K.O.W. - In the Carlos Mon-Zone
One of the great middleweights (if not THE greatest middleweight) of all time, Carlos Monzon died in a car accident on this day in 1995. Fifty-two years old, he was returning from furlough to prison in Argentina, where since 1989 he had been serving a sentence for killing his wife, Alicia Muniz.
Monzon's life was glamorous, violent and ultimately tainted by pure evil. More handsome than any boxer has a right to be (Gael Garcia Bernal should definitely be Will Smith to Monzon's Ali), he was brutal to his opponents and just as brutal to everyone else, known for beating his friends and his wives and the gaggle of impossibly gorgeous girlfriends that followed him wherever he went. It was one of these beatings that caused the death of his second wife, Muniz, and landed Monzon in jail.
But as is so often the case in this savage sport, what was disgraceful out of the ring was pure genius inside it. As a fighter, Monzon was the living embodiment of the killer instinct in action. For this installment of the No Mas Knockout of the Week, we take you back to his crushing 12th-round knockout of Nino Benevenuti in Rome on November 7, 1970. It was the Ring Magazine Fight of the Year, and it earned Monzon the middleweight crown, an honor he would never relinquish, retiring seven years later after 14 successful title defenses.
You definitely want to watch this one. A pinpoint right straight down the pike does the deed, puts the Italian down as if he's been shot. Benevenuti staggers to his feet as the ref is counting him out, and then, as Monzon celebrates in the center of the ring, the vanquished Italian does a Frankenstein-walk toward the ropes where he collapses in the arms of his handlers. Goodnight Irene.
Monzon's life was glamorous, violent and ultimately tainted by pure evil. More handsome than any boxer has a right to be (Gael Garcia Bernal should definitely be Will Smith to Monzon's Ali), he was brutal to his opponents and just as brutal to everyone else, known for beating his friends and his wives and the gaggle of impossibly gorgeous girlfriends that followed him wherever he went. It was one of these beatings that caused the death of his second wife, Muniz, and landed Monzon in jail.
But as is so often the case in this savage sport, what was disgraceful out of the ring was pure genius inside it. As a fighter, Monzon was the living embodiment of the killer instinct in action. For this installment of the No Mas Knockout of the Week, we take you back to his crushing 12th-round knockout of Nino Benevenuti in Rome on November 7, 1970. It was the Ring Magazine Fight of the Year, and it earned Monzon the middleweight crown, an honor he would never relinquish, retiring seven years later after 14 successful title defenses.
You definitely want to watch this one. A pinpoint right straight down the pike does the deed, puts the Italian down as if he's been shot. Benevenuti staggers to his feet as the ref is counting him out, and then, as Monzon celebrates in the center of the ring, the vanquished Italian does a Frankenstein-walk toward the ropes where he collapses in the arms of his handlers. Goodnight Irene.
2 Comments:
What gets me is the walk-up before the final blow. That is, to risk being tasteless, a killer's walk.
No doubt E-Zark. That is definitely some "prepare to die" shit right there. All slow and deliberate and then he uncoils SK-BAM. Man was straight-up evil from what they say, but I love to watch his fights.
Yo, one thing I just noticed - is that Cosell you hear beneath the Japanese dudes? I think so. Hard to believe that ABC carried that fight though. I actually have a copy of this fight that I dubbed from the ESPN library - it's got Italian commentary.
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