Art "Golden Boy" Aragon

When Aragon fought Billy Graham at the Olympic, few persons realized that the only sparring the Golden Boy did in preparation for the then top ranking welterweight contender was one round a day for some five days. Art said he was afraid he would re-injure the knuckles of his left hand which had given him trouble in preceding fights. Aragon tired in the late rounds, losing a close decision which was criticized by the Los Angeles press.
The Golden Boy, sixth of 11 children, was born November 13, 1927, on his parents' cattle ranch in Belan, New Mexico. a town of 3,000 population 30 miles south of Albuquerque. With the Aragon children waging a winning population battle with the cattle, papa Aragon found himself facing a financial burden. To alleviate the situation, Art, at the age of 2, was sent to live with a childless aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Gallegos, in Albuquerque. In Art's early years there were no indications of his ever becoming a professional fighter. He was a member in good standing of the Boy Scouts Of America, and Gallegos a localy-noted guitar player, Influenced Art to take violin lessons for six years. He didn't have a street fight until he took a job as a delivery boy in a drug store when he was 12 years old. When Aragon was 15 he sought his fortune Los Angeles and took a job in a dairy lifting empty milk cases onto a conveyor belt. Working with him was a belligerent fellow about three years older and some 30 pounds heavier then Art, then a scrawny 120-pounder. This fellow took delight in roughing up Art, and once when he was in the process, the foreman Lee Boren, caught him at it. Art thought it would cost both of them their jobs, but Boren, who trained fighters as a sideline, took Art aside and said to him, "If you let me train you for a month, you'll be able to beat him." Aragon was skeptical, but agreed. Every day after work Boren would take Art out into the alley in the back of Boren's house and patiently teach him how to move his feet and how to jab. Finally, when he thought Art was ready, he arranged the showdown battle in a old carriage house he rented to use for a gym. Art won, and that was the begining of a fighter-manager partnership. Aragon found out early what it was like to score a knockout. In his very first amateur fight he knocked his opponent to the floor for the count in the first 10 seconds of the fight. When he returned to his corner he said to Boren, "Get somebody else. This guy didn't want to fight. What will people think?"