‘There are two things in life that a man should never play with. Another man's money and another man's woman.’ Oscar Bonavena
'BVB writer, Paul Zanon is currently working with prisoners at HMP Thameside using the power of sports writing to help them develop into wordsmiths. We are delighted to support his efforts by donating a prize to the winner of a competition he ran with the prisoners, which involved writing a biographical piece about Oscar ‘Ringo’ Bonavena. The winning entry is below.’
When delving into the captivating life of Oscar Natalio ‘Ringo’ Bonavena, out emerges a man who cut a polarizing figure associated with bravado and lothario antics outside of the ring, whilst challenging elite level fighters with consequential competitive shortfalls within.
Bonavena was born 25 September 1942 in Buenos Aires, to Italian immigrant parents. Despite being an imposing figure, the Argentine only stood 5ft 10 ½, which was a little shorter than the average in the heavyweight echelons. However, what he lacked in height, he made up for with his concussive knockout power, launching bombs from a frame that would consistently weigh in over 200lbs. Oscar went on to be trained by Charley Goldman, who had himself boxed, yet was more famed for training Rocky Marciano, and was managed by Marvin Goldberg, who was also a qualified dentist.
Bonavena first laced up his gloves as a professional boxer on 1 March 1964 against Lou Hicks, on the undercard of Jose Torres against Jose Gonzalez, at Madison Square Garden. With all eyes on stocky Oscar at the Mecca of boxing, he disposed of Hicks in a little over a minute of the opening round. Bonavena fought a further six times before the end of the year, mauling his opponents with his devastating knockout power. Only one of the six managed to last the distance.
As Bonavena climbed the boxing ladder, the calibre of his opponents also stepped up, resulting in his first ever career loss on 26 February 1965, against world title contender, Zora Foley. Up to this point, Bonavena had only fought in the USA and made the decision to return on home soil for his next 13 bouts. In the first 11 contests, he knocked out 10 of his opponents, with only Gregorio Peralta lasting the distance as the pair battled it out for the Argentinian heavyweight title. His second career loss came by way of disqualification against Jose Giorgetti, for a low blow, which he avenged five weeks later, by points victory.
Oscar’s record now stood at 20-2 and on 23 June 1966, he returned to Madison Square Garden to face seasoned pro and world title challenger, George Chuvalo. It’s worth noting, Chuvalo had lasted the 15-round distance with Muhammad Ali only three months prior, unsuccessfully challenging the Greatest for his WBC heavyweight strap, not to mention he had also fought the likes of Floyd Patterson and Ernie Terrell. Bonavena was somewhat inexperienced in comparison and a heavy underdog.
Bonavena vs Chuvalo 1966
As the pair headlined at The Garden, the world took note of Bonavena as he outboxed against the highly regarded Canadian champion, winning a majority points decision, and giving other fighters something to think about. Shortly after the Chuvalo clash came the first of a sequel of fights against legend and household name, Joe Frazier. The prefight buildup was a spectacle in its own right as Oscar, quite successfully got under Frazier’s skin.
On 21 September 1966, Oscar Bonavena put on the performance of his life at Madison Square Garden. From the opening bell, he stamped his authority with his own offensive and almost ended the fight in the second session, putting Smoking Joe down twice. Unfortunately, Frazier rallied back and after 10 rounds, two judges gave it to Frazier, leaving Bonavena the loser by split decision.
Frazier vs Bonavena 1966
Bonavena returned to Argentina, won a further nine fights, eight by stoppage. In the meantime, as a result of Muhammad Ali refusing to join the military draft, he was consequently stripped of his WBA title. Ther strap was now put up for grabs in a WBA elimination tournament featuring eight of the best heavyweights in the world, which included a gifted opportunity to Bonavena.
On 16 September 1967, Oscar travelled to Karl Mildenberger’s backyard of Germany, defeating the reigning European heavyweight champion comfortably on points, in a contest which saw Bonavena knocking Mildenberger down four times. Unfortunately, Bonavena lost his opportunity for world honours as Jimmy Ellis defeated him on points in the semi-finals, knocking Oscar down twice during the process. Minus the knockdowns, the scores would have been much closer.
In 1968, Bonavena returned to Argentina, winning seven fights on the bounce, including two notable victories against Leotis Martin and another against old foe, Zora Foley, avenging his loss from 1965. As his standing in world heavyweight boxing rose once again, Bonavena had paved the way to another title shot. The highly anticipated grudge rematch with Joe Frazier for the NYSAC heavyweight title was on the line.
On 10 December 1968, the pair clashed at the Spectrum, Philadelphia, famed for the Rocky Balboa story. Sadly for Bonavena, the fight didn’t have a Rocky ending as it went the full 15 round distance, with all three judges scorecards in favour of Frazier, as Bonavena was left leaving the ring in a bloody mess, licking his wounds.
Frazier vs Bonavena 1968
As the 60’s came to a close, Bonavena fought four times in 1969. Twice in Argentina, once in Germany and once in Uraguay against old opponent, Gregorio Peralta, which resulted in a draw.
In 1970, after years of verbal slights, public spats and disrespectful showmanship, it was time for Bonavena and Muhammad Ali to put their issues to bed and do all their talking in the ring. This was Bonavena’s last attempt at a world title shot, with the NABF strap at stake and despite a valiant attempt to dethrone the king in a hard fought battle, Ali was simply too slick and outboxed the Argentinian. Entering the fifteenth and final round, Ali’s quality shone through and he knocked Oscar down three times with flurries of punches, en route to a TKO win.
Ali vs Bonavena 1970
Ten months post Ali, he fought an often overlooked opponent in Alvin ‘Blue’ Lewis. The American hit the canvas for the eight count in the fourth round and was disqualified in the seventh for a head butt which opened a nasty gash over Bonavena’s eye, rendering him incapable of continuing. Four months later, on 11 February 1972, Oscar fought former world champion, Floyd Patterson in Madison Square Garden and despite putting him on the canvas in the fourth round, Floyd rallied back and won the contest on a tight points decision.
Moving into the 1970’s, Bonavena’s boxing outings and level of quality opponents became less frequent, as opposed to his party antics, which seemed to take priority. His last big name fight was against Ron Lyle on 19 March 1974, which saw Bonavena trailing on all three score cards, despite being gifted a pointed from Lyle for a low blow in the tenth round.
Unbeknown to himself, his final outing would be on 26 February 1976, against journeyman, Billy Joiner, in Reno, which he ground out a 10-round points decision, bringing his professional boxing record to a very respectable 58 wins, nine losses and one draw. The losses in particular were on the whole against elite fighters.
For those who knew Oscar, they knew that his insatiable appetite for party life and penchant for beautiful women, became his destructive weakness whilst running concurrently to his career in the square ring. The hard-hitting Argentine was rumoured to be a regular in brothels and was often photographed with a number of A-list celebrities whilst letting his hair down, which was on a very regular basis.
The brothels became Bonavena’s safe place, but ironically, it would be on a visit to one of his favourite venues, Mustang Ranch in Reno, Nevada where he would be shot dead by the brothel’s security. Apparently, a dispute had arisen, stemming from a fall out between Bonavena and the ranch owner, Jose Conforte, connected to Bonavena being romantically involved with Conforte’s wife.
On hearing the news of Bonavena’s death, Argentina went into mourning, with over 150,000 people in attendance for the flamboyant boxing star’s funeral. It’s often believed that Bonavena never reached anywhere near his full potential in boxing. Twinned with his dramatic ending in life, unfortunately, for the fighter with Hollywood good looks, there was to be no Oscar nomination for Bonavena.
