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Forty eighth anniversary of Monzón’s victory over Benvenutti
Forty eight years ago, in Rome, Italy, Argentine Carlos Monzón (87-3-9-1, 59 KO’s) conquered the middleweight title of the World Boxing Council, by defeating the Pride of Italy and then champion Nino Benvenuti (82 -7-1, 35 KO’s).
The event took place on Saturday November 7, 1970, at around midnight in the “Palazo dello Sport” of the Italian capital. Monzón ended the reign of Benvenutti as the best middleweight of that time.
Nino had conquered the super welterweight championship defeating his compatriot Sandro Mazzinghi in 1965. In 1967 he won the middleweight title in a memorable match against the legendary Emile Griffith, which was the beginning of a tremendous trilogy.
Nino made four defenses of the crown defeating Don Fullmer, Fraser Scott, Luis Manuel “Feo” Rodriguez and Tom Bethea, before facing Monzon.
The fight took place in an artistic venue on the outskirts of Rome, where nearly 20 thousand people gathered, collecting 100 million lire from the tickets and 40 million more for television rights.
Monzon, trained by Amilcar Brusa, designed a perfect plan for the most complicated fight of his career, neutralizing the champion for most of the night.
In round 12 of the combat scheduled to 15, Monzon totally dominated his rival. Left and right crosses landed on Benvenuti, cornering him, and he was sent to the canvas with a powerful right hook.
Brave Nino tried to fight back but was decked again, and it was victory for Carlos Monzón, who probably encapsulated the most brilliant conquest in the history of Argentine boxing.
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