40 long years ago today, a fight took place in England that transcended the sport. Irish warrior Barry McGuigan met long reigning featherweight champion Eusebio Pedroza at Queens Park Rangers’ football stadium, Loftus Road, with some 26,000 fans in attendance. Long before the days of pay-per-view, McGuigan-Pedroza was viewed on terrestrial television, and millions of people tuned in to see if McGuigan could defeat the great Panamanian.
Pedroza, a superb technician, was making a staggering 20th defence of the WBA title, and he was 38-3-1. The visiting fighter was 29 years of age. McGuigan, the younger man by five years, was 26-1. What followed proved to be one of the greatest nights in British boxing history.
A fabulous battle raged for all 15 rounds, with both men showing their greatness. McGuigan, who had a simply astonishing engine and was big for a 126 pounder, fought with brilliantly controlled aggression. Pedroza was able to match the challenger over the course of the first six rounds, but “The Clones Cyclone” had a massive breakthrough in round seven, this when he knocked the champion down with a right hand to the head.
Pedroza, a proud, proud warrior, got back up but he now knew how hard McGuigan could hit. During the final few rounds, McGuigan hurt Pedroza numerous times, but the heart and desire of the defending champion saw him through to the very end. And in the end it was wide on the scorecards, with McGuigan winning by unanimous decision at 148-138, 149-139, and a slightly closer 147-140.
Pedroza embraced McGuigan at the bell, telling him “You will be a great champion.”
McGuigan was both a hero and a superstar. And the praise the new world champion got was high. “The finest performance in a British ring since Randy Turpin beat Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951,” read a report on the fight by UK trade paper Boxing News. And the same publication declared McGuigan’s winning performance was “the finest-ever by an Irish fighter.”
Pedroza retired a little over a year after the loss, yet he would launch a comeback in 1991, with him winning three and losing one. Sadly, Pedroza died in March of 2019, this at the age of 62.
McGuigan would, quite surprisingly, register just two title retentions, before he fell victim to 9/1 underdog Steve Cruz and the scorching Las Vegas heat, this in June of 1986. McGuigan was hospitalised after the gruelling 15 rounds had come to an end, and he was never the same fighter again.
McGuigan may have had a short reign as champion but he made a huge impression on the sport, as well as on the political front. Fighting during The Troubles, the Catholics and the Protestants clashing, often with horrific violence witnessed, McGuigan received support from both sides of the religious equation, with the famous line “Leave the fighting to McGuigan” being written.
McGuigan came back after the Cruz nightmare, with him winning three fights up at super-featherweight, and then being stopped on cuts in a fight with Jim McDonnell in May of 1989, whereupon he retired.
Both McGuigan and Pedroza are enshrined in The International Boxing Hall of Fame.
