Reflections of the Deceased Boxers

The summer of 2009 has been plagued with celebrity deaths and boxing has not been immune. Within the last 30 days, we’ve lost hall of famer Alexis Arguello, all time action great Arturo Gatti and former two division champ Vernon Forrest.

Looking back on all three careers, they all provided us with many memories. Here’s my take on all three.

It’s a shame Arguello felt the need to take his own life earlier this summer. However, the former world champ’s legacy has already been established.

A member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and former featherweight, junior lightweight, and lightweight world champ, Arguello’s action packed fights are already the stuff of legend accumulating airtime on ESPN Classic and being sought after by tape collectors.

Despite never having won a title at this weight, his most famous fights were probably junior welterweight title challenges against Aaron Pryor in 1982 and 1983 respectively.

Fight fans will remember him for his action filled fights and in his home country of Nicaragua, were he was a national hero, fans may be able to look past that fact that he senselessly ended his own life. However, it’s a tragedy and unwarranted. I wish he sought help rather than pull the trigger.

"The Human Highlight Reel" was must see TV for fight fans throughout his career. When you watched a Gatti fight, you weren’t tuning in to see a technical boxing match. You expected, and often got, two men standing toe to toe and testing each others resolve for pain.

Gatti’s trilogy with "Irish" Micky Ward is the stuff of legend. His popularity and exciting fighting style was so unparalled that even after losing three consecutive fights he wasn’t demoted to fighting on undercards or off TV, but was kept on major American boxing network HBO.

He won two world titles in his career at 130 and 140 pounds, however title belts didn’t define him. He’s a probable first ballot hall of famer based not off his superiority in the ring or exceptional skill, but because of the caliber of memorable fights he was in.

After being found dead in Brazil earlier this month, his wife was taken into custody by police under suspicion he was murdered. An autopsy revealed that a suicide is possible, however friends and family dispute that could have taken place.

Sad to say we’ll never get that induction speech in Canastota in a few years from "Thunder" himself.

It came as a complete shock to me that this weekend former two division champ Vernon Forrest was murdered while a group of thugs attempted to rob him in Atlanta, GA Saturday night.

Forrest was a champion in and out of the ring.

Within the squared circle, he’ll be remembered as a 1992 U.S. Olympian and for beating future Hall of Famer "Sugar" Shane Mosley twice during his prime. He not only defeated Mosley, but did so convincingly both times.

However, his career was inconsistent at times and he dealt with a lot of nagging injuries. After defeating Mosley twice, he lost twice to the rugged Ricardo Mayorga. Many point to fighting with injuries for those poor performances and Forrest wouldn’t fight for another two years while healing up.

After returning from the layoff, Forrest defeated former welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir for a vacant junior middleweight title. He shockingly lost that belt in a title defense to Sergio Mora, before convincingly winning in a rematch.

The redemption against Mora proved to be Forrest’s last fight. Most recently he was stripped of his title and forced to cancel upcoming bouts due to more injuries.

As a fighter, he’s a borderline hall of famer. He had huge wins and shocking losses.

As a person, he’ll be remember as the guy who would take time on ESPN’s Friday Night Fight’s to promote his charitable work with "Destiny’s Child", an organization that he started to help provide housing for mentally handicapped adults.

RIP "Viper"….we’ll miss you.