Arguello & Chacon

not really mate i wasnt around that time but what fights you got

generally there entertaining scraps that you will enjoy

 

Can you be more specific?

 

Well I think we all know the story about Chacon's wife Valerie committing suicide the night before one of his fights.

Always a little heart wrenching when Chacon is asked by Larry Merchant if he ever wished he would've quit earlier and Chacon furrows his brows and with a sigh manages to say through his nearly inaudible words "I wish I would've quit when Valerie told me to." Life's ****ed up sometimes.

 

Arguello was known as a big puncher but not much else when he got his first two title shots, at featherweight, against Ernesto Marcel and Ruben Olivares. Gave Marcel hell and had him hurt several times, but Marcel escaped and managed to win a close decision. Was a sizable underdog against Olivares, but he surprised the boxing world (and Olivares) by showing much improved technique and boxing ability. It was a great classic, back-and-forth battle, and right when it seemed like Olivares had finally gained control, Arguello flattened him with a left hook in round 13.

That was the first fight that hinted at Arguello's real potential. He continued to steadily improve after that, and within a few years was one of the most highly regarded fighters in the world. Strangely, I seem to recall he retired at one point when he decided to could no longer make featherweight, but then he made a comeback at 130, which would turn out to be his best weight. His greatest moment came when he went down to Puerto Rico and put on a clinic to take the jr. lightweight title from the excellent long-reigning champion Alfredo Escalera. All the talk now centered on a possible megafight between Arguello and Duran (considered the two best fighters in the world) up at 135, but that was halted when Arguello made his heavily-hyped step up to 135 and lost a somewhat questionable split decision to Vilomar Fernandez (who Duran had previously beaten in a title defense). Still, Arguello would remain a very formidable and highly rated jr. lightweight champ for some time, then moved up to 135 and won a title there by shutting down a decent champion in Jim Watt. He was never quite the same force at 135 that he had been at 130, but he still was a very good champion with some good defenses.

Eventually, he tried to move up to 140 and take that title from Aaron Pryor, and many people (including myself) felt he had an excellent shot of doing so. Pryor, however, showed surprisingly good boxing ability to keep Arguello at bay for much of the fight, and he showed surprising toughness in being able to take his best punches. At the same time, Arguello's footwork and reflexes were badly slowed by the extra poundage, and Pryor was able to land almost at will on him. Nevertheless, Arguello made it a very close and exciting fight just by keeping the pressure on and banging Pryor to the body whenever he could. The fight then came to a highly controversial ending, when Pryor's trainer (the notorious malicious cheating ******* Panama Lewis) told the co-handlders "Gimme the other bottle, the one I mixed!", then was handed a mysterious black bottle and told Pryor to drink from it. Pryor, who had been looking somewhat weary the last several rounds, then came out like a tornado and battered Arguello into the ropes and stopped him (the first time Arguello had ever been stopped since becoming a high profile fighter). The was an enormous outcry over the whole incident, and Pryor was tested for drugs afterward, but the incompetent and/or corrupt Miami commission mysteriously "lost" the test results, and the whole thing came to nothing.

The loss to Pryor would be a turning point in Arguello's career. There was a public clamor for a rematch, but Pryor put off fighting him for another year or so, and when they met again Arguello was not the same fighter, while Pryor was probably even better than the first time (and without stimulants, at least as far as we know). They fought another thrilling battle, but this time Pryor had the upper hand all the way and scored several knockdowns before finally KOing Arguello cleanly. Ironically, the fight actually took more out of Pryor than it did Arguello, as Pryor suffered lasting eye damage that basically led to the end of his career.

Arguello had one more moment of glory, when he fought Billy Costello. Costello got off to a big lead over the first three rounds, but Arguello came from behind to flatten him in round 4. Arguello fought a couple more times after that and then retired for good.


Some other memorable fights from his career:

vs. Bazooka Limon - Arguello got a surprisingly tough test from this relatively little known Mexican, but managed to prevail after busting him up and finally stopping him late. The win looked even better in retrospect, as Limon went on to be a two-time jr. lightweight champ, and one of the most exciting and popular fighters of the '80s.

vs. Ray Mancini - Mancini the popular, undefeated, heavily-hyped challenger. He gave a very commendable account of himself, but Arguello had the edge on him all the way and finally stopped him in round 14.

vs. Andy Ganigan - Ganigan had won the newly created "WAA" title or some nonsense like that with a shocking KO of Sean O'Grady. He floored Arguello (one of the very, very few times I've ever seen him go down before Pryor) and gave him a great see-saw battle, but Arguello finally found his chin in round 5 and put him away for good.

 

Great post! I'll just add that when Alexis beat Mancinni at 135, he became the first man to succesfully defend world titles in a third division.

A champion among champions, Alexis looked for the best fights, the top dog; the big man on campus, or forget it. He did of course fight some routine title defesense and tune-ups, et. However, each time he moved up in weight he went after who ever the boss was. For example, he could have easily beaten Saoul Mamby and claimed his 4th world title, but that was that was not Arguello's way. He said if he did not beat Pryor, he could not call himself the champ at 140.

 

Now what about Bobby Chacon: Look in the encyclopedia under Warrior. That's all you need to know.

World titlist in 2 divisions. Between 1974 and 1984 Bobby fought almost everybody that mattered. Bobby's first really big fight was a title eliminator with Danny "Little Red" Lopez in 1974. Between 1975 and 1984 Bobby was in 8 world title fights against such names as Olivares, Arguello, Boza-Edwards, Limon, and Mancinni. Ya, like I said, just look up Warrior in your encylocpedia.

 

Chacon was considered a very talented prospect almost from the time he turned pro. However, as his career progressed, he fulfilled those expectations of him only in spurts.

His first big win on the way up came when he stopped the much more experienced former bantam champ Chuco Castillo. His people then rushed him into a fight with the legendary Ruben Olivares, a veteran of close to 100 fights, who they figured to be washed up. But Olivares showed his class and experience by outboxing/counterpunching Chacon and then stopping him around the 10th round, with Chacon staying on his stool as I recall. It was Chacon's first loss.

Chacon then had a big crossroads fight with the undefeated future champion Danny Lopez, in which Chacon put on probably the best performance of his career, outboxing Lopez and then stopping him in the 9th round. That earned him a title shot against another exciting big puncher, Alfredo Marcano, and Chacon won another exciting battle by KO. Chacon only held the title briefly, then ran into his old friend Olivares. Chacon was hoping to avenge his only loss thus far, but he had let his weight balloon in the meantime, and by the time he finally sucked back down to 126 he looked like a shell of himself in the ring. Every time Olivares tapped him, he wobbled or dropped him. After only two rounds, he was stopped.

Chacon never fully regained the form he had showed during his brief run as a top featherweight. He would finally beat Olivares in their third fight, but by then Olivares was no longer champ and well past his best. He tried twice to win the jr. lightweight title, against Arguello and Boza Edwards, when both were very highly regarded champions. Each time he gave a solid account of himself and showed glimpses of his old form, but eventually it seemed that he was overwhelmed and outclassed, and retired on his stool against both of them.

There was a very memorable moment in Chacon's career when his wife Valerie committed suicide before one of his fights. The story goes that Valerie, who had introduced Chacon to boxing as a means of curbing his street fighting tendencies, had now been pleading with him to quit after continued beatings that he'd been taking. Chacon refused, and she finally became so distraught that she killed herself. Chacon was told the news before one of his fights, but went through with the fight anyway and won. Afterward, he vowed to continue on fighting and win a title "for Valerie," and eventually did. Some people find this to be a very touching and heart-wrenching story, while others consider it very callous and selfish behavior on Chacon's part.

Chacon eventually strung together enough wins to get himself one more title shot, against an old rival, Bazooka Limon. He and Limon had already fought three times and had split the results. Both were battle-weary veterans, but most people figured Limon to win - his career appeared to have been "reborn" by winning the title, whereas Chacon was thought to be on his last legs. But Chacon turned in one more surprising performance, and the two fighters engaged in what is widely considered the greatest 15 round battle in history (no joke!). Chacon kept the pressure up on Limon and battered him round after round, but Limon twice dropped Chacon with big southpaw lefts. Although it looked to most people like Chacon should've had a clear lead going into the last round, the fight was actually about even on the cards. Chacon dropped Limon with just a few seconds left in the fight, and that last-second KD is what put him ahead on the scorecards and won him the fight.

Chacon then defended his title in a big money fight with another old rival, now ex-champ Boza Edwards. It turned out to be a fight roughly as great (perhaps even better??) as Chacon's win over Limon. Both fighters hit the canvas early, then Boza swarmed all over Chacon for the next several rounds and busted up his face badly. (Had the fight been held anywhere but Chacon's home turf in Cali, it almost certainly would've been stopped.) Somehow, Chacon summoned the strength in the closing rounds to rally and drop Boza, and pulled out a very close, somewhat disputed split decision win.

Chacon then moved up to 135 and pursued another big money fight with Ray Mancini, but that proved to be just to much for him. Giving one of the best performances of his own career, Mancini busted him up quickly, then pounded him until the ref stopped the fight in only the 3rd round. Chacon basically faded away after that, though he never lost another fight, and he was featured in at least one more very memorable, thrilling battle with Art Frias before finally calling it a day.

 

Hey Ozzie! You probably know but let me allay that the Mancini fight is not any sort of barometer of Chacon. He was pretty much over the hill and up in weights.

 

That doesn't sound right. Didn't Barney Ross successfully defend all three of his titles?

 

According to Box Rec he did. Guess the Arguello thing is one of my facts that is not actually a factatsch

 

My2sense, Great post! I enjoyed it.

 

Arguello was a true great. He carried the torch for Nicaragua at last year's Olympic opening ceremony.


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