Carlos Monzon (Ripped by Sports Illustrated)

I knew Licata from his amateur and early pro days at St. Mary's Gym in the French Quarter where he boxed under the the direction of Mr. Whitey Esnault, his trainer. He was a hell of a nice guy and a pretty slick boxer, but he lacked the power to stay in the ring with a guy like Monzon.

I saw Tony a couple times after he retired and was saddened to see what a toll his career took out of him. He died in 08 at age 56 due to a heart attack.

 

Finally, a post on Carlos Monzon with which I can agree.

One can't go to a boxing site and not see everyone drone on about how perfect Monzon was, how superb, how superior even to Sugar Ray Robinson, of all people! Yet, as one lone poster wrote on another site when the skills of the two were compared, "Robinson did EVERYTHING better than Monzon did."

The hero-worship of Monzon seems to strain credibility, but it exists on these boards. Yet, recently, I was speaking with a boxing expert who saw Monzon fight live as well as viewed every fight of his that was broadcast in the US (as I did), and he said what I say . . . that Monzon simply didn't beat anybody that good. Every opponent was WELL past his prime (Griffith and Napoles as prime examples) or just was not that good in the first place. I might add that Napoles wasn't so good at welter as he was at lightweight . . . and still the Monzon fans think it was such a big deal that Carlos beat Napoles. I don't.

Every Monzon lover thinks he'd beat Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Duran, Roy Jones, Nunn, McCallum, just to mention some more modern guys . . . but . . . he simply never fought anyone of that caliber. Not to mention SRR.

In watching Monzon fight, nothing he does looks like it would be particularly effective against the top middles (and welters) named above. Me, if I had to guess, I think the guys who were gifted with more speed above (that's all of them) would have beaten Monzon. With Hagler and Duran likely having the most trouble, of all people.

I'm sure virtually everyone here disagrees with this, feeling that Monzon was a "master," but I never saw it. And while the following shouldn't hurt his middleweight legacy, if he was so incredibly phenomenal, then why didn't he ever move up to 175? I'll tell you why, he would have gotten killed. And fast. Now, that's a big weight jump, but others have done it, successfully . . . others who are never spoken of with the amazing passion concerning Monzon.

That he is commonly viewed as Ali's equal at the top of 1970s fighters is ridiculous. Look at whom the two fought in the 1970s. The quality of opposition is like night and day. Just f__king ridiculous.

This is not even getting into what kind of a murdering ***** Monzon was outside the ring . . .

 

haha "hero worship" & you are talking about Monzon?

That applies more to SRR as a MW who after becoming champ lost to Turpin, Fullmer, Basilio, Pender. Monzon by contrast after his 3 early losses never lost again & was as dominant a MW as they come. As Monzon used to say, SRR became MW champ so many times because he LOST so many times in MW championship bouts.

People are so in love with SRR that they even blame "heat" for his loss against Maxim as if Maxim had air conditioning in his corner. SRR failed to pace himself & lost while Maxim fought a smart, energy conserving fight.

If Hagler was so good then why didn't he move up to 175?

Two can play this silly game, there is no rule in Boxing that says you have to move up in weight classes.

And if we are going to go down the route of Boxers lives outside the ring, may be you should do the same to other Boxers?

Jake LaMotta the self confessed ******.

SRR the women batterer who beat a pregnant Edna Mae. SRR's son claimed that his mom had many miscarriages due to the abuse she suffered while pregnant.

Tyson the convicted ****** who even if he didn't **** the woman in question as some people believe had a troubled history with other women.

I have also seen allegations that Jack Johnson abused his women.

We are discussing Monzon the Boxer not Monzon the person, if we go down that route plenty of Boxers including your heros will come out less than shining.

 

Monzon was also better than Ali , and ruled d 1970s middleweights better than Ali "ruled" d heavyweights , so saying he was d middleweight's Ali is n injustice 2 Monzon .
Maybe if he agreed 2 fight Valdez prior 2 his injury , but loaded his gloves , used testosterone injections , smelling salts , and n agreed upon wet corner in d ring 2 floor Valdez in , he'd have been d 1970s' Ali . But since he didn't , he wasn't .

 

Frank - Drop the Ali obsession ! :huh

 

Like Hopkins, nothing he does seems great, but kept winning for years and years.

 

Some1 here was about d comparison between him and Ali and his notion was that Monzon was not great enough 2b considered Ali's compatible . I had 2 correct him because it was d opposite . U only read my posts , don't know what they r about and u go and post about obsession ..

 

SI has terrible boxing coverage.

Except this of course

This content is protected

 

I honestly believe Monzon was 7'.

 

Monzon was a great fighter, He had some great victory's but there were times he only put out what he needed to win. I think he took it easy on Emile in the rematch but Valdes was a big win, Valdes reminded me of a Middleweight Napoles, smooth and strong, while Carlos was a patient and methodical but very strong and used his height well. He may not have looked as sparkling as SRR but was top 5 as well. SI was never a great boxing mag, it really became known for the swimsuits

 

Boxing is not graded on a composite of individual skills. Excellence is not registered by an accumulation of traits or compartmentalized abilities. The boxer is judged as a whole and by such judged only by results in the ring. Monzon's record in the ring is immaculate. He beat every man he faced, held the belt when there was only a single belt, defended it (granted in a fractured form at the end) 14 times and did not lose over 80 or so fights. Undeniable.

He beat the best competition available... just like Jack Johnson, Rocky Marciano... and unlike Robinson, Hagler, Hearns and McCallum.

He was better than Ali in the 70's. He was undefeated at the top level of his division and did not have to rely on sketchy decisions, or fighters the quality of Richard Dunn, Evangelista, Jean Pierre Coopman and the Tooth Fairy.