Carlos Monzon: - In may 1973 Monzon was in Rome to fight Roy Dale. Just hours before the fight Monzon got news his closest brother had been murdered back in Argentina. The promoters offered to suspend the fight, but Monzon decided to go ahead all the same and won by KO. - Before fighting Emile Griffith by the 2nd time in Monaco, Monzon had some "quality time" with Princess Caroline and consequently walked into the ring so exhausted that he almost gave up in the late rounds, but eventually he went to win the fight by UD. - Monzon got married when he was 19 and his first wife was just 15. But it was not a happy marriage: Monzon was a serial womanizer and that brought a lot of domestic fights. In 1973, during one of those fights, his wife grabbed a pistol and shot Monzon twice, in the right arm and left shoulder. The bullet in his shoulder wasn't extracted and Monzon continued fighting for years and died with the bullet still inside him. Victor Galindez: - Victor was very close with Ringo Bonavena, who was murdered in may 1976, the very same day Galindez was fighting in South Africa versus Richie Kates. Galindez's team somehow managed to keep Galindez unaware of the tragic news. Galindez went to beat Kates in a brutal 15 round war, but his joy became sorrow when just after the fight was over he knew Bonavena, his intimate friend, had been murdered. - The Galindez - Kates bout was a savage war. In the 3rd round Kates headbutted Galindez and cut badly his right eyebrow with massive bleeding. The fight was supposed to be stopped, but Galindez's manager tricked the referee and the medical overseer into allowing "just one more round" and somehow Galindez managed to keep going, knocking Kates out in the 15th round with 10 seconds left. - The war with Kates was so savage that the referee's shirt was smeared with blood everywhere. Afterwwards, the referee, Stanley Christodoulou, donated the shirt to the Johannesburg's Sport Museum, where the shirt is currently on display.
Reportedly, he told his team after the quick KO, "Now we can catch an earlier flight to the funeral." Monzon reportedly had a lot of trouble making weight for the Griffith rematch. Then again, maybe his time w/ Caroline was his method for shedding a few extra ounces. He also refused to seek medical treatment for about a week afterward, until a concerned friend forced his way into his residence & took him to the hospital. Even though he continued to defend his title for a number of years afterward, I don't think he ever 100% recovered his pre-gunshot form. Galindez-Kates I is probably my favorite fight ever, or at least a candidate for it. Prior to the fight, the sanctioning body implemented some newfangled rule that prohibited refs from ending fights due to accidental fouls. When an accidental foul (headbutt) caused a horrific gash on Galindez's forehead, nobody knew how to properly apply the rule & it resulted in several minutes of chaos w/ people flooding into the ring, assuming the fight had been stopped. Eventually, after a lengthy delay, it was decided that the new rule prohibited Galindez from being stopped on a TKO, & he was allowed to proceed on while looking like a human tampon. I didn't know about Christodoulou's shirt being donated to a museum, that's quite fascinating (& hilarious).
There you go the infamous blood smeared shirt, althought the fighter besides Christodoulou is the south african Peter Mathebula, who was flightweight WBA champion in the 80s. This content is protected
I never heard that about princess Caroline. She would have been barely 16 at the time. I would have thought bodyguards would have been all around her.
Isn't she the pink cat from bojack Horseman? On another note I can understand why he risked his title to get down and dirty with her. I'm sure some have us took some serious risks for birds less beautiful.
