Arguello Dead at 57; Hatton Not in Training for Comeback – News

By Boxing News - 07/01/2009 - Comments

arguello2By Jim Dower: According to news reports, former four division world title champion Alexis Arguello (82-5, 65 KO’s) was found dead in his home today from a gunshot wound to his chest in Managua, Nicaragua. There’s no word as of yet about who may have shot Arguello or whether it was self inflicted.

Arguello, 5’10”, known for his huge power and his slender frame, dominated the featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight divisions during the 70s and early 80s. He was defeated twice by Aaron Pryor in two grueling and controversial bouts in 1982 and 1983, losing both by knockout. Those two fights took a lot out of Arguello, as well as Pryor.

Arguello fought only four more times after the 2nd fight. Arguello took a year off after his second loss to Pryor and didn’t fight at all in 1984. He came back in 1985 and stopped Pat Jefferson. The next year, he stopped British light welterweight Billy Costello in a 4th round TKO.

Following that fight, Arguello retired from boxing for eight years until staging a comeback in 1994 with a 10-round majority decision over Jorge Palamares. Arguello wasn’t the same fighter after making his comeback and would lose his next fight to Scott Walker in a 10-round decision in January 1995.

Arguello retired from boxing after that fight. In a footnote, Julio Cesar Chavez would avenge Arguello’s loss to Walker, by destroying Walker in a 2nd round TKO in February 1996.

Hatton’s Lawyer Denies that Ricky Is in Training for a Comeback

According to Gareth Davies of the Telegraph, the lawyer for Ricky Hatton said that Hatton is working out in the gym, but that Hatton isn’t preparing for a comeback fight. Hatton is merely working out to keep in shape rather than letting himself bloat up in weight like he sometimes does in between fights.

However, this is still a good sign that Hatton may be thinking about continuing with his boxing career, because it’s not normal for him to work out when he has no fights scheduled. So perhaps Hatton is contemplating making a comeback in the near future.

Hatton, 30, was destroyed by Manny Pacquiao in a 2nd round knockout on May 2nd of this year. The fight was a crushing blow for Hatton’s career, because of the one-sided nature of the bout in which Hatton was knocked down three times. Since the defeat, Hatton hasn’t said whether he will be continuing with his career or not.

Many of his biggest fans have called for Hatton to retire, saying that he doesn’t have it anymore. However, there are even more fans of his who want him to continue to fight and feel that the loss isn’t a signal that Hatton is a shot fighter.

There are hopes that if Hatton does come back, he might consider fighting lightweight contender Amir Khan. The fight would be huge in England due to Khan’s popularity. Khan has a fight coming up on July 18th against WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik, and if Khan is beaten then any hopes of a Hatton-Khan fight will go down the drain with that fight.



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