The punches came hard and fast, most of them directed at the body, and Stracey grimaced as they struck home. John looked worried and confused as he was chased around the ring, and his attempts to fend off his tormentor were swamped by the oncoming flood of aggression.
Although both fighters missed badly as the melee became wilder, Green continued to score heavily with most of his punches, while Stracey struggled to land his first significant blow. John needed a moment’s respite to regain his rhythm and timing, but he was caught in the eye of the storm and could only smother and try to survive.
Green, in his eagerness to maintain the advantage, was twice cautioned by referee Harry Gibbs, but Dave was so engrossed in his mission that he continued to pile forward at a frantic pace. Already Stracey’s left eye was beginning to swell, but he displayed great courage in remaining upright and trying to fight back.
The second round was almost identical to the first as Green continued to steam forward, the tempo so fast that the fighters were still lashing punches at each other after the bell. Stracey remained defiant, though he was still taking a shellacking. By the third round, he at last saw the light at the end of the tunnel and began to score with his own punches. But he was still facing a tough uphill climb as Green applied relentless pressure, throwing punch after punch with his customary ferocity, frequently compelling John to seek refuge against the ropes.
The “Fen Tiger” was a willing prisoner of that magic trance that grips the top athletes in the heat of competition, when they become oblivious to everything but their opponents. So immersed was he in the job at hand that when referee Gibbs grabbed him by the hair and yanked him off Stracey for a serious lecture about dangerous use of the head in the fourth round, Dave barely seemed to notice. Again and again he swept forward, finding the mark with roundhouse rights to the head and clumping swings to the body.
Yet strangely, it was during that heated and hectic fourth round that Stracey’s revival began to gather momentum. Green’s punches and the prospect of defeat seemed to spark John into life as he began to counter with some solid blows. This provoked Green into launching another fierce attack in the fifth round, and once again the going was torrid for Stracey as he was buffeted from one side of the ring to the other and denied the chance of mounting any sustained rally.
However, in the sixth and seventh rounds the fight became more evenly balanced as Green inevitably slowed, allowing Stracey to stand his ground more and place his punches. John was suddenly able to use his jab to greater effect and succeeded in checking Dave’s rushes with bursts of fine uppercuts and hooks.
An already thrilling battle thus blossomed into a truly classic confrontation, as Stracey came out of the wilderness to challenge Green’s superiority and close the points gap. The eighth and ninth rounds were bitterly contested as the battered but rejuvenated Stracey planted himself in mid-ring and gamely traded punches with Green, frequently beating him to the punch. There were brief moments during those rounds when Dave appeared to flag a little, but each time he came blazing back with a fresh assault.
Stracey could never quite cope with the sheer persistence of the “Fen Tiger,” nor his underrated versatility. For Green was more than an unimaginative, slam-bang merchant. He attacked in different ways, sometimes behind ramrod left jabs or clubbing rights, other times by simply mauling his way inside in whatever way he could.
Yet courageous Stracey had reduced Green’s lead considerably and the fight was now very close. Both fighters were marked around the eyes, but it was Stracey’s injured left eye that determined the outcome. The 10th round was still in its early stages when the eye finally closed, severely hampering John’s vision and throwing him straight back into choppy waters again. His desperation was clearly apparent and provoked Green into mounting another vicious onslaught.
This time John could not hold the “Fen Tiger” off. Stracey was offering only token resistance now and being hit repeatedly by the looping, almost overarm right that Green called his “muck spreader.” The deceptive punch seemed to take several trips around the houses before it found its target, yet more than a few good men felt its wallop.
Referee Gibbs stopped the action to ask Stracey if he wanted to continue and John nodded as every great fighter does in that kind of predicament. But he was now defenseless, and after taking further punishment he was rescued by a timely act of compassion from Gibbs.
It was a moment of magnificent glory for Green and one of painful frustration for Stracey. The one bad thing about a great fight is that one’s joy for the winner is tinged by pity for the loser. The consolation for John H. Stracey was that he finished on his feet, which was typical of the man. In more than 50 professional fights, he was never counted out.
(by Mike Casey)
