L.A. “Golden Boy” boxer Art Aragon dies after stroke at age 80

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This article was published 26/03/2008 (6456 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOS ANGELES – Art Aragon, boxing’s original “Golden Boy,” who never won a world title but whose brashness, good looks and celebrity lifestyle made him one of the sport’s biggest drawing cards of the’40s and’50s, has died at age 80.

Aragon, who suffered a stroke March 15, died Tuesday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center after being removed from life support, his son, Brad, said Wednesday.

“He loved the show,” his son said. “He loved the sport and he always had. He attended fights up until the end.”

Although top-ranked as a welterweight and lightweight, Aragon lost his only world title fight to lightweight champion James Carter in’51. Aragon, who struggled to make his weight class throughout his career, said afterward he was weak from having to lose seven pounds in the days before the fight.

“I was the only fighter they ever carried into the ring, I was so weak,” he said in 2006 when he was inducted into the California Boxing Association Hall of Fame.

Aragon had 116 fights with a 90-20-6 record, including 61 wins by knockout. He fought such stars of the era as Tommy Campbell, Jesse Flores and Carmen Basilio, who knocked him down after eight brutal rounds in’58.

Born in Belen, N.M., the fighter grew up in East Los Angeles and began boxing in’42. His first recorded professional fight was in’44.

Flamboyant both in and out of the ring, Aragon wore a gold robe and trunks and revelled in playing the villain. Often he would taunt a crowd into booing him, sometimes thumbing his nose at the audience after defeating a popular opponent.

“You ever get booed by 10,000 people? It’s exciting,” he once said.

He was known for his practical jokes and his quips.

“He laughed to make people laugh,” his son said.

He was equally colourful outside the ring, golfing with Bob Hope and counting as friends such celebrities as Marilyn Monroe and William Holden. He was married four times and had a high-profile romance with actress Mamie Van Doren.

“The ‘Golden Boy’ was a perfect title for him,” Van Doren told the Los Angeles Times. “His smile turned everyone on. His skin was golden. His floppy hair bounced so perfectly. He was just so sexy.”

His career, however, was marred by allegations that at least some of his fights were fixed. In’56 he was convicted of offering a $500 bribe to welterweight Dick Goldstein to take a dive in a Texas fight, but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

Los Angeles sportswriters gave Aragon the nickname “Golden Boy” – later applied to boxer Oscar De La Hoya – in reference to the’39 movie of that name that starred Holden as a prizefighter.

Aragon himself appeared in several small movie and television roles, including the’55 film “To Hell and Back” with Audie Murphy.

After retiring from the ring in’60, he became a bail bondsman.

In addition to Brad, Aragon is survived by his children Georgian, Audie, Mindy and Nancy, and four grandchildren. Another son, Art Jr., died in a motorcycle accident.