Forgotten Superstars-Carlos Monzon

We return to the Forgotten Superstars universe with the man, who in my opinion, is the greatest Middleweight of all time.
Sugar Ray Robinson? Nope, not at Middleweight anyway.
The Welterweight Robinson might have been the greatest fighting machine ever, but the 160-pound version lost to Gene Fullmer, Randy Turpin, and Carmen Basilio.
A great fighter, most definitely, but not the best.

Marvin Hagler? Nope.
Hagler was great, but he seemed to be intimidated against fighters that exuded greatness like Roberto Duran and Ray Leonard and I think against this man, he would be no different.

Bernard Hopkins? Not quite.
Hopkins has kept his skills far longer than most, but despite his long reign, name me one great fighter that he beat at 160?
Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya were natural welters and his record shows good, not great fighters and not one true great win over a natural middleweight...

So, who does that leave?
I bet that one person (if he is reading this) knows the answer and vehemently disagrees and the rest of you are wondering who Carlos Monzon is.
Carlos Monzon is my pick for the greatest middleweight of all time.
"Escopeta" (Spanish for Shotgun) Monzon cleaned out an entire division during a seven-year reign that saw him defeat Hall of Famers Nino Benvenuti (twice) and Emile Griffith (twice), Hall of Famer, and the reigning Welterweight champion Jose Napoles, Bennie Briscoe, who we mentioned as maybe the best fighter never to win a title and the excellent Rodrigo Valdes to unify the part of the title that had been stripped from Monzon for taking a bigger money bout against Napoles and then beat Valdes again in a rematch.
Seven other contenders fell at the hands of the cocky Argentine.
Check this YouTube complete with a really cool Johnny Cash song over the Monzon pics...



Monzon looks ordinary upon first glance in his youtube appearances until you look closer.
Using the long left to set up his crunching right, Monzon is never out of balance and rarely fights the other fighter's fight, yet evolves to counter the strategy of the opponent.
Box him and stay on the outside and the long left pops you until the right is set up for the kill.
Charge him and try to bully him on the inside and fight yourself hammered with the harder shots until inevitably you are the bullied and backed away for one's own safety.
The 6-2 Monzon was able to use his height and power to lean away from punches and avoid heavy shots and never took the beatings that so many boxers took.



Why was this man, who along with Roberto Duran were the fighters of the '70s not as well known in America?
Well, only one of his title defenses was in the USA, a tenth round KO of Tony Licata at Madison Square Garden in 1975, and as the Klitschko brothers are showing now, it is tough for Americans to care about fighters that don't fight on these shores very often, despite most of Monzon's bouts being shown on American television.

Carlos Monzon also earns credit for leaving on top of his game after his rematch win over Rodrigo Valdes that saw Monzon dropped in round two in what was the only knockdown of his reign.
Monzon got up and won a clear decision, but retired after that win saying that he saw his skills beginning to slip.
Monzon would never fight again and the result was just missing by a year or so a potential bout against Marvin Hagler.

Monzon was a character out of the ring as well and often not an amusing one.
Monzon was known for his chain-smoking, which made his amazing stamina even more amazing, his dating of famous actresses in his home country, his abuse of women, working as a pimp before becoming a contender and his murder of his second wife by throwing her over the balcony at their condo.
Monzon was sentenced in 1988 to eleven years in prison, but after a weekend furlough in 1995, Monzon overturned his car on the way back to prison and was killed.

No matter the outside issues and keeping things in the ring-Carlos Monzon was truly a Forgotten Champion and the best Middleweight ever.....

Bullpen Notes

A quick nod to Tom Noe over at Exploring Food My Way as Tom finally hits White House chicken to finish his Barberton Chicken experience.
A great article and Tom makes his final call on his best Barberton Chicken restaurant.

So what game at Wrigley Field did Ferris Bueller actually see on his day off?
Baseball Prospectus does the digging and figures out the answers.
That's right-answerS.
Check the link to find out more about the filming of this 80's classic...