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Vaya con Dios: Flaco Explosivo, great Alexis Arguello
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Aaron Pryor and Alexis Arguello turned the Orange Bowl in Miami into a "Ring Of
Fire."
“Flaco Explosivo,” the wiry Alexis Arguello, is dead at 57.
Word out of Managua in his beloved Nicragua say that the former world champion is dead perhaps by his own hand.
Reports say he was found with a gunshot wound to his chest.
First off, this man was the greaest junior lightweight fighter of all time.
I considered AA a friend. I was there in the rainy, muddy ballpark in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, the night Arguello saddened the whole tropical island by giving a steady beating to the hugely popular “Snake Man” Alfredo Escalera.
I was there in the Orange Bowl in Miami the night that a marvelous and seemingly unstoppable talent named Aaron Pryor showed it was indeed “Hawk Time” by stopping the masterful Arguello.
And I was there in the opposite corner from Aruuello years later in my college town of Reno with manager Mike Jones and Billy Costello. We repeatedly warned Costello that, if he did nothing else, he must remember to not stop along the ropes where the “Explosive Thin Man” could detonate the slingshot like dynamite powder of a right hand.
Costello got caught with his back laying against the ropes. Boom came the rifle right hand and down and out went Costello.
Maybe my biggest boxing “memory” of the gentlemanly Omar Sharif lookalike is that of the classic fight which somehow never got put together.
Arguello was dominating the junior lightweight division and his Central American neighbor, the awesome Roberto Duran, ran roughshod on the lightweight class.
These two Hall Of Famers were five measly pounds apart but no one put what was sure to be a great confrontation together.
Outside the ring, I remember that while they say Arguello never drank alchol during his starry career there were times it seemed he never stopped after he hung up the gloves. Despite overindulging, I never saw him act mean or crazy anywhere.
We never discussed it but his homeland’s myriad political problems disturbed him. It was the Sandinistas, who he had once staunchly and publicly supported, who confiscated his properties and most of his financial assets.
Alexis Arguello greets fans.
I also remember two years ago how excited Alexis was to tell me and anyone who would listen at the Boxing Writers Dinner in Los Angeles that he was campaigning to become mayor of Managua.
Just as he did in 82 out of 90 pro bouts, Arguello won that electoral fight.
He was a great warrior who it was a privilege to cover. And he was a deeply sincere, caring man who mixed with the wealthy but had his heart with the pobrecitos.
Vaya con Dios, Flaco Explosivo!
Here’s the AP report:
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Former boxing champion Alexis Arguello, considered one of the best lightweights to step in the ring, has been found dead.
Presidential spokeswoman Rosario Murillo confirmed Arguello's death early Wednesday.
The 57-year-old Arguello was elected mayor of Managua last year. He turned pro in 1968 and won his first title by knocking out Ruben Olivares for the featherweight crown. He later captured the super featherweight and lightweight belts, becoming the sixth boxer to win titles in three weight classes.
He retired in 1995 with a record of 82-8 with 65 knockouts, and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.
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