Beat the great Carlos Monzon.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
IBC 05: Hardman v Camilleri | Wednesday September 23 from 7pm AEST | The World\u2019s fastest growing combat sport returns with a showdown for the ages, as Isaac Hardman takes on veteran boxer Joel Camilleri in the Gold Coast. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n It was October 5, 1974, inside Buenos Aires\u2019 famous Luna Park, and Mundine was a very long way from the tiny northern NSW community of Baryulgil where he grew up.<\/p>\n Standing across the ring from him was arguably the greatest middleweight of all time \u2013 whose legacy would later be stained by his conviction for murder.<\/p>\n Monzon was a national hero in Argentina, a fearsome champion who hadn\u2019t lost in 10 years and was already four years into a reign that would eventually become one of the most celebrated in boxing history.<\/p>\n A drinker and heavy smoker, Monzon had also been shot twice the previous year by his wife during a domestic dispute. One of the bullets stayed lodged in him for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n He had beaten Nino Benvenuti twice, Emile Griffith twice, Bennie Briscoe and Jose Napoles. Big names.<\/p>\n Now it was the Aussie\u2019s turn to step up.<\/p>\n Tony Mundine and Carlos MonzonSource: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a big crowd and soldiers everywhere with guns,\u201d Mundine would later tell renowned Aussie boxing writer Grantlee Kieza.<\/p>\n \u201cCarlos was the best fighter I ever faced, the hardest puncher too.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was very tall and he had great range and timing. He had a terrific eye and the ability to pick off your punches.\u201d<\/p>\n Mundine even recalled the hometown crowd chanting \u201cKill Mundine\u201d over and over as he prepared to throw down with their champion.<\/p>\n Yet while history records what happened next as another successful defence for the mighty Monzon, the fight remains one of the defining moments of Mundine\u2019s career.<\/p>\n Because the Aussie hadn\u2019t flown halfway around the globe hoping to pull off a miracle.<\/p>\n He absolutely belonged in there.<\/p>\n More than a year before he squared off with Monzon, \u201cThe Big Cat\u201d was already being spoken about internationally as the man who might eventually replace the great Argentine at the top of the middleweight division. <\/p>\n An AFP report in 1973 described Mundine as a \u201cyoung and powerful puncher\u201d who many considered the successor to Monzon\u2019s throne.<\/p>\n Then, in November that year, Mundine travelled to Paris and beat the great Emile Griffith over 12 rounds \u2013 a victory he would later describe as the greatest of his 80 pro wins.<\/p>\n Griffith, a former welterweight and middleweight world champion who had already fought Monzon twice, knew exactly what top class looked like.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I think he\u2019s one of the top middleweights around,\u201d Griffith said afterwards. \u201cHe\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time Mundine reached Monzon, he had already been Australian and Commonwealth middleweight champion, while his devastating punching power had established him as a serious threat on the international stage.<\/p>\n And from the opening bell in Buenos Aires in \u201874, he definitely fought like it.<\/p>\n Carlos Monzon and Tony MundineSource: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n Mundine started aggressively, forcing Monzon backwards as the Aussie attempted to turn the biggest fight of his life into a battle.<\/p>\n The pair traded heavily during the early rounds and, while Monzon \u2013 who was a notorious slow starter \u2013 gradually began finding his range and rhythm.<\/p>\n Years later, Mundine remained adamant there had been a moment when he thought one of boxing\u2019s great upsets was moments away.<\/p>\n \u201cI had him gone in the fourth round but I couldn\u2019t finish him,\u201d Mundine told the ABC in 2020.<\/p>\n But Mundine also believed there was another factor working against him that night.<\/p>\n The scales.<\/p>\n Mundine had sucked his frame down to 159 pounds \u2013 just over 72kg \u2013 to challenge the man known as \u201cEscopeta\u201d [or Shotgun].<\/p>\n And he later revealed to Kieza just how much that drain took out of him.<\/p>\n \u201cBack in those days I had trouble making the middleweight limit,\u201d Mundine said.<\/p>\n \u201cNow they have a super-middleweight division (76kg) which would have suited me…<\/p>\n \u201cI lost a lot of strength just making the weight limit.\u201d<\/p>\n It is one of the great what-ifs of Mundine\u2019s career.<\/p>\n The super-middleweight division did not exist at world championship level in 1974 \u2013 and Mundine had fought and won the Australian heavyweight title years before against Foster Bibron.<\/p>\n Still, Mundine made no excuses for what happened next. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was a great fighter and a great champion, and that\u2019s why he is a champion,\u201d said Mundine.<\/p>\n Eventually, Monzon showed exactly why.<\/p>\n The Argentine\u2019s timing, reach and experience increasingly took over as the fight wore on, with the champion landing heavy leather in the fifth and sixth rounds.<\/p>\n Then, 80 seconds into the seventh round, it was over.<\/p>\n A barrage of punches sent the Aussie to the canvas and Monzon had successfully defended his middleweight crown for the 9th time.<\/p>\n MORE BOXING:<\/p>\n \u2018Dad I love you\u2019: Tributes flow, Choc makes sad dash home as icon Tony Mundine dies aged 75<\/a><\/p>\n British prodigy hospitalised after disastrous bid to match Tyson\u2019s heavyweight title feat<\/a><\/p>\n Tony Mundine in Ern McQuillian’s Sydney gym.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n Mundine had fallen short of becoming world champion.<\/p>\n But it had been an incredible journey to simply to get there.<\/p>\n As a teenager in Baryulgil without running water or electricity, Mundine had fought in Jimmy Sharman\u2019s famous travelling boxing tents when they rolled into nearby Grafton.<\/p>\n Inspired by Indigenous boxing icon Lionel Rose, he turned pro in 1969 and, just five years later, was challenging one of the greatest middleweights in fistic history for the championship of the world.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just a little chocolate boy from Baryulgil, and here I was travelling the world,\u201d Mundine would later say.<\/p>\n Mundine continued fighting for another decade and retired in 1984 with 80 victories, including 64 knockouts, from a excellent career that saw him win Australian titles across multiple divisions.<\/p>\n Hrgovic STUNS Itauma | 02:56<\/p>\n His name would eventually become familiar to another generation of Aussie sports fans as the father and trainer of Anthony Mundine.<\/p>\n Yet long before \u2018The Man\u2019 became a world champion, his father had already fought at the very highest level \u2013 and at a time when there were fewer champions per division.<\/p>\n Tony Mundine never won a world title. But on one unforgettable night in Buenos Aires, he stood across from Carlos Monzon and tried to take his.<\/p>\n And looking back on everything boxing had given him \u2013 from Baryulgil to Buenos Aires, Mundine needed only a few words to sum it all up.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m proud of who I am,\u201d he told Kieza.<\/p>\n \u201cProud of what I did.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images and names of deceased persons.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-877870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}