Here's The Rub
When me and the wife would take our granddaughter,Amanda,to Seville for her Flamenco courses many of the students and instructors would get a massage after class was over from these two gals that had opened a salon near the studio. That area where my granddaughter was taking lessons is called the Macarena. It's an old traditional part of Seville,not touristy,and many of the Flamenco studios are located there. I never took any Flamenco lessons but I always like to get a massage.I don't go for a man rubbing his fingers on my body,but when it comes to the fairer sex tickling my torso it's a trip thriugh the light fanrastic.The two gals that operated the business were from Argentina.Their names were Paola and Alicia.They we're really good when it came to giving massages. They had a good size clientel,mostly dancers that lived in the vicinity.Of course I'd always go for the "Happy Ending" but they were ,.I guess, strictly legit,and would deny me any further pleasures.They were always very nice about it,but they said they didn't do anything extra as far as a carnal nature. At least they didn't want me give them my version of a "massage."
As they were kneading my flesh we'd gab about a lot of things-Flamenco,how's business,what it's like in Argentina,and I'm really horny.One time I broached the subject of Carlos Monzon. To my surprise they became very animated about the former champ. They told me that he was very popular in Argentina and. after he finished his career fighting he became a matinee idol,, ingratiated himself in Europe flying with all the jetsetters,and was constantly in all the gossip columns and movie mags.He wore expensive tailored suits and drove around in luxurious sports cars.Of course the women flocked around him and he raised no objections. Paola and Alicia were very up on the story about how Monzon had thrown his common law wife,the sumptuous actress Alicia Muniz off a balcony killing her.Monzon's defense was that he was trying to prevent her from jumping off the balcony and in his attempt he fell to the ground also.Well.the judge wasn't buying his excuse. Monzon had had a violent history with women(and men)and when he got to drinking he'd show his side of Mr. Hyde. Monzon had a lot of Indian blood in him and because Indians have some gene that's allergic to alcohol Monzon would flip his switch to channel Mr. Hyde.In Argentina the European settlers tried their version of etnic cleansing across the land and that meant getting rid of the Indians.However,they missed Monzon,but since he was such a macho man sweeping aside all the fighters that stood in his way to become the middleweight champion they gave him a pass.Paola and Alicia said that Monzon resented the fact that the Argentinians, with their continental bloodlines, discriminated against the native Argentinians.He took it personally and when he'd get a snoot full he'd pull Mt. Hyde out of his pocket.
Carlos Monzon had always been a bit of a mystery for me. He only fought one time in the U.S.-a title defense against Tony Licata in the Garden.He played it safe fighting mostly in Luna Park In Buenos Aires and in his second homes in France nd Monte Carlo.He ducked out of a drug test after his first fight with Rodrigo Valdez and local San Diego middleweight Charlie "Bad News" Austin said that when he fought Monzon in his backyard Carlos had his own separate scale to weigh himself on.
There's a lot of posters here on BoxRec that think Monzon was the best 160 pounder(at least that what it read on "his" scale)who ever laced up the gloves. I don't go along with that. A lot of that attitude was because Monzon, in front of all his frog friends, destroyed my guy Jose Napoles in Paris. But if you look at his defenses(and here I am getting into the mythical fight territory that gives me a rash)there wasn't much oomph in the division .Napoles was way too small to be fighting him. Griffith was also too tiny and was showing a solar plate on the back of his head.The others:Dale,Bouttier,Moyer,Mundine,Tonna,Briscoe were either past their primes or never had one. The Bennie Briscoe fight always made me wonder. Briscoe moved forward but didn't throw anything worth mentioning. At the bell ending, I think it was the 10th round,Briscoe landed a shot that had Carlos cowering in the corner. But in the following frame Bennie went back to playing hide and seek.
You've probably heard the infamous story of how Monzon "KO'd" Joe Frazier during a sparring session when Carlos was getting ready to fight Licata in the States.Vito Antuofermo was spreading the news on that one. Then Vito said that he was mistaken and that Carlos had only knocked Frazier down.Now you tell me. The middleweight champion of the world sparring with the heavyweight champion of the world and the only guy who saw that or even heard of it was paisan Vito. But then Vito said that he wasn't present in the gym that day and that Chris Dundee. told him about it.C'mon man. Frazier being that breed of Philly fighter let it all go in a sparring session.He would have made Carlos looking like a drunken Tango dancer.
However,putting my personal prejudices aside,I think Carlos Monzon ,at least in my lifetime,was the toughest fighter I ever saw.He was a mean dude and resilient as hell. There have been these tough guy fighters who do a lot of talking and posturing like Liston ,Foreman,Tyson,and Duran but they eventually got exposed and were never the menace they wanted the world to believe after that first loss.Monzon made his exit still showing his mettle through to the end.He only lost three fights in a hundred and those three were buried way back inside his first 19 bouts.
The legends :Duran,Leonard,Hearns,and Hagler were a click up the road in time when Monzon was throwing women off balconies.I think Duran was too small for him and he couldn't have worked his macho voodoo to psyche him out. Hearns didn't have the strength to match with him. However,Leonard and Hagler had better skills and could share Monzon's grit round after round.
So getting back to Paola and Alicia giving me a massage and them talking about Carlos Monzon with my flagpole standing at full mast.All they had to talk about was his love life. And when all I wanted was a ,little love.
Paola and Alicia
