The greatest Mexican fighter of all time, and arguably the greatest period... Julio Cesar Chavez! The Lion of Culiacán, the Grand Champion, the King of Kings, or just J.C to those who knew him. Julio was a step above every man he'd ever fought, and he stepped between the ropes 90 times victoriously before anyone could figure out his puzzle.
If Julio was getting outboxed, he would turn his aggression to maximum and put on relentless pressure with his volume and forward movement. Pernell Whitaker had exposed Chavez at points in their fight with his slick counters and sophisticated southpaw stylings... but Julio was able to turn each of their fights around in phases and win the judges over with his Mexican heart and fervor!
Julio was a true Aztec Warrior in the modern day! He inspired legendary Mexican fighters of the future who threw everything out the window to put on the performance of a lifetime. Power punchers like Edwin Valero and even modern day volume punchers such as 'El Terremoto' Leo Santa Cruz all carry the 'Mexican style' with them. Even when the Kazakh middleweight king Gennady Golovkin fights, he says he wants the 'big drama show'... and he knows the Mexican style of fighting brings that kind of entertainment!
Julio has one of the most prolific and illustrious records of all time with all 6 of his losses coming towards the latter end of his career which spanned nearly 25 years. In 115 professional fights, Julio won 107 of them, and he was never even staggered through the majority of his carrer. The first detriment to Chavez came in 1996 to Oscar De La Hoya... Oscar was the first man to finish Chavez and in essence take his 'Golden Boy' moniker by becoming the modern day Mexican boxing legend.
It is easy to get lost in the eras of boxing lore, but Chavez lived through many golden eras and remained champ through all of them. The 70s brought about the legends we know today in Foreman and Arguello, but Chavez had his rise a bit after in the surge of the 80s. He fought through the Holyfield era, the Tyson era, and even into the Lennox era all the while remaining the greatest Mexican fighter of all time.
Fights spanning decades with legends and gold medalists like Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, and Hector Camacho seal Chavez as an all time great and undoubted Hall of Famer. to get an idea of who Chavez was, you should watch the match between him and Meldrick Taylor. Taylor had some of the fastest hands the sport had ever seen, and although he easily outboxed Chavez in spurts, the heart and viciousness of Chavez kept him rolling like a locomotive into the win column.
The knockout of Taylor is more of a detriment to Chavez than anything, simply because of the condition Taylor was in afterwards. To see Chavez as an older man with most of his faculties and intelligence abound is pretty incredible.. especially when thinking about his fight style, and how he plunged his head into the flames every single time!
How do you remember 'El Gran Campeon'? Is he the best ever?
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