A deeper dive on Alexis Arguello's greatness.

About time I did one on the Explosive Thin Man, so let's do it.

After going 31-3 against mostly unremarkable opponents, with some half decent names like Kid Pascualito and Octavio Gomez in between, Arguello would face his best challenge by far up until that point, his opponent being the #8 rated Featherweight, Jose Legra, the former WBC Featherweight champion. In incredible fashion, Arguello would destroy him in a single round. The manner in which he dispatched such a remarkable opponent would immediately grant him a title shot, against the WBA Champion and #2 rated Featherweight, the great Panamanian fighter who had previously lost to Roberto Duran, Ernesto Marcel. Unfortunately for Arguello, who would give a good account of himself, Marcel was just too experencied and too good, thus retaining his title. He would also proceed to retire after this fight.

Arguello would then go on to knock out the #3 rated Featherweight, Art Hafey, in 5 rounds. He was then given another WBA title shot, this time against the legendary Ruben Olivarers, who was also the former Undisputed Bantamweight Champion. Olivares would showcase a very good performance, but would lose his lead when he would get hit with a picture perfect left hook that rocked his world. Thus, Arguello would gain the WBA title.

Arguello would then defend his title against the #3 rated Featherweight, Leonel Hernandez, who would get stopped in the 8th. The future WBC Junior Featherweight champion, Rigoberto Riasco, would fall in 2 against Alexis. Alexis would also proceed to defeat the man who would gain the title against Riasco, the #8 rated Featherweight, Kazuo ''Royal'' Kobayashi. After defeating the Torres brothers, Jose and Salvador, both of whom were on the edge of being contenders, Arguello would leave the Featherweight division.

His first major opponent would be the #8 rated Ezequiel ''Cocoa'' Sanchez, after going down twice in the 4th, the doctor would prevent him from continuing. Then he would have a go for the WBC championship, the #1 rated Junior Lightweight, and owner of the WBC title, Alfredo Escalera. Arguello would drop the champion in the second round, and would proceed to heavily punish him, but Escalera had his second win later on, managing to rock and heavily trouble Arguello, but in the 13th, a final assault from Arguello conviced the referee that Escalera had suffered enough, and put an end to the brutal contest. After that, Arguello would have an incredible title reign.

After destroying the undefeated contender, Rey Tam, in 5 rounds, he would lose to the #3 rated Lightweight, another former Duran victim, Vilomar Fernandez, in an incredibly closely contested non-title fight. After that, He would be victorious over the #7 rated Junior Lightweight Arturo Leon, he would once again stop the now #4 rated Alfredo Escalera in 13 rounds again, as well as the #3 rated Rafael ''Bazooka'' Limon in 11 rounds. The #6 rated Bobby Chacon wouldn't see the bell ring for an 8th round, and the #2 rated Featherweight, Ruben Castillo, would fall in the 11th. Future WBC Junior Lightweight champion, Rolando Navarrete, would only go 4 rounds. The man who Navarrete would gain the title from, Cornelius Boza Edwards, would fall in 8 against Alexis.

Then, Alexis Arguello would move up to Lightweight. His first opponent at the poundage was the future WBC Lightweight champion, Jose Luis Ramirez, who would even manage to drop him in the 6th, almost costing Arguello the fight, but he would go on to be victorious when it was all said and done. Arguello would then fight the WBC and Ring champion, Jim Watts. Arguello was the constant aggressor, and would practically already have the belt by around the 5th and on, when he pounded Watts with hard shots, Watts was a mess by the end of the fight. He would then stop the future WBA Lightweight champion, the #10 rated Ray Mancini, in the 14th, as well as the future top contender, Roberto Elizondo, in 7.

He would destroy the 1972 Olympian, James Bruscene in 6, prior to stopping the #2 rated Lightweight, Andrew Ganigan in 5, as well as Mike Tyson's future trainer, Kevin Rooney, in 2. He would then lose against the WBA Junior Welterweight champion, Aaron Pryor, by being stopped in the 14th after the ref ceased the contest, in what was a fight for the ages. Controversey ignited however, when Pryor's trainer, Panama Lewis, was overheard saying something about another bottle that he had apparently mixed with something, leading to many believing that something illegal was in that bottle.

Prior to the rematch, Arguello would avenge his defeat at the hands of Vilomar Fernandez, soundly outpointing him. As well as former Lightweight contender, Claude Noel. The rematch would transpire, and it went even worse than the first one for Alexis, with him visiting the canvas 3 times, once in the first, once in the 4th, and once in the 10th, which concluded the fight. Arguello quit the sport and retired, at least for a little while. He came back and managed to defeat the #3 rated Junior Welterweight, Billy Costello, by stopping him in the 4th. He would then retire again, seemingly for good. But he would come back almost 10 years later, having only 2 fights and going 1-1 in them, but he was clearly not a world class fighter anymore, so he hung up his gloves for good, soon after.