RIP Alexis Arguello

This one really shocks me. I was a fan of his in the 80s.

Boxing Hall of Famer, Managua mayor Arguello dead at 57

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.


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2009-07-01-arguello_N.htm

 

Very surprising, but also worthy to note that Alexis has been a murder target for many years in Nicaragua due to his affiliations.

The old government held his family hostage out of extortion on more than one occasion while he was an active boxer.

I think I've got his HBO special 30-minute piece on the fight with Aaron Pryor somewhere in my DVD stash. It was a nice look back.

 

Many years ago, there was an article in SI in which he admitted to strongly contemplating suicide. There was an illustration of him out in boat with a gun to his head.

 

These deaths always happen in sixes!

 

He was my favorite boxer. RIP.

 

If I'm Gerry Cooney or Donny LaLonde, time to consider another CAT scan.

 

RIP to a great athlete, but I don't know if I'd ever go so far as to say the premature death of a boxer really shocks me. Those guys take such a pounding to the head for so many years, they're basically an aneurysm waiting to happen.

 

Sirs, Madames,

Class act who was briefly a resident of Toronto (as a 15-year-old dishwasher). One of the all-timers from feather to lightweight. I was hoping he'd have been in Canastota when I went for a Hall of Fame induction weekend. He often attended but not that year. Evidently he was instrumental in helping out a lot of former fighters who were down on their luck in retirements. I wonder if he knew what Aaron Pryor had in that bottle.

o-<

 

Hmmm...whatever happened to Panama Lewis?

 

In a Chicago hotel lobby in the 1980s, Mr. Arguello briefly flirted with my wife.
I was always proud of that.
He was a magnificent boxer and a great interview.

 

I can bet with nearly 100% confidence this death has nothing to do with head injuries unless they were put there by a bullet or a weapon.

He was murdered.

 

Pryor hit him, what, 13-straight times in that fight before the ref (Steele?) stepped in?

RIP