Jim Watt remembers his old conqueror Alexis Arguello

The tragic death of Alexis Arguello from an apparent suicide at the age of 57 has been greeted by shock across the world of boxing. Arguello, from Nicaragua - he was mayor of that country's capital, Managua, at the time of his death - was a true legend of the sport, a world champion at featherweight, super-featherweight and lightweight. He came incredibly close to being the first ever four-weight world champion with two epic battles against Aaron Pryor. 

Jim Watt, whom he won his third world title from, says that he was one of the sport's true greats.

"He was the hardest man I ever fought and one of the nicest men I ever met," Watt, who now works as a co-commentator on Sky Sports, said. "He was a brilliant boxer and a complete gentleman outside the ring.

"I do know he had a history of problems in his personal life. Sometimes boxers struggle to get over the highs they get in their careers and he couldn't get any higher and he couldn't have got any higher as a boxer. He was a three-weight world champion at a time when there weren't so many champions around. 

"And he never lost any of the titles, he gave them up to move on to the next challenge. He defended the lightweight title a couple of times too before giving it up and moving up to light-welterweight, which turned out to be one step too far.

"He will be remembered as a legend, but he was a legend when he was still with us."

Watt and Arguello met for the Scot's WBC lightweight title at Wembley Arena in 1981. The 28-year-old Arguello had a fearsome reputation, but Watt, who was approaching his 33rd birthday, was making the fifth defence of his title and approached the bout with confidence.

"When you are world champion, you think you can beat anybody and I had already beaten a couple of guys in Howard Davis and Sean O'Grady that I hadn't been expected to, so I did believe I could beat him. But Alexis was just in a different class to those guys.

"He had tremendous balance. People said he was flat-footed, but he could move around so well. He was very precise with what he did. He didn't throw any silly punches and he had great power. He was a very classy operator."

Arguello won by unanimous decision in what turned out to be Watt's final bout.

"I don't reckon I could have done any better," Watt said. "I just accepted the fact that Alexis was a better fighter than I was. I didn't see the point in asking for a rematch. I was perfectly ready to retire and get on and enjoy the rest of my life, some boxers, though, are the opposite.

"Alexis seemed to struggle in life in his retirement. He had had some personal problems before and there were always stories. There was a time when he was in hospital after he had threatened to commit suicide. But he seemed to have got over all of that, he had got involved in local politics. 

"He made comebacks too. Once he came back after eight years out of the ring. The only two explanations for that would seem to be either he had financial problems or he was addicted to the game."

The two had met several times since, when Watt was in Las Vegas covering big fights. Arguello, he said, was always a warm, welcoming face when they met.

"I met him five or six times in Las Vegas when I was working for ITV or Sky and he was there doing similar work," he said. "We didn't go out for dinner or anything, we'd just chat, as old fighters do, for about 20 minutes. He always seemed to have his life together, he obviously didn't. It's very sad."

Comments

[James Fairweather]

Amen to everything that Jim Watt has said. In an era when the word "legend" is routinely wheeled out to describe an array of squawking popinjays wearing the belts of a dozen twopenny ha'penny organisations, the passing of a true giant of the sport has left boxing much the poorer.

As a practitioner of his craft, I'd say that Arguello is entitled to be considered on the fringes of the mythical all-time pound for pound top ten. Much more importantly, he seemed to be the most gentlemanly, unassuming and modest of champions, a refreshing antidote to the chest-beating prima donnas whom we so often see today.

Manny Pacquiao now flies the flag for the sort of champion that Alexis Arguello exemplified. Let's hope for another to emerge soon to follow in the footsteps of the greatest super-featherweight of them all.

[Dennis C]

Classy tribute by Watt to a great champion. So many fighters would have said after losing their title that things went wrong in training, but Watt shows that he was a real champ.

[Punchy]

I was so sad when I heard Arguello had died. He was a truly great champion from a golden era.