Carlos Monzon: strenghts & weaknesses

His biggest weakness was being incomprehensible to his misinformed detractors. Maybe also not imbuing enought superficial flashiness to that brutal efficiency that he had. It's pretty hard to come up with too many weaknesses in a guy who nobody was ever able to beat after his 3rd year as a pro.

 

Often this is the main crime of those getting flak for "weak competition".

 

Monzon was a great fighter. Very tough. Very strong. Hard puncher. Terrific stamina. Great size. Smart. Deceptive ..

I like him over Robinson at middleweight. I like Hagler over him very slightly .. I actually think Hopkins could decision him ... this division is so deep there are always some guys that will beats others but Monzon is in the highest tier ...

 

strenghts:

left jab, right cross, reach, accuracy, power, effective inside and outside, roughness

stamina, chin, durability

killer instinct

weaknesses:

Monzon wasn't the fastest MW

He was pretty hittable (if you can avoid his jab)

 

Strengths were his stamina, his size, durability, accuracy of punches, the ability to be attrition based puncher, very consistent performer.

Weakness: Lack of speed, did not face top level middleweights, Does not have big time power, some of his opponents were past their primes blown up welters.


I think Mozon would be a tough out for anyone. He was like a great marathon runner. Monzon does not impress early, but slowly but surely he separates himself from the pack. A better 15 round fighter than 12 round fighter if you will. I also think Mozon is a tad over rated. Some feel he was a top all time #1-5 great at middle weight. We are not sure how he would deal with skilled speed middle, or a big puncher at middle.

I would favor modern middles like Hearns, Hagler, and Jones to defeat Monzon. I would give Monzon the edge over Duran, and Toney.

 

Agreed, we need to expand on that part. Do you think Monzon beat a top 30 ATG at middle?

 

They are undoubtly fighters at MW that had more spectacular names on their 160 resume, but Monzon's resume strenghth was it's richness as he fought all kind of good fighters: technicians, punchers, swarmers, brawlers and mostly he dominated those fights. His 7 year winning streak was beaten by Hopkins 25 years later and I don't know if Bernards MW resume is better than Monzon's

 

If anyone is to be criticised for fighting consistently poor opposition (at least among the Middleweight champs) it's Hopkins. There is no comparison between the crop he faced and the crop Monzon faced, in my opinion. A guy like Gratien Tonna was better than any Middleweight Hopkins ever beat.

 

Yep, right. We don´t know how he would do against big punchers. Because Valdes and Briscoe couldn´t crack an egg with their punches. :good

Monzon would knock out Hearns and Jones. Hagler is a toss up.

Benvenuti, Griffith and Valdes are without a doubt Top30 mws. All have arguments for Top20 actually and Griffith even for Top15.

How many Top30 mws did Hagler beat? Or Hopkins?

 

Beating a top 50 Middleweight is a real accomplishment, if you think about it, and he beat a few. I doubt I'd have any of the guys Monzon beat within the top 30, though. The division's history is far too rich.

 

This:deal

 

Greb and Jones would beat him I think, and I'd favour Hagler slightly. Greb beat heavier, tougher, bigger and more skilled boxers than Monzon, he was fast and elusive, high workrate and a pressure fighter, the perfect style to beat a slow-paced out-fighter like Monzon.

I think Hagler, if he fought aggressively, would be favoured to win. Better technique than Monzon, and as he showed against Hearns, no trouble in getting inside against a taller fighter with a long reach. Close fight but I favour Marv slightly, as long as he takes the fight to Monzon. If he fights like he did against Duran or Leonard, he would probably lose.

Roy Jones Jr would just be too fast for him, and at 160 lbs Jones had a destructive offense which might seriously test Monzon's chin (or ribs/liver) for the first time. In return, I can't see Monzon landing much on Jones, how can a fairly slow fighter like that catch someone as elusive as a prime Roy Jones? Roy would not get knocked out, he was never hurt at 160 or 168, and only briefly decked once at 175 until the Ruiz HW blowup and weight drain, and his reflexes and conditioning went at 30+. Jones has a solid LHW chin so a 160 lbs fighter not in the Jackson/Benn calibre of power is unlikely to knock him out, even if he does land flush, which is hard to do.

I think Ketchel and Lamotta are too crude, Monzon is tough enough to soak up the punishment and he would be peppering them all night with that 1-2 from range, then tying them up on the inside. Hopkins I think would be a worthy challenge, close but I favour Carlos slightly. Bernard's chin is too good for him to be stopped, and he is a crafty technician, Monzon doesn't have the speed or punch output to outwork him, but he does have the out-fighting ability to rack up rounds if Bernard is not aggressive. Hopkins is more of a counter puncher and I think this plays into Monzon's style, that 1-2 is hard to counter off.

IMO Monzon is all about the intangibles, and the height/reach jab/cross combo. Everyone knew it was coming but no one really figured out a way to handle it. But that's high quality middleweights, not all-time great middleweights. Fighters like Hagler and Hopkins had the boxing technique and knowledge to work their way around something as predictable as that. And fighters like Jones Jr and Greb had unique skills possessed by no fighter Monzon ever faced (except Napoles, who was great but a blown-up lightweight vs a big MW).

As for Robinson - he was not in his prime at MW, was not a natural MW in size, and I think he'd run into the great smaller man vs great bigger man problem. Robinson's offence won him a lot of his fights, but Monzon has a granite chin so this is going the distance. Sugar Ray wasn't known for amazing defence, and I feel that Monzon would catch him regularly with his long jabs and right hands, staying outside, and tying Robinson up when he closes the distance. So I think Monzon has a the slight edge there.

 

Greb repeatedly showed the ability to close with fighters, and land absurd amounts of punches on the opponents he faced, including elusive master-boxers like Tunney. Monzon was hardly a defensive genius or fleet of foot, so Greb is unlikely to have any trouble getting in close to him at all.

 

Can anyone recommend me say....10 Monzon fights to watch? I'm going to try to see more of his fights on yt as long as the quality is decent.