saint0917
December 3rd, 2009, 06:06 AM
12/3/70:
Journeyman Billy Backus (29-10-4) opens cuts over both eyes of Cuban welterweight champion Jose “Mantequilla” Napoles (63-4) and wins the title when the fight must be stopped by the ring doctor in the fourth round. Fighting in his home region of Syracuse, New York, Backus overcomes 9-1 betting odds against him, but his reign will be short-lived. In a rematch six months later at the Forum in Los Angeles, it will be Backus who gets cut over his left eye as Napoles regains his crown in the eighth round.
B I R T H D A Y S
Tom Fears b. 1923
Alberto Juantorena b. 1951
Rick Mears b. 1951
Katarina Witt b. 1965
Kwamie Lassiter b. 1969
Journeyman Billy Backus (29-10-4) opens cuts over both eyes of Cuban welterweight champion Jose “Mantequilla” Napoles (63-4) and wins the title when the fight must be stopped by the ring doctor in the fourth round. Fighting in his home region of Syracuse, New York, Backus overcomes 9-1 betting odds against him, but his reign will be short-lived. In a rematch six months later at the Forum in Los Angeles, it will be Backus who gets cut over his left eye as Napoles regains his crown in the eighth round.
B I R T H D A Y S
Tom Fears b. 1923
Alberto Juantorena b. 1951
Rick Mears b. 1951
Katarina Witt b. 1965
Kwamie Lassiter b. 1969