Julio César Chávez

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Julio César Chávez
Image:Jcchavez.jpg
Statistics
Real name Julio César Chávez González
Nickname(s) J.C.
Rated at Light welterweight
Nationality Flag of Mexico Mexican
Birth date July 12, 1962 (1962-07-12) (age 45)
Birth place Obregón, Sonora, Mexico
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 116
Wins 108
Wins by KO 87
Losses 6
Draws 2
No contests 0

Julio César Chávez González (born July 12, 1962 in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora) is a retired Mexican professional boxer.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Julio Cesar Chavez Gonzalez was born on July 12, 1962 in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. His father, Rodolfo Chavez, worked for the railroad, and Julio grew up in an abandoned railroad car with his five sisters and four brothers. He began boxing as an amateur at the age of sixteen.

[edit] Early career and first title

In his 12th fight, on March 4, 1981, Chávez faced Miguel Ruiz in Culiacan. At the end of the first round, Chavez landed a blow that knocked out Ruiz. Delivered as the bell sounded, the blow was ruled a disqualification in the ring and Ruiz was declared the winner. The next day, however, after further review, the Mexican boxing commission reversed the result and proclaimed Chávez the winner. Chávez's manager, Ramón Felix, was a member of that commission.

Chávez won his first championship, the vacant WBC super featherweight title, on September 13, 1984, by knocking out fellow Mexican Mario "Azabache" Martínez at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Martínez had been the betting favorite in the bout. He successfully defended the title ten times, including a knockout over future champion Roger Mayweather.

[edit] Stepping up to lightweight, controversy with Meldrick Taylor

In 1987, Chávez moved up to the lightweight division and brutally defeated Edwin Rosario (Puerto Rican). Angered by how Rosario had insulted the Mexican people before the match, Chávez gave him a vicious beating and won the title with an 11th round technical knockout (TKO) to win the WBA lightweight championship. He unified the WBA and WBC belts in 1988 by a technical decision win over José Luis Ramírez. An accidental headbutt opened a cut on Ramírez's forehead and the doctor halted the fight, sending the decision to the judges' scorecards at that point in the fight. Chávez, ahead on all scorecards, was declared the winner.

In his next fight, he won the WBC super lightweight title by knocking out Roger Mayweather for a second time. After one defense, he faced Meldrick Taylor (see Chavez versus Taylor), the IBF Junior Welterweight champion, in a title unification fight. While Taylor won the early rounds, Chávez rallied in the later rounds, scoring a knockdown with 16 seconds remaining in the final round. Although Taylor rose at the referee's count of six, he did not respond coherently to referee Richard Steele's questions and Steele stopped the fight with only two seconds remaining. Many boxing fans and members of the media were outraged that Steele would stop a match that Taylor was winning with only two seconds left, while others felt that Steele was justified in stopping the fight given Taylor's condition and the fact that he was unable to respond to Steele before the conclusion of the match. Steele defended his decision by saying that his concern is protecting a fighter, regardless of how much time is left in the round or the fight. As Steele put it, "I stopped it because Meldrick had took a lot of good shots, a lot of hard shots, and it was time for it to stop. You know, I'm not the timekeeper, and I don't care about the time. When I see a man that has had enough, I'm stopping the fight."[1] Ring Magazine named it the "Fight of the Year" for 1990, and later the "Fight of the Decade" for the 1990s. While many hoped for an immediate rematch, the fighters did not meet again until 1994 when Chávez dominated and then knocked out Taylor, whose skills had significantly diminished in the ensuing years.

[edit] Chávez vs. Haugen attracts 136,000+

After unifying the titles, Chávez engaged in a busy series of title defenses and non-title fights, including a win over rival Hector Camacho in 1992. His 1993 fight with Greg Haugen featured trash talk from Haugen, who derided Chavez's 82-fight unbeaten streak as consisting mostly of "Tijuana taxi drivers that my mother could have knocked out" and insisting that "There aren't 130,000 Mexicans who can afford tickets" to see the fight in Estadio Azteca. Haugen was proven wrong on both counts: 136,274 showed up to set a record for fight attendance, and they watched Chávez drop Haugen quickly and then back off with the apparent intention of punishing him for his prefight remarks. However, the referee had seen enough by the fifth round and stopped it for a TKO victory for Chávez. After the fight, Chávez asked Haugen about his comment about the Tijuana taxi drivers, and Haugen sportingly responded, "They must have been tough taxi drivers."

[edit] Draw with Whitaker and first career loss

Chávez moved up one more weight division to challenge Pernell Whitaker for his WBC welterweight title in September 1993. Before the scorecards were announced, the Showtime television commentators were in unanimous agreement that Whitaker had won the bout by a solid margin; however, one judge scored it 115-113 for Whitaker while each of the other two scored it 115-115, yielding a draw by majority decision. After the fight, some sports writers agreed that Whitaker was robbed of a victory but it is seen by many others as favoritism due to Whitaker's large popularity in the USA and consider the draw appropriate to the uneventful bout. The draw became the first blemish on Chávez's record, as he had won all his previous fights.

Chávez faced Frankie Randall in January 1994, in a fight that most expected him to win easily. Instead, Randall knocked him down for the first time in his career and went on to win a split decision. Chávez blamed his loss on referee Richard Steele, who deducted two points from Chávez for low blows, making the ultimate difference on the scorecards. The WBC ordered an immediate rematch and Chávez regained the title on a split decision in May, 1994. Chávez was boxing well, countering Randall's attack, until a clash of heads opened a large cut over Chávez's brow. The referee intervened, calling for the doctor. Chávez indicated that he could not continue, and the fight was stopped. Under WBC rules, Randall was deducted one point, and that gave Chávez the victory on the score cards. Chavez and Randall would not meet for a third fight until 2004 during Chavez's retirement tour, in which the Mexican star won by unanimous decision.

[edit] De La Hoya vs. Chávez I & II

Chávez continued to defend his WBC super lightweight title against unheralded opposition until he faced Oscar de la Hoya in 1996. A large gash appeared over the right eye of Chávez within the first minute of the first round, leading many to assume what Chávez later confirmed--that the cut occurred earlier in training and was reopened in the bout. Heavy blood flow prompted the referee to stop the fight in the fourth round. Until their eventual rematch in 1998, Chavez would always state that de la Hoya had not defeated him, but that a gash that he had suffered in training was the real cause of the stoppage of the fight.

A year after de la Hoya moved up to welterweight in 1997, Chávez fought Miguel Angel Gonzalez for the vacant WBC super lightweight title. That fight ended in a draw. He challenged for a title on two other occasions, coming up short in both.

In a rematch with de la Hoya for the WBC welterweight belt in September 1998, de la Hoya decided not to use his speed and reach advantages, and instead chose to punish Chávez repeatedly to the head and the body in an effort to force a stoppage that could not be disputed. Chávez's corner eventually stopped the fight after he suffered a severe laceration on his lip.

[edit] WBC mandatory challenger

In 2000, Chávez challenged WBC super lightweight champion Kostya Tszyu, only to be knocked out. The WBC had installed Chávez as the mandatory contender to Tszyu's title, although he had not fought at 140 pounds for two years, because he had had a draw with Miguel Angel Gonzalez, who had been the previous number 1 contender for the WBC 140 lb title.

[edit] Retirement and farewell fights

After a 2001 victory over Terry Thomas in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Chávez retired. However, on November 24, 2003, he came out of retirement to avenge his earlier loss to Willy Wise, knocking Wise out in two rounds in Tijuana, Mexico.

In April 2004, Chávez went back into the ring, for what he again claimed would be his last appearance. In that fight, nicknamed Adiós, México, Gracias (Good-bye, Mexico, Thank you), he beat his former conqueror, Frankie Randall, by a ten round decision.

On May 28, 2005, Chávez once again stepped into a boxing ring, outpointing Ivan Robinson in ten rounds at the Staples Center. On September 17, 2005, at the U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona, Chávez suffered a TKO loss to little-known Grover Wiley, retiring in his corner before the start of the 5th round, apparently due to an injury to his right hand. After the bout, Chávez told his promoter, Bob Arum, that this time he was definitely retiring from boxing.

[edit] Credentials

Chávez finally retired with a record of 108 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws, with 87 knockouts. He holds records for most successful defenses of world titles (27) and most title fights (37). ESPN recently ranked him as the 17th greatest boxer in history. His son, Julio Jr., is also a professional boxer.

[edit] Career In Review

Considered one of the greatest fighters in history, Chávez won six world titles in three weight divisions: WBC Super Featherweight (1984), WBA Lightweight (1987), WBC Lightweight (1988), WBC Super Lightweight (1989), IBF Light Welterweight (1990), and WBC Super Lightweight (1994). Chávez also went undefeated for 93 bouts before his first retirement with a record of 104-5-2 (80 knockouts). World champions whom Chávez defeated include Jose Luis Ramírez, Rafael Limon, Rocky Lockridge, Meldrick Taylor, Roger Mayweather, Lonnie Smith, Sammy Fuentes, Héctor "Macho" Camacho, Juan Laporte, Edwin Rosario, Greg Haugen, Tony López, Giovanni Parisi, Joey Gamache, and Frankie Randall, who had taken the WBC light welterweight belt from Chávez just four months earlier. He lost to only two champions: Oscar De La Hoya and Kostya Tszyu. He was held to a draw by two others: Pernell Whitaker and Miguel Angel Gonzalez.

In 2002, Ring Magazine ranked Chavez as the 18th greatest fighter of the last 80 years. He was also ranked #50 on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

[edit] Outside the Ring

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Chávez wore a black ribbon on the night of September 21, 1985, during his world title defense against Dwight Pratchett, to honor all his countrymen and women who fell during the Mexico City earthquake two days previously.

He had a boxing videogame with his brand for the Super Nintendo.

Ramón Ayala, a norteño accordionist, has also performed and recorded an honorary song about Julio César Chávez, titled "Julio César Chávez."

Chávez's relationship with boxing promoter Don King was controversial. During a short period during the 1990s, Chávez tried to break his ties to King and sign with Bob Arum.

After being threatened by a gang that his son would be kidnapped, Chávez became one of the first people to denounce the kidnappings of famous people's relatives in Mexico during the middle and late 1990s.

A documentary about his life, titled JC Chávez, was premiered at the 2007 edition of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It was directed by young Mexican actor Diego Luna.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Julio Cesar Chavez -vs- Meldrick Taylor

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Pernell Whitaker		 Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year
1990		 Succeeded by
James Toney
Preceded by
Hector Camacho		 WBC Super featherweight Champion
September 13, 1984 - August 21, 1987		 Vacant
Title next held by
Azumah Nelson
Preceded by
Edwin Rosario		 WBA Lightweight Champion
November 21, 1987 - October 29, 1988		 Vacant
Title next held by
Edwin Rosario
Preceded by
José Luis Ramírez		 WBC Lightweight Champion
October 29, 1988 - May 13, 1989		 Vacant
Title next held by
Pernell Whitaker
Preceded by
Roger Mayweather		 WBC Light welterweight Champion
May 13, 1989 - December 8, 1990		 Succeeded by
Frankie Randall
Preceded by
Meldrick Taylor		 IBF Light welterweight Champion
December 8, 1990 - January 29, 1994		 Vacant
Title next held by
Rafael Pineda
Preceded by
Frankie Randall		 WBC Light welterweight Champion
May 7, 1994 - June 7, 1996		 Succeeded by
Oscar de la Hoya