Oscar Bonavena
Template:Short description Template:Infobox boxer Oscar Natalio "Ringo" Bonavena (September 25, 1942 – May 22, 1976) was an Argentine heavyweight professional boxer with a career record of 58 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw. A rugged, wild-swinging puncher, he was nicknamed "Ringo" because of his Beatles haircut, and enjoyed professional success in both Argentina and the United States. He is remembered for giving Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali hard-fought bouts.Template:Citation needed
Life and pro career
Oscar Natalio Bonavena was born in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was a professional boxer, Argentine and South American champion. He also participated in several Argentine TV programs such as the Pepe Biondi Show.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Early career
Bonavena began his early career in New York City under the management of World War II hero and dentist Marvin Goldberg.Template:Citation needed
Following his pro debut on February 1, 1964, he racked up a quick string of early knockouts. Sometimes fighting twice a month, he lost by decision in February 1965, in only his 15th contest, to the highly rated Zora Folley. Bonavena was far too inexperienced to take on a top veteran like Folley. Three years later he won their rematch by decision.<ref>actual fight video & commentary on Utube</ref>
Returning to Argentina, his winning and knockout streak continued. In mid-1966 he was enticed back to New York where the free-swinging Bonavena ran into trouble outside the ring. He called Muhammad Ali a black kangaroo, and a chicken for draft dodging. When, much later, he saw Ali seated ringside at the George Foreman–Ken Norton fight, he went over and started a big slanging match.
In his pre-fight press conference with Frazier, Bonavena needled effectively by implying that Frazier had a personal hygiene problem. He would start sniffing and grimace. Lawsuits were brought about by reporters with broken cameras; and other such "colorful" behavior. He was always volatile, as trainers soon discovered.<ref>Brunt, S., Facing Ali: The Opposition Weighs in, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Sport: Two Down, One to Go, Time</ref>
Big name contests, Chuvalo and Frazier
Bonavena first came to wide public attention after a fine performance: defeating rated contender and Canadian champion George Chuvalo, boxing technically better than expected, and later going the distance against the young hard-hitting great Joe Frazier. In this, their first fight, Bonavena had the future champion down twice in the second round.Template:Citation needed
WBA elimination contests
In 1967, after the World Boxing Association stripped Muhammad Ali of the title for refusing to be inducted into the U.S. military, Bonavena participated in that sanctioning body's 1967 tournament to crown a new heavyweight champion. In a strong performance he decked favoured European champion Karl Mildenberger four times,<ref>Ring Mag & online boxing records</ref> winning by a decision in Frankfurt, West Germany. But he was himself knocked down twice and clearly outboxed by eventual tournament winner Jimmy Ellis in the semi-finals in Louisville, losing by unanimous decision in an upset. Many deemed it the best win of Ellis's career.<ref>Ring magazine</ref>
World Title shot, the Frazier rematch
The following year, in 1968, after outpointing Leotis Martin, he got a rematch with Frazier for the heavyweight title in Philadelphia. After a grueling fifteen rounds Bonavena lost the rematch by decision, fighting more defensively than previous. He left with a seriously battered face, as photographed in the Ring magazine. In 1969, he got a draw in a rematch with talented Gregorio Peralta, who he'd outpointed four years earlier for the Argentine title.Template:Citation needed
Versus Ali
In December 1970, he fought Ali at Madison Square Garden, in the former champ's second bout after his three-year layoff. Bonavena absorbed punishment throughout but fought well, getting through with various head and body punches. With just under 1:30 left in the 15th and final round, Ali caught Oscar rushing in and decked him with a perfectly placed left hook. Bonavena got up, but was clearly not fully recovered. Ali decked him twice more, and the fight was automatically stopped under the three knockdown rule, giving Ali a TKO (technical knockout). The ending was somewhat controversial, as Ali stood over Bonavena as Bonavena was getting up, never going to a neutral corner as the rules of boxing require, which allowed Ali to quickly knockdown Bonavena twice more and automatically end the fight. After the second knockdown, the referee appears to be attempting to guide Ali to a neutral corner, but Ali brushes the referee's arm away and pursues a wobbly Bonavena.<ref>https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YhofAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wqYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2537,871414 Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Other matches
After the loss to Ali in 1970, he had a brutally tough match with underrated Alvin Lewis, being decked multiple times but eventually winning by disqualification. Bonavena fought intermittently for the next few years. A gregarious party man, he enjoyed life to its fullest, at the cost of his boxing career.Template:Citation needed
Eventually losses to Floyd Patterson in 1972 and Ron Lyle in 1974 effectively relegated him to lower contender status, though he did well enough in both matches. In the Patterson fight he broke his left hand early, possibly after decking Patterson in the fourth, and remained an advancing threat to the final bell. It was around 1973 that a match with a then rising Ken Norton was being planned but never materialized.<ref>on line boxing archives</ref>
On February 26, 1976, an overweight and sluggish Bonavena fought what would be his last fight, winning a ten-round decision over the unranked Billy Joiner in Reno.<ref name="Farrell">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Death
On 22 May 1976 Bonavena was shot dead at the age of 33 by security guard Willard Ross Brymer at the Mustang Ranch brothel near Reno, Nevada, after having become involved in a conflict with its owner, Joe Conforte.<ref name="Farrell"/><ref name= "NYT">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="LVR">Man who killed Oscar Bonavena dies Template:Webarchive, Las Vegas Review-Journal</ref> His body was returned to Argentina to lie in state at the Luna Park sports arena in Buenos Aires, where 150,000 people filed by.<ref>Associated Press newsreel film of Bonavena's funeral, 1 June 1976, published on Youtube 24 July 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6MUdiQ1Q8Y Template:Webarchive</ref>
Professional boxing record
See also
References
- Nevada's Most Infamous Brothel, Mustang Ranch, Back In Business Template:Webarchive, Fox News
- Woman Who Operated Mustang Ranch Dies, Spokesman-Review, September 9, 1992
External links
- 1942 births
- 1976 deaths
- Heavyweight boxers
- Boxers from Buenos Aires
- Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United States
- Argentine people of Italian descent
- Sportspeople of Italian descent
- Argentine people murdered abroad
- Argentine murder victims
- People murdered in Nevada
- Deaths by firearm in Nevada
- Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery
- Argentine male boxers
- 20th-century Argentine sportsmen
- People murdered in 1976