RIP Alexis Arguello, 1952-2009
Posted by Tommy Hackett on July 4th, 2009
This week’s news of the passing of four-division champion Alexis Arguello has hit the boxing world hard. For those who missed it, the Hall of Famer’s body was found early morning Wednesday in his hometown of Managua, Nicaragua. Reports from Associated Press describe the cause of death as a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the heart.
Eulogies have poured in from around the world. Barry McGuigan published one of the best today, “Let The Bells Ring in Honour of Alexis Arguello,” for Britain’s The Mirror. A former world champion in his own right, McGuigan describes “El Flaco Explosivo” (The Explosive Thin Man) as “the kind of fighter that I aspired to be but never quite made it…”
On the other side of the world, current pound-for-pound entrant Nonito Donaire of the Philippines describes his admiration for Arguello in this ESPN piece, both in and out of the ring. He intends to dedicate his title fight next month to Arguello’s memory.
You may have seen Arguello lauded not only for the precise punching which earned him 65 career knockouts, but for his charitable work in Latin America in Oscar De La Hoya’s “Oscar Night at the Fights” special on ESPN Classic. Arguello was in fact serving as mayor of Managua at the time of his death.
You may have seen the HBO Legendary Nights series (available online here) which chronicled Arguello’s classic bouts with Aaron Pryor. In addition to a long ring career, Arguello once fought in Nicaragua’s bloody civil wars of the 1980’s.
What you may not have known, and what is chronicled in this classic bit of sports writing from Gary Smith, is that the fights that raged inside Arguello were perhaps as brutal as either conflict.
Comparisons have been made in online blogs comparing Arguello to Donaire’s countryman Manny Pacquaio, who is rumored to be leaving boxing behind to pursue his country’s highest office next year. It’s at once flattering and painful. Pacquiao is a similar virtuoso of the ring and a great hero to a struggling country. He also looks to enter an ugly political world laden with corruption, with little in the way of education and much in the way of hangers-on.
I hope he reconsiders.
But hopefully, the comparisons between the two will end in the ring, which is where I prefer to remember Arguello. He may have eventually lost the battle to his demons, but in film he remains a great champion whose fighting spirit and precise technical style will never be forgotten. Descanse en paz, Flaco Explosivo.