I didn?t know there was such a thing as competitive rock-lifting, but there is, and Urtain was Spain?s rock-lifting champ from the age of 14 to 25?
?I?ve gone out the window.??Crimes and Misdemeanors
This guy I know says to me, ?So you know about the guy who went out the window, right??
?No,? I say. ?What guy??
?Where they?re not sure if it was murder, suicide, or accident.?
?Abe Reles??
?Who??
?The canary who knew how to sing?but not fly.?
?Boxer??
?Gangster.?
?I?m talking about the Spanish heavyweight.?
?Paolino Uzcudun?? He?s my go-to guy on Spanish heavyweights. I don?t know any other Spanish heavyweights.
?The guy I?m talking about is Jose Manuel Urtain.?
?Who??
?He?s the guy who went out the window.?
So I look him up.
I didn?t know there was such a thing as competitive rock-lifting, but there is, and Urtain was Spain?s rock-lifting champ from the age of 14 to 25, lifting a 220-pound rock with one arm and a 400-pounder with two. Deciding that the somewhat more recognized sport of boxing was the way to go, Urtain, who never fought at amateur, turned pro in 1968. He won his first 31 fights, all but one by knockout, outpointing Juergen Blin on June 22, 1970. He suffered his first loss less than two months later, disqualified in the third for low blows against Alfredo Vogrig.
Spain?s answer to the Man of Steel won the EBU heavyweight title by knocking out Peter Weiland in the seventh on April 3, 1970, a crown he lost to Henry Cooper by ninth-round TKO seven months later. In addition to becoming Spain?s heavyweight champ on May 8, 1971, by stopping Benito Canal via second-round TKO, he regained the EBU on December 17 the same year by stopping Jack Bodell, also by second-round TKO. He again lost the EBU, never to win it back, outpointed by Blin on June 9, 1972.
Urtain retired in 1977?with a record of 56 wins, 41 by knockout, 11 losses and four draws?never having gotten a crack at becoming Heavyweight Champion of the World. Perhaps he should have. Nat Fleischer said, ?No man who ever held the world heavyweight title could match Urtain?s feats of strength.?
On July 21, 1992, at age 49, ?Boxing?s Superman? went out a hotel window. Suicide? Accident? Take your pick, but keep in mind what Shakespeare had to say about mercy, how ?It is enthroned in the hearts of kings.?
