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By Thomas Gerbasi - A stranger in a foreign country, fighting in the world’s greatest arena. An icon on the verge of stardom. A champion in the eyes of the world, but not particular sanctioning bodies.
Sounds like the story of middleweight champion Sergio Martinez as he heads into Saturday night’s title fight against Matthew Macklin. And it is. But he’s not the first man from his homeland of Argentina to live it. Nearly 37 years ago, it was middleweight great Carlos Monzon doing the same thing in Madison Square Garden, making his debut in the Mecca of boxing against Tony Licata on June 30, 1975.
At the time, anyone who knew anything about boxing knew that Monzon was the king of the 160-pound weight class. Well, everyone except the WBC, which stripped the Argentinean of his crown, leaving Colombia’s Rodrigo Valdez and Philadelphia’s Bennie Briscoe to battle for the vacant title in 1974.
Valdez stopped “Bad Bennie” in seven rounds, and Monzon went about his business, knocking out Tony Mundine before making his lone United States appearance against Licata. He would stop his game foe in the tenth round, and eventually take care of matters with Valdez with two hard-fought 15 round decisions that capped his career.
A month after the second win over Valdez in July of 1997, Monzon retired at the age of 35, leaving a fistic legacy few could hope to match. [Click Here To Read More]
Sounds like the story of middleweight champion Sergio Martinez as he heads into Saturday night’s title fight against Matthew Macklin. And it is. But he’s not the first man from his homeland of Argentina to live it. Nearly 37 years ago, it was middleweight great Carlos Monzon doing the same thing in Madison Square Garden, making his debut in the Mecca of boxing against Tony Licata on June 30, 1975.
At the time, anyone who knew anything about boxing knew that Monzon was the king of the 160-pound weight class. Well, everyone except the WBC, which stripped the Argentinean of his crown, leaving Colombia’s Rodrigo Valdez and Philadelphia’s Bennie Briscoe to battle for the vacant title in 1974.
Valdez stopped “Bad Bennie” in seven rounds, and Monzon went about his business, knocking out Tony Mundine before making his lone United States appearance against Licata. He would stop his game foe in the tenth round, and eventually take care of matters with Valdez with two hard-fought 15 round decisions that capped his career.
A month after the second win over Valdez in July of 1997, Monzon retired at the age of 35, leaving a fistic legacy few could hope to match. [Click Here To Read More]
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