Ernesto Marcel Last Fight: 40 Years Later

[elmersalsa]

On February 16th, 1974 in Panama City, Panama, Panama's Ernesto Marcel, WBA World Featherweight Champion, defended his title for the last time against upcoming and future legend Alexis Arguello of Nicaragua.

Marcel won by UD in 15 rounds in a very exciting and close fight. Too many observers, it could have gone either way. Many times Arguello shook Marcel, but as a good champion, he did not wilt. Maybe because he was getting the support from the home crowd, but nevertheless, he was game. It was probably's Marcel's greatest win and gutsiest performance.

Anybody that has not seen this fight, I recommend to watch it. The JDUGES scores where 146-140 by Servio Tuvio Lay, 146-142 by Harmodio Cedeno, and 146-140 by Juan Carlos Tapia. Interestingly, ALL JUDGES WERE PANAMANIANS. But I think that fight was MUCH CLOSER than the judges scored it.

Also that night in the preliminaries, WBA World Lightweight Champion, the great Roberto Duran, had a tune up bout with Armando Mendoza of Venezuela. Duran won by 3rd round TKO.

The other question for me is, if Barry McGuigan, who also was a featherweight champion is in the HOF, why not Marcel? I think Marcel got MORE CREDENTIALS.

HE GOT ROBBED in Japan when he CLEARLY schooled champion Kuniaki Shibata in his first title try. Beat champion Antonio Gomez of Venezuela twice. Lost to the great Roberto Duran in a high profile fight of upcoming future prospects by TKO in 10. Beat future champion Samuel Serrano of Puerto Rico. And also whupped champion Alfredo Marcano of Venezuela twice. And then, beats "The Explosive Thin Man " by UD in a great competitive fight.

By Arguello winning the WBA World Featherweight championship months later against the great Ruben Olivares of Mexico, CONSOLIDATED Marcel's victory over him even more.

"El Nato" also retired undefeated champ. This guy should be in the Hall.

[King Carlos]

Agreed. The Shibata fight was a good one with a clear winner in Marcel. Pretty sure they had the Gomez fight a Majority Decision in his favor, even though he flat out dominated Gomez.

I agree the Arguello fight was closer than the cards indicated, but I did think he won it, and I'm not gonna get bent out of shape about the score cards given the way he had been shafted previously.

The stoppage in the Duran fight was one of the most bizarre and out of the blue I've ever seen. It was a very close fight that Duran would've pulled out with that last round where Marcel was inexplicably just not doing much offensive work. Then the ref just stepped in and called it. Lack of activity on the part of Marcel? Did Marcel think he had it sewn up? Was there something foul in the air? I dunno, but I maintain that the stoppage was absurd.

[elmersalsa]

Look Closely

Roberto Duran, even at the {Age; 18 years, 11 months} was "Hero" in Panama City {Panama Region}, as he was
from the El Chorillo section.

* Ernesto Marcel was from Colon, {Northern Region off of the Caribbean Sea}.
* There was a rivalry between the '2' Regions in the Central American Country.
* Ernesto had nearly everyone of his '27-Bouts' in Colon at the Arena de Colon.

* Roberto Duran had nearly everyone of his '16-Bouts' in Panama City, at the Gimnasio de la Gurdia.

* May 16, 1970
* The bout between Robert and Ernesto was held in the brand new 'Gimnasio Nuevo Panama', and it was a Pro-Duran crowd by far.

* Both fighters were Featherweights at the time, but this was an 'over-the-weight' bout.

* Carlos Eleta was responsible for putting this bout together, and his 'buddy' Isaac Herrera was the Referee.........

* Originally it was agreed that the fighters would fight '2' bouts. One in Panama City {Duran's base} and one in Colon
{Marcel's base}.

* For some reason, a rematch did not take place.

Wow!, Interesting.

[elmersalsa]

To me, Duran was winning the fight.

[elmersalsa]

It seemed to me prior to the stoppage that Marcel did not had it and gave all he had. I had Duran winning by 2 or 3 points maximum

[elmersalsa]

Duran was superior. End of story. Marcel was a very good fighter. He should be in the HOF. Did you see the fight with the great Explosive Thin Man?

[Arbachakov]

Duran was superior. End of story. Marcel was a very good fighter. He should be in the HOF. Did you see the fight with the great Explosive Thin Man?

No, not end of story.Him being superior has nothing to do with it being a pathetic stoppage.

[elmersalsa]

Duran was superior. End of story. Marcel was a very good fighter. He should be in the HOF. Did you see the fight with the great Explosive Thin Man?

No, not end of story.Him being superior has nothing to do with it being a pathetic stoppage.

True Fact

Referee - Isaac Herrera was 'owned' by Carlos Eleta, who 'owned' Robert Duran............... :>

Marcel did not protest for the outcome of the fight. He looked like he was glad that the fight was stop for further punishment. At least the great Thomas Hearns protested the stoppage when he fought the great Sugar Ray Leonard the first time around.

Why Marcel is not in the HOF and Barry McGuigan is in?

[elmersalsa]

Not True

Ernesto Marcel,
"I thought that the Referee {Isaac Hererra} jumped in the because the Round was over. Then I walked over to
my corner. Then I looked over my shoulder and Roberto was screaming at me with 'foul and filthy' words."

"He had 'No Class'. He was strictly a low-rent scum-bag from the slums of El Chorillo. Pure filth and a grease-ball."

According the Panamanian Boxing Commission, the bout between Roberto Duran and Ernesto Marcel was supposed
to be for the Panamanian Super Featherweight {Junior Lightweight} Championship.

It was for the Panamanian Featherweight Championship. Marcel looked finished to me in that round. Isaac Herrera did him a favor.

[elmersalsa]

And you are right, IL Dulce. Marcel said that Duran has no class. He certainly was not one of the classiest fighters around.

[Seamus]

I thought Duran v Marcel was an odd stoppage as well.

[elmersalsa]

I just saw Duran vs Marcel, and Marcel vs Arguello. Both great fights. Duran was ahead by one point in my scorecards. It could have been 2 or 3 points for Duran if the fight would have ended by UD. Duran started dominating the fight since the fourth round. Marcel, in my view, won the 8th and 9th rounds, but, it seemed that he wilted in the last round. He was not throwing punches. All the punching in the tenth was by Duran. I think it was well stopped.

Now, Marcel and Arguello, Marcel was dominating the early going. But for some strange reason, Arguello started dominating since the 8th round to the 11th. Marcel was in queer street for 3 rounds. But somehow, he recovered. Could have been that the same thing happened to him in the Duran fight when he was not throwing punches? Maybe. Some fighters do not recover until certain rounds. It just happened that in the Duran fight, it was the last round.

Ernesto "Nato" Marcel was a complete fighter in my view. He should be in the hall of fame.

[elmersalsa]

Maybe the referee was influenced by the Panamanian crowd. They were showing white handkerchiefs at ringside. That is one of the signs of the crowd over there in Panama for the fight to be stopped.

Well, it was a great fight. I think Duran was going to win by UD, anyway.

With the great Alexis Arguello, it was Marcel's GUTSIEST PERFORMANCE. He was on queer street for 3 rounds at least. Arguello was banging him with wicked shots of lefts and rights and Marcel did not go down.

He announced his retirement even before the fight with Arguello. He said that this sport of boxing is hard sport. He trained so hard, but did not see the $$$$$, the fruits of his labor. That is why he retired. I do not blame him.

[elmersalsa]

Elmersalsa,

I have a few early Newspaper artilces on Ernesto Marcel.

Colon, Panama {Ismael Laguna Ernesto marcel and Miguel Riasco}

When Ernesto Marcel turned Professional {April 1966}, he wanted to be lsmael Laguna.

At {Age; 17 years, 11 months} Ernesto started out as a Bantamweight, and got to 8-0-1 {4 KO's}.

On Sunday ~ July 2, 1967 > he was matched up with another highly-regarded {Colon, Panama} Bantamweight
prospect in Miguel Riasco 7-0-0 {7 KO's}, a 20 year-old 'KO-Artist'.
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The Newspaper account, says it was an '8-Round War' in front of 6000 fans at the Arena de Colon.

For the first 4-Rounds, it was an all-out slugfest. In Round 5, Ernesto staggered Miguel Riasco and had him
'out-on-his-feet'.

But Miguel landed a 'haymaker' from the north shores of the Colon Seaport, and dropped Ernesto like an Anchor.
Somehow, Ernesto made it to his feet at the '7-Count' and survived. Ernesto fought in a daze for the rest of the
bout and somehow finished the 8-Rounder.

Ernesto Marcel lost the 8-Rounde Decision. 19 year-old Ernesto was so shook up by that bout, that he quit boxing
for 6-Months to satisfy his Mother's request.

Miguel Riasco was a good fighter from Colon. He was Nato's greatest rival. He beat Riasco 2 out of 3 fights.

[elmersalsa]

This was the great Alexis Arguello's first world title fight. The inexperienced 21 year old Nicaraguan even though he lost, gained lots of praise from the Panamanian press and also experience after the fight.

He would not lose another world title fight in 8 years and won 19 world title fights in a row in 3 weight classes. That is how good this guy was. Marcel beat a guy that little we did know, would become one of the greatest champions in history and all-time great.

From 1974 to 1982, Arguello only lost 2 fights in 42 times in the ring before facing the great Aaron Pryor.

[elmersalsa]

How do you have the Marcel vs Arguello and the Duran vs Marcel scores, Il Dulce? I had it 145-142 in favor of Marcel to retain his title. The Marcel vs Duran fight, I had Duran winning by one point at the time of the stoppage.

[elmersalsa]

Arguello, never again went to Panama to fight. He did return to Panama to train for the first Aaron Pryor fight, though.

[elmersalsa]

You are probably more correct in the scoring of Duran vs Marcel bout than I. It was a close fight without a doubt. A Panamanian classic. I think the scoring is about right.

How do you scored Marcel vs Arguello?

[elmersalsa]

Elmer Salsa,

Are you aware, that Ernesto Marcel was Trained by Ramon 'Curro' Dossman, who also handled Ismael Laguna.

After Ernesto Marcel 'retired', Ramon 'Curro' Dossman was hired by Dr. Eduardo Roman to train Alexis Arguello.

Ernesto was Managed by Panamanian Fight Promoter - Harmodio Icaza.
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Ernesto Marcel was true to his word, and said he would retire following his February 16, 1974 'Title Defense'
against Alexis Arguello.

Immediately after defeating #7 WBA-ranked Alexis Arguello, Ernesto was offered a $150,000 Fight Purse to
go to Japan, and make another Title Defense in late-May 1974 against the #3 WBA Challenger - Zensuke Utagawa.

Ernesto Marcel announced his retirement on February 28, 1974.

Great observations. And great information Il Dulce. See, this guy is very good this Il Dulce. But some people do not like him here. I like him.

[elmersalsa]

You are probably more correct in the scoring of Duran vs Marcel bout than I. It was a close fight without a doubt. A Panamanian classic. I think the scoring is about right.

How do you scored Marcel vs Arguello?

I had it closer than the '3' Panamanian Judges.

* Servio Tulio Lay........... 146-140 {10-4-1; in Rounds}
* Harmodio Cedeno........ 146-142 {8-4-3; in Rounds}
* Julio Carlos Tapia........ 146-140 {10-4-1; in Rounds}

I had many Rounds very close, and scored it 146-144 {6-4-5 in Rounds}.

Some 'funny business' going on before this bout.
A} Ernesto Marcel was well above the Featherweight limit, and was near 130 lbs. at the weigh-in, despite getting weighed at {125 3/4 lbs.}
B} The Arguello Camp claimed that Alexis was at 125 1/2 lbs. at the Hotel scale just before the morning pre-fight weigh-in.
C} At the weigh-in, Alexis came in at {122 1/2 lbs.}, 3 pounds under what he weighed.
D} Carlos Eleta {Panamanian Fight Manager} was trying to buy Arguello's contract.

I also had it closer than the 3 Panamanian judges myself: 145-142 sounds about right to me.