Alexis Arguello, 1952-2009

What Manny Pacquiao is to the Philippines, what Julio Cesar Chavez is to Mexico, so Alexis Arguello is to Nicaragua, a boxer who transcended sport to become a fighting symbol of the collective heart of his people. He fought Ruben Olivares, he fought Aaron Pryor, and in the tumultuous 80’s in Nicaragua, he took to the jungle to fight the Sandinistas. He was a fighter, pure and simple, one of the most elegantly vicious ones ever to step inside a ring, and outside of it, one of the most intelligent and inspired. This morning at his home in Managua, Arguello was found dead of a gunshot wound to the chest, apparently self-inflicted. In 2008, Arguello won election as the mayor of Managua, and over the past year was the focus of corruption charges about mishandling public funds. Some are wondering today if these charges may have led to his suicide. As yet, the details are unclear, and even the theory that he committed suicide remains only a theory until an autopsy has been complete...