The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Miguel Ángel Castellini: the champion who came to fight between shots and had a cross with Julio Cortázar

2020-10-28T22:53:53.727Z


The pampeano was part of the great history of Argentine boxing. He achieved the title of the world and even starred in a strange counterpoint with one of the greatest Argentine writers.


10/28/2020 7:21 PM

  • Clarín.com

  • sports

Updated 10/28/2020 7:21 PM

The death of

Miguel Ángel Castellini

this Wednesday, at the age of 73, generated deep pain in the universe of Argentine boxing.

The pampeano was not only an exceptional fighter, with technique, punch and an enormous attachment to the gym, but also a man distinguished by his personal virtues and his teaching quality.

His 15-year career earned him a world title, 74 wins in 94 appearances, world travel, a shooting match and even a harsh criticism from Julio Cortázar.

The counterpoint between the Santa Rosa-born boxer and the author of

Hopscotch

occurred in 1973. At that time, after more than five years of performing in different provinces and two years of standing in which he had dedicated himself to working as a disc jockey, Castellini had made a place for himself on the Luna Park billboards, he was an Argentine super welterweight champion and already carried the nickname of

Cloroformo

, after a tremendous knockout of Mexican

Raúl Soriano

in November of the previous year at the Corrientes and Bouchard coliseum.

Castellini, who had 18 consecutive victories (16 by knockout), had to face on April 7 of that year the American

Doc Holliday

, a History student at the University of Columbus with a modest boxing background.

Taking advantage of a visit by Cortázar to Buenos Aires and his love of boxing,

El Gráfico

invited him to attend Luna Park to witness the evening and write a chronicle for the magazine.

Miguel Ángel Castellini made 94 professional fights in his 15-year career.

The writer, who had not set foot in the stadium for 22 years, accepted.

That night, he saw Castellini win in a low-flying match, as did Oscar Bonavena, located just a few seats away.

He was very dissatisfied with the performance of the pampeano and thus left it established in the text that was published in the 2792 edition of

El Gráfico.

“If Castellini does not learn all that he needs to learn, the endless instructions that

Ringo

Bonavena

yelled at him will be of no use

.

At present there is no shortage of Doc Hollidays waiting for their hour and some have punch.

Any of them can ruin Castellini's career if he does not decide to turn physical power into that more complex and effective mechanism that defines great boxers, and that gives their victories the splendor that was sorely lacking last night ”, stated the writer .

"Cortázar is a great writer who sees boxing very badly," Castellini replied at the time.

But, years later, he appreciated that criticism in a different way.

"That Cortázar column helped me, it challenged me to fight to become world champion," he acknowledged in February this year in an interview published on

Infobae

.

Miguel Ángel Castellini-Doc Holliday, the fight that Julio Cortázar commented for El Gráfico in 1973.

After that questioning,

Chloroformo

achieved 16 victories in his next 19 presentations, which brought him closer to a World Cup chance.

Of those 16 triumphs, six were on European soil (he also reaped a defeat): he fought in Paris, Rome, Milan and Monaco.

There he rubbed shoulders with personalities from different fields.

“Jean Paul Belmondo was the warmest and the best boxing spectator I met in Europe.

Living in Paris was an invaluable luxury ”, he recalled years later.

Despite this, there were still questions from the Argentine public for Castellini, who finally had his chance for the super welterweight title of the World Boxing Association and did not miss it: he beat Spanish

José Durán

on

points

at the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid on October 8, 1976. It was a hot night, in which some fans ended up attacking every Argentine they crossed.

Among them,

Víctor Emilio Galíndez

, a great friend of the new champion, who had traveled with him to the Spanish capital.

When he returned to Buenos Aires, he was asked if the title would allow a reconciliation with his critics.

“I will never have a reconciliation with the public because it is a love relationship.

In love, there are fights, encounters and disagreements.

Maybe I have problems with the public, but we will always be united, "he explained.

Years later, he also linked that triumph with Cortázar's harsh chronicle: "When I won the crown, I felt that he, with his criticism, had been part of my world title."

Miguel Ángel Castellini greets, back in Buenos Aires after winning the world super welterweight title in Madrid.

The reign lasted only five months.

On March 5, 1977 and under a state of siege, he exhibited his crown at the National Baseball Stadium in Managua in front of the unknown

Eddie Gazo

, a non-commissioned officer of the Nicaraguan Army backed by the dictatorship of

Anastasio Somoza

, who at that time was facing the offensive of the Frente Sandinista for National Liberation (FSLN).

In a crowded stadium, a good part of the crowd were members of the bloody National Guard (disintegrated after the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution) who heated up the preview by firing into the air and cheering Gazo and Somoza.

With such an atmosphere, Castellini was not able to do much, and he

was

even

threatened with death

during one of the combat breaks.

Finally he fell on points and handed the title to the Nicaraguan.

The celebration of the public was, again, with shots in the air.

"I think

Tito Lectoure

made one of the biggest mistakes of his career, leading me to box there," he said three decades later.

Miguel Ángel Castellini, in one of the gymnasiums of his boxing academy.

(Photo: Hernán G. Rojas)

Although

Chloroformo

continued fighting for another three and a half years and did one more test in Europe (he was knocked out in Denmark by the Ugandan

Ayub Kalule,

who would later become world champion), his flame went out after the defeat with Gazo, against whom he had revenge in September 1980, when the Nicaraguan had already given up the title: he beat it by knockout at Luna Park.

After that triumph, he hung up his gloves.

After retirement, he never disassociated himself from boxing.

He founded and directed the Miguel Ángel Castellini Boxing Academy until his death, despite the fact that in the last four years he had suffered seven strokes.

Married and father of three children, in 2011 he received the Delfo Cabrera Award for Exemplary Athlete in the Hall of the Provinces of Congress, a recognition granted by the Senate of the Nation since 1999.

FK

Look also

Abel Cachazú, the worker of the classics with Locche and Saldaño, and a passenger on the plane that brought Juan Domingo Perón from exile

Mario D'Agata, the only deaf world boxing champion to break down a taboo on punches without hearing the bell

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2020-10-28

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-22T10:12:59.313Z
News/Politics 2024-02-08T13:33:05.562Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.