ART ARAGON TAKES WORST BEATING OF HIS CAREER.

The Golden Boy's last hurrah

Los Angeles, Jan. 22-Art Aragon, the "Golden Boy" of California boxing, went out last night like the champion he never became. But, as he was leaving, he hesitated-suggesting perhaps that he might be back. Aragon, a boxer for half his 32 years, said he would quit if he lost this one to Alvaro Gutierrez, a bullish clubfighter from Mexico. He lost. Art was bloody, bushed and beaten when Referee Tommy Hart stopped it in the ninth round. But if his competence was gone, his courage persisted. He was ready to go on when Hart put his arms around him and said: "It's all over Art, It's all over"

The United Press representative at ringside said Gutierrez handed Aragon his worst beating of his 16-year career). Aragon, talkative and provocative, usually gets a lot of abuse from the fight crowd. This time, many of the 8100 at the Olympic Auditorium gave him a standing ovation, some of them shouting as though carried away by the final act of a tragic opera. Aragon, still fast with the quip though slow of arm, had nothing funny to say in the dressing room. But he didn't say what he was supposed to-that he will retire. "I want to think about it a couple of days," he said. Then the ancient fighter's lament: "I could have won if I'd fought a different fight." A writer at ringside agreed: "He could have won, all right, if the fight had been 10 years ago"

Whatever Aragon decides, his manager is through with him as a fighter. Paul Caruso said he would terminate their business relationship if Aragon lost and insisted on fighting again. Aragon presented flashbacks of his former self early in the fight, even though he was knocked down for a three-count in the first round. Art had a good second round and got in some nice shots in the third, although fewer then Gutierrez. Then in the fourth, Aragon scored with a sharp combination and gave the Mexican the wobbles. Art might have been only one punch away from a knockout, but he never landed it. Aragon was obviously weary after the fourth. He accumulated punishment almost constantly from then until Hart stepped between the fighters in the ninth...