May 15, 1964 - José Torres (right), who is trying to punch his way into title contention among the middleweights, pounded out a unanimous 10-round decision over Skeeter McClure tonight at Madison Square Garden.
It was the 28-year-old Puerto Rican-born fighter’s fifth straight win in a campaign to get a shot at Joey Giardello’s 160-pound crown.
There were no official knockdowns, but McClure went down from a slip in the seventh a few seconds after Torres had popped him good with an overhand right. It looked like a delayed reaction knockdown. Both hit the canvas together in the wild eighth as they slugged it out after José had rocked McClure with a left hook to the jaw.
Only Skeeter lost blood. He oozed a bit from a cut on his left eyelid, suffered in the sixth, and his nose oozed a lot more from the seventh on.
Torres had two big rounds, the seventh and the eighth, as he scored with a half dozen overhand rights and six or seven hooking lefts to the body and jaw.
“I wasn’t taking a chance to score a knockout,” said Torres afterward. “I was afraid I might punch myself out. I did eight miles a day around Central Park for this fight to get down to 160. I doubled my road work in secret, even from my trainer. From now on, I’ll be able to make 160 pounds easy. No more experimenting going up to 170 anymore.”
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