Eric Armit's World View by Eric Armit Jun 29th 2008

Two deaths made news in Mexico recently, for two very different reasons. You might say the first involved the death of a ghost. According to the normally excellent BoxRec, Ricardo “Pajarito” Moreno died in December 1978. Well that would have surprised the staff at the Hospital General in Durango where he died on June 24. Although Moreno never won a world or even a national title he was still a legend in Mexican boxing. “Little Bird” as he was known was probably the most exciting boxer ever produced in Mexico. That is some claim bearing in mind guys such as Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate, Lupe Pintor etc. but he epitomised everything that was good - and bad - about Mexican boxing. He was the most ferociously aggressive fighter with a paralysing punch in each hand but particularly in his left hook. He had no time for defence and no concept of pacing a fight. He also had a chin the consistency of glass and women, drink and drugs were his life outside boxing. He earned a fortune but ended his days in poverty. He challenged for the world featherweight title in April 1958, being kayoed in three rounds by Hogan “Kid” Bassey, and that was his peak. Not much really, and raises the question of why he was so popular. Well, he ended up with a 60-12-1 record which was pretty good, but an incredible 59 of those wins came on kayo or stoppage( the other was a disqualification or it would have been 60 of 60). In addition nine of his twelve losses came the same way so an incredible 68 of his 73 fights ended by stoppage or kayo. When “Pajarito” climbed into the ring explosive excitement was guaranteed and the Mexicans loved him. RIP Little Bird. The other death happened in Culiacan on June 27. Luis Lugo Quintero, a 19-year-old bantamweight having his first pro fight outpointed another debutant, Ramon Lazcano. Quintero won the fight fairly comfortably but then collapsed in his corner. He never recovered consciousness and died the same night. A tragedy and one that was unpredictable. No sport is worth a person's life, all we can do is make the sport as safe as is possible under the circumstances, and accept that in a sport where head blows are such an important aspect there are going to be fatalities. RIP Luis. Still on Mexican news, a recent show in Guadalajara may make it into the Guinness Book of Records as seven brothers of the Alvarez family all fought in pro bouts on the show. I did not get full results so I can't report whether seven was a lucky number or not. Antonio Lozada Jr. has a long way to go before he gets anywhere near “Pajarito's” status, but he has made an impressive start. The lanky 18-year-old lightweight kayoed poor Juan Ruiz in two rounds in Tijuana on June 16 and now has 16 straight inside the distance, twelve of those have come in the first round. Still with a Mexican flavour, way back in 1997 “Yori” Boy Campas halted Raul Marquez in eight rounds to lift his IBF light-middleweight title. A lot of water has flowed under their bridges since then but on June 26 they both had big nights. In Tijuana, Campas floored the former WBA light-middleweight champion Alex Garcia three times and kayoed him inside a round, and in Hollywood, Florida, Marquez outpointed previously unbeaten Giovanni Lorenzo in an IBF title eliminator. Two big upsets from guys very much in the veteran stage which almost eleven years after their meeting finds them both back in the title picture. I have seen Mexican Urbano Antillon being touted as a possible challenger to Alex Arthur for his WBO super-featherweight title. Currently Urbano is rated as a lightweight, No 3 by the WBC and No 6 by the WBO, but he seems a useful fighter. In Reading on June 6 he halted Jose Cruz in six rounds for win No 23, 16 inside the distance. Still only 25, he has a first round kayo of Bobby Pacquiao on his record and generally seems to make lightweight with ease and has been as low as 9st 4 1/2lbs so I guess he can't be discounted. A couple of shows in Argentina on June 13 saw both a former WBA champion and an unbeaten prospect score wins. In Malargue the former WBA light-flyweight champion Juan Carlos Revelco kayoed Ricardo Toledo in four rounds. This was Revelco's first fight since dropping his title to Brahim Asloum in October and his record is now 18-1. On the same night in Junin light-welterweight Lucas Matthysse halted Gilbert Quiros in four rounds and has yet to go the distance. He now has 22 wins, 21 by stoppage or kayo and one on disqualification. Nicaraguan Roman Gonzalez is another puncher marching towards a title fight. Just turned 20, “Chocolatito”, a light-flyweight/ strawweight, kayoed Juan Centeno in three rounds in Managua on June 13. Roman has 19 wins and has only been taken the distance twice. The WBA have him No 1 straw weight and the WBO have him at No 6 light-flyweight. On ratings, the WBC are generous with their ratings of two veterans. They have 33-year-old Hector Velazquez at No 1 featherweight and 38-year-old Antonio Pitalua at No 2 lightweight. Both were in action on June 14. In La Paz Velazquez halted Juan Arellano in two rounds and in Mexico City Pitalua kayoed Jose Lopez in four. Velazquez has a 50-11-2 record with one no contest, but has won 13 of his last 14 with wins over Bobby Pacquiao and Mario Santiago, and his only loss in that run being to Manny Pacquiao. Pitalua's rating is much more questionable as this was his first fight in 15 months and he has never beaten a rated lightweight, and he is not even promoted by Don King! Two former Commonwealth champions suffered defeats on a show in Edmonton, Canada, on June 20. Donovan Boucher, a former welterweight champion, lost a split verdict to Gareth Sutherland in a challenge for the Canadian light-middleweight title. Now 46, Boucher defended his title against Kirkland Laing, Mickey Hughes and Robert Wright here before losing it to Eamonn Loughran in 1992. Sutherland has a 19-7 record. In a supporting bout, former light-middleweight champion Tony Badea was kayoed in a round by ordinary Kris Andrews. Badea lost his Commonwealth light-middleweight title to Richard Williams in January 2001. An upset on the show saw Ryan Henry drop his Canadian cruiserweight title, losing on points to novice Frank White. Paulus “Ali” Nuumbembe returned to action in Windhoek, Namibia, with a points win over South African Welcome Ntshingila on June 20. It was Ali's first fight since losing his Commonwealth welterweight title to Craig Watson in December. Ali was 30 on June 24, has a 19-3-1 record and this was for the WBA Pan African title. Nigerian veteran Friday Ahunanya has resurrected his career with two wins over previously unbeaten heavyweights. The first was his November stoppage of New Zealander Shane Cameron and the second was on June 20 in Las Vegas. Friday, now 36, and a pro for ten years, took a close unanimous decision over Alonzo Butler and must now be in line for better things. Cameron was unbeaten in 19 and Butler in 27 going in. On the same show former Polish amateur star heavyweight Grzegorz Kielsa made it four wins by outpointing Alvaro Morales. He was Polish champion in 2000,2001,2002 and 2005 and competed in the 2000 Olympics and 2003 World Championships, but at 29 may have left it late to turn pro. Age seems to be no problem to Montell Griffin. The 38 -year-old former WBC light-heavyweight champion returned after a 13 month break and outpointed Corey Cummings in Chicago on June 20. Montell, who twice beat James Toney, has had only four fights in four years so needs to get more serious if he wants to be back in the mix. Vicente Vuma retained his South African light-middleweight title with a wide points win over Alvin Mohonosi in Temba on June 20. Vicente, who halted Mark Thompson in eight rounds here in July last year, has won his last 12 fights in a 25-2 record and is rated No 12 by the WBC. Another South African did not do so well as heavyweight champion Osborne Machimana was halted in seven rounds by Joseph Chingangu in Lusaka on June 21. Machimana had kayoed a fat Corrie Sanders in February and should have been too young and strong for the 41-year-old Chingangu. It did not work out that way as Machimana was floored a couple of times and stopped . His trainer Nick Durandt has complained about their treatment but it was a poor performance by Machimana. Chingangu retained his ABU title. He famously halted Herbie Hide in two rounds here in September 2001 but after a kayo loss to Pele Reid and a first round kayo by Hide in May 2003 he was inactive until last year. Two to watch: Vanes “Nightmare” Matirosyan: Armenian-born, but now an American citizen. The 22-year-old light-middleweight, a former Olympian, is unbeaten with 20 wins, 13 inside the distance. As an amateur he was a US Junior Championships silver medallist in 2003 and won a bronze medal in the 2004 US Championships. He lost to new WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto in the Olympic trials, but bounced back to win the final trials to compete in the Americas qualifiers. He beat Berto, who was representing Haiti then, to gain an Olympic berth, only to be drawn against Cuban Lorenzo Aragon and eliminated. He turned pro in April 2005, is trained by Freddie Roach and managed by Shelly Finkel. Ali Chebah- French light-welterweight. He is 22-years-old and has 23 wins, 20 inside the distance. He turned pro at the age of 16 so was not at first allowed to fight in France and had to fight in Algeria, Spain, Belgium and other countries. Won the interim WBC Youth title in March 2007 and the full title in November 2003. Not really tested yet but is developing well.

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