When fight fans talk about national boxing legacies, focus inevitably lands on Latin places such as Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Sometimes the tough British boxing culture comes into the mix, or curiosities like the middleweight and light heavyweight tradition of France.
The boxing tradition of Argentina is less commented upon, which is odd because it includes the most illustrious pugilistic legacy of South America. Whereas Brazil has only one Acelino Freitas to its name, Argentina produces at least one fighter as good or better with every generation of boxers. The country of Patagonia and the Pampas always seems to have someone noteworthy in boxing’s middle and heavy ranks, starting as far back as Luis Angel Firpo, if not before.
The present is different only in respect to volume. In the past Argentina would have only one or two top boxers at any given time. Oscar Bonavena and Carlos Monzon gave way to Juan Roldan and Victor Galindez, and so on. Yet those beef-fed Argentina sluggers have carved an even larger niche for themselves, with a handful of champions and top contenders in the ring right now. It’s a great class, albeit one with limitations.
Sergio Martinez
The heir of Monzon and Roldan, Martinez is the top dog in the middleweight division and the #3 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. “Maravilla” is a fighter who combines speed and poise with ruggedness, business and power. However, Martinez is also a late bloomer. He did not make the transition from fighting on the Argentine and Spanish circuit until 2007, by which time he was already 32. His break-out fight with Paul Williams did not come until Marintez was 34, and the man is now pushing out from his mid-30s and into his late 30s. How long he can keep performing with a style based on speed and energy is uncertain.
Marcos Maidana
Maidana is the biggest, toughest banger of the talent-deep 140 lbs division. That is enough to ensure his standing as a top contender, but even so, Maidana’s number is now well-known. He can’t be out-slugged, but he can be out-boxed, as Khan, Kotelnik and even old, undersized Erik Morales have shown. Morales lost, but he is a blown-up featherweight getting by, like a latter day Tommy Hearns, on his underrated boxing ability, and that alone was enough to stretch Maidana.
Lucas Matthysse
The hard-luck contender of the 140 lbs. ranks, Matthysse ought to be ranked more prominently than Maidana. He isn’t due to sheer hard luck. He hits almost as hard as Maidana, but has far more boxing ability. Yet the unfortunate Argentine came up on the wrong side of close decisions against better-known guys like Devon Alexander and Zab Judah. In a rematch, I would pick Matthysse to beat either man, and he would defeat or give a very hard time to just about everyone else in the junior welterweight Top 10.
Luis Carlos Abregu
Abregu is different from the other Argentine fighters, although you would need to know Argentina to understand the distinction. Martinez, Maidana and Matthysse are portenos, either born in or long-time residents of Buenos Aires. Abregu hails from Salta, a town in the northwestern Andean region of Argentina, which has more in common with neighboring Bolivia than the Pampas. He is a tough, powerful, but limited welterweight slugger. In some respects, he reminds me of Carlos Baldomir, another Argentine welterweight who upset and embarrassed Zab Judah in 2006, and continues to toil as a middleweight before fans back in Argentina today. I expect Abregu to evolve into the role as divisional gatekeeper – the contenders of the future need to prove they can get past a guy like Abregu in order to achieve true world class status.
Omar Navarez
Omar Navarez is even more distinctive vis-a-vis the rest of the current crop of Argentine boxers. First, Navarez is from Cordoba, Argentina’s #2 city. Second, he is much more the boxer than any Argentine fighter in recent memory. Most fight fans are familiar with Navarez only because of the whipping he received at the hands of Nonito Donaire, but Navarez went into that fight as an undefeated, well-established WBO Flyweight and Super Flyweight champion. Like his countrymen, he is a rugged, tough customer, but Navarez also comes from a stellar amateur pedigree. He was a two-time member of Argentina’s Olympic squad, beating Joan Guzman at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and won gold at the 1999 Pan-American Games. Navarez is a well-schooled ring technician in a class that consists of punchers and boxer-punchers.
