ONE OF THE MOST skilled boxers of any era, Alexis Arguello held titles in three different weight classes (lightweight, junior lightweight and featherweight) and almost captured the welterweight crown. He later entered politics, becoming mayor of his hometown Managua, Nicaragua in 2008.
He was found dead in his home Wednesday, gunshot wound to the chest, apparently self-inflicted...
Back in the revolutionary 1970s, he had most of his property seized by the Sandinistas. Yet when Arguello ran for mayor of Managua last year, he had that party's support in the election, which he won amid charges the vote count had been rigged.
Arguello was far better known in the States for his epic fights against the likes of Ray Mancini, Aaron Pryor, etc. Standing 5'10" but weighing in at only about 130 pounds, Arguello forged a career record of 82-8 and was nicknamed El Flaco Explosivo, which seems to lose something in the too-literal translation: The Explosive Thin Man. In 1978, a boxing magazine proclaimed: “Alexis Arguello is regarded by some people as the perfect fighter. He is thought to be--pound for pound, inch-for-inch and punch for punch--the best puglist in the world...a fighter without a flaw.”
N.Y. Times obit here: Alexis Argüello, 57, Boxer and Politician, Dies
2 comments:
One of my fave boxers. Met him a few years ago, nice guy dam shame
Jim, he was someone i always rooted for growing up. One tough hombre.
Post a Comment