The Viruet Brothers 'The Thorn in Roberto Duran's Side'

Could Adolfo had beaten Saoul Mamby if they had fought for the WBC belt in the year 1980? Seems like the guy threw his career away.

 

Sr. Pepe, thanks for these..they are fun and insightful posts.

I've always wondered if there is video Of Duran's go with Adolfo Viruet. Have never heard of it.

 

No Sr Pepe...what I was wondering was if there is a video of that fight...I would like to see it.:good

 

Figured I’d revive this as I wanted to discuss the Brothers Viruet and get some opinions, and since the long-ago-banned Senior Pepe’ provided some interesting accounts better to use this one than start a new one.

Also want our @AntonioMartin1 as our resident Puerto Rican boxing expert and aficionado to hopefully weigh in.

I disagree with Pepe’ idea that Adolfo could have won a world title — possible, but he was too inconsistent to count on it. As pointed out, long periods of inactivity — in or around 1977 he began fighting just once or twice a year, which was a snail’s pace in his day. At some points around 1980-ish he signed two or three times to fight Clint Jackson on TV but pulled out with one excuse or another each time — would have been an interesting southpaw scrap.

Adolfo was a southpaw who fought out of a crab-like stance. He came up short vs Ray Leonard, Pete Ranzany and others, but had nice wins over Bruce Curry and Monroe Brooks. He retired at 18-6-1.

Edwin, an orthodox stick-and-move artist in the classic Puerto Rican mode, was more prolific with a career that ended 31-6-2. He had win an over Vilomar Fernandez (I’d love to see this on film) and a draw vs Saoul Mamby (ditto) but also fell short in his bigger bouts against the likes of Roberto Duran x2 and Esteban DeJesus.

Both gave Duran trouble in non-title bouts, with some claiming Edwin nipping Duran (I scored it and found Roberto a comfortable winner even though he was somewhat nullified by Viruet’s footwork) — but Roberto settled it with a pretty one-sided win in a lightweight title defense. Adolfo from what I read actually traded well with Duran in more of a slugfest but was handily outworked.

Edwin and Adolfo made it to the finals of the NY Golden Gloves at featherweight in 1969. Officials huddled and decided to make them co-champs rather than force the brothers to fight each other.

One is in the New York boxing hall of fame (Edwin, I think) and the other in the New Jersey hall of fame (Adolfo, I think).

What do people think of this pair of brothers?

 

Thanks for the AtA!

I became a boxing fan towards the end of their careers, in 1982. I have another anecdote: My best friend at the time told me the Viruet's were his cousins because, my friend's last name was Viruet too. it may not be as far fetched, being that the Viruets were from Toa Baja and my friend lived about 15 minutes by car from that city.

That also happened with two other friends, one who claimed to be cousins with Wilfredo Gomez and another one with Wilfred Benitez. Years later when i met both Gomez and Benitez, The truth was discovered. And it was not coming form my friends!

Also, coincidentally, as you mentioned the Viruet brothers were co-champions at the new York golden gloves. But so were the Fernandez brothers, Vilomar and Jose! How unlikely that Vilomar would be a co-champion with his brother and he'd fight the two members of another duo of co-champions!

I never saw Adolfo box. I might have seen a tape of Edwin;s fight with Chapo Rosario, when he was blistered in his last fight. All I can tell you are the stories I heard and was fed. I heard, as you say, that he was robbed twice against Duran, once for the world title. Seeing who Duran was, i have to doubt that seriously. Internet accounts also say he gave Duran a good fight but lost decisively. My friend, boxing writer Christian Guidice, also says the same thing in his boxing book about Duran, Both brothers claim to have beaten Duran but , Guidice implies, delusion is easier to live with sometimes than accepting the hard truth.

Adolfo also went ten rounds with Sugar Ray Leonard.

It seems like they were real good boxers but lacked power which is about 20 percent of what makes boxers great ones in this sport. Even then, Pernell Whitaker, Winky Wright, Wilfred Benitez, Ivan Calderon, Miguel Canto, Floyd Mayweather (at weights over Lightweight), Hilario Zapata, Maxie Rosembloom etc were not exactly Mike Tyson either but they were still great. I guess one must also have luck. And the Viruets were unlucky to be in such a rich era where the likes of Duran, Alexis Arguello, Leonard, Carlos Palomino, Pipino Cuevas and Rosario were roaming the divisions where thy fougtht at.

I can tell you , however, that had they been in their prime during the Leroy Haley, Saoul Mamby and Bruce Curry WBC Junior Welterweight title era, they might have become world champions in the WBC. Aaron Pryor would have been been another matter entirely, but they could have been WBC world champions. i believe that.

 

Thanks for the thorough reply. I’m just going to assume you’re close family with Ricky Martin, Dean Martin and Steve Martin, haha!

 

LOL Ricky is my cousin thats why Im a big Menudo fan!!!

 

They were both very good from what I’ve seen and could have both been world champions in different circumstances.
They’re often disregarded when it comes to the question ‘who Did Duran fight at lightweight’. Edwin especially gave Duran a good fight. They’d both have a good chance of being champions today

 

If Edwin and Adolfo were cousins instead of brothers, they could have starred in a Puerto Rican version of The Patty Duke Show, @AntonioMartin1.

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