Was he large enough? Did he have the frame? What if he had opted to fight at LH during his middleweight career? How talent laden was the division?
There was talk of him fighting Conteh in late 1974 but that didn't work out, mostly down to Carlos opting to stay at 160. It has been said the fight not coming off was down to an EBU suspension but that's bull****. 168 would have suited Carlos more if it had existed then. Conteh was too big really, an ex-heavyweight of course. The other champ was Galindez and they were good mates so that was never an option.
Monzon could have put on 15 pounds and fought as a lightheavyweight, no doubt. He was very thin and lean at 6' 0" as a middleweight. He could have added some more muscle. However, at the 175 lbs. limit Monzon would have lost the edge in strength and power he enjoyed as a middleweight. For the first time in his career, he would have been at risk of being bulled around. Monzon could have compensated for his reduced edge in strength as a lightheavy by using his extraordinary skills, but just how far those skills would have taken him against the likes of John Conteh and Victor Galindez is an open question. Jumping from 160 lbs. to 175 lbs. is a big leap. As someone in this thread already said, it's too bad that the 168 lbs. division didn't exist in Monzon's day.
I get the idea that Monzon's style depended on his physical advantages to some extent. I think that he would have been less able to make the transition than Hagler or Hopkins.
I kind of got the same idea. Monzon dominated at 160 lbs. in part because he used his height and reach to such execellent effect. That wouldn't have been as easy against the bigger guys.
Well, first off, I think Monzon's fighting style was mostly built around his being the bigger and stronger man. He was a big guy for his division who most certainly "fought big." Those kinds of guys often don't do very well when they step up in weight and give up the size advantage- see Bob Foster, for example. And speaking of Foster, it's especially doubtful that Monzon would have reigned at light heavyweight given that Foster was on top there for most of Monzon's prime.
Were Valdez, Briscoe, and Benvenuti smaller guys? We're saying part of his style had to do with his dimensions and the way he used them, as he was obviously not a brilliant athlete.
Only in the sense that he was a huge natural middlweight.Hopkins was usually always bigger as well, as were Hearns, Panama Brown, Cervantes and others throughout history. It's not the same as beating smaller weightclass fighters.
You can discredit heavyweights for picking on smaller guys as the poundage difference can be 20 lbs or more. No one blinks an eye at that, but the lighter weight divisions are more closely matched in weight, and that is really never much of a factor.
I have no doubt he could have reigned in a weak era, none at all. Era's with say a Spinks, Foster, Charles etc i definitely don't think so.