Why did Monzon not face Valdez in 1974?

Monzon only chose to fight Valdez after Valdez was seriously injured in a car accident. His right hand, his power punch, was badly mangled and it was thought he would never fight again.

Valdez, Cohen, Ernie Shavers, and Henry Clark all appeared on a French talk show together to hype their fights and Valdez was asked to show his hand. It was pretty nasty even then. It looked like a mangled chicken claw.

Henry Clark managed to make a complete fool of himself. Everyone else comported themselves with dignity, including Jean Claude Bouttier who was there and already beginning his career as a commentator/analyst (although how I do not know seeing as his cigarette habit had made his voice sound like he was in the late stages of emphysema).

 

Are you implying that Monzon was stripped of his title cuz he avoided Valdez?

I heard Monzon was stripped cuz he chose to fight Napoles instead of Valdez.

Wasn't this whole situation just an alphabet mess?

The article I posted says Monzon made an offer to Valdez to fight him in Argentina.

What's your take on this?

 

I believe Monzon or his handlers picked Napoles over prime healthy Valdez b/c they knew that Valdez was much more dangerous than Napoles .
When Valdez got badly injured , it was finally fit 2 fight him . Monzon's opposition was still better than Hagler's in h2h sense , but He successfully avoided Valdez and now ppl can say that he fought him . Very Roy Jonesish / Ray Leonardic . Monzon's biggest win : Benjamin Briscone . And even between them it's 1:1 .

 

Im not implying it at all, Im saying it openly.

When you chose to fight a 34 year old welterweight (and a small welterweight at that) who had never fought a middleweight in his life over your top challenger who had just defeated your best opponent, A guy who was still in his prime and rapidly developing into one of the best fighters in the world its pretty obvious what was going on. Monzon didnt just avoid Valdez to make money with Napoles, he avoided Valdez for almost four years and only fought Valdez after most people thought he would never fight again when his power hand was turned in to a disgusting chicken claw.

 

The boxing world, i.e., the press, thought Monzon-Napoles was very legitimite matchup back then. Napoles was the **** of the block, and most of the "experts" picked him to win over Monzon. People tend to dismiss Napoles as a midget Cuban Henry Cooper, but he was on top of the world as welter king..and Monzon was supposed to be "so slow" and robotic..and Angie Dundee was sure his man was going to take the middleweight crown.

 

Carlos Monzon had last fought the #1 WBC Challenger (Bennie Briscoe) back on
November 11, 1972.

The WBC usually, mandates that the Champion fight the #1 contender, or highest
rated contender available, once every 12-months.

In September 1973, Rodrigo Valdez and Bennie Briscoe fought for the NABF Middleweight
Championship, (that was also billed as a WBC Eliminator).

Rodrigo Valdez won, and was then slotted as the #1 WBC contender.

Carlos Monzon, who previously agreed to fight the winner, asked for a waiver to
by-pass Rodrigo Valdez, and fight World Welterweight Champion -Jose Napoles
in February 1974.

All was approved, so Carlos Monzon could make more money, and obviously have
an easy Title Defense - in Puteaux, France

But, after that bout, Carlos did not want to take a post-fight urine analysis (required
by the WBC), and he left the theatre-arena quickly.

The WBC immediately stripped him of his Title the next day (February 10, 1974).

And, the WBC put Carlos on a one-year suspension.

 

urine analysis 4 what ? steroids ? Monzon needed steroids 2 beat Napoles ? i doubt it . what was his Xcuse 4 not doing it ?

 

Interesting info as usual, SP.:good

So the unification bout between WBA champion Monzon and WBC champion Valdez was impossible to made in 1974?

Did Monzon make an offer to Valdez to fight him for his WBA title in Argentina shortly after he was striiped?

What was Monzon's explanation on not taking the urine test?

Why didn't they meet in 1975 before Valdez' injury?

Post more info if you have, SP.

 

Lester,

Rodrigo Valdez wanted a version of the Middleweight Championship, so he
and Bennie Briscoe did it again,,,,,,

This time in May 1974 in Monte Carlo.

Carlos Monzon, after disposing of World Welterweight Champion Jose Napoles
in February 1974, went back to Argentina for the rest of the year, and picked up some
nice $$$$ for ripping apart Tony Mundine in October 1974.

1974 for Carlos Monzon and Rodrigo Valdez was not going to happen.

Carlos was making some films during mid-1974 in Argentina, and had no interest in fighting at that juncture of his career.

And the WBC, would have stripped Rodrigo if he signed to fight Carlos (while Monzon
was under the 1-year suspension).

 

Probably his body weight worth of cocaine.

 

It's understandable if Monzon chose bigger draw P4P-great Napoles over Valdez in 1974 - it's probably somewhat akin to Lewis dropping his belts instead of fighting Byrd and Ruiz.

But it would have been interesting to know if the reason for not fighting Valdez somewhere in 1975 before he had his hand injury was as convincing as the one stated above.

 

So is the theory that Monzon had a psychic premonition that Valdez was going to be in a car crash and waited for it to happen?

 

He probably also had a premonition that Valdez's bro would die shortly before their first fight I guess lol.

People said Valdez looked rather disinterested in the first fight & some labelled it as due to his brother's death so they had a rematch.

Interestingly Monzon's own brother was shot to death a few hours before he fought Roy Dale in a non title fight in Rome, Italy. When he heard the news he was said to have just nodded his head in acknowledgement, KO'd his opponent in 5 one sided rounds and then said "Now we go to the funeral".

 

if d car crash didn't happen , Monzon would not have fought Valdez 2 this day . Or would have had a gift decision / draw over him in Argentina and that's being wishful in Monzon's favor and assuming that he lasted d distance . Valdez still floored Monzon after d crash , does this make any1 think that d crash didn't matter ?

 

Might as well say why did Valdez wait until Monzon was in his mid thirties to fight him? He could have challenged him sooner.

And while i'm sure the car accident had an impact, didn't Monzon.win a fight after being shot?