Middleweight warriors Caveman Lee and John LoCicero: two men who brought the heat inside a hot as hell arena in the middle of a Detroit summer in 1981. The quite amazing rumble put on by these two contenders who were never destined to be world champions has a special place in the hearts and minds of the hardcore fight fans who know all about it.
Meeting inside a veritable sweatbox of a crammed arena in a fight that was put on by the legendary Kronk Gym, Lee, the local fighter, met New Yorker LoCicero and both men, paid just a few thousand bucks, fought as though a Bill Gates salary were on the line. Lee, real first name William, was the older man by a matter of months and at 19-2 to LoCicero’s 19-5, he was the favorite to win the fight. Lee had been stopped just once, by Frank “The Animal” Fletcher, LoCicero had been halted just once, by Marcos Geraldo.
Lee and LoCicero fought as though their very lives were at stake on July 9th, 1981.
A fast pace set from the start, the fight took on a truly legendary turn in the fifth round, this session proving to be the grand finale of all fight night grand finales. Those that were there that day (and we who were not are eternally envious) will likely never forget the mesmerizing, stunning action that unfolded during those blisteringly scorching seconds of ring warfare.
I’ll let the great Al Bernstein recall the fifth round, from an interview the best commentator in the biz kindly granted this writer some years back:
“That’s the best round of a fight I’ve ever called,” Al told me on the subject of Lee KO5 Locicero. “It was in the middle of summer in 1981 and there was no air conditioning in the arena. It was hot, and I mean hot! In round five, LoCicero went down, then got back up and hit Lee with around 25 unanswered shots – I’m not exaggerating. Then, with LoCicero exhausted and punched out, Lee came back and knocked him out. It was truly incredible.”
It was indeed, and today, living as we are under lock down conditioning due to the ongoing battle with coronavirus, a fight fan in need of a slice of hectic fistic violence could do far worse than to give this great fight a look (thank heavens for YouTube!)
Round four saw Lee take heavy punches, LoCicero going for the finish. Then, after being downed heavily and barely beating the count in the fifth, the New Yorker somehow found the energy to blaze away with those 25 or so unanswered shots. Lee, his head being snapped back again and again, looked finished. But then, amazingly, Lee whipped in a left hand to the head, putting LoCicero down and out. Truly incredible.
Lee went on to challenge the fearsome Marvin Hagler in his one and only shot at the world title, losing in a 67 second blur the following year. Lee fought just twice more after losing to the peak Hagler, winning one and being stopped in the other. Lee’s final record reads 22-4(21). Not often brought up quickly when a fan lists the great Kronk fighters, Lee nonetheless left his mark. The LoCicero fight alone is as special as can be.
LoCicero boxed just four more fights after coming so close to beating Lee, winning two decisions and then being out-pointed by Sugar Ray Seales and then stopped by Tony Suero. LoCicero’s final record reads 19-8(14).
Caveman Lee and John LoCicero: two 160 pounders who gave us The 1981 Round Of The Year. And maybe one of the best rounds in all of middleweight history.