What was Carlos Monzons best skill as a boxer?

Ranging a guy out

 

Stamina is not thought of as a skill bit that would be my pick.

 

And that was probably on a couple packs of cigs a day, cig breaks breaks during road work, lol .... Monzon was cut from a different cloth

 

Jab and distance control. Otherwise, he was a slow and flat-footed boxer.

 

Taking control of the pace of a fight,his opponents nearly always found him in control.

 

Was anyone ever impressed upon their first viewing of Monzon?

I know I wasn’t that was my deficiency in not properly appreciating and understanding the sum package applied over the long haul.
Once you get it he really was very good to watch.


One always look for at least decent hand speed in their ATGs so Monzon might disappoint in that regard but I think he looked a bit slower than he actually was.

Most that can be said has been said here but I’ll just say that his hands were always busy, no let up. Also, it seemed he was one of those guys whose each and every punch was specifically purposed and uniformly hard. He made an absolute mess out for poor Rodrigo Valdez’ face.

I love watching training footage of a fighters when it’s available. You can glean a lot from the varied applications.

Did I say Monzon could punch? Jesus, go to 6.08 for King Carlos hitting the heavy bag. Not looking so slow, plenty of snap in those punches and consistently stunning power for a MW. Edit: oops, I meant to say go to 6.08 for the session on the heavy bag.

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Controlling the distance / distance judgment. He was one of the best ever at one of the most important aspects in all of Boxing.

 

The keyword that everyone always describes Monzon as a fighter is "control". He always seems to know what he's doing from the get go and keeps the fight at his pace. As others have said some of his greatest assets were his control in range, judgement, discipline, never losing his cool, had a hard chin, great stamina, and also good power to go along with his tall lanky physique. He also had excellent timing as well.
Monzon is a fighter that isn't spectacular to watch at first glance but there's just so many subtle nuances that makes you really appreciate him. Incredible fighter.

 

With Monzon he will always have his critics, who will say he slow, flat footed, not particularly technical and will credit his dominance for his left jab, his powerful right hand and his intelligence in the ring.

But as with all great champions they have attributes and intangibles that can’t really be measured. But when you put together all of his attributes stamina, intelligence, power, rage, solid jaw, distance control, solid infighting, good counter punching, lack of fear, calmness, his accuracy and the ability not to waste punches, his relentlessness to put someone under pressure keep them there and take them mentally places that you don’t want to be, all comes together and paints a picture of born fighter, assassin and possibly the best middleweight of all time.

Both inside and outside of the ring he was an enigma, but he out of all the elite level fighter is possibly the hardest to explain exactly why he was as good as he was.

 

Throwing that right hand.

 

Took me a few fights, I thought he was a bit pedestrian and predictable,then I cottoned on to how he controlled his opponents behind his jab and would rip punches into the stomach and heart area when close, always looking to drop that right hand over an opponents left lead.Not conventionally fan friendly but extremely effective.Great fighter, nasty piece of work as a human being.

 

Bennie was on his ass in their championship fight. Briscoe was bringing it. Power, pressure and North Broad street were present. Monzon was a step ahead of him the entire fight. It was impressive but it was all skill.

 

You could look up my post on the General Forum titled " Monzon " will give you a brief insight to his fighting style and mental toughness. keep well.

 

is not that called ring generalship

 

Thanks. That’s an excellent summary. You’re right about the person outside the ring, ironic for all the control and discipline he showed inside the ropes.

Of what I’ve seen, aside from Valdez’ smack
bang on the chin right hand which Monzon inexplicably rose from in a matter of seconds without too much overriding damage, the most I’ve seen him hurt was against Briscoe when he truly rocked but remained upright. Even then, Monzon was in control, holding on to Bennie and clearly looking at the clock to see how much time was left in the rd. A very cool pro.

LOL, I remember reading that Monzon said Bennie Briscoe’s head was the hardest thing he ever hit. Puncher Valdez managed to crack that head and put Bennie out but what did a near perfect right get him against 35 yo, heavy smoking, party boy Monzon? Just a few seconds on the deck. Some set of whiskers there.