Rewind with Mario River Martino: Pedro Montañez

Rewind with Mario River Martino: Pedro Montañez

originally written in 1996

On June 27th and in the mountainous town of Cayey, Puerto Rico, precisely where he first saw the light of day, Pedro Montanez passed away at the age of 82.  In an island that has produced triple champion Hall of Famers Wilfredo Benitez and Wilfredo Gomez as well as outstanding lightweights Carlos Ortiz and Edwin (Chapo) Rosario, Hector (Macho) Camacho and Esteban de Jesus as well as champions of the caliber of light-heavyweight Jose (Chegui) Torres, bantam Sixto Escobar and junior lightweights Alfredo Escalera and Sammy Serrano, the name of Pedro Montanez may not ring a bell to many aficionados.

But back here he has the unique title of “El Campeon Sin Corona” champion without a crown.  Montanez labored at his trade from 1931 to 1940.  “He was the greatest Puertorican lightweight of alltime” was the comment expressed by Don King aide Eddie Mafuz when advised of his sudden death. In the soon to be inaugurated Boxing Hall of Champions there will be a niche reserved for him; so stated Commission president Ms. Dommy Delgado. While in his home town of Cayey a life sized statue of Pedro will  soon be part of the towns principal attraction.

But what were the incomparable qualities of this man that entitled him to all these special accolades and considerations?

To this writer, he was the man that got me hooked on boxing back in New York’s Barrio in 1935.  At that time (on a par with then world bantamweight champion Sixto Escobar) he was already a national hero and the most exciting lightweight displaying his wares in Manhattan the then Mecca of boxing.  There was a slight difference in ages however, he was 21 at the time while I was 11 and honored to shine his shoes.

But we are getting a bit ahead of our story.

Pedro picked up the boxing bug in 1930.  Barely sixteen he fought his first amateur encounter against later life time friend Sixto Escobar at the Victory Garden in Santurce.

Boxing had been booming in Caracas at the time and in 1931 he ventured to and from the island, eventually (1932) winning the lightweight crown  of Venezuela from Hector Chaff and then win the Puertorican title from Emilio Morris in the same year.

Boxing manager Lew Burston was in Paris at the time assisting promoter Jeff Dickson in Paris when he received a tip on this sensational Puertorican prospect, then dubbed “El Torito de Cayey,” The Baby Bull from Cayey because of his aggressive forward plodding, hard hitting, no nonsense style.

But instead of heading for France, Pedro detoured to Spain where he scored four consecutive knockout wins that finalized with a second round stoppage of the Spanish lightweight champion Jose Mico. Burston received him with open arms and he embarked on a European tour that commenced with five kayoes in Paris, two more in London and a draw decision against the then highly regarded welter Saverio Turiello.  Turiello had just beaten the well ranked Cleto Locatelli but could not cope with Montanez who had floored him in the third. The draw verdict was highly criticized by the Italian press that felt Montanez had won by the proverbial mile.

After three more European wins, Montanez finished his tour by stopping the lightweight champion of Europe Carlo Orlandi in ten heats and recorded a total of 19 starts without a loss. Sixteen would by knockout, two by decision and one draw (versus Turiello)

Lew Burston and co manager Jimmy Bronson then decided to go to the  the Big Apple for the big money.  They introduced Pedro to the New York audience as a Spanish Jew for publicity purposes and billed him against Steve Halaiko on October 10th, 1935.

It was the start of an undefeated streak that would stretch to Sixty two bouts.  AT times he would fight two to three times a month.  Pedro would visit all of the area fight clubs. He would start at the Ridgewood Grove, then the Fort Hamilton Arena, followed by the STar Casino, the St.Nicholas Arena, the Dyckman Oval, Bronx Coliseum and terminating at the world famous Madison Square Garden.  The house was always packed to see Pedro and the wins would include Ring Magazine ranked Al Roth, Bobby Pacho, Aldo Spoldi, Leonard del Genio, Enrico Venturi, Wesley Ramey and Red Cochrane.  The string of wins would include Hall of Famer and then lightweight champion Lou Ambers who would suffer his first knockdown in the process. Lamentably this win was in a  non title affair.

This one was in the spring of 1937 and in the fall of the same year Pedro would have his first “fall” of his 62 bout stretch without a loss.  It was the return match against Lou Ambers and Pedro would lose a unanimous fifteen round
decisionin his first quest for a world title. “Besides being weakened by difficulties in making the weight and because of my easy win the fisrt time around, I had taken Ambers too lightly”  stated Montanez a short time before
his death.

It was a sad day for Puerto Rico because on that same night Sixto Escobar was to lose his bantam crown against Harry Jeffra.  Angry Barrio Latino’s felt that Pedro had let them down, that he had thrown the fight.  They gave vent to their anger by smashing the window panes of his “Montanez Bar & Grill”….  There would be no intent at a return go because Pedro could no longer make the 135 pound limit.

Exactly one month later he would then venture into the then next weight category, the 147 pound class.  He always felt that he had to keep active to maintain his mental and physical condition. Inactivity meant, plenty of friends, fiesta and ofcourse he was always greatly admired by the female sex. He was, after all a handsome, well dressed, well groomed man.  Adam Hats and its representative, Sam Taub were always concerned that Pedro looked well, dressed well, and of course, with the finest Adam Hat Stetson.

His journey in the welterweight ranks would terminate with one loss (by TKO because of an eye injury versus Davey Day)in 26 starts.  These events would take place in a two year period before he would then face the fighter many consider on a par with Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis as the greatest fighters
of that as well as of every other era. His name?
Henry Armstrong.

Montanez would lose by a knockout in nine rounds on January 24, 1940, refusing to take a backward step  against the most agressive fighter in boxing history.

“To me, Henry Armstrong was invincible and I fought him at his peak. In his next start he fought for his fourth title, the 160 pound title against Ceferino Garcia and the bout was declared a draw, but Henry won.  I lost fair and square to him”… were Pedro’s parting words when reflecting upon this, his next to last encounter within the squared circle.