By Frank Livingstone: Whenever Argentina is mentioned in sports for the past 30 years, the sports has to be football wherein the name Diego Maradona is well known throughout the sporting world. But before Maradona, the flag of Argentina was flying high in the boxing world. On November 7, 1970, a fighter from San Javier, Argentina shocked the boxing community by winning the world middleweight title knocking out the great Nino Benvenuti. The name Carlos Monzon, nicknamed “Escopeta (shotgun), became the sporting icon of Argentina.

Then in 1971, Monzon became the second man to stop three time world champion Emile Griffith and he also won their rematch the following year. Carlos Monzon defended his world middleweight title 14 times and held it for seven years. He was named BWAA fighter of the year in 1971 and by the Ring Magazine in 1972. Herb Goldman ranked Monzon as the no. 2 all time Middleweight in his list. Carlos was also inducted in the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He retired in 1976 at the age of 34.

Another fighter from Argentina, Sergio Martinez, rose to prominence in 2010 with two devastating victories over Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams. Like Monzon, Sergio has won the word title in the middleweight division and could become the Fighter of the Year for 2010. Unfortunately, the comparison ends there. In term of fighting style, Monzon has a great punching technique and stamina and Martinez is a slick counter puncher.

Sergio would only have a few fights left in him to cement his legacy and his remaining fights would ultimately decide if his feet would match Carlos Monzon’s footsteps. Unfortunately his upcoming fight with an unknown fighter, Serhiy Dzinziruk, in March may be a step backward. Sergio will be 36 years old in February which is two years older when Carlos retired from boxing. The shoes are getting bigger to fill but Sergio might surprise us as he did in 2010 and might have another big year in 2011. If that is the case, there will be tears of joy, (No, there won’t be any crying), in Argentina.