Alexis Arguello

[fsteddi]

ALEXIS ARGUELLO
Ranked no 20 on the 100 Greatest Punchers of All-Time - Ring Magazine
Alexis Arguello fought his first pro fight in 1968
His first try at the Featherweight Championship in Feb 1974 ended in a loss to Ernesto Marcel, after which Marcel retired, In Nov of 1974 he won the WBA Featherweight by defeating Ruben Olivares, he defended the Featherweight title 4 times and in 1977 he started campaining as a Super Featherweight and won the WBC Super Featherweight title in Jan 1978 with a 13 round TKO over Alfredo Escalera which he defended 8 times in 1980 he moved up to Lightweight and in June 1981 captured the Lightweight title from Jim Watt, and after 4 title defenses in 1982 he moved to Light Welterweight, in Nov of 1982 he challenged Aaron Pryor for the Light Welterweight, but was stopped in the 14th round in a very close fight, In Sept 1983 in a return match with Pryor he was stopped in the 10th round ( Pryor was ahead on all scorecards at time of stoppage)
The thinking man's warrior, whose instincts, ring generalship, explosive power, and relentless pursuit led him to three titles.
Arguello's arsenal was stocked: tall at 5'10" and with a hard-jabbing 72" reach, a sound chin, his left hook was at once sharp and heavy, his uppercut to the pit of the belly wind-robbing and, by design, usually one of the last blows of the fight. But more often than anything, the end came from the right cross. Many times it exploded without warning, swift and straight, on impact rendering its target spastic, incoherent. Everyone knew that to beat Arguello, you had to avoid those punches. To survive him, you had to avoid the right hand.

Technically, Arguello was near flawless offensive fighter; the cross, the jab were always thrown straight from the shoulder, the hook was short and precise. He was a superb bodypuncher and was always cool. Everything was by the book. On the downside, he was slow of both hand and foot and didn't spend much time on defense. And especially later in his career, he was prone to cuts and swelling

[KSTAT124]

Here are links to his bio on the International Boxing Hall of Fame's website:

http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/induct ... uello.html

and his full record as per BoxRec:

http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?hu ... &cat=boxer

The IBHOF's write-up states Arguello met 14 world champions. Actually he fought 16, beating 14:

1. Jose Legra (2-time WBC 126) W KO-1
2. Ernesto Marcel (WBA 126) L UD 15 (for WBA featherweight title)
3. Ruben Olivares (2-time WBA/WBC 118; WBA 126; WBC 126) W KO-13 (won WBA featherweight title)
4. Rigoberto Riasco (WBC 122) W TKO-2 (in defense of WBA featherweight title)
5. Royal Kobayashi (WBC 122) W KO-5 (in defense of WBA featherweight title)
6. Alfredo Escalera (WBC 130) W TKO-13 (won WBC junior lightweight title); W KO-13 (in defense of WBC junior lightweight title)
7. Rafael "Bazooka" Limon (2-time WBC 130) W TKO-11 (in defense of WBC junior lightweight title)
8. Bobby Chacon (WBC 126; WBC 130) W TKO-7 (in defense of WBC junior lightweight title)
9. Rolando Navarrete (WBC 130) W TKO-5 (in defense of WBC junior lightweight title)
10. Cornelius Boza-Edwards (WBC 130) W TKO-8
11. Jose Luis Ramirez (2-time WBC 135) W SD 10
12. Jim Watt (WBC 135) W UD 15 (won WBC lightweight title)
13. Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini (WBA 135) W TKO-14 (in defense of WBC lightweight title)
14. Aaron Pryor (WBA 140; IBF 140) L TKO-14, L KO-10 (both for WBA junior welterweight title)
15. Claude Noel (WBA 135) W TKO-3
16. Billy Costello (WBC 140) W TKO-4

Against those 16 fellow champions, Arguello was 15-3 with 13 wins by KO.

That does not include his win over Andrew Ganigan in defense of the WBC lightweight title. Ganigan held the WAA lightweight championship. While the WAA turned out to be a farce, its first title bout was viewed with a degree of legitimacy. Sean O'Grady had won the WBA title from Hilmer Kenty but was stripped of that title for refusing to make his first defense against Claude Noel. O'Grady's father, Pat, and boxing writer/biographer Champ Thomas formed the World Athletic Association and recognized Sean as its lightweight champion. In his first defense, televised nationally by CBS, O'Grady faced Ganigan, who was subbing for an ailing Howard Davis, Jr. Ganigan knocked O'Grady down three times in the second round, winning by KO-2. Rather than defend the WAA title, Ganigan challenged Arguello for the WBC belt. He had Alexis down in the first round but was gradually worn down and finally kayoed in round five.

[fsteddi]

A classy operator
Arguello was always a gentleman, recalls Jim Watt

Boxing has lost a true gentleman in the shape of Alexis Arguello this week.

Of course he was the man who took my world title off me back in 1981 but the first thing I will always remember about him was what a classy operator he was - in and out of the ring.

Back then trash-talking seemed to be the order of the day and in my previous two fights I'd had both Charlie Nash and Howard Davis Jr telling me and the world what they were going to do to me. All that was, and is stupid, rubbish, and I hated it.



Then over came Alexis from Nicaragua and the first thing he did was shake my hand, say how pleased he was to meet me and then pose for photos. The way he conducted himself then will always be my abiding memory of him.

We bumped into each other plenty of times over in Las Vegas, where we were both doing commentary work, and we always exchanged pleasantries. We didn't really get to know each other very well, but it was always a pleasure to see him. I saw him not long ago in Los Angeles for the Oscar de la Hoya-Stevie Forbes fight and he was just the same. We had a good chat and it was nice to catch up.

But it was not really that nice fighting him! He had just moved up from super-featherweight and was my mandatory challenger - back then you just fought the best around, simple as that - but he was still incredibly tall for a lightweight. How he had made featherweight, I'll never know!
Precise

That meant he was exceptionally good at long range. And even at distance he could put plenty of power into his shots. He was also a very precise puncher and rarely wasted them. He would wait until he was right in front of you to let them go and of course, was out of my range most of the night.

It made it an uphill struggle for me and from the halfway point I realised that my world title was going to be taken away from me - and there was little I could do about it.

Taking my WBC belt meant that Alexis became a world champion at three different weights which, unlike now, was almost unheard of. I think he was only the sixth man to do it and you have to bare in mind that back then there were only two titles to go for.

There were none of the back-door routes and various organisations open to today's boxers and I can't begin to think how many titles Arguello would've ended up with today!

He was a huge name in the sport and always will be, but he never really had the same crossover appeal as the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns or Marvin Hagler.

Even on Wednesday when I heard the news, I was listening to the radio reporting the sad death of Mollie Sugden and then wondered whether Alexis would get a mention. He didn't, but everyone in boxing knows what he meant to the sport.

Vacated

I do remember he was set up for a fight with Roberto Duran, but blew it by losing to Vilomar Fernandez. I don't think he would have beaten Duran, but even fighting him would've made Alexis a much bigger name.

But the fact is he never lost a world title in the ring. He always moved up and vacated or lost when his title wasn't on the line, yet he will probably be best remembered for those two light-welterweight title fights with Aaron Pryor.

I wouldn't like to comment on the bottle incident in the first, but it was a helluva fight. Alexis lost the rematch of course, but there was no shame in that because Pryor was a very good fighter with an incredible engine.

Alexis tried to make a comeback eight years later and that was really the start of his problems. They were no secret and I think I am right in saying he was taken to hospital after attempting to commit suicide a few years back.

But I will always remember him as a gentleman. As we all did then, he took on the best around and was one of the first to win world titles at three different weights - and did so with class.

It is another sad loss to the world of boxing..

[mrknow]

great fighter fast powerful slick good all round boxer

[fsteddi]

great fighter fast powerful slick good all round boxer

ALEXIS ARGUELLO
Ranked no 20 on the 100 Greatest Punchers of All-Time - Ring Magazine
Alexis Arguello fought his first pro fight in 1968
His first try at the Featherweight Championship in Feb 1974 ended in a loss to Ernesto Marcel, after which Marcel retired, In Nov of 1974 he won the WBA Featherweight by defeating Ruben Olivares, he defended the Featherweight title 4 times and in 1977 he started campaining as a Super Featherweight and won the WBC Super Featherweight title in Jan 1978 with a 13 round TKO over Alfredo Escalera which he defended 8 times in 1980 he moved up to Lightweight and in June 1981 captured the Lightweight title from Jim Watt, and after 4 title defenses in 1982 he moved to Light Welterweight, in Nov of 1982 he challenged Aaron Pryor for the Light Welterweight, but was stopped in the 14th round in a very close fight, In Sept 1983 in a return match with Pryor he was stopped in the 10th round ( Pryor was ahead on all scorecards at time of stoppage)
The thinking man's warrior, whose instincts, ring generalship, explosive power, and relentless pursuit led him to three titles.
Arguello's arsenal was stocked: tall at 5'10" and with a hard-jabbing 72" reach, a sound chin, his left hook was at once sharp and heavy, his uppercut to the pit of the belly wind-robbing and, by design, usually one of the last blows of the fight. But more often than anything, the end came from the right cross. Many times it exploded without warning, swift and straight, on impact rendering its target spastic, incoherent. Everyone knew that to beat Arguello, you had to avoid those punches. To survive him, you had to avoid the right hand.

Technically, Arguello was near flawless offensive fighter; the cross, the jab were always thrown straight from the shoulder, the hook was short and precise. He was a superb bodypuncher and was always cool. Everything was by the book. On the downside, he was slow of both hand and foot and didn't spend much time on defense. And especially later in his career, he was prone to cuts and swelling