It ain't over till it's over: Micky Ward vs. Alfonso Sanchez

The year is 1997. It was one of the main support bouts on the undercard of the much-anticipated fight between long-reigning, welterweight camp Pernell Whitaker,and fast-rising superstar, Oscar De La Hoya.

The main event would see De La Hoya take a unanimous decision, and Whitaker’s WBC welterweight title. (BTW – an up and coming junior lightweight named Floyd Mayweather Jr., then 5-0, was on the undercard).

However, it was Micky Ward who was kicking off the televised portion of the show and his fight turned out to cement the old adage – ‘it ain’t over ‘til it’s over’.

Ward was supposed have gotten a shot at Julio Caesar Chavez earlier in the year but lost that fight when Chavez got injured. So, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum slotted him on this card against an undefeated, power punching Mexican named Alfonso Sanchez who was coming in at 16-0 and described by ringside analyst Jim Lampley as, “An up and coming star”.

Ward turned pro in 1985 and was 14-0 by 1987. He was a good looking, Irish kid from Massachusetts who fought in a crowd-pleasing style and he could crack a bit – especially to the body with a devastating left hook.

Then, from ’87-‘90 he went a respectable 7-3. However, he was no longer undefeated and was showing some limitations in his game. Ward was looking like a solid contender but perhaps not the world champion that Top Rank had hoped for when they signed him early in his career.

From ’90-‘91 he lost 4 straight and decided it was time to step away from boxing and take a break. He returned home to Massachusetts where he worked in road construction.

Rested up and looking to make one more run, Ward came back in 1994 and was 8-0 when he made his way to Las Vegas to meet the undefeated Sanchez who was coming in at 16-0 with 16 KO’s; he was a big, hard punching junior welterweight.

For the first couple of rounds, Ward did as expected and did a lot of moving and circling around Sanchez. His offensive output was not a lot, but I didn’t think he deserved the abuse he took from ringside announcers Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant. Also working the telecast was world champion Roy Jones Jr. who was kinder to Ward and seemed more surprised in the way he was fighting as opposed to Merchant and Lampley who seemed downright agitated as his lack of offensive output.

By the middle rounds, I surmised that Ward’s style was simply focused on staying away from Sanchez’s power and it was going to cost him the fight in what was turning out to be a fairly boring bout – Sanchez pursuing, Ward circling. Repeat.

By the 7th frame, Merchant was suggesting that Ward was risking not getting paid and Lampley chimed in, “If anything interesting happens we’ll let you know."

Sanchez circled away after taking a pretty good body shot from Ward. Ringside announcer Roy Jones, who picked up on it right away, (Lampley and Merchant were too busy excoriating Ward, again, so they didn’t notice), declared, “That was a pretty good body shot by Ward; it hurt the guy." Right after Lampley said, “Sanchez is working with absolutely nothing to fear."

Added, a now outright disgusted Merchant, “this fight should be stopped for the fighter’s well-being and for the people who paid to see it."

I know these announcers were Ward fans because they had all seen him many times. However, I guess they felt he was just dialing it in on this night and they weren’t shy about letting the viewers know that.

Then, just as it looked like the script was to continue as before, Ward stepped in and touched Sanchez with a light head shot before landing a perfect liver shot right after. Sanchez crumpled to the canvas and couldn’t beat the count. Until this perfectly placed, fight-ending punch landed, Sanchez had won every second of every round of the fight.

Merchant, in complete shock at the turnaround, said, “What am I looking at here? I still don’t believe what I just saw."

Added an equally surprised Lampley, “Was that a lucky punch? Or did Micky just make idiots of us all with a brilliant piece of strategy? Truly the theatre of the unexpected”.

Aftermath: Ward had some success after the Sanchez win, some nice victories (Jermal Corbin, Reggie Green, Emanuel Augustus, Steve Quinonez, Shea Neary) and some frustrating losses (Vince Philips, Zab Judah, Antonio Diaz, Jesse James Leija). However, he did cement his legacy as one of boxing true blood and guts warriors by finishing off his career with an absolutely epic trilogy against the late, great Arturo Gatti.

Sanchez would pick up 2 more wins after the Ward loss and then lose via TKO in a world title shot to then-champion Vince Philips in 1998. He would take 6 years off and then return going 1-5 before retiring for good in 2006.

Ward/Sanchez is available on YouTube and it is worth checking out if you haven’t seen it. Don’t be fooled by every second of the fight before the final left hook from Ward.

Three years after the Sanchez win, Merchant was working a fight in England with Ward facing, then undefeated, local star Shea Neary. Ward, behind on points, (and with Neary coming on hard) dropped Neary with a body shot and upper cut in the 8th round. Neary rose but Ward closed in and stopped him shortly after landing a vicious hook to the body.

As Ward’s team rushed into the ring, and the crowd watched in dismay as Neary was helped back to his corner, Merchant simply stated, “He’s done it again."