Carlos Roque Monzón, nicknamed Escopeta, was an Argentine professional boxer who held the

Carlos Roque Monzón, nicknamed Escopeta (Shotgun in Spanish), was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed world middleweight championship for 7 years. He successfully defended his title 14 times against 11 different fighters and is widely regarded as not only one of the best middleweights in history but also one of the greatest boxers of all time pound-for-pound. Known for his speed, punching power and relentless work rate, Monzon ended his career with a record of 87-3-9-1 with 59 knockouts, each one of his losses were early in his career and were avenged. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990, he was chosen by The Ring magazine in 2002 as the 11th greatest fighter of the last 80 years and voted him as the best middleweight title holder of the last 50 years in 2011. As of January 2018, Monzón holds the 2nd longest unified championship reign in middleweight history at 9 consecutive defenses. Monzón spent five and a half years in prison for killing his wife Alicia by throwing her off a balcony, and admitted that he had hit every single woman that he had dated.

Argentinians adored Monzón throughout his career. His glamorous and violent life was avidly followed both by the media and Argentine people. He was, however, accused many times of domestic violence by his two wives and many mistresses, and of beating paparazzi. Charged with killing his second wife Alicia Muñiz in 1988, the former champion was sentenced to 11 years in jail. He died in a January 1995 car crash while on his way back to jail after receiving a weekend furlough.

EARLY LIFE
Monzón was born in the city of San Javier, Argentina, to a family of Mocoví descent. His parents were Roque Monzón and Amalia Ledesma. Monzón was raised in poverty with his twelve siblings. When Monzón was six years old, his family moved to Barranquitas Oeste, a poor neighborhood of Santa Fe, the capital of Santa Fe Province. To help out his family, he quit school in the third grade, working different jobs, such as shoeshiner, paperboy and milkman. As a youngster, he showed an interest in boxing.

When he was sixteen, he met Zulema Encarnación Torres, with whom he had his first son, Carlos Alberto Monzón. Later, on 11 May 1962, he married Mercedes Beatriz García, nicknamed 'Pelusa'. They were so poor that they did not have enough money to buy the marriage license. They had three kids: Silvia Beatriz, Abel Ricardo and Carlos Raúl (who was adopted).

BOXING BEGINNINGS
Monzón had his first amateur fight on 2 October 1959. This first fight ended in a draw. Three years later, after a 73-6-8 amateur record, he became a professional. His first professional bout was held on 6 February 1963. He knocked out his opponent in the second round. In 1966, he won the Argentine middleweight title. In 1967, he won the South American middleweight title. After this success, Argentine boxing promoter Juan Carlos Lectoure pushed him into the international boxing scene by organizing fights with foreign boxers such as Douglas Huntley, Charles Austin, Johnny Brooks, Harold Richardson, Tommy Bethea, Bennie Briscoe (a ten-round tie) Manoel Severino and Eddy Pace.

World middleweight champion Nino Benvenuti had long had a distinguished career that included championships in 2 divisions and 2 wins in 3 bouts vs all-time great Emile Griffith. He had lost the year before to American Tom Bethea in Australia, but in an actual title fight in Yugoslavia, he avenged that loss.

Nobody expected Monzón to beat Benvenuti in their title match (very few knew of him). Yet Monzón applied pressure from the start, and in the 12th, a right hand landed perfectly on Benvenuti's chin, and the title changed hands. Monzón also beat Benvenuti in a rematch, this time in only three rounds in Monte Carlo when...

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Monzón

TAGS: Carlos Monzón, Prisoners and detainees of Argentina, People convicted of murder by Argentina, Argentine people convicted of murder, Argentine prisoners and detainees, International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees, World boxing champions, World Boxing Council champions, World Boxing Association champions, Sportspeople from Santa Fe Argentina, Middleweight boxers, Argentine male boxers

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