RIP Alexis Arguello

[JazMerkin]

DeanRW has posted this in another thread, but I thought we should have somewhere to pay our respects to a true ATG of the sport and arguably the best fighter to ever weigh in at 130lbs.

A 3 weight World Champ at Featherweight, Super-Featherweight & Lightweight, Arguello began his pro career at just 14 losing his first fight, but would develope into a truly awesome boxer-puncher. Despite losing his first tilt at a Featherweight title against Marcel, he would finally get the belt in an excellent fight with Ruben Olivares KOing the Champ brutally with a left hook. His gruelling fight with Alfredo Escalera for the Super-Featherweight belt was even better, a fantastic back & forth punch-up. An incredibly tough man he went through surgery on his nose without anasthethic following the Escalera rematch which he also won & would have excellent close fights with Bobby Chacon & Ruben Castillo before moving up & beating the likes of Cornelius Boza-Edwards at 135. He would take the LW belt in London following a dominating victory over Jim Watt, which he followed up with a big victory over Boom Boom Mancini. At this point many felt he was the Pound for Pound #1 boxer in the world & he no doubt could have added another divisional belt at 140 to his resume had he not had the misfortune to face Aaron Pryor.

Although like many, money troubles would force him out of retirement, his legacy was secure. He was to Nicaragua, immensley troubled at the time, what Roberto Duran was to Panama or what Manny Pacquiao is to the Phillipines. An undisputed Hall of Famer & although I wasn't alive when he fought, he remains one of my favourite fighters to watch. Just last year he solidified his status as the man of the people by winning the Mayorship of the capital & his home city, Managua. Seven words spoken by the Presidential spokesman today summed up why he was so loved by the people of Nicaragua and why he will forever be their hero. "He was the Champion of the poor".

RIP Champ

[skel1983]

RIP

Great fighter.

[HattonTheHammer]

Arguellos dead?

OMFG

How the hell did it happen?? Feel sick


RIP

[JT Rock]

RIP Champ

[CGM]

Oh man, this is bad news, as boxers and men go, he was right up at the top of my list. This one hurts like few others would.

R.I.P.

[BIG H]

RIP to an absolute legend!!!!

[Howlin Mad Missy]

won 82 (KO 65) + lost 8 (KO 4)
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Managua Mayor Alexis Arguello, a three-time world boxing champion, was found dead at his home Wednesday, his Sandinista Party's Radio Ya said.
Radio Ya said coroners were conducting an autopsy on the 57-year-old mayor to determine the cause of death, but it appeared to be a suicide. The La Prensa newspaper reported he was found with a gunshot wound to the chest.
The Hall of Fame boxer was the top fighter of the 20th century in his weight class, according to a panel of experts assembled by The Associated Press in 1999.
The death of Arguello prompted President Daniel Ortega to announced he was canceling a trip to Panama for the inauguration of President-elect Ricardo Martinelli.
Arguello fought against the Sandinista government in the 1980s after it seized his property and bank account, according to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
But he joined the party to win the mayorship of the capital in 2008, though opponents alleged the vote was fraudulent.
"We are upset," said presidential spokeswoman, Rosario Murillo, who declined to give details about the death. "This is a heartbreaking announcement. He was the champion of the poor, an example of forgiveness and reconciliation."
Born in 1952, the Hall of Fame boxer fought 14 world champions and in 1981 he became the sixth man in boxing history to win a title in three weight divisions — featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight — according to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Arguello returned Sunday from Puerto Rico where he honored the late baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.

He was on many people's list of ATG's. Sorry to see someone loved round the world bow out by their own hand. Damn shame.

[JazMerkin]

won 82 (KO 65) + lost 8 (KO 4)

He was on many people's list of ATG's. Sorry to see someone loved round the world bow out by their own hand. Damn shame.

It is such a shame, and he was such a decent man with no equivocations. I remember Mick posting an article up though showing that he suffered deeply from depression, he'd had a horrible life from watching his father kill himself when he was young & it says a lot about the man he was that he was so giving to others, a little too much so whilst he was a boxer. For most Nicaraguans he was THEIR icon, the man who'd fought out of poverty, in contrast to the baseball players who largely come from more middle-class backgrounds. The working-class hero stuff gets overplayed here & in the US, but in places like Nicaragua it really does matter.

[johnmaff36]

RIP Champ

Think your a little confused mate. Arguello was about 5 or 6 stone off heavyweight. but your right, he was a great fighter. A fantastic right hand. R.I.P. champ

[Althugz]

RIP Champ

Think your a little confused mate. Arguello was about 5 or 6 stone off heavyweight. but your right, he was a great fighter. A fantastic right hand. R.I.P. champ

That was JT's signature, not his post. His signature mentions Evander Holyfield.

[Andre]

Terrible,accident or not, good luck Champ.
Out of the ring, out of the circle of life, out into the spheres of eternity.
Condolences for those that are left.

[JT Rock]

RIP Champ

Think your a little confused mate. Arguello was about 5 or 6 stone off heavyweight. but your right, he was a great fighter. A fantastic right hand. R.I.P. champ

That was JT's signature, not his post. His signature mentions Evander Holyfield.

Correct

[LEGION]