04:19Look it up!
04:20Stand up!
04:21Be right up!
04:22Stand up!
04:23A convincing first round for Rodin against Fletcher.
04:27Go?
04:28Go!
04:30Go!
04:36In Rodin's corner, he's standing up.
04:38going to sit down a bit of bravado that may cost him because it's going to be the guy that's got
04:44the power that stays there in his corner here's the replay you can see the miss now the perfect
04:51counter punch now that's a miss and a perfect counter well caught and look at the way he flies
04:56across the ring let's take another look at that from another angle in any angle it hurts there he
05:03comes yes he caught the animal who was off balance off that lunching boob and he paid for it
05:13roldan has in his corner tito lecturi the man who uh took carlos bonz on to the title
05:19and this is round two it was all one rovan on the white trunks and the first crowd against
05:37in the green and rovan is right out and all over fletcher fletcher can't seem to get his back off
05:43those ropes it's going to be oh look at the inside work by animal fletcher little uppercuts
05:50as padilla was screamed away by the rather massive bulk of roldan he's going to have trouble he's too
05:57small to handle these two big guys these are two bp guys oh there goes five eight hundred and sixty
06:05pounds frank fletcher five nine so they match up well reach about the same slight advantage for
06:15rodan rodan said before the fight he wants to convince boxing people that he is oh there's a
06:23right hand that thought fletcher rodan wants to convince the boxing way but he's got another south
06:29a boy well if the first round's any indication he certainly is on his way to proving it but you
06:37know animal fletcher just never gives up all the fights he's had on nbc he has just gutted everybody
06:42out he was out flicked by sipion but he was still fighting there in the 12th round
06:48and roldan's got to worry about running out of gas
06:50fletcher has not to be the same fighter that we have seen in the past of course rodan is not allowing
07:03him to get aggressive but he has been rodan taking the fight to fletcher right through well
07:09well he was always a catcher but rodan is non-stop pitcher
07:11and we approach primitive remaining in the second round
07:20roldan's fight is right here on the ropes he's got him backed off he's able to trigger
07:24off three four five punches and most of them are landing on animal fletcher
07:35fletcher looks like he's content to sit on the rope to wait for this guy to punch himself out
07:39could be a big mistake oh dad now able to cut that right hand but able to measure
07:57and again a warning from the referee connor's padilla this time for a low blow thrown by fletcher
08:02and fletcher continues to attempt to tie up roldan so another good round for roldan this was scheduled for 10
08:25meanwhile back live here in las vegas the dressing room of marvis frazier he's 23 years of age he's
08:37fought only 10 times as a pro winning all 10 this year has won four bouts his last two against james
08:42broad and joe buckner in 10 rounds it's interesting that on nbc the fight that most people recall when
08:48they think of marvis frazier was the olympic trials in 1980 in atlanta remember james broad came out and hit a
08:55right hand on the top of the forehead of frazier pinched a nerve in his neck they have since had an
08:59operation to correct any difficulties from that situation and down went frazier for the count
09:05knocked out in the first round at the hands of broad well he's come back as a professional
09:09and in april defeated james broad in an impressive 10-round decision and sense has also
09:14taken care of joe buckner joe frazier what a moment that must be father and son a former heavyweight
09:19champion joe and his son marvis some feel marvis isn't quite so eager about his fighting future as
09:27his dad is for him and there may be some positives in regard to their relationship certainly but there
09:33also may be some negatives and no matter what the sport there have been very few father-son combinations
09:38when father has coached son that have succeeded meanwhile argentina's juan roldan frank
09:45the animal fletcher billed as an elimination bout the winner to get the champion marvin haggler let's
09:50return to round three
09:54round three las vegas covada frank the animal fletcher in the green throwing himself at juan
10:02domingo roldan amber white roldan 26 years old out of glas irish argentina that's a lot of slip
10:11yeah that was a slip of the push but that was dangerous through those ropes that does not feel
10:15good to go flying through the ropes and land on your back amidst all the typewriters and stuff
10:21animal apparently not bothered ready to go back to business typewriters will do it
10:26well fletcher was put down in round one and he was just pushed through the ropes here in this third
10:36round rodan's last bout we referred to it earlier back in late may 10 round decision over teddy man
10:45he has been beaten twice he's 49 and two knocked out by juan vogato back in 79 lost a a decision to
10:52juasito fernandez and then a year later he knocked out fernandez in the second round but
10:57trying to prove that he can do it against a top caliber fighter he has fought primarily in argentina
11:05and to this point he has been proven oh his body punches are just brutal
11:14now we know that the animal can take a lot of punishment but that kind of um punishment to the
11:19the body has got to be as sapping his strength he certainly doesn't look like the same animal
11:23flesh you would have seen before he doesn't have the fire right now in this round and it could be
11:28because the first two rounds have been at a fierce pace and he's been taking the selected
11:32also doesn't have the hysteria of the crowds in philadelphia and atlantic city that are usually on
11:39hand when fletcher is fighting certainly don't have a lot to do with it i don't hear mother fletcher
11:44around the ring that'll give you a round or two just on its own on vocal power
11:52roll down slowing down a little bit now not keeping up that intense attack
11:58and less than a minute left of around as you mentioned fletcher usually takes punishment of a
12:03paced sport in fact usually requires about four months to recuperate from each taxing fight because
12:10you have to love the contact to be a boxer i'm not so sure he's enjoying this one though well
12:15he must be having a good time he says he doesn't feel good unless he feels pain when he feels pain
12:20that's when he knows he's in it and he's going good so he should be satisfied because there's a lot
12:24of pain in the first two rounds and this one hasn't been any arrested either that's an intriguing way of
12:30looking at it
12:31well it's a short but happy career for people who feel that way because the body's just not meant to
12:40take continuous punishment like that
12:46and we're final seconds of the round
12:48all right we're going to take a timeout from the animal fletcher juan roldan fight that took
13:00place two weeks ago the man to my right is hetty cozzia the wba heavyweight champion coming off the
13:05victory over michael dokes hetty i know you have not seen much of marvis frazier but how do you think
13:11he will fare against the more experienced larry holmes i think it should go the distance um i feel that
13:17homes is going to pull this one off because phrase is going to come in forward and i should find a
13:23target by using his jab a lot how would you fight larry holmes i think holmes will fit me like a glove
13:30because i know i can punch and he's been knocked down by mark weaver ernie chavis and rinaldo snubs
13:38so i'm sure that that would be really my big fight and i can prove to the people that i can really do that
13:44so you would look to get that strong right hand in on holmes yes and then i had a
13:51uh a the doctor gave me behind his shoulders so i'm going to surprise him with a nice left hook as
13:56well a right hand i should add that has been operated on what 15 times and you come off a
14:01shoulder and hand injury yeah um well i had a lot of operations done on me but uh it's all just for the
14:09good and it's helping me all right now that you have beaten michael dokes and are the wba heavyweight
14:15champion where do things stand in terms of a a title shot perhaps against larry holmes or even
14:21should marvis frazier pick up an upset win i'm very sure that all of us go for where the most money is
14:29i would like to fight homes really tonight is the first time that i'm holding thumbs that he can win
14:35this spot i'm not a great fan of larry i love muhammad ali he's been my idol and i really don't think
14:42much of larry holmes he's been in a good time where there wasn't many real good heavyweights around
14:48so you're not a big fan of larry holmes any specific reason why um i just don't know for some
14:54guys should get a feeling that he's okay and he's the guy that gave me a feeling that i just
14:59dislike the guy at all you're going to get larry is watching this in the dressing room he's going to
15:04be psyched up for you before he even goes up against barbis frazier well i hope i do him good so he can
15:09win this fight tonight so i can finish him off oh a little advanced hype by hetty cozia looking ahead to
15:15the possibility of larry holmes all right right now let's get back to round four as we return to the frank
15:21the animal fredscher juan roldan fight that took place two weeks ago
15:30and this is round four was scheduled for ten the winner here will get a shot at the middleweight title
15:39frank fletcher blowing that opportunity by losing to wilfrid cypion this past february and then cypion
15:47went out it was stopped by marvin haggler in the fourth round all right now he's drawing this
15:54opportunity because roldan has won all three rounds on my scorecard quite unofficially of course but he
15:59has done a job on animal fletcher if his energy level can continue to concentrate oh he just got hit a
16:06good shot by animal fletcher roldan must have a pretty good chin we saw teddy uh man uh bounce some good
16:12bombs off of him blinks roaring here in the state of navale is on the 10-point musk system three
16:21knockdown rule is in effect three knockdowns in one round and it's all over the belt does not save the
16:26fighter except in the final round it's the right hand by roldan not being landed as powerful as uh took
16:37place of the first two rounds but he is landing that right hand and it's almost every round and
16:43it lands right on the side of animal fletcher's uh face and continues to cut that right hand and get
16:52it in as he did right there followed by the left there isn't that much steam in animal fletcher's
16:59punches are not the same fire that we've always associated with him he may be slowing down a little
17:04himself now and here's roldan again scoring on fletcher one thing he got admire roldan just doesn't
17:17stop he's right in there he wants his bad yeah those body throws i guess when you got to go back to the
17:24corner and listen to tito lectore tell you how bad you're doing you keep getting going out there and
17:28doing better and better all right less than a minute left and this fourth round and again fletcher
17:36tying up roldan that's this corner got to be starting to think about something else to do here to
17:43start changing this the tide of this battle because he's taking this round it'll be four straight that
17:48rolled down is taking it and fletcher just standing on the ropes and taking a pound it you could count
17:58the number of right hands at land it would be uh astounding in the land in the first four rounds
18:07okay look up
18:07what robin doing a pink shot on flank the animal fletcher as this fourth round comes to a close
18:32round five barb albert with the fight doctor bernie pacheco las vingas nivana the winner here will
18:45get a shot at the middle way title all right some desperation's got to be creeping into animal's minds
18:54here you can hear people like glory hollering here he comes can't you see him coming let that punch go
19:03don't hold him now he's holding him
19:08what you're looking to become a bit more active as this round gets underway here's the right hand
19:15by rodan again rodan continues to cock down right hand
19:21i don't think animal fletcher's ever heard about a block the right hand
19:35animal cold animal trying to fight off the road could get hit by that right hand
19:40that last right hand to the back of the head of fletcher and stutter fletcher was put down in the
19:46first round throw through the ropes
19:53there's been only that one official knockdown in round one
19:57but it's all what will land again landing with the right
20:05animal cannot hang on these ropes he just cannot be there because
20:08no one's going to be able to take this right right-handed pounding it's a one-handed pounding but it is
20:13he's throwing that with imputed he's not even catching a bit of the glove right on the jaw there it was again
20:23and roll dance continues
20:27to pound away with the right hand
20:29well it's beginning to look like animal it's just where it's been worn down it's beginning to look
20:39like he has nothing to come back with he's not punching he's just getting fun
20:45and we're up to a minute remaining round five this is scheduled for ten
20:49it's one way that a tough professional back in december of 1978 he has fought for the most part in argentina
20:59he's 149 lost to 33 by knockout the wba number one contender at 160 pounds and looking to prove
21:08himself against frank the animal fletcher i'm doing a good job he certainly looks rough and tough to me
21:16he doesn't get tired he stands right behind there
21:23the animal hasn't looked the same from the opening round it's a strange performance not the guy we are
21:31accustomed to seeing
21:37back in las vegas live larry holmes now starting to work more seriously as he prepares about 20 minutes
21:45from now these two men will enter the ring quite a contrast there holmes a 34 year old unbeaten champion
21:51and uh very quiet silent deep in his own thoughts marvis frazier both men are unbeaten what a small world
21:58the boxing fraternity is joe frazier marvis's father when he was champion used larry holmes as a sparring
22:08partner holmes also sparred with muhammad ali and you can take that circle round and round
22:13holmes is a four to one favorite to defend successfully or in some eyes uh risk his title
22:19they feel that he'll go on towards 45th consecutive victory it'll be worth about three million dollars
22:26to holmes in the fight tonight between a half million and seven hundred fifty thousand dollars
22:30to marvis frazier who has fought just ten times as a pro now let's go back to round six rodan versus fletcher
22:44on to round six both rodan and fletcher appear to be overanxious to come out of it
22:50and let's recall us to be ahead of say stay there wait for the barrel
22:55i don't know what animal fletcher's anxious to come out for but i sure know what rodan is
22:59anxious to come out for
23:00here's that right hat off the uh turn landing by water rodan
23:12rodan in the white fletcher in the green
23:15again rodan is measuring
23:20animal trying to show some motion trying to think of a way to keep off those ropes
23:25i do here with a little warning keep it up keep him up
23:32right hand by rodan rodan is throwing with without regard for a counter punch
23:39he's no longer careful he's just throwing it
23:43you can put a lot of steam behind a punch when you don't have to worry about bringing your glove
23:46back up to protect yourself and fletcher has not been countering
23:50i think what you said was very accurate this is not the same guy maybe animal is approaching the
23:56end of his road maybe those suspicious meetings have been too much for animal fletcher comes the
24:00night when you ain't got it anymore and it looks like it's the night for animal because he's getting
24:04out about it coming up on the halfway point round six
24:16in the past fletcher's voucher the non-stop
24:23but he has been neutralized by the right hand of water rodan who came out winging with it in the opening
24:30second he must get off these ropes he just can't stay there
24:36fletcher continues to fall while rodan loads up and fires
24:42there's a right hand by rodan
24:45the right hands are now driving back fletcher
25:01this is round six five albert have a fight doctor ferdy pacheco
25:08but all one roll down
25:09right hand again with the same script throughout
25:23a hold to the body and now here's rodan with the right and fletcher is down again
25:29right on his face and when they get down on their face they don't get up he is out
25:34six six one rodan again delivering the right hand carlos padilla says that is it
25:46one rodan who coming into this bout said that he wanted to convince boxing people that he is not just
25:56another south american flash in the pan in his convincing with the right hand to stop frank
26:04the animal fletcher at 258 of round six so upcoming for rodan a title shot
26:16and back live in las vegas where we are awaiting the heavyweight title matchup between
26:22larry holmes and marvis frazier to the subject of animal fletcher and juan roldan ferdy we had
26:28seen roldan look rather unimpressive in previous bouts are you surprised with that performance two
26:33weeks ago well i would say shocked is a better word i mean i just couldn't imagine anybody would
26:38do that to animal fletcher the strength that he uh showed the drive the determination the non-stop
26:44punching ability of roldan and you've got to remember that that's animal fletcher style that
26:49should be just made to order for him and yet he just wore him out he just completely warm yes i
26:53was impressed by roldan and i think i wasn't impressed when he fought the other fighters
26:56because he was fighting fighters that were really trying to survive ten rounds they weren't trying
27:00to win uh the type of fight but with animal fletcher you know animal fletcher was trying to win
27:05all right that bout was on the undercard of the haggler duran title fight two weeks ago
27:10here in las vegas a bout that will be shown on sports world tomorrow right here on nbc starting at
27:162 30 eastern time as you look back two weeks ago and uh think about that particular bout what is
27:22next now for roberto duran well and next for duran is a series of junior middleweight fights where he can
27:28go in with mugabe with mccallum with hutchins and i thought the capsule of that fight was that uh while
27:34haggler won the fight duran won the evening all right so that'll be coming up tomorrow sports world
27:402 30 eastern time right now let's go upstairs to dick enberg
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