Only 87 seconds (daily newspaper Junge Welt)

If you ask a European about Argentina, you usually always hear the same stereotypes: steak, Maradona and tango. Some add “Nazi friends”. Barbecue in Silberland is actually something quasi-religious. Fewer and fewer can afford it. If you still throw in one meal a day, you won’t complain. He’s privileged. Maradona is idolized by some older generations for his two goals against the Pirates (Colonial England) at Aztec Stadium in 1986. The rest don’t like him. The boys have become messians after all. However, the national sport is not soccer, but pato (a kind of polo). Tango is considered the accident of the capital and the capital as a European enclave. Julio Sosa, Carlos Gardel, Roberto “El Polaco” Goyeneche or Adriana “La Gata” Varela count for nothing inland, inland you hear Chamamé, Chacarera or in Córdoba, and only there, Cuarteto. The Argentines mostly still appreciate Atahualpa Yupanqui, Chaqueño Palavecino and Soledad Pastorutti. As far as Nazi friends go, Argentina has the fifth largest Jewish community in the world. It was the Vatican, in cooperation with the Red Cross, who set the Nazis on them via the so-called rat line.

Although the official national sport is pato, Argentine boxing is historically one of the best. In Latin America, Cuba used to be able to keep up, now only México. The average Argentinian is a boxing fanatic and crazy about Turismo Carretera, a popular stock car racing series, the oldest racing series still running in the world. So it is hardly surprising that it was not Lionel Messi at the peak of his career who was voted Sportsman of the Year 2012, but the boxer Sergio Gabriel »Maravilla« (the miracle) Martínez, who defeated the Mexican favorite Julio César Chávez Jr. had learned a lesson and recaptured the WBC 12-round middleweight title by unanimous decision on points. When Martínez emigrated to Spain like so many Argentines in 2002, nobody on the Río de La Plata knew him. That should change. In 2003 he became IBO light middleweight world champion. In 2013, he unanimously defended the WBC title against Britain’s Martin Murray at the Vélez Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires. Murray was clearly better. The crash followed in 2014. At Madison Square Garden, Martínez lost to Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto in a brawl.

In August 2020, Martínez surprisingly came back after six years. He has won all five fights since then. Now, at the proud age of 48, he has been given the chance that all Latin American boxers dream of: fight once in a lifetime – on March 21st, 2023 – in the Luna Park of Buenos Aires! Martínez: »A gift of life! joy, pride and emotion. In the Luna Park Nicolino Locche became world champion, Carlos Monzón, Víctor Galíndez, Juan Martín ›Látigo‹ Coggi, Locomotora Castro, Omar Narváez, Marcela ›Tigresa‹ Acuña … absolute goosebumps!« Whether the idolatry dedicated to Martínez prove to be resistant to time is questionable. Carlos Monzón and Óscar Natalio “Ringo” Bonavena are considered national saints. Monzón was a big buddy of Alain Delon and a pretty badass character. On February 14, 1988, he threw his third wife, Alicia Muñiz, off the balcony after choking her into unconsciousness. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison and died in a car accident on his way back to prison in 1995 while on leave.

Bonavena, on the other hand, was never world champion, he lost the decisive fights. Bizarrely, people love him for exactly that. Boxing is not football. In Argentina, Messi was seen as a failure at school and above all as a “Catalan”, i.e. a foreigner. When Muhammad Ali brought down Bonavena in the 15th round at Madison Square Garden on December 7, 1970, Ringo nevertheless became a folk hero (TV rating 80 percent).

The boxing show last Tuesday was primarily intended to promote the TV mini-series »Ringo: Gloria y Muerte« (Glory and Death) dedicated to him. The boxer was shot dead on May 22, 1976 in Reno, Nevada, at the notorious brothel casino Mustang Ranch by a bodyguard of owner Joe Conforte. Bonavena’s remains were laid out in Luna Park Stadium, and 150,000 people said goodbye to their idol.

Luna Park is pure history. On April 10, 1938, the largest Nazi event outside of Germany took place there, at which, according to various sources, up to 20,000 fascists sang the Argentine national anthem with outstretched arms and celebrated the »Anschluss« of Austria. The first basketball world championship was held there in 1950. Tango interpreter Carlos Gardel was laid out in Luna Park, Diego Maradona celebrated his wedding there in 1989. Colloquial is the thing called “Sportpalast”, mainly because of the historical boxing matches. Luciano Pavarotti, Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra and Pope John Paul II also performed there. Even the Düsseldorf pensioners combo Die Toten Hosen, which is very popular in Argentina, filled the Luna Park in 2003. Curiously, the Hallenstadion now belongs to the church. The owner Ernestina Lectoure, who died in 2013, bequeathed it to the Argentine Caritas and to the Salesian order.

What Twickenham Stadium is to rugby, Luna Park is to boxing – a temple. Maravilla Martínez needed just 87 seconds to knock out Colombia’s Jhon Teherán in his first fight in Argentina in ten years. Reminds me a bit of good old Mike Tyson. Four knockouts in six fights. Now the 48 year old wants a title fight from the World Boxing Association (WBA). The sporting arguments of the well-read intellectual boxer are impressive. “I know it’s a little crazy, but I want a chance against Golovkin. I train with 18 year olds, I want to get stronger, harder, I want to be world champion again!«

So far no one has managed to knock down the 40-year-old Kazakh Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin (“Triple G”) in about 400 fights (45 of them professional fights). But Martinez has demonstrated that he is fit. He dominated the arena ad hoc and punished the ten years younger »Cafetero« with his left hand. The first uppercut was so effective that Tehran never recovered. The question is whether Maravilla’s knee, the reason for his resignation nine years ago, can hold up in a potential fight against Golovkin. Martínez’s professional record: 57 wins (32 by KO), three losses and two draws.