Who's More Intimidating? Monzon or Duran?

I remember an old story about Monzon during the weigh in for teh first Benvenuti fight...Nino playfully touched him on the butt...and Monzon said "I'm going to kill you."
Both during their primes, were very confident in their abilities...and rightfully so.

 

One thing I've read about, is that OUTSIDE of the ring, Monzon was far scarier than Duran. I read an article recently that said that Monzon was as out of control outside of the ring as he was in control inside it. He had a tendency to be aloof and cold with strangers, but something could set off a "volcanic" type of rage that made Duran seem like a "boy scout". That's always what I've considered so impressive about Monzon, was his in-the-ring coldness and control. He was one of the greatest 15 round fighters of all time, but one shouldn't forget that because of arthritic hands, and having to get them injected for the pain, he pulled his punches. Remember the right hand bomb he nearly beheaded Nino Benvenuti with in 1970. Monzon was more reliant on his power early on in his reign, then gradually adapted his style to compensate for his hand problems. Plus be had a bullet permanently lodged in his shoulder since 1973, courtesy of his wife, who was just trying to protect herself. As admirable as his icy control was in the ring, there was nothing to admire about his violent rages outside the ring. No question about it, Monzon was, in my opinion, the greatest middleweight champ, and in the stellar elite of the greats of boxing.

 

Intimidated? Intimidated means scared, nervous of, timid. Hagler was not that - he was just trying to fight as efficiently as possible; he was a craftsman. He was a clever fighter who tried to complete tasks in the most effective way possible.

Hagler probably got his tactics wrong in this particular fight (although Duran was not as close to winning as people will have you believe), but he was never intimidated. He wasn't like Tony Canzoneri who felt he had to fight the other man's fight to prove his superiority in every field, he wasn't out to prove how macho and hard he was. Hagler just did his job.

Vicente Rondon against Bob Foster, now that's intimidated.

 

Amen brother! Rondon couldn't have been more scared if Foster had a shotgun in his hands. I remember that one. Foster destroyed him in the second round, and Joe Louis cound'nt have done it better, but Bob had the fight won before the first bell. What a scary guy Foster was.

 

Yeah, I guess Monzon is my favorite, and I watched him back in the seventies on free tv (those were the days my friend!) and he never let me down. He found a way, in that cold blooded manner to beat them all. I'm convinced that Robinson, Leonard, Jones, Hopkins, Hagler, Hearns,..etc. would have been victims. You would have heard about all the spectacular, flashy gifts of all the above, but Monzon would have neutralized them all, much like Ali in his better days, found a way to beat all his challengers.

 

Man, you had it made back then in the seventies. It was almost like the fifties, in that you could see the very best in your own living room. There were sooo many great guys on free tv, like Monzon, Ali, Duran, Arguello, Danny Lopez, Victor Galindez, Wilfredo Gomez, Wilfred Benitez, Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Bob Foster, etc.,....What you said hits it right on the head..SUBTLE... I came to realize that subtlty and boxing brains beats out the guys with spectacular more flashy "gifts", maybe not all the time, but definitely so with Monzon. Again, back in the seventies, you could become familiar with the true greats of boxing. It was a perfect "lining up of the planets" that you had free tv in the same era as the seventies with all those GREAT fighters. What a great time it was for a boxing fan.

 

Watch a tape of the Monzon-Napoles fight, I think it's near the end, in the 5th or 6th, when Monzon maneuvers off the ropes and effortlessly places his left glove, at arms length on Jose's head, near the neck, and steers him over to the left slightly, to put him in place for a right to the noggin. That was subtle, and that was one of the thing Carlos did that was overlooked sometimes, that ability to manipulate an opponent with that long reach and move a gut around to be in range of a big right hand. So effortless looking and so effective.

 

It may of been like that in the States, but it was not in Britain. You only heard of these great fighters, they were rarely (Ali aside) on TV. Instead you had to go to the local town hall/community centre or if you were lucky the cinema and watch a closed curcuit broadcast, on a 20 " screen with two hundred other people, where sometimes there was not sound, and the picture cut in and out.

A boxing fan today may need to shell out a bit of money. But we in the developed world have never been richer financially and we in Britain have never had as much Boxing on TV, as we do now, and have had since the early 90s.

 

Duran was the man

 

What was truly remarkable about televised coverage of Monzon's bouts in the States is that aside from his defense against Licata, he boxed exclusively in Europe and South America. Yet, in addition to live broadcasts, his exploits received generous coverage in American sports publications as well.

If John McCain somehow gains election to the White House, he'll most likely pursue his long held goal of establishing a Federal Boxing Commision. Carlos Monzon's career demonstrates the sheer folly of such an idea. This concept is every bit as stupid and ignorant as idiot American journalists claiming First Amendment rights in nations where the United States Constitution does not apply.

 

Two quick points:

1. Monzon and Duran: The kids today are big on sincerity. Hip-hoppers call it "being real." College kids call it "authenticity." The therapeutic community made it a fad with that "be true to yourself" mantra. Linus started it all with his philosophical search for the "most sincere pumpkin patch."

The truth is that it is used, at least over here in America, as an excuse to be loud and obnoxious. It's an act. Rappers are modern-day minstrels (find a hip-hopper and compel him to go read about the 19th century minstrels so they can put Jay-Z where he belongs. In the trash. Minstrels were black men who made caricatures of their own people on stage before mostly white audiences and thereby perpetuated destructive stereotypes.)

Where am I going? Duran was rude, obnoxious, and sincere. He was the real thing. And he was very good at intimidation. That presence was as ominous as it gets. Richard Kuklinski may rival him.

2. Hagler was not intimidated by Duran. However, according to the Petronellis, it was a matter of being star-struck. Hagler, they said, "loved" Duran. He was fighting a man whom he admired and probably emulated in his own way. Hagler was not able to amp up that disdain he normally had for his opponents as trespassers. Either way, I don't fault him so much for his strategy- it was a winning one and it had history on its side. Duran was cutting a swathe to Hagler. Hagler responded carefully.

 

If I don't agree to anything else today, I'll say a hearty AMEN to that, all the way!