Carlos Monzon (Ripped by Sports Illustrated)

Im not sure I would call Duran warm and fuzzy...

Plus I think Duran had a more 'exciting' style than Monzon. Monzon rarely got hit; he was a master at controlling the pace and distance of a fight. Duran was great at defense too but he rolled with punches more than anything, which meant he looked like he was getting hit, thus to the casual fan exciting. Monzon pounded people from the outside;.Duran bulldozed his way in (not unskillfully) and brawled. Monzon was cool and composed; Duran was a passionate hot head.

Throw in the fact that Duran had old boxing guys like Arcel in his corner to help hype him and you could see why he get better press.

 

I don't think Monzon ever looked good, or brilliant.

It's the stark nature of his consistency and results that tells the tale. Ugly and unsophisticated as he could be at his worst, monotonous and arhythmic as he was at his best, the man was clearly hell to master; Nobody managed to do it!

It is possible to LOOK better and be LESS effective, as were most challengers to Monzon.

I for one enjoy watching him fight. It's an uncomplex, no frills approach to victory that strings every drop from who he was and what he did well. Truly admirable from a boxing perspective.

 

Well put Magna.

 

I don't care for his style but it was undeniably effective ,and good judges such as Mickey Duff felt he would beat Sugar Ray dropping that right in over Ray's left.

 

Writer may have had personal hate for Monzon. I will say why, but first, Monzon was great. Not one of greatest, but maybe top 10 middleweight all time.

I was at the Licata Monzon fight, Monzon looked incredible fighting in person. He tore Licata apart. Licata put up brave performance, I have ton of respect for how hard he tried.
Sad to see he died young (Licata)


Now as to the writer: Monzon was abusive to some of them in New York, and when press agent for Madison Square Garden had to go tell him his rom was changed, Monzon not only refused to leave room, he smacked guy around a bit, and actually gave him kick in ass when throwing him out of room. It was written about by one writer at the time. Others left out story of agent (probably as not to embarrass him) but all covering fight said Monzon was a *****. Press agents, or publicists like guy Monzon through out, are very close to writers. Guy Monzon abused was middle aged guy, non-athletic type. So Monzon was bully. o.k. But writer of above article seems to be criticizing Monzon as a boxer due to personal hate of him. Not very professional if that is case.

One last thing: Licata was gentleman, good guy, tough fighter. I saw on site that has boxer's records that he died. In photo of him they use a picture of him being ko'd by Monzon, Licata on floor, Monzon standing over him. Not a proper tribute to an ex-fighter IMO.

 

Monzon was clearly better than Joe Louis , i give u this .
But i doubt his greatness . His best opponents :
2 older former welterweights 1 of which a small welterweight even with a tendency 2 cut , and his best opponent by far : Bennie Briscoe . Not that Briscoe was a great middleweight .
And of course Monzon has 2 decision wins over a heavily injured (and not due or during d fight) Rodrigo Valdez , 2 "wins" that count like they never fought at all .
It is possible that prime 160 lbs Michael Nunn , Sumbu Kalambay , Mike McCallum and d Hearns who fought Hagler would have beaten him . But Monzon never fought fighters of that level . Valdez might have belonged in that level , but certainly not after his injury .

 

Monzon was better than Vitali Klitschko as well , but could b compared 2d Vitali Klitschko of d middleweights . When 1 has d size over his opponents , he can b effective despite not being good . This is a key distinction between p4p and h2h . P4P Monzon does not belong in top 40 , at least . h2h he might squeeze in just below d top 10 of all time at his weight .

WSJ
McCallum
Burley
Ihetu
Lloyd Marshall


and how would 1 compare these with Monzon :
Joey Archer , Rubin Carter , Holly Mims , Sam Langford , Harry Greb , Freddie Steele , Al Hostak , Fred Apostoli , Teddy Yarosz , Ken Overlin , Eddie Booker , Reggie Johnson , Steve Collins .
Some might also consider ranking Ketchell above Monzon and i 4 1 think that it is possible that Monzon would not have lasted 12 against a murderous McClellan . Think JCCJr. vs Andy Lee , think Lamon Brewster vs Wlad Klit , then think McClellan vs Monzon .
Monzon needed more of d Dwight Davison , Sanderline Williams type of contenders on his resume 2b regarded proven .
Briscoe alone does mean something , but really not much .

It's far from obvious that Monzon makes d top 10 @ 160 and i myself rank a prime Rodrigo Valdez above him h2h .

 

Here's what Clancy says :

From an interview in 2004 [url]http://fightbeat.com/judgejake/clancy2.htm[/url] :

ZL: I’m curious, where do you rate Monzon among the great middleweights?

GC: I never thought he was that great a fighter. I had (Rodrigo) Valdes fight him twice, too. Valdes had him on the deck, and that was also another decision that should have gone the other way. (Monzon by UD15 both times.)

 

The critique of Monzon, it's a bit like some of the stuff I've read on this forum about why Wladimir Klitschko doesn't make the grade as one of the great heavyweights.

 

Good post. Even the great ones look bad in winning sometimes.

 

Very good point ! For all we know the writer may have had an agenda .. maybe Carlos snubbed him in training before the bout ... who knows ... we do know that Monzon, even to his critics, was a beast ...