Alexis Arguello, ‘The Explosive Thin Man’, is arguably the greatest super featherweight of all time.
So imagine my excitement when I got to share a bill with him in my second pro fight.
Arguello was attempting to become one of the few to win a title in a third division when he challenged Jim Watt for the WBC lightweight title at Wembley Pool Arena in June 1981.
I had to rush in and out of the dressing room to ringside still in my boots so that I didn’t miss him.
I had sparred with Jim. Watt was a tremendous boxer and brave with it, but he was well beaten over 15 punishing rounds.
(Image: Sunday Mail)
Afterwards Jim said famously: “I have a car business and if I had to do an estimate on my face, I would probably write it off.”
From humble beginnings in Nicaragua Arguello fought out of Miami after being exiled by the brutal Sandinista regime.
Tall for the lighter divisions, he stood 5ft 10ins. There was no weight on his legs but he had a great pair of shoulders. He threw long, hooking shots off a straight jab and ramrod right hand.
After losing his first crack at the WBA featherweight crown in February 1974 against Ernesto Marcel, he floored the great Ruben Olivares nine months later to win it.
It was a spectacular fight and brutal finish. Olivares rocked Arguello in the 12th and thought he had him. Arguello held on to batter a spent Olivares in the 13th.
He went on to knock out great champions like Alfredo Escalera, Bobby Chacon, Rafael Bazooka Limon, Ronaldo Navarrete and Ray Mancini, all of whom would win titles afterwards.
(Image: Allsport)
He then took on “The Hawk” Aaron Pryor for the WBA super-lightweight title in November 1982 at the Orange Bowl in Miami attempting to become the first to win titles in four divisions.
There were 60,000 fans to witness what would be voted Ring Magazine’s fight of the decade.
Arguello lost the first half of the fight but was coming on strong and by rounds 12 and 13 had the upper hand.
Pryor’s trainer, the disgraced Panama Lewis, was heard to say: “Give me the other bottle, the one I mixed.” Pryor was a different fighter in the 14th forcing the referee to stop the fight.
During the 2008 documentary ‘Assault in the Ring’, former Lewis fighter Luis Resto revealed how Lewis would routinely doctor water bottles with illegal substances to give fighters a boost
There is no doubt in my mind Pryor was chemically enhanced. Arguello was never the same after that and retired in 1986 after losing a second time to Pryor.
There was a brief comeback in the mid 90s before he went into politics. His life would end tragically. Nine months after becoming mayor of Managua in 2008, Arguello shot himself through the heart.
Follow Barry on Twitter at @ClonesCyclone, @McGuigans_Gym and @CyclonePromo
