Bruno Arcari was WBC World Junior welterweight Champion, he won his title on Jan 31 1970 with a unanimous 15 round decision over Pedro Adigue in Rome. Italy. He defended his title 9 times, against the likes of Bunny Grant, Angel Robinson Garcia, Jose Peterson, and Everaldo- Costa Azevado, who went the distance with Carlos Palomino in 1977. He won 70 of 73 bouts, he had 38 KO's, His pro career began after participating in the 1964 Olympic games. He was more of a boxer puncher, he had not lost a professional fight since 1966. Bruno retired with his belt in 1974. He is considered one of the greatest champions in history, but is rarely mentioned.
The WBC title was sort of perceived as the "other" title during his time. A unification bout against Locche or Cervantes would obviously have been an interesting prospect, but never happened unfortunately. A win against either of them obviously would have put Arcari near the top of the JWW ATGs. Even a respectable loss against either would have made his name far better known. Instead he's overlooked because despite an impressive record and plenty of defenses against decent fighters, he never fought any ATGs and doesn't have a "signature win."
What I always remember about Arcari back when he was champion was Ring mag's description of a strong southpaw who cut rather easily. Outside of that, I remember well the co-champions of Cervantes and Arcari, but it was always Cervantes fighting the tougher comp and his reign taken far more seriously than Bruno's. Arcari always seemed to defend against Euro-level competition rather than go for a big one. He could have fought any of Perkins, Pruitt, Carlos Hernandez, Rodolfo Gonzalez, Carlos Gimenez, Victor Ortiz or Hector Thompson but always seemed to be defending against the Rene Roque's or Jorgen Hansen or Antonio Ortiz. He had a couple of decent wins over Bunny Grant (which should have been for the title) and Joao Henrique, but nothing stands out. Even his title-winning bout was controversial as Pedro Adigue screamed robbery. He could have had the old home-cooking benefit that Nicolino Loche enjoyed, but that would be just hazarding a guess. I know he gave up the 140 crown to go after Jose Napoles at welter, and I heard it was in discussion (to tell you the truth I'm surprised it wasn't with the kind of money Rodolfo Sabbatini was wielding), but nothing came of it. Although I can't say whether or not Bruno's decision win over Harold Weston was just, I did hear Weston cut him to ribbons and they would not stop the fight. Suffice to say his potential was there and it really should have been explored with more depth than he was willing to go.
Very informed piece, well done, I am new here as you can tell, just out of interest all the above of the top of your head ? or with the help of Mr Google...
Hi, Mike, almost all of it I remembered as I was knee-deep in the game during the Arcari-era. But I must admit to cheating on looking up who were the top contenders back in the day that he didn't fight.
Still very impressive Scart, I was also knee deep in boxing around that time, prob had my interest spiked around 69/70 remember watching Napoles/Lewis on Grandstand one Saturday afternoon, couldn't sleep the night before !!!! As you well know, we only got to read about the, Olivares, Napoles, etc, in Boxing News, remember running yes running to the newsagent to get mine, just in case he run out, silly looking back.
Maybe quaint, but never silly. I would read Boxing News cover to cover as well as Ring, International and World Boxing, Boxing Illustrated and so forth. So I know what you mean about the elation - like a shiver - when you would pick up a copy. Good times.
