BoxRec

I have been watching Antonio Esparragoza's fights as of late, after having no idea who he was until I checked The Ring's rankings. Needless to say, I was very impressed with him. He was fast, powerful, had beautiful technique (his jab and especially his right were gorgeous), was tough, had good defense, had great stamina, and kind of reminded me of a faster Alexis Arguello. My question is, why did he retire? Was it simply due to his upset loss to Young-Kyun Park or were there other factors? I can't seem to find anything on it and figured some of you knowledgeable guys could help out.

I'm just a fan and can remember reading at the time that Antonio had enrolled at University in Caracas to study history, if I remember rightly he had intentions of working in local politics.

He was an excellent boxer, powerful and very well conditioned - I remember his bout with little Stevie Cruz - Antonio was relentless.

palooka wrote:I'm just a fan and can remember reading at the time that Antonio had enrolled at University in Caracas to study history, if I remember rightly he had intentions of working in local politics.

He was an excellent boxer, powerful and very well conditioned - I remember his bout with little Stevie Cruz - Antonio was relentless.

Appreciate the response. I suppose that isn't such a bad reason to stop boxing. He was a master in the Cruz fight, throwing many beautiful combinations and punishing the recent conqueror of Barry McGuigan. I enjoyed that fight the most. He seemed like a traveling champion as well, fighting guys in their own backyards. Why did he never fight Azumah Nelson or Jeff Fenech?

Antonio was superbly conditioned and game as hell; I remember the Cruz bout and Antonio was just so fierce. I don't know why the big bouts didn't come off; fights with Azumah and Fenech would have been brilliant. Whatever he's doing I hope he's OK.

palooka wrote:

Antonio was superbly conditioned and game as hell; I remember the Cruz bout and Antonio was just so fierce. I don't know why the big bouts didn't come off; fights with Azumah and Fenech would have been brilliant. Whatever he's doing I hope he's OK.

I concur. I think he had the goods to legitimately challenge both of those guys. I guess they just have to be chalked up to what-could-have-beens. Anyways, I appreciate the responses.

It's a pleasure, Antonio was some fighter, I'd not thought of him in a while

Surely the loss to the Korean was in some way related to his decision to retire?

He was definitely a talent - heavy handed, good workrate, movement and decent skills.

He was in either Ring's PFP top ten or KO mag's dynamite dozen for quite a while.