Alejandro Lavorante, Argentine Heavyweight Contender Time Forgot
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
Discovered by Jack Dempsey, Alejandro Lavorante won the amateur Argentina heavy weight championship and then turned professional with a third round knockout of Dean Bogany at Municipal Stadium in San Antonio, Texas, on September 22, 1959. Lavorante won 12 of his first 13 professional bouts, losing only a ten rounder to top contender Roy Harris in only his fifth professional bout, the same Harris who had fought Floyd Patterson for the world heavyweight title a year earlier. Harris’ status as a contender ended in 1960 when Sonny Liston knocked him down three times in the first round.
Lavorante was more stubborn, winning his next 14 fights in a row! Lavorante knocked out four Muhammad Ali opponents. First, Lavorante knocked out Duke Sabedong in March 1961 at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles in March 1961 in the fifth round. Then, Lavorante knocked out Tunney Hunsaker in the fifth round at Freeman Coliseum, also in March 1961. Then, Lavorante knocked out world ranked Zora Foley in the seventh round in Olympic Auditorium in May 1961. Lavorante stopped Willie Besmenoff on cuts at Civic Center in San Francisco in August1961. Lavorante scored a ten round decision win over a fifth Muhammad Ali opponent, Alonzo Johnson, at the Civic Center in San Francisco in September 1961. From nowhere, Lavorante had risen to the number three heavyweight contender in the world!
Lavorante knocked out Jerry Gaines in the second round in Phoenix, Arizona, in October 1961, before losing a controversial ten round split decision to George Logan in Boise, Idaho, in December 1961 which Lavorante cleared deserved to win. Logan then lost to Muhammad Ali. After Alejandro knocked out Von Clay in the second round three weeks later at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles later in December 1962, Lavorante readied for his bout with Archie Moore in March 1962.
It was at this point Alejandro Lavorante lost his last three bouts, and joined Benny Kid Paret as a sad memorial to a forgotten time in boxing history. Lavorante, showing heart and courage, got stopped in the tenth round of a ten round fight against light heavyweight champion Archie Moore. Lavorante got carried out of Sports Arena in Los Angeles on a stretcher.
Five months later, Lavorante attempted a comeback, but got knocked out in the fifth round by Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) at Sports Arena in Los Angeles. Two months later, Lavorante attempted his final comeback at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, but got knocked out by John Riggins in the sixth round on September 21, 1962.
In reality, the damage which Lavorante sustained against Archie Moore and Muhammad Ali was horrific, and he could never recover his career after get knocked out by the more experienced Moore. As it was, old Archie’s career then came to an end too when Muhammad Ali knocked him out as well. Riggins, who lost nine of his last 12 bouts, got knocked out in both of his next two bouts and was also retired.
Lavorante won the first five rounds against Riggins easily, and then something happened. At the end of the fifth round, a right hand from Riggins seemed to do something to Lavorante. Riggins then scored on Lavorante with light taps in the sixth round, before realizing Lavorante was not quite himself. Riggins then knocked out Lavorante with a left hook. Commission doctor Robert Rocke could not revive Lavorante back to consciousness. Lavorante was transported to California Hospital where he lapsed into a coma.
Lavorante underwent emergency brain surgery for four hours due a blood clot on the left side of his brain, as well as emergency tracheotomy. He could respond to commands from his mother in Spanish, but he never opened his eyes again. He was flown home to his native Mendoza, Argentina, on May 4, 1963, where he died sixteenth months after his final loss on April 1, 1964.
Interestingly enough, Lavorante was a 2 to 1 odds favorite by the bookies to beat Muhammad Ali. Lavorante had tired badly in the tenth round against Archie Moore. After losing to Moore, Lavorante should not have been allowed to fight again as he took too many blows over the last two rounds. Not since the Wild Bull of the Pampas, Angel Luis Firpo, had any Argentine fighter generated so much excitement. Carlos Monzon was yet to come. Alejandro Lavorante was the heavyweight champion who never was, that time forgot. He may never be in any hall of fame, and will probably never be remembered again.
Lavorante came out of the era from which Muhammad Ali emerged, one of a number of a fighters who set the standard of excellence Muhammad Ali had to surpass. Floyd Patterson was offered half a million dollars to fight Lavorante in 1961 after Lavorante knocked out Zora Folley, but wanted one million dollars, so Lavorante never got a shot at the world title during his brief meteoric rise to the top of the heavyweight contender list. Folley later got a shot at Ali and got knocked out. Patterson fought Ali and got knocked out.
Somewhere in El Cementerio De La Ciudad De Mendoza in Argentina rests a quiet tombstone never discovered. Alejandro Lavorante is there, with his mother and father. The old warrior shall rest in peace.
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