BoxRec

I just happened to notice that Marty Monroe was ranked #6 by Ring Magazine for the year ending 1980.
For some reason, I am drawing a complete blank on him. Does anyone remember this guy? What style of fighter was he, how good was he?

It's hard to understand why he would be rated in the top 10. He wasn't rated in 1979. He lost to Scott LeDoux in 1980, (who was #10 in 1979 and wasn't ranked for 1980) and didn't beat anyone in the top 10 in 1979 or 1980. He did beat a couple of fringe contenders like Eddie Lopez and Lynn Ball, but that doesn't seem to be enough to warrant a #6 rating especially when you consider that he lost to LeDoux.

The only thing I could think of was that Monroe got ripped off in the decison to LeDoux, but since I never saw the fight I don't know. Has anyone ever seen the LeDoux-Monroe fight?

I would appreciate it if anyone could shed some light on this crucial issue.

What I remember most about Marty Monroe was that he was a small heavyweight. At least that's what I remember about him when he was matched with Greg Page. I believe he broke into the ratings with the Lynn Ball win. Ball, who could really bang, had no chin and Monroe took a hammering from Ball but when he tapped him Ball dropped like a sack of spuds. Ball broke into the rankings in his previous fight when he got up from a 1st round knockdown and managed to KO an aging Ron Lyle. Thus, Monroe's ranking when he KO'd Ball.

Scartissue

Marty Monroe was one of my all time misses as far as judging talent. After he stopped the very tough Lopez rather handily, I thought he had an excellent chance to make a name for himself in the HW division. Then came the Page fight.

Anyway, he was a pretty traditional standup boxer-puncher, with decent hand speed and decent power. Unfortunately, he had virtually no head movement and proved to be nothing but a target for a very focused and well prepared Greg Page. The lack of head movement isn’t a fatal flaw against Lopez and Ball, but definitely a problem against someone at the next level like Page. As I recall, I wasn’t the only one who over rated Monroe, as the Ring rating shows, as well as the Page fight which was a Saturday afternoon showcase fight on, I think CBS. It was expected to be a good matchup, but turned out to be a slaughter, with the only positive Monroe attribute on display being a good chin as he must have been hit about 30-40 times each round.

I saw the Monroe/Ladoux fight and thought the decsision was fair. They looked pretty evenly matched so I don't think the outcome was a fluke or bad decsision. Alot of times rankings don't mean that much as you well know. Might have been rated high so they could showcase Greg Page as beating a contender. Monroe was one of those fighters who flirted breifly with notoriety and then ended up in the missing persons category.

Thanks for your feedback guys. I don't think I have ever seen Monroe fight, and couldn't remember even hearing about him.

As for the rankings, Ring Magazine are usually at least realistic. They aren't like the WBC, WBA etc that rig their rankings to make it look like a challenger for a title fight is better than he really is. Ring Magazine also ranks all the champions. The WBC won't rate the WBA champion, the WBA won't rate the IBF champion etc. Sometimes Ring's rankings seem a little strange but nothing like the "Governing Bodies".

In this case, it seems that Ring may have just dismissed Monroe's loss to LeDoux early in the year, and put too much stock into his wins over Lynn Ball and Eddie Lopez later in the year.

wasnt he lined up to fight old Joe Frazier after the Cummings draw. ?

scartissue



Joined: 01 Apr 2002
Posts: 46

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:16 pm Post subject:

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What I remember most about Marty Monroe was that he was a small heavyweight. At least that's what I remember about him when he was matched with Greg Page. I believe he broke into the ratings with the Lynn Ball win. Ball, who could really bang, had no chin and Monroe took a hammering from Ball but when he tapped him Ball dropped like a sack of spuds. Ball broke into the rankings in his previous fight when he got up from a 1st round knockdown and managed to KO an aging Ron Lyle. Thus, Monroe's ranking when he KO'd Ball.

You nailed it.

Monroe became over rated with a win over an already over rated fighter. Actually two over rated fighters, if you add the win over Lopez later that year.
His being ranked over Berbick, Page or even Mercado at that point, was a bit silly.