[Rocco Del Sesto]

A new day in our 1967 replay starts out with a couple Argentinean HW's, one of them very well known to us.

01/21/67 Saturday
Mar Del Plata, Argentina
Oscar Bonavena – HW (25-3-0) vs. Jose Giorgetti – HW (35-7-2)

Oscar Bonavena - Rating 9 Argentina
Heavyweight 1964-76
58 wins / 9 losses / 1 draw / 44 KO

Hometown: Reno, Nv, USA
Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina

His first professional fights listed in BoxRec were all in New York.Career started out 8-0 with 7 KO's, the only non stoppage a 10 round UD over Dick Wipperman. Defeated Tom McNeeley by 5th round TKO. According to the New York Times, Bonavena appeared to shove McNeeley to the canvas towards the end of the 5th round. Referee Tddy Martin then stopped the bout. His decision was booed handily by the crowd. In February 1965 he lost his first fight, a 10 round UD to Zora Folley. Bonavena went down in the 8th, rising at the count of 8. That fight was at Madison Square Garden.

He then returned to Argentina where he racked up 6 consecutive KO's against the local fighters. Then on Sept. 2nd, 1965 he fought Gregorio Peralta fo rthe Argentina HW Title. Bonavena won a 12 round decision, but Bonavena was subsequently stripped of the title. Four more KO wins and then he lost for the 2nd time in his career, disqualified in the 8th round of a scheduled 12 round fight against Jose Giorgetti in March 1966. Those two fought a refight a month later, this time Bonavena winning a 10 round decision.

Bonavena then traved back to the States, and fought George Chuvalo at Madison Square Garden on June 23rd, 1966 winning a majority 10 round decision. The scroring 4-4-2, 7-3, 5-4-1. Then came his epic fight with Joe Frazier 3 months later at the Garden. Bonavena knocked down Frazier twice in the 2nd round, but Frazier managed to come back and win a 10 round split decision, 5-4-1, 6-4, 5-5(7-5 pts) Bonavena. AFter that Bonavena went back to Argentina where he fought for much of the next year racking up 9 wins in 9 fights, 8 by KO/TKO, including wins over Alberto Benassi twice, Jose Giorgetti, Luis Pires and American, Hubert Hilton.

All that sets up Bonavena being part of the WBA Heavyweight Elimination Tournament to decide the WBA's choice of a new heavyweight champion for Ali's crown. In the first round of the tournament, Bonavena fought Eurpean HW champion Karl Mildenberger in Frankfurt, Germany on Sept 16, 1967. Bonavena sent Mildenberger to the canvas in the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th round on the way to a 12 round decision over the German. Bonavena then was matched up against Jimmy Ellis in the next round of the tournament on December 2nd in Louisville, Kentucky. Bonavena was floored in the 3rd and 10th rounds as Ellis won a 12 round UD, 56-53, 59-53, 55-54. Given even that loss, Bonavena was still ranked 6th in the Ring Magazine's 1967 year end HW rankings.

Bonavena stayed ranked in the top 10 from 1967 thru 1971. He droped out of the top 10 in 1972 but them was back in the top 10 from 1973 through 1974. During those years he fought Joe Frazier for the NYSAC HW Title in December 1968 loosing to Joe again, this time a 15 round UD, 70-67, 74-64, 72-64. In December 1970 he lost to Ali for the NABF HW Title when Bonavena was knocked down 3 times in the 15th round, forcing an automatic stoppage. Scoring at the time of the stoppage was 12-2, 10-3-1, 8-5-1, all Ali. Many other fights in that period included wins over Roberto Davila, Zora Folley, Leotis Martin, Jimmy Fletcher, Luis Pires twice, Wilhelm von Homburg, Santiago Alberto Lovell twice, Manual Ramos, James J. Woody, Al (Blue) Lewis, Leroy Caldwell, Roy (Cookie) Wallace, Lou Bailey, Larry Middleton and Billy Joiner. He lost fights to Miguel Angel Paez, Floyd Patterson (10 round UD), and Ron Lyle (12 round UD).

After the Lyle loss in March 1974 he had won his next 7 fights when on May 22, 1976 he was shot and killed in a brothel in Las Vegas. If your interested in reading more about his death see the attached website link here in his file.

The file I'm attaching for Bonavena is from the game, I just added the bio info and the web link mentioned above that you might be interested in seeing.

Jose Giorgretti - Rating 1 Argentina
Heavyweight 1957-68
36 wins / 8 losses / 2 draws / 33 KO

Hometown: Necochea, Buenos Aires
Birthplace: Quequen, Buenos Aires

Rating by: Rocco Del Sesto

A heavyweight out of South America with knock out punch and a good chin. He spent his entire career fighting in his native land of Argentina. He was the Argentine Heavyweight Champ from June 1959 until he was defeated by Gregorio Peralta in a 12 round decision in August 1962. Four month prior to the title fight he lost a 10 round decision to Peralta. Before the two Peralta fights in Feb. 1960 Giorgetti lost a 2nd round KO to Alex Miteff. In March and April 1966 he beat Oscar Bonavena by an 8th round disqualification of Bonavena. Oscar came back in April in a rematch and defeated Giorgetti in a 10 round decision.

In June 1966 he then defeated Roberto Davila in a 10 round decision. His last two fights of noteability were a 10 round decision loss to Eduardo Corletti in October 1966 and then a 9th round TKO loss to Bonavena in January 1967. He also lost an 8th round Technical decision to Santiago Alberto Lovell(31-15-2) another busy Argentinian of the 60's and 70's.

The rest of Giorgetti's career around the mentioned noteable fights were a mix of the unmentionables. He packed what appeared to be a big punch. It would be interesting to see what he'd do against some competition outside of Argentina.

I'd rated and posted Giorgretti sometime earlier in this HW thread. You look at his 33 KO's in 36 wins and you might have to ask how can this guy be only a 1?! He never fought outside of Argentina and if you look at his opponents there, most of them did not stack up to much.

The fight....
Everyone pretty much knows “Ringo”. After a tough 15 round majority decision win against George Chuvalo and that celebrated 10 round split decision loss to Joe Frazier back in June and September 1966 respectively, Bonavena traveled back to homeland Argentina it would be assumed to give himself some easier competition to polish up on and remain active for the world stage later on in the upheaval that is to come in 1967 in the heavyweight division. In a matter of a couple months in late 1966 Oscar has won 4 fights, beating Alberto Benassi twice, American Amos Johnson in a 10 round decision and most recent a 4th round KO of winless Roberto Veliz. He’s now coming in to fight old Argentinean nemesis Alberto Giorgetti. Giorgetti has been a top heavyweight in his home country of Argentina for years, but unlike Bonavena, Giorgetti has spent his career entirely in his home country, never getting onto the world stage. These two fought most recently in early 1966 with Giorgetti winning the first round when Bonavena was DQ’d in the 8th round. In the next fight a month later, Bonavena rebounded for a 10 round decision. While Bonavena was busy fighting on the international stage in 1966, Giorgetti was winding down his career in Argentina. After the Bonavena fights, he three fights, the first against Roberto Davila, the last two against winless characters. Then in October 1966 he lost a 10 round decision to Eduardo Corletti and then in November lost to a fresh up and coming face on the Argentinean HW scene, Santiago Alberto Lovell who was 8-0 at the time.
The fight in January 1967 between Bonavena and Giorgetti, it’s surprising in a way that it lasted to the 9th round before the fight was called for a TKO victory for “Ringo”. For Bonavena the best of his career was probably yet to come, for Giorgetti, he would not fight again for almost a year and then it would be for the very last time. Our replay fight was more what I probably would have expected. Round 1, Giorgetti managed to wing a couple good hooks in to connect, but overall, Bonavena was just too fast I think for Giorgetti and Ringo easily managed more connecting punches by far. Then in the 2nd round after Giorgetti managed to sneak in a quick uppercut to start the round, Bonavena quickly pressed the action scoring with a crushing hook and then shot in an uppercut landing it square snapping back Giorgetti’s head. Then after the referee momentarily stopped the action issuing a warning to Bonavena for hitting on the break, Bonavena quickly connected with a combination then landed another shot like lighting bolt that dropped Giorgetti to the canvas. Jose manages to get up in an 8 count, but less then 10 seconds later, Bonavena rains in another combination and puts Giorgetti back onto the deck a second time and this time Jose is counted out. A 2nd round KO for Bonavena at 2:42 in the round.