Two fighters who I admire greatly (at least for their boxing)… Two smart, cold, well-schooled killers… At 160, over 15 rounds. Arthur Mercante as ref.
Carlos was consistent and steady at 160, I think he does enough to win with sore ribs but he was clever enough to win
Im sorry im just not seeing this greatness with Monzon.....what i see is a big straight up standing slow boxer/slugger, in my view he may be the most overrated Atg on this forum....no way he beats McCallum....
Monzon by decision. Monzon's greatest assest was he was busy. McCallum's biggest weakness was he started slowly and worked his way into fights. I think that gives Monzon a lead early enough, and coupled with his constant pressure I'd have a close but clear decision.
Monzon underwhelms me when I watch him, yet he was an ATG at the weight. He bossed very good fighters with awkward effectiveness , I think he beats The Body Snatcher, who emphatically does not make my top 10 at middleweight.
McCallum has the greater skill, better defence, the better infighter and body attack to clearly win this. He would be the quicker man for once too. Monzon wouldn't have the better jab here either, at least not clearly.
Monzon is one of my favorite fighters to watch precisely because of his skills. He matched a strategy to his abilities and physical assets and it worked perfectly. And he couldn't have pulled it off without extraordinary skills and talent. Strong, long, great sense of pace and distance, great reflexes. He knew when and how to crank up the pressure by degrees to maintain control of a fight. His change-up jab… pat-pat-bam.. is awesome to watch. Similarly tho not to the same degree, McCallum's skills go under appreciated. High boxing IQ, comfortable in the pocket or at range, a well known body attack but power in all his punches. Definitely more textbook, but a lot from the back end of the textbook.
Yeah, well said Seamus,..Monzon isn't appreciated that much by some fans because he wasn't flashy or spectacular in any way,..except that is, his unreal ring generalship. Notice all, that he suffered his last loss in 1964, and 79 fights later, retired undefeated as champion. I still believe that he was the greatest, or at the very least, one of the greatest middleweight champions...and yes, he would have beaten (by a close decision) Mike McCallum, who I consider a great middleweight too...
I would bet that this fight would end up being a very disputable decision one way or the other. Monzon could get the best of the ouside as I think he has a better jab (even that could be dabated though, Mike had a pretty good one as well)
It's good to differentiate between the Monzon of 1970-72 and 1973-77. Consequently '73 was the year Carlos took a bullet in the leg and in his rematches with both Griffith and Bouttier he clearly isn't as sharp. The earlier version should outgeneral McCallum with range and workrate. The latter version is going to struggle.