Sure, he was MW Champ for a long time and made a lot of defenses but some of his notable wins were against past prime fighters... some had come up in weight, some had never fought at MW before and never would again. A few of his fights were very close and were also against past prime fighters. Some of those draws were predetermined... as long as it went the distance there would not be a winner. Many of his wins were against garbage men and taxi drivers... no offense to garbage men and taxi drivers. He was good, actually he was great... but I don't think he'd beat Hagler, Hopkins, Leonard, Hearns, Jones, Toney, and some others.
:good I still need to go back and watch more of his most impressive wins but from what I've seen so far, I don't see it either.
I watched all of Monzons bouts live. Watched and read pre and post fight info of same. Monzon was incredibly strong for a middleweight and he imposed that strength on his opponents, get and long jab and crushing KO power in his right hand. I was never a great fan but I watched him beat down every challenge year after year. Valdez was a fav fighter of mine back in those days and I was confident his speed,power and combination punching would overcome Monzon. I sat through 30 rounds watching Monzon pick apart Valdez as if he were nothing. Monzon was the real deal. He would be a difficult challenge for any ATG middleweight including SRR and Hagler.
A good writ on the matter! The bouts that cause me to question Carlos are his two goes with the past his prime Emile Griffith. In the first the slowed down Emile was never in trouble or clearly scored on and when his legs cramped up in the 14th and he went into a shell Monzon failed to land one punch on the unmoving Griffith. In their rematch Emile landed right hand leads throughout, was never tagged and lost a close decision leading me to wonder what a much faster Robinson would have done with his right hand had he and Carlos met.
Aside from the above, Monzon also had an iron jaw and a crushing right hand that he threw tomahwak style. For a party animal and a heavy smoker, he had amazing stamina. My problem with him is his lack of abillity to really throw combinations.
THANK YOU. I agree., then again I never really got Stevie Wonder. I know they are great, they just never did it for me.
The thing with Monzon styles wise he wasn't aesthetically pleasing. It might sound outrageous but he always looks ordinary to me,and of course he obviously wasn't but then again having never boxed I probably don't see the little nuances and subtle moves he must have undoubtedly possessed.
Monzon was not fun to watch a bit like froch not smooth or fluid but was very effective bust people up was a heart breaker ground down better boxers very few at middle weight could cope with him .Jones might be fast enough to take a close 12rds .hagler and Tony might be tough enough to out work Carlos over 12 would be a rough old night not for the faint hearted.
Slight overrated. Mozon was not fast or a big puncher. He was a grinder type, who often had a size, weight and age advantage over his most famous opponents. IMO, he retired at the perfect time.
Only three of his name opponents were smaller men and also older.Napoles,Griffith,and Moyer. Benvenuti was 4 years older but comparable in size. Valdez was 4 years younger Tonna was 7 years younger Licata was 10 years younger Mundine 11 years younger Bouttier 1 year younger Briscoe 1 year younger Bogs 2 years younger Scott 6 years younger So Monzon was usually the significantly older man. As to his power ,only 5 of his 15 defences went the distance. Those who lasted with him were: Griffith, stopped just twice in112 fights, once by Carter, once by Monzon. Bouttier stopped just2 times in 72 fights once by Monzon and once in his last fight.. Valdez stopped just once in 73 fights, when he was a 135pounder. Monzon could hit alright.