When boxing followers hear the moniker “The Golden Boy,” they in fact consider Oscar De La Hoya, however some 4 many years earlier than Oscar grew to become one of many largest attracts in boxing, there was the primary “Golden Boy,” a boxer named Artwork Aragon and he was each bit as fashionable in his time as Oscar was in his. An enormous draw on the west coast, Aragon was a perpetual headliner on the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles and likewise for dozens of matches on the Legion Stadium in Hollywood.
He already had a stable file with some forty wins when he stopped fashionable Mexican slugger Enrique Bolanos in February of 1950. He repeated the feat 5 months later, this time beating “The Durango Dropper” with ease, and immediately he grew to become a assured ticket-seller. He was the boxer Mexican battle followers beloved to hate whereas People appreciated his aggressive, all-action type. And the feminine contingent was drawn to his beauty and flamboyant methods.
Aragon rapidly grew to become fashionable within the Hollywood social scene, hanging out with starlets resembling Marilyn Monroe and Mamie Van Doren. “The Golden Boy was an ideal title for him,” recalled blonde-bombshell Van Doren. “His smile turned everybody on. His pores and skin was golden. His floppy hair bounced so completely. He was simply so horny.”
Because the story goes, when he weighed in for his 1958 match with Carmen Basilio (Basilio stopped Aragon in eight), somebody close by requested how he was doing. “Not so good,” replied Aragon. “Each my spouse and my girlfriend are right here.” He relished the highlight and the nightlife and all of the admirers and in August of ’51 there was an enormous crowd on the Olympic Auditorium when he confronted world light-weight champ Jimmy Carter and beat him by cut up determination.
But it surely was a non-title battle and so Carter vs Aragon II with the world championship on the road grew to become a good larger attraction. This could be Aragon’s one and solely title shot and each his followers and detractors have been excited by the prospect of seeing him get his likelihood for the light-weight crown. However the Jimmy Carter who appeared considerably torpid in August was a extra motivated and far sharper pugilist in November.
Carter, who defeated Ike Williams for the title, was a gifted boxer however he was extensively considered as a mob-controlled one. His loss to Aragon was not the primary time he carried out poorly when the percentages have been stacked in his favour and now those that had cashed in on the underdog within the first battle may money in once more on the rematch.
However Aragon didn’t go gently into the evening. He was the higher man within the early going, making the battle and touchdown loads of stable pictures, rocking Carter greater than as soon as together with his left hook. However the bout turned in spherical six when Carter caught Aragon coming in, blasting him with a left hook of his personal and sending “The Golden Boy” to the canvas. Aragon beat the rely however now he had a foul reduce over his left eye and Carter took over, profitable spherical after spherical.
Nonetheless, the group obtained its cash’s value. There was loads of motion and within the late going Aragon confirmed his grit and guts, refusing to give up and taking a beating in the previous couple of rounds. Within the ultimate stanza Carter scored a second knockdown however then confirmed mercy, easing off and letting the clock run out.
The scorecards have been huge: two had Carter the winner by eleven factors, a 3rd by 12. It was a humbling defeat however Aragon was not a humble man and he had confirmed once more he was each powerful and recreation. Aragon was nonetheless “The Golden Boy” and the loss did nothing to impact his capacity to promote tickets in Southern California and so he battled on.
Even so, Aragon by no means obtained one other likelihood for a world title, although he did meet Carter once more, taking a unanimous determination from the ex-champ over ten rounds. That win and plenty of others saved the battle followers shopping for tickets to see “The Golden Boy” in motion and so he lived the excessive life for a number of extra years, headlining California battle playing cards and maintaining his good-looking face within the sports activities pages. Whereas all the time doing his greatest to maintain his spouse and his present girlfriend as far aside as doable. — Robert Portis
