Julio César Chávez
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- For this man's son, also a boxer, see Julio César Chávez, Jr.
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Early Life
Julio César Chávez González (born July 12, 1962 in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora) is a retired Mexican world champion boxer. He was born to Rodolfo and Isabelita Chávez. He is the fourth of ten children. Chávez grew up in Culiacán, Sinaloa, and lived in Mexicali, Baja California, for a few years. He fought out of Culiacan and once said, "I will always live in Culiacan, because my whole life has been down there." He married the former Alba Amalia Carrasco.Boxing Career
He won 5 world titles: WBC Super featherweight (1984), WBA Lightweight (1987), WBC Lightweight (1988), WBC Super lightweight (1989), IBF Junior welterweight (1990), WBC Superlightweight (1994) in 3 different divisions. Chávez also went undefeated for 89 bouts before originally retiring with a record of 104-5-2, with 80 knockouts. Among the world champions that Chávez defeated in his career are Edwin Rosario, Jose Luis Ramírez, Rocky Lockridge, Meldrick Taylor, Roger Mayweather, Sammy Fuentes, Héctor "Macho" Camacho, Juan Laporte,Tony López, and Frankie Randall. He lost to two champions, Oscar de la Hoya, and Kostya Tszyu, and was held to a draw by two champions, Pernell Whitaker and Miguel Angel Gonzalez.In his twelfth fight, on March 4, 1981, Chávez faced Miguel Ruiz in Culiacan. Initially, Chávez lost that fight by being disqualified in the first round. The next day, however, the Mexican commission reversed the result and proclaimed Chávez the winner. Chávez's manager, Ramon Felix, was a member of that commission.
He won his first championship, the vacant WBC Superfeatherweight title, on September 13, 1984, by knocking out fellow Mexican Mario Martínez at the Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles, California. Martínez was the betting favorite in that fight. He defended that title eight times, including a knockout over future champion Roger Mayweather.
In 1987, he moved up to the lightweight division and defeated Edwin Rosario to win the WBA lightweight championship. He unified the WBA and WBC belts in 1988 by winning a technical decision over Jose Luis Ramírez. A headbut opened a cut on Ramírez's forehead and the doctor halted the fight. Chávez, ahead on all scorecards, was declared the winner.
In his next fight, he won the WBC Light Welterweight title by knocking out Roger Mayweather again. After one defense, he faced Meldrick Taylor, the IBF Junior Welterweight champion, in a title unification fight. While Taylor won the early rounds of the fight, Chávez began to come on in the later rounds. Chávez scored a knockdown with sixteen seconds remaining in the fight. Although Taylor rose at the referee's count of six, he did not respond to referee Richard Steele's questions and Steele stopped the fight. Only two seconds remained in the round. 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 in the fight. Steele defended his decision by saying that his concern is protecting a fighter, regardless of how much time is left in the round. As Steele said, "I was not going to let him take another punch." While many hoped for an immediate rematch, the fighters did not meet again until 1994. Chávez convincingly knocked out Taylor in that fight.
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. In 1993 he faced former world champion Greg Haugen, who tried to get under Chávez's skin by engaging in trash talk. During the buildup to the fight Haugen sneered at Chávez's famous unbeaten record, (then at 82-0), saying that most of Chávez's opponnents were "Tijuana cab drivers that my mother could have knocked out." His trash talk was not limited to Chávez. He also took on the Mexican people. For example, when told that Aztec stadium, where he and Chávez would fight, could hold up to 130,000 people, Haugen replied "There aren't 130,000 Mexicans who can afford tickets."
A crowd of 136,274 people showed up at Estadio Azteca (a record for paid attendance at a fight card). Whatever anger Chávez felt (and there was evidence that it was considerable), he suppressed it and performed in a cool and efficent manner as he went about demolishing Haugen. Although as a toughman Haugen had fought and won against boxers as heavy as 210 pounds, he seemed to be hurt by every blow Chávez threw. By the time the fight was stopped about two minutes into the fifth round, Haugen had been knocked down twice, bloodied, and his face was red and swollen. After the match Haugen ruefully commented "Those cab drivers from Tijuana must be pretty tough." For many of his fans, this seemed to be the very pinnacle of Chávez's career.
Chávez moved up another weight division to challenge Pernell Whitaker for his WBC Welterweight title in September, 1993. While the fight was declared a draw, most thought that Whitaker had clearly won. Chavez returned to the junior welterweight division.
He faced Frankie Randall in January, 1994, in a fight that most expected him to easily win. Instead, Randall knocked him down for the first time in his career and won a split decision. The WBC ordered an immediate rematch and Chávez regained the title on a split decision in May, 2004. Randall seemed to be clearly winning the fight when a clash of heads opened a large cut on Chávez's face and forced the referee to intervene. Chávez seemed to indicate that he did not wish to continiue, and because of WBC rules, Randall had a point taken away. That point proved to be the margin of victory for Chávez.
Chávez continued to defend his WBC light welterweight title against ordinary opposition until he faced Oscar de la Hoya in 1996. De la Hoya opened up a large cut around Chávez's eye in the first round and battered Chávez until the referee stopped the fight in the fourth round. When de la Hoya moved up to welterweight in 1998, Chávez fought Miguel Angel Gonzalez for the vacant WBC light welterweight title. That fight ended in a draw.
He challenged for a title on two other occastions, coming up short in both. In a rematch with de la Hoya for the WBC weltereight belt in September, 1998, Chávez quit on his stool. He then challenged WBC light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu in 2000 and was easily knocked out. Somehow, the WBC installed Chávez as the mandatory contender to Tszyu's title, even though he had not fought at 140 pounds for two years and had recently lost to journeyman Willy Wise.
After a 2001 victory over Terry Thomas in Mexico City, 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 Mexico City.
In April of 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 over ten rounds at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, the city where he had won his first world title 21 years before.
On September 17, he lost by a knockout in five rounds to Grover Wiley, after allegedly injuring his right hand. Chávez then told his promoter Bob Arum that he was definitely retiring from boxing.
Chávez holds a record of 107 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws, with 80 knockouts. He holds the records for most successful defenses of a world title (27) and most title fights (37). Chávez also earned the second best winning streak (89-0) of an undefeated fighter in boxing history. His son, Julio Jr., is also a professional boxer.
Outside the Ring
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.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.
Chávez held a short romantic relationship with then budding actress Salma Hayek during 1994.
See also
- List of lightweight boxing champions
- List of male boxers
- List of notable boxing rivalries
- List of WBC world champions
- Notable boxing families
External links
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