I know less about Monaghan than the other two but I know they were all good. There were so many great champions in the 1970s (Ali, Foster, Monzon, Napoles, Duran and others) that Serrano got overlooked, at least he did in America. I'm not saying he was on their level but he did have more than ten successful title defenses! Burruni and Rinty were also world champs. I remember that Burruni quit against Ruben Olivares, one of my favorite fighters but I can't recall much else.
Yes, I'd have to check my notes (I remember my top 10's, in order, for each of the original 8 weight divisions off the top of my head, but sometimes get sketchy on my 11-20's without checking), but I think Monaghan and Burruni make my top 20 at Fly. Perhaps Burruni just missed out, but he was definitely in contention as I remember researching his career. Burruni beat a past prime Pone Kingpetch, Walter McGowan x 2, Minoum Ben Ali, as well as 1 in 3 vs Horacio Accavallo. Rinty Monaghan is surely the greatest fighter born in Northern Ireland and a challenger to Barry McGuigan (who was born in Ireland but fought for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games) as the greatest Northern Irish fighter. Going 2-1 with Jackie Patterson is the crown in his resume, though victories over Dado Marino and Terry Allen are also very impressive.
Sammy Serrano was a good fighter, a two-time WBA super featherweight champion who probably didn’t get quite the praise you might expect because of the WBA’s curious (and probably bribe-driven) list of contenders kept him away from many of the better fighters of his day. It also didn’t help him that he lost the upset of the year (by Ring Magazine) in 1980 in dropping his title to Yasutsune Uehara in Japan (winning it back two fights later). As for the other guys, I’m not familiar. But the first one reminds me of an Indian dish of which I’m very fond, a shrimp biryani.
Rinty was named after Rin Tin Tin a dog actor who featured in comedy films of the time. Presumably because of his terrier like style? He was also known to serenade the crowd after a fight with a rendition of When Irish Eyes are Smiling.
Rinty is probably in the 15-20 range for flyweight all time. Someday I'll have to actually make a list to see if that's true.
Yes, I know most about Serrano. He was an excellent champion, fought all over the world. Not a big puncher or crowd pleaser but a very good boxer who had excellent career consistency and a great championship record. On a personal note, I met him in Puerto Rico in March and was in the gym with him and watched him on the speed bag and in the ring doing exercises along with Juan LaPorte. Serrano is a nice guy who’s appeared to have done well for himself after getting out of prison years ago. I will see him again next month.
Serrano’s reputation as a legit world champion in the 1970s wasn’t helped by Alexis Arguello being the other champ in the same division. Many people feel Arguello was at his peak at 130 and his lists of scalps there is very impressive. But before Arguello became champ, another Puerto Rican, Alfredo Escalera, was the champ so there was a window of opportunity to have an all-Puerto Rican unification but it never happened.
Roger Mayweather won a title at 130 by knocking out Sammy Serrano with a monster right hand. Serrano was a good fighter. Had some issues outside the ring, and did time for moving weight. He had almost a kilo of coke when he got caught.
I remember Serrano very well, I'm a little familiar with Burruni, and know a lot less about Monaghan. Most of what I could say has already been said by others above, but I'll just add that Serrano was very overlooked due to being the "other" JLW champion. Arguello was clearly THE champ, so Serrano was never considered the real champ. Oddly enough, The Ring considered Serrano the actual JLW champ and not Arguello, but I doubt anyone else did.
Samuel Serrano was the WBC Junior Lightweight Champion, he defeated Lefty Ben Villaflor for the title.
I agree Arguello was considered the guy at 130 by most (more exposure, wins over bigger-name fighters) but Serrano was lineal champ as his WBA strap’s lineage traced back to Hiroshi Kobayashi, whereas the WBC had stripped Kobayashi back in 1969 when he had held both belts. That’s why The Ring considered Serrano to be champ, because his belt passed down from the lineal champ. Serrano was a world traveler who defended in South Africa, Ecuador, Chile, Japan, Venezuela and the U.S., as well as in his native Puerto Rico.
