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He was an extrovert, almost infantile in his manner and flat footed. And he was regarded in Argentina as the successor of Luis Firpo “The Wild Bull of the Pampas”.
Oscar “Ringo” Bonavena was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1942 and started boxing at the age of 15. Except for two DQ losses and a decision dropped to Ron Lyle, only 4 world champs would be able to defeat him in the ring (Ali, Frazier, Floyd Patterson and Jimmy Ellis) of whom only The Greatest was able to KO him (on the 3-knockdown rule). He was past his prime but as brave as ever when on the evening of May 22, 1976 a man by the name of Williard Rossy Brymer fired a shotgun and killed him just outside the infamous Mustang Ranch strip club in Reno.

The Mustang Ranch was run by Joe and Sally Conforte, a Sicilian couple with alleged ties to the mob. Sally was also Ringo’s manager. The official story tell us tha Bonavena, loud mouthed and a womanizer, had made advances over a hooker who happened to be one of Joe’s favorites at the club. So, jealous Joe had him whacked.

The Argentines tell it differently. They say that Bonavena had signed a contract to fight Spaniard Jose Manuel Urtain on his way to secure a rematch with Ali. With the odds at 10 to 1 in Ringo’s favor, he supposedly got a call from the mob and was told to take a dive in the fifth or else he would be feeding worms. When he refused, they took away his passport to make sure he wouldn’t flee the country. He called his wife in Argentina and told her, “I should be there in a few days, in the mean time pray for me, darling”. A few hours later, he was a dead man.

Now, we should be careful with anything the argentines say because they have a reputation for being self-centered, egomaniacal patriots. There’s an old joke in South America that says that whenever there’s a thunderstorm all the argentines come outside the house because they are so full of themselves they think the lightning comes from God’s Polaroid trying to take photos of them

Nonetheless, Oscar “Ringo” Bonavena was an outstanding and courageous fighter. An authentic heavyweight contender, who went toe to toe with some of the best of all time. I still wonder about his death every time I watch his brave performances against Ali and Frazier.

Wow, this is one of those intresting posts Grey said he was looking for!

That is a very intriguing story Bronc, thanks for posting it up. Where did you find all this information?

I grew up in South America. Bonavena was (and still is) a legend down there.

Although I was aware of Joe Conforte's mob ties, I had never heard of the Bonavena shooting as being a mob hit. Great story!

Do you have the story of Ruud Lubbers? Ali won this unimportant match in our country, but who's Lubbers? I just knew he was Euro heavyweight champ at that time.

As I've heard the story, Ali was looking for an opponent for a fight in Indonesia, and since Indonesia was a former Dutch colony what better to have Ali fight one of it's former "oppressors" ? Enter Rudi Lubbers....
Lubbers, a two-time Olympian, was a solid heavyweight, as was his brother Jan, at European level but could never win the European title.
After his career he got in trouble with the law and had to serve time in prison (drug-trafficing I believe), last thing I've heard he's travelling with a carnival group these days. A documentary that was made a couple of years ago about him, ends with Lubbers and his wife moving to Portugal.
By the way, it's Rudi Lubbers, Ruud is our former prime-minister

Great story Broncano. It is generally known though that it was Lee Harvey Oswald that shot Bonavena. Case closed.

I spoke to my old man this morning and I brought up the subject of Bonavena. He basically told me, like he has before, that the mob hit story is a bunch of BS.
And he went on telling me how argentines always find a way to twist history to their own advantage. As an example he told me that he onced heard an argentine saying that when Jose Gatica, a lightweight from Argentina, was knocked out in the first round in a non title bout against Ike Williams, it was because he had been drugged and had been weak coming into the ring.
He also told me that I was wrong in thinking it was a hooker at the Mustang Ranch that Ringo was after. It was Sally Conforte herself!.
The fact that Joe Conforte's wife might have been having an affair and that Bonavena was shot at the gate of the Mustang Ranch by one of Joe's bodyguards undermines the mob-related story that some Argentines prefer to believe.
Last I heard Joe Conforte was at large somewhere in South America. Bonavena, Sally Conforte and Ross Brymer (the killer) are dead. So we'll never know for sure what happened.

For a history of The Mustang Ranch check this
http://www.salon.com/people/rogue/1999/08/12/mustang/

Broncano wrote:I spoke to my old man this morning and I brought up the subject of Bonavena. He basically told me, like he has before, that the mob hit story is a bunch of BS.
And he went on telling me how argentines always find a way to twist history to their own advantage. As an example he told me that he onced heard an argentine saying that when Jose Gatica, a lightweight from Argentina, was knocked out in the first round in a non title bout against Ike Williams, it was because he had been drugged and had been weak coming into the ring.
He also told me that I was wrong in thinking it was a hooker at the Mustang Ranch that Ringo was after. It was Sally Conforte herself!.
The fact that Joe Conforte's wife might have been having an affair and that Bonavena was shot at the gate of the Mustang Ranch by one of Joe's bodyguards undermines the mob-related story that some Argentines prefer to believe.
Last I heard Joe Conforte was at large somewhere in South America. Bonavena, Sally Conforte and Ross Brymer (the killer) are dead. So we'll never know for sure what happened.

For a history of The Mustang Ranch check this
http://www.salon.com/people/rogue/1999/08/12/mustang/

This is the story that I've heard, Bonavena was messing around with Conforte's wife.

No way to know the truth, but fascinating. Re: Bonavena/Patterson. I remember that fight well and I thought it was the only time in a Patterson fight in which the decision could have gone either way that Patterson got the edge. Usually he came up short (Quarry, Ellis)..but I thought Bonavena won in a close one.

Gattica/Ike Williams....the only drug Gattica was on was over confidence. He stormed out and went right after Ike with a flurry..a big mistake at that point in Williams' career. Ike hit him so hard the tv picture blew out for a minute or two.

José María Gatica, "El Mono" (The Monkey). In Argentina he was idolized and hated at the same time. He was born in a poor family and worked as a street peddler and shoe shine before he discovered boxing. He lived a fast life and ended up as a street peddler again few years after his retirement.
Like Bonavena, Monzon and Victor Galindez he met a tragic death when he was only 38 years old and a bus run him over on the street where he was selling soccer souvenirs.

The Ike Williams fight is always on my mind because of a story my father told me about. My old man was living in Argentina at the time and got together with some friends for the radio broadcast of the fight. In his first outing in the states, Gatica had defeated Terry Young at MSG (although I've recently learned it was a controversial stoppage) so there was a lot of expectation for this fight against Williams, eventhough it was a non title match.
Minutes before the bout Argentina's national radio interviewed Gatica and asked him what was his prediction. He said (in Spanish of course). "I´d like to dedicate this fight to my dear President Perón so I will knock that person out in the first round". This illustrates the point of why he was hated by so many.

At this point, you can scroll up and learn about the outcome of the fight on Jaclem's account, who is no doubt more qualified than myself for that.

When Gatica regained consciousness he was interviewed again by Argentina's national radio. Asked about what had happened in the ring, he stated that he did not remember a whole lot of the details but that he felt that it had been close and he wanted a rematch.

the only way I am more qualified to write about the Ike Williams fight is because I saw it...well, except for the last few seconds when the picture blew.

Your post is loaded with information about Gattica and the Argentinian culture that I've never read anywhere else...and I doubt it IS anywhere else. Fascinating stuff and thanks for passing it along.

Anytime...
Actually, my original source for all of this stuff is my father. Had he never told me anything about those things I would've never done any research on the subject.
There are not many books available, but some of this information can be found on the net, albeit in Spanish.
For some footage of Gatica, together with President Peron and Evita (later played by Madonna in a dreadful movie) check

http://www.todo-argentina.net/historia/ ... atica.html

Thank you for this post. :)

one of the more interesting historical moments in our inventory. Great read.

One of the bodyguards at the Mustang ranch shot Bonavena in the parking lot around 6 a.m in the morning.(its not known if he was coming or going)
A single shot from a high powered rifle tore right through his heart,shredding it.
The police found over 6 thousand dollars in cash in his pocket,mostly in ,100 dollar bills
reportly a gun was planted on him before the police came,but later it was claimed by someone there to have fallen out someones pocket when they bent over to see if he was allright(yeah,sure!)
BTW Bonavena had married one of the prostitutes at the ranch about a week earlier,and he used the brothel as his mailing address.
I think the bodyguard who killed him(served only 15 months in jail)
died just a couple years ago.

If Bonavena had 6 K in his pocket,he was probably leaving when he was shot.
I had heard that he came early that morning in a rage to get his new wife's(not Sally Conforte) clothes and money that was due her.
Reportly she left the ranch a few days earlier or was kicked out.
If you read the book ONLY THE RING WAS SQUARE by Teddy Brenner,he gives an account of Bonavena coming into the offices of MSG in a rage ,yelling over some money due him for the Chuvalo fight in 1966.Ringo later called Brenner to apologize.
But just put that scenario in front of the Mustang ranch in 1976,and its not hard to wonder what happened.

I thought a family member of Ringo's (daughter maybe estranged) posted here searching for memorbilia or a belt. I couldnt find it in the search...I think she was for real. Perhaps another mod found it to be fraudulent and took it off. Seemed sincere at the time.

BoxBuzz wrote:I thought a family member of Ringo's (daughter maybe estranged) posted here searching for memorbilia or a belt. I couldnt find it in the search...I think she was for real. Perhaps another mod found it to be fraudulent and took it off. Seemed sincere at the time.

Wasn't is Bernardo Mercados daughter?

Maybe in my aging mind I got the two confused. There was a time when we had a few similar posts of that nature and I began to question the authenticity of the contributions. I try to keep an open mind. But you may be right the Bonavena connection on this subject may never have happened.

Bernardo Mercado had been Oscar Bonavena's sparring partner,and the two came to Reno NV together in early 1976.
Bonavena fought Billy Joiner and Mercado fought Mark White(KO round one)

BoxBuzz wrote:Maybe in my aging mind I got the two confused. There was a time when we had a few similar posts of that nature and I began to question the authenticity of the contributions. I try to keep an open mind. But you may be right the Bonavena connection on this subject may never have happened.

This is the thread I was thinking of mate.

http://www.boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10982

Actually Bernardo Mercado was with Joe Conforte when his personal bodyguard John Colletti when he(Colleti) was arrested a few days later as a material witness after Bonavena was shot May 1976.

Did you know tht Oscar Bonavena was disqualified during the
1963 Pan-American games for biting his opponents ear
(Lee Car of the U.S.A).
I think someone else remembered that some 30 years later!

Broncano wrote:Now, we should be careful with anything the argentines say because they have a reputation for being self-centered, egomaniacal patriots.

...Unlike the Peruvians, who we all know to be self-effacing to a fault, eh, Broncano? (Especially a certain Miss Rosa Elvira, who can efface herself around me anytime.)

Thanks for the interesting thread. Unfortunately for Ringo, he seems to have never learned that guns don't care how much of a badass you are.