Earlier today, former boxer Alexis Arguello one of my personal favorite boxers of all-time died at the age of 57 of an apparent suicide.
For those of you who don't know who Arguello is, I'll give you some background information.
Arguello was a champion in three different weight classes back in the days of boxing when having a title actually meant something, and had a career record of 82-8 with 65 wins coming by knockout.
Among some of his more famous bouts including victories over the likes of Ray Mancini, Kevin Rooney.
His most famous encounter was against Aaron Pryor, himself a great fighter who never realized his full potential due to cocaine addiction.
His TKO loss against Aaron Pryor the first time they fought at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida was one of the greatest fights I've ever seen, and I highly recommend watching it to see these two all-time greats go at it.
Had Arguello won that match against Pryor in Miami there's no question that Arguello would be talked about in the same light as we view Arguello in the same light as Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Ray Mayweather Jr. for the greatest lightweight boxers of all-time.
After retiring from boxing Arguello became involved in politics in his home country of Nicaragua where he is viewed as a legend, as he is perhaps the greatest athlete to ever come from that country.
I don't know what drove Arguello to commit suicide, and I hope more info comes out to avoid a situation like this in the future, but it's a sad day in boxing, as one of the greatest boxers of all time to come from south of the border has passed away.
-- Edited by pmoehrin on Wednesday 1st of July 2009 10:36:28 PM
