Fighting Harada or Manny Pacquiao?

[Southpaw16BF]

Manny is often credited with being the best Asian fighter of all time and rightly so. But does anyone out there think Fighting Harada was greater than him?

Here's a brief insight on Mr Harada

The only man to ever win the flyweight and bantamweight world titles was born in Setagya Ward, Tokyo. This dual championship reign is all the more impressive when you consider that at the time there were only 10 weight classes and one champion in each division. Harada, who turned pro when he was 16, won his first 25 bouts.
At age 19, he won the world flyweight title from the legendary Thai champion Pone Kingpetch in Oct. 1962 via 11th-round kayo, but lost the belt three months later in a return bout by a 15-round decision. Harada then moved up to 118 pounds, where he won 11 of 12 fights, his lone loss being a sixth round TKO to Joe Medel that he later avenged. On May 17, 1965 he made boxing history by outpointing fellow Hall-of-Famer Eder Jofre over 15 rounds in Nagoya, Japan. Harada scored another 15-round decision win over Jofre June 1, 1966. In all, Harada defended the 118-pound title four times. He lost the crown February 26, 1968, to Australian Lionel Rose via 15-round decision. Harada then decided to move up in weight and try to join a then-elite class of three division champions by challenging featherweight king, Johnny Famechon, in Sydney, Australia.
But the July 28, 1969, bout ended in controversey as Harada lost a referees decision. It was a compelling bout in which Harada dropped the champion in the second, 11th and 14th rounds. Even though Harada went down in the fifth, many Australians thought Harada deserved the nod. Nevertheless, referee Willie Pep scored Famechon a narrow winner. Harada got a second chance at Famechon six months later, this time in Tokyo, but he was stopped in the 14th round and never fought again.

Harada also has the greater win than Manny. Beating the unbeaten Eder Jofre twice and was the only ever man to do it.

Thoughts?

[HaglerSteelChin]

Manny is often credited with being the best Asian fighter of all time and rightly so. But does anyone out there think Fighting Harada was greater than him?

Here's a brief insight on Mr Harada



Harada also has the greater win than Manny. Beating the unbeaten Eder Jofre twice and was the only ever man to do it.

Thoughts?

I have Pac #23 on my all time list and Harada at #37, and its important to remember that Harada had close decision via Willie Pepp go against him for his shot at the FW title against Famechon. His 2nd chance was a late stoppage lost to Famechon. That win i think would have had him and pac neck and neck.

Pac never fought at super Flyweight or Bantam he went to super bantam. I wish we could have seen pac go against some of the best fighters at 115 and 118 at the time as Tapia, Ayala, Sahaprom(sp?), Tokoyama, T. Austin. I think he was so weight drained after trying to make 112 and getting Ko'd by Singurat 3K battery that he went up straight to 122.

Overall, i think its pretty safe to say that Pac is the greatest asian fighter of all time. Of course, if we ever get evidence to prove some of the alleged allegations it may tarnish his legacy and re open this debate.

[BennyST]

They are very close IMO. Harada was beating these guys while they were at their very best, and his losses are to incredible, very underrated fighters. If you check out the Rose fight, you'll see what I mean. Rose put on one of the greatest performances of pure boxing skill I've seen. He was perfect.

The first Famechon fight was very close and could have gone either way because of the KD's, though the second fight Famo was really fighting at his peak and was also absurdly skilled.

I don't know. It's a hard one. The thing is that Pac throughout all his early divisions was very big, and Harada was one of those guys that was already very small even at Flyweight. The size difference between him and Pone is amazing, though Pone was a pretty tall FW.

Those two wins are great though as are his other wins against guys like Medel. I personally think Pac gets overrated by most, but he is still probably a little above Harada. I think Harada fought the much harder, more skilled comp though, but Pac has just accomplished more overall. It's one of those quality vs quantity debates. Not that Pac hasn't fought great quality, but I can see him with many more losses if he has had to fight guys like Jofre, Rose, Kingpetch at FW, Famo, Medel etc.