Boxing Legend And Managua Mayor Arguello Dead
With an apparent shotgun blast to the chest, boxing has lost one of its most intriguing and brilliant fighters, as the AP has reported that three-time world champion Alexis Arguello was found dead at his home in Managua, Nicaragua on Wednesday morning. Arguello was probably best known for losing two epic battles with Aaron Pryor in the 1980s, but he also lived one of the most colorful and fascinating lives of any fighter in recent memory.
As highlighted in an incredible SPORTS ILLUSTRATED profile from 1985, Arguello suffered from crippling poverty as an Indian living in war-torn Nicaragua, and watched as his father tried to commit suicide by jumping down a well, and then wrapped the rope thrown down to haul him up around his neck. As a champion fighter, he veered from incredible self-discipline to drug use and adultry. Later, he was elected mayor of Managua - running on the ticket of the same Sandanista party that he took arms against after becoming a boxing star.
