Editing Alexis Argüello (section)

=== Featherweight ===
Argüello debuted on October 26, 1968, trained by former boxer Miguel Angel Rivas. After winning his first 3 fights, "The Explosive Thin Man" suffered an unavenged fourth-round KO loss, followed by another split decision loss. Argüello would then win 29 of his next 30 bouts over the next 5 years, including a win over [[José Legrá]]. Eventually, Argüello earned a world [[featherweight]] championship bout against experienced [[World Boxing Association|WBA]] champion [[Ernesto Marcel]]. The fight took place in Panama, Marcel's home country. The young challenger lost a 15-round unanimous decision in the champion's retirement bout. Months after Marcel's retirement, the WBA featherweight title was won by former unified [[bantamweight]] champion [[Rubén Olivares]].

Undaunted, Argüello put together another streak of wins and found himself contending for the WBA featherweight, this time against Olivares in the latter's first defense. The fight took place at [[The Forum (Inglewood, California)|The Forum]] in Inglewood on November 23, 1974. After Olivares had built a small lead on the judges' scorecards, Argüello and Olivares landed simultaneous left hooks in round thirteen. Olivares's left hand caused a visible expression of pain on Argüello's face, but Argüello's left hand caused Olivares to crash hard against the canvas. A few seconds later, Argüello was the new featherweight champion of the world.

Argüello's first defense came against Venezuelan featherweight champion Leonel Hernández. Once again, Argüello fought in enemy territory, as the fight took place in Caracas. Nevertheless, Argüello made short work of his challenger, stopping him by technical knockout in the 8th round. His first defense in Nicaragua was against Rigoberto Riasco. Argüello dominated once again, this time stopping Riasco in the second round. Next up for Argüello would be [[Royal Kobayashi]], a highly touted Japanese challenger who was undefeated until then. After a tense, close start, Argüello's relentless body-punching broke Kobayashi halfway through the fifth round, with the challenger dropping to the canvas twice.