Willie "The Worm" Monroe - RIP

[bennie]

Willie "The Worm" Monroe has passed away at the age of 73. Willie is the only man whom Marvin Hagler admits losing to.

[Controversial]

Willie "The Worm" Monroe has passed away at the age of 73. Willie is the only man whom Marvin Hagler admits losing to.

RIP Willie, a very good fighter

[scorpio83]

RIP Willie, a very good fighter

RIP Willie "The Worm" Monroe and indeed a very good fighter in his time and "Marvelous" Marvin admitted of losing to him unlike Hagler's two other losses which he felt was robbed, but not the Worm who beat him in their first out of three fight series. Too bad, the snowstorm prevented the film crew to film the first Hagler vs. Monroe fight in Philadelphia according to the Boxing Scene website.

[bennie]

He stopped our own Frankie Lucas in Italy in 1978 when Lucas had gatecrashed the world rankings with brilliant back-to-back wins over Norberto Cabrera and Angelo Jacopucci. Boxing News tipped Lucas to continue the run against Monroe but the smooth American had other ideas.

[BoxBuzz]

ON one February evening He outpointed and avoided Cyclone Hart's best shots, in what was a very good fight.

Monday night at the Spectrum.......good days.

RIP

Willie, beating Marvin Hagler.....that was no easy feat there!

[Chuck1052]

RIP Willie....

- Chuck Johnston

[scorpio83]

The Worm fought in a great era of middleweights and too bad he never got a title shot had he won those fights that he should have beaten. Also, he was in Joe Frazier's corner in the iconic Thrilla in Manila fight with Muhammad Ali. Anyways, the Worm was gone but not forgotten as one of the great middleweights of his time like I said earlier.

[Bazooka el cholo]

The Worm fought in a great era of middleweights and too bad he never got a title shot had he won those fights that he should have beaten. Also, he was in Joe Frazier's corner in the iconic Thrilla in Manila fight with Muhammad Ali. Anyways, the Worm was gone but not forgotten as one of the great middleweights of his time like I said earlier.

Love facts like this... in Frazier’s corner obviously gym mates but pals also.. thanx Scorpio

[evrenb]

The Worm fought in a great era of middleweights and too bad he never got a title shot had he won those fights that he should have beaten. Also, he was in Joe Frazier's corner in the iconic Thrilla in Manila fight with Muhammad Ali. Anyways, the Worm was gone but not forgotten as one of the great middleweights of his time like I said earlier.

I didn't know that ...thought it was just Futch, Benton and Milt Bailey?

[scorpio83]

Love facts like this... in Frazier’s corner obviously gym mates but pals also.. thanx Scorpio

No problem.

[DrDuke]

Monroue was real deal. RIP.

[Bazooka el cholo]

He stopped our own Frankie Lucas in Italy in 1978 when Lucas had gatecrashed the world rankings with brilliant back-to-back wins over Norberto Cabrera and Angelo Jacopucci. Boxing News tipped Lucas to continue the run against Monroe but the smooth American had other ideas.

Bennie do you know the score with Lucas... I think I’d heard he boxed in commonwealth games as an amateur but even considering he was a good amateur his pro career was a steep trajectory to say the least when you see the kids he boxed?

[bennie]

Bennie do you know the score with Lucas... I think I’d heard he boxed in commonwealth games as an amateur but even considering he was a good amateur his pro career was a steep trajectory to say the least when you see the kids he boxed?

Croydon's Frankie won gold in the Commonwealth Games in 1974 for St. Vincent, the country of his birth, after Liverpool's Carl Speare was chosen to represent England in the Games, even though Lucas had beaten him in the ABA middleweight final. Frankie outscored Speare in the semi-finals of the Games and flattened a Zambian in the final to secure a lot of domestic publicity.
Dubbed "The Animal", southpaw Frankie won two ABA titles and turned pro with George Francis but few wanted to fight him. He lost on cuts to middleweight bogeyman Jan Magdziarz of Southampton, who had also gashed Alan Minter to defeat, and to light-heavies Phil Martin and Rudi Koopmans (to Moss Side's Martin on cuts and on a disqualification to Koopmans in Holland for reckless headwork when he was bossing the fight). He did win a few and after he mauled the dangerous Alex Tompkins in six frightening rounds at the Albert Hall in 1977, he got a crack at the British middleweight title against Kevin Finnegan and was halted on cuts in 11 rounds. Finnegan was also cut but not as badly and the title was still largely up for grabs.
It was then that Frankie hit overdrive when he took out Angelo Jacopucci in two rounds and trounced the rugged Norberto Cabrera of Argentina over eight rounds - both in Italy. (Cabrera later went in with Marvin Hagler.) However, Willie Monroe proved too sharp for Frankie a fight later, again in Italy, and Tony Sibson ended his title aspirations on a brutal five-round stoppage in 1979 in London, although Lucas hung around for a little longer. In the end, Frankie lacked the promotional backing to make it as a pro and was forced mostly on the road and often up at light-heavy. He was also difficult to control and his wild man image was no lie. Minter, who won and lost to Frankie in the unpaid ranks, certainly wanted no part of him as a pro. Sadly, Frankie never got over the end of his career and his mental health deteriorated.

[Bazooka el cholo]

Croydon's Frankie won gold in the Commonwealth Games in 1974 for St. Vincent, the country of his birth, after Liverpool's Carl Speare was chosen to represent England in the Games, even though Lucas had beaten him in the ABA middleweight final. Frankie outscored Speare in the semi-finals of the Games and flattened a Zambian in the final to secure a lot of domestic publicity.
Dubbed "The Animal", southpaw Frankie won two ABA titles and turned pro with George Francis but few wanted to fight him. He lost on cuts to middleweight bogeyman Jan Magdziarz of Southampton, who had also gashed Alan Minter to defeat, and to light-heavies Phil Martin and Rudi Koopmans (to Moss Side's Martin on cuts and on a disqualification to Koopmans in Holland for reckless headwork when he was bossing the fight). He did win a few and after he mauled the dangerous Alex Tompkins in six frightening rounds at the Albert Hall in 1977, he got a crack at the British middleweight title against Kevin Finnegan and was halted on cuts in 11 rounds. Finnegan was also cut but not as badly and the title was still largely up for grabs.
It was then that Frankie hit overdrive when he took out Angelo Jacopucci in two rounds and trounced the rugged Norberto Cabrera of Argentina over eight rounds - both in Italy. (Cabrera later went in with Marvin Hagler.) However, Willie Monroe proved too sharp for Frankie a fight later, again in Italy, and Tony Sibson ended his title aspirations on a brutal five-round stoppage in 1979 in London, although Lucas hung around for a little longer. In the end, Frankie lacked the promotional backing to make it as a pro and was forced mostly on the road and often up at light-heavy. He was also difficult to control and his wild man image was no lie. Minter, who won and lost to Frankie in the unpaid ranks, certainly wanted no part of him as a pro. Sadly, Frankie never got over the end of his career and his mental health deteriorated.

thanku Bennie, just remembered him from sibbo but obviously a lot more to the man than that

[scartissue]

The only thing I remembered about the Willie Monroe v Frankie Lucas fight was that it was fought on the undercard of the first Rodrigo Valdes v Hugo Corro fight and that it was not televised. However, the announcing team was raving to the viewer about how impressive Monroe looked against Lucas. It seemed to me at the time Monroe was on track for a title fight, but perhaps Valdes losing to Corro that night may have scuttled what may have been proposed.

[bwu]

I didn't know that ...thought it was just Futch, Benton and Milt Bailey?

Apparently, Monroe was actually positioned near Ali's corner. According to HBO's Thrilla in Manila documentary from '08/'09, Monroe realized there was a good chance Ali wasn't coming out for the 15th. I think it was Maris Frazier who said Monroe was trying to get the attention of Frazier's cornermen, but was unsuccessful.

[dr_devious]

He stopped our own Frankie Lucas in Italy in 1978 when Lucas had gatecrashed the world rankings with brilliant back-to-back wins over Norberto Cabrera and Angelo Jacopucci. Boxing News tipped Lucas to continue the run against Monroe but the smooth American had other ideas.

Great info Bennie, I never knew about this