Is it possible Monzon is overrated ? S.I. Vault article rips him ..

I met him once. early in the morning right before he was getting ready for work. Nicest guy in the world

 

Awsome. Wish I had the pleasure. I met Willie the Worm numerous times and same thing super nice polite guy!

 

I haven't read his article, I was going by what the original message said about him which suggested that Kram said Monzon was over-rated.

 

I resent that comment.

I'm the nicest guy in the world.

 

He made light of the idea that Monzon was better than SRR, which the Latin press had made him out to be.

I’ve seen the Licata fight. Anyone watching that coming to the conclusion that he’s better than Robinson is hallucinating.

He also concluded that it was a weak era for the 160-pound division. That’s debatable but supportable.

He was covering a specific fight, the chance to see the legend Monzon in NYC live for the first time. His observations are those from that assignment.

Hey, everyone is measured against their hype — if I told you Duran was a decent prospect and showed you the Palomino fight, you’d rave about him; if I told you Duran was perhaps the greatest lightweight of all time and showed you one of his lesser performances, you’d scoff.

 

Like I said in a previous post, after Sugar Ray Leonard disposed of Daniel Gonzalez, in a fight I attended, Carlos Monzon, who was attending that event, passed me by as I was on my way to buy a beer, we both smiled and greeted each other with a nod. He was a tall fighter, who used his ring advantages during a boxing match. Maybe not pretty to watch in the ring, but he was his own man, he had his own style to get the job done. I did follow his fights that were televised on regular television back then, no silly pay per view.

 

I wouldn’t call that hate. Have you ever seen the fight?

This was a tournament to crown a world champ. Dreadful display.

Oscar was crude, in and out of the ring, which is pretty much what was written. The German was awful, which he also pointed out.

His harshest words were for the promotion — they literally used a bean can as the ring bell. Seconds wandered out of the corner yelling instructions to the referee, even into the ring between the bells. Pathetic.

 

I agree. Harry Carpenter was the same. We can see what punches are landing, why tell us blow for blow! Dunphy was a less is more guy, and brilliant.

 

Harry 'He doesn't know where he is' Carpenter.

God knows how many times he used that phrase in his career!

 

Looked easy to beat on tape didn't do anything that looked very special.Obviously being.in the ring with him was a different matter .Very dangerous man inside and outside the ring .

 

Interesting discussion.

Whatever else, Monzon is pretty much beyond criticism as a champion in his time. He had 15 championship fights, 12 were not in his home country. He defended his title more often than not in the other guy's home country or at a neutral site.

Looking at the Ring Annual ratings, he fought everyone he should have. The only guy rated near the top he didn't defend against was Bunny Sterling and Sterling fell out of his high position after KO defeats by Bouttier and Mundine, both of whom Monzon fought. He gave second shots to guys if warranted. Everyone he defended against was highly rated.

Being old enough to remember Monzon, it is bit odd to me that the Licata fight is focused on so much. Monzon's title fights were generally on TV and so writers should have known how he had fought and defeated better opponents. I question whether his rep was built up as much by the South American press as it was by the world press, as he destroyed fighters from all over the world.

He was not a pretty fighter, but probably has the best championship reign of any champion in his division.

 

Monzon is among the greats but overrated in the context of the best at his weight.

I have said it before; he benefited from fighting smaller and shorter fighters who were sometimes older, moving up from lower weight and did not fight a big natural middleweight who can punch. He also retired at the best time for him, preserving his image.

As for the Latin myth part, I'll take a stab. When Monzon was active, there were very fresh Latin middleweight champions. Monzon himself wasn't Latino in a traditional sense ( Spanish ancestry mixed with native Central America Indians ); he was native South American ( Mocoví )

Most people from Argentina are of European descent.