Today I am forgotten,but I was most likely the best fighter my small country produced. I kod 50 of 91 wins. Never a world champ I beat the best of my division losing out to an immortal champion. I had a slam bang style made for action...I would have been champion except for one man... Who am I.
Godoy was the first that came to mind..with the help of boxrec it doesn't quite match up though..could still be him??
TR ,Bravo...Yes Pedro Montanez considered by oldtimers the best fighter Puerto Rico ever produced,though never a champion. He was a sensational swarmer who kod 50 of 91 wins, BEATING every top lightweight of his time including Lou Ambers, Kid Berg, etc. His ultimate nemesis was the immortal prime Henry Armstrong who beat Montanez in one if the greatest thrilling fights in MSG history, thus preventing Montanez from becoming champion. One of the VERY best fighters to never be world champion...:good
I love you BB but there's no way Montanez was the greatest Puerto Rican boxer ever, head to head or otherwise.
Don't take my word FM, but look at Pedro Mantanez's record beating the best lightweights of his time including Lou Ambers, Kid Berg, Frankie Klick etc when there was but one title holder and his name was a fellow by the monicker Henry Armstrong. Oldtimers have said were it not for Armstrong Montanez would have ruled the LWs ...He was a little dynamo who came along the same time as the "inhuman" Henry Armstrong...And match the prime Montanez with any other Puerto Rican fighter same weight,Pedro would be second to no other of his countryman. Cheers...Because he is less known than his later countrymen doesn't make him less of a fighter...
He was a long way from beating Hank though, wasn't he Burt? If we're being honest. Even if he'd snared the title from Ambers, he'd have to go someway to outmatch what Ortiz went on to do in the 60's. No shame in that. He might've been a decent foil for Ortiz, come to think, but I don't think I'd make him favourite. He could potentially upset him around the time Laguna did when Ortiz was a good time Charlie and struggling to stay in shape, but I think much like Laguna he'd lose the rematch or series. Ortiz was one of the most skilled and complete fighters ever in any weight division, plus he was a tank at the weight and excellent on the inside where Montanez would no doubt try to force things. Terrific fighter though, no doubt about that. Tends to get lost with the Freddie Dawson types over time....
TN, I regard Carlos Ortiz as an American of Puerto Rican ancestry...Carlos was a great overlooked lightweight. No doubt. Remember Carlos Ortiz had 70 bouts and ONLY FIVE in Puerto Rico...But Pedro Montanez was considered a world beater when he first came to America from Puerto Rico...Anyone that beats a prime Lou Ambers has to be a hell of a lightweight... P.S. Poor Freddie Dawson fighting as a LW during a golden age of lightweightrs as Ike williams, Beau Jack, Bob Montgomery, Willie Joyce, Sammy Angott,was so avoided, he had to go to Australia to make a living...
There's no doubt he was a quality fighter with an excellent record, but I don't think he's greater than Gomez, Ortiz, Trinidad, or even Benitez.
