How much credit you give Monzon for beating Napoles?

Not much, mantequilla by that stage of his career was a very partied out welter who hit his prime many years before as a jr welter.

 

jose was able to get in there a few times. I wonder how it would have gone had Jose been a bigger man and a few years younger.

Jose was the best welter since Robinson no doubt. he turned pro in 58 so he has a right to lose, especially to someone like Monzon that was much bigger and stronger

 

It's not one of his bigger wins, IMO. Mantequilla was just too small.

 

The consensus argument is that he was just not big enough and it was evident in the fight, but none the less Napoles had some good moments in the fight and showed how great he actually was. I give Monzon some credit for the victory, yes.

 

As I recall, some people actually gave Napoles a good shot against Monzon, as Monson had looked vulnerable in his last couple of title defenses. I believe the thinking was that if Griffith (who Napoles had whupped decisively several years earlier) could give Monzon such a close fight, then what might Napoles do to him?

 

Napoles was very highly regarded before this fight, and was given a very good chance to "make Monzon look like he was standing still", as the phrase goes that I remember at that time. Napole was especially impressive in his welter title defenses up to that time, and his trainer for that Monzon fight, Angelo Dundee, was sure that Naploes would outclass that "big slow guy Monzon". What happened, of course, everyone takes for granted today, but they fail to remember how dangerous and dominant a champion and fighter Napoles was, size disadvantage notwithstanding. Monzon not only won, but won in a most casual way, and didn't begin unloading his big right hand until the next to last round, and was like a reporter wrote, "majestic" and casual, almost in dismantling Jose. He manhandled and had his way with his man without going all out to ko him, like he did Benvenuti, for example, but he rarely did that against anybody for that matter, being the cold blooded predator and calculator that he was. I give him credit for the victory much in the same way that I give Calzaghe credit for outclassing Jeff Lacy, in that, both victories are sniffed at and taken for granted nowadays, but before each of those fights, the guy who lost was considered superior to the guy that won and was predicted to win big in both cases.

 

All of that was well said and true, and ny compliments on your avatar.

 

Good post but Napoles was also 34yo and not only 'only a WW' but in reality peaked at 135-140 and only went to WW to get big fights., plus he'd never fought above 147 before. It would be like Mayweather fighting Pavlik today (although Mayweather has at least pit stopped at 154)

 

"Any meeting of two world champions must be a prestigious occasion, but there were the obvious seeds of a mismatch in this one, as well as a strong geriatric flavor. Napoles is officially 33 years old but everybody grins when this figure is mentioned, even his manager, Kid Rapidez. Napoles could have rejuvenated himself by two or three years when he went to Mexico from Cuba with new papers. And Monzon—assuming his age is correct—is 31. Mismatch elements were even less in doubt. Monzon had a five-inch advantage in reach over Napoles and possibly a 10-pound advantage in ring weight."

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1088283/index.htm

 

Is that insinuating Napoles is older than his official age?

 

Napoles was still widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in boxing and consensus felt it would be a great fight, most did pick Monzon to win due to his size (and the fact he was generally rated #2 pfp fighter in the world at the time). It's a good win because of the ease in which Carlos dispatched of Jose- swatting him away like an irritating fly.

 

I got the feeling that it was only his size that allowed him to do it, though. Napoles actually started off quite well. The first round was basically even, and while Monzon won the next few, they were still at least competitive. It wasn't until the end of the 5th round that he started dominating when that big right hand came into play.

 

I agree. But I felt Monzon deliberately stepped up the pace after a slow start when he looked like he was just coasting, seeing what Napoles had to offer, then he just walked through him. Overall I do think size had almost everything to do with this outcome- too big, too strong.