Jose Napolez vs Hedgemon Lewis
This should be as good a place as any to start, Hedgemon Lewis was a very good contender and Napoles beat him over 15 in 1971, then stopped him in the next fight after Monzon in 1974
Jose Napolez vs Hedgemon Lewis 2
Napoles vs Lewis 1.
1. 10-9 Napoles. Hedgemon Lewis starts so well, nice and light on his feet, looks to have a longer reach advantage than the tale of the tape indicates, sharp with the jab. But Napoles is measuring that left hook all fight and catches him with a couple shots that rock him late. Got to give him it for those few effective shots.
2. 9-10 Lewis, he has the edge on speed and lands some decent shots there, Napoles giving him different looks, setting traps, touching the body, trying to draw leads to counter. He looks the heavier handed, it's going to be down to his timing here.
3. 9-10 Lewis. Nice little traps, throws the jab, draws the counter from Napoles and catches him with a check left hook, turned him with it at one point.
4. 10-9 Napoles. Close round, Lewis landing some jabs, Napoles to the body.
5. 10-9 Napoles. Stalking in a half crouch going after the body then springing up with powerful shots, the left hook in particular hurts Lewis here.
6. 10-9 Napoles, looks like he's taking control now, the timing is there, and he's definitely the more effective puncher when he lands
7. 9-10 Lewis. Nice fast jab landing. Napoles scores the odd good shot but he's too quiet i n this round.
8. 9-10 Lewis. Eddie Futch telling us the gameplan is to jab and move, use his speed and feints to draw counters to make openings. Worked here, but you feel he has to tag Napoles with something hard because he will eventually get something solid through
9. 10-9 Napoles. And that's the risk of trying to draw counter punches, you get clipped with them. Napoles gets some good hooks through then finishes the round in close rocking Lewis.
10. 10-9 Napoles. Lewis needs to keep a gap between them and use his feet and fast hands but he's tiring and Napoles never looks out of range. And he always looks dangerous when he is in punching distance.
11. 10-9 Napoles. Very close round, Lewis looked a little sharper but still caught with the more powerful shots.
12. 10-9 Napoles.so much more effective in close, doing some damage with the left hook
13. 10-9 Napoles, well in control now and landing plenty to body and head in close. Surely got it in the bag now.
14. 9-10 Lewis. What a difference, fleet footed sharp and evasive, hands looked quick again and he seems to hurt Napoles late with a nice shot.
15. 9-10 Lewis. Tough to score, Napoles really going for it, running after Lewis and hurling punches at him but Lewis capitalising on this, slipping under shots, making him miss crudely and catching him. Napoles lands enough that it could have gone either way.
144-141. Napoles. Good competitive fight with a contrast in attributes and styles that it made for an interesting tactical battle. Lewis speed, movement and nice slick boxing style vs Napoles power, intellligence and timing. Napoles had the better of it but you get the feeling if Lewis could have mustered the energy he somehow found in the laat two, he might have made this very interesting on the cards.
Liked both fighters here but Napoles here possibly showing little signs of age at 31, this is 3 years before the Monzon fight.
