Boxing at it’s most simplistic can be seen in one of two ways, you either knock an opponent out, or hit them and don’t get hit yourself. The first style is generally the more entertaining for fans who love to watch KO’s, the power punchers and aggressive warriors that go toe to toe until either they, or their opponents can’t stand any more. The second is often a lesser accepted art form, seen as being relatively boring by those who can’t accept the high levels of skill it takes. Though the practitioners of the “sweet science” can often be forgotten by the fans who would rather see knocks outs, they live on in the minds of the hard core fans who can see the brilliance of the defense just as much as they can see the brilliance of great offense.
Much like fans remembering the aggressive fighters, they generally link those with South Americans, fighters from Venezula, Mexico and Colombia are well known for being aggressive, though one of the greatest ever defensive fighters actually came from Argentina. Nicolino Locche, regularly refered to as one of the all time greatest fighters from his homeland (along side Carlos Monzon, the great middleweight) lacked the punch of many his fellow southern Americans but showed you didn’t need power. In fact his career of 136 fights, spread over 18 years he only managed to score 14KO’s, yet managed to beat fighters with speed, reactions and some of the slickest skills seen in a ring.
Born in 1939, in Tunyuan, Mendoza, Argentina to Italian bloodstock Locche would become a special fighter, known for being incredibly slippery, fast and almost able to read his opponents thoughts before they thought them. His defensive abilities saw him dubbed “El Intocable”, which translates as “The untouchable”, a feature he often showed as he ducked, dived, and slipped punches with the greatest of ease. Though as well as having incredible defensive skills, his hand speed was also incredible able to land punches as opponents set themselves, and then move away in one fluent motion.
Nicolino’s career started in 1958 with a stoppage win, something that would become a rarity as his career progressed. After 53 fights Locche had managed to build up a record of 42 wins, 1 loss, an amazing 9 draws amd 1 no contest. He had avaneged his only loss, a points loss early in his career to the much more experienced Vincente Derado. During the mid 1960’s the skilled, slick and silky fighter had managed to win both the Argentinian Lightweight and South American Lightweight titles though it wasn’t until 1968 that he got his big break.
Locche had travelled to Japan to face the WBA Light Welterweight champion Paul Fujii (also known as Takeshi Fuji). Fujii had previously beaten the great Italian Sandro Lopopolo by KO to win both the WBA and WBC titles, though had been stripped by the WBC in the interim. Fujii was a hard puncher, very aggressive and had won 31 of 33 fights 26 of those by KO, in fact Fuji hadn’t been beaten since in 19 fights. Though his record paled in comparision to Locche, who had built up an incredible record of 89-2-14 (and 1 no contest), avenging both of his losses. Fuji had come out aggressively against Locche, though it was Locche that imposed his ability, often making the champion look foolish, as he swung from the fences only to miss and hit back. Locche in fact dominated the fight in a boxing masterclass landing almost at will on an opponent that was being broken mentally rather than being beaten up. Though Locche was shaking up his opponent it was exhaustion that saw the Japanese based fighter losing, quitting after 10 rounds, sick of chasing an opponent around.
Locche’s reign as the world champion would last until Marche 1972, and see him defending his title 5 times as well as winning numerous non-title fights. Though arguably the most gutsy showing was a split decision victory win in a title defense against Domingo Barerra Corpas, a fight that saw Locche fighting much of the bout one handed after badly damaging his left arm early in the fight. Though Corpas managed to push Locche close in a fight that some felt may have belonged to Corpas, it was the blood and guts display that many defensive masters never have to have and proved that he was much more than a defensive master. A dominant display against Colombian great Antonio Cervantes further solidified Locches legendary status, even if he was slowly becoming less and less elusive, age taking it’s toll on the reactions of the untouchable one who had fought over 100 fights by this point. 3 months after beating Cervantes Locche was defeated for the 3rd time in his career, being beaten by Alfonso Frazer who would take the WBA light Welterweight title.
Ironically somewhat Frazer’s reign would last just 7 months before he was stopped by Cervantes who held the title until 1976. By the time Cervantes had won the title Locche had wanted it back and the two had a rematch, this time Cervantes would come out victorious, beating the fight out of Locche who failed to come out for the 10th round and losing by stoppage (TKO) for the first and only time in his career.
The loss to Cervantes seemed to spell the end to Locche’s career though after 29 months out the national hero of his homeland would make a comeback to the ring and win 7 straight fights before retiring for good in 1976 with a career record of 117-4-14 (1 no contest) a record that included 14 stoppage wins, 1 stoppage loss and wins over 3 of the 4 men to beat him. Amazingly Locche would fight 1349 rounds as a professional.
Though amazingly Locche also has a reported amateur record of 117 wins and just 5 losses, an impressive figure in it’s self and no doubt where he helped to perfect his unique style that often saw him fighting with out a traditional guard relying on movement and reflexes rather than blocking punches.
Sadly Locche would pass away in 2005, 5 days after his 66th birthday.