By Dan Morley
WHEN talking to younger boxing fans today, Canelo Alvarez is a name etched in all-time great Mexican boxing supremacy. Having watched Alvarez, from his explosive teens, transform into the star of the sport by compiling a star-studded resume, multiple weight titles, and a rightfully earned undisputed claim at super-middleweight, it is easy to understand why many feel this way.
Yet Canelo was nurtured in a country rich with boxing history, a nation that has devoted itself to the craft and, in turn, dominated boxing in a manner only few others can match.
The tradition of pugilism in Mexico runs deep, so much so that the ‘Mexican Style’ has become a standout, fan-favourite way of breaking down your opponent. Mexican fighters embody courage, guts, and spirit. Mix in sickening body shots, slippery defensive craft, iron chins, and never-ending stamina, and many Mexican greats have conquered all competition with brutal intensity.
Canelo’s achievements across the past decade are sensational, standing him amongst all-time great company. 18 World Champions defeated, super fights with Golovkin, Mayweather, Cotto and Kovalev, just to name a few, and a dominant run at 168lbs to add to three other division titles, match up with any of the fellow Mexican greats. Yet it’s easy to forget just how many Mexican greats paved the way for the red-headed superstar and in doing so, pulled off otherworldly feats of their own.
In recent years, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera ignited the sport with furious super fights, etched among the most vicious and dramatic ever seen. Fall back further to the dynamic, super-talented Ricardo Lopez – as near a perfect fighter as history has ever produced. An unmatched 52-fight unbeaten record perfectly personified the skills and smarts behind his superiority in the smaller weight classes.
The ferocious punching Carlos Zarate starched opponents like no other, accumulating a world-class 52-0 (51 KOs) record before tasting defeat to Wilfredo Gomez. The list is endless, dating from the criminally underrated southpaw Vicente Saldivar all the way back to Baby Arizmendi, who tussled with the immovable Henry Armstrong in the 1930s.
However, even with all these names – there are three who, at their time, held the throne of Mexico’s ‘Greatest Ever Boxer’. They are the three GOATs of Mexican Boxing.
3. Ruben Olivares – 89-13-3 79KO
Olivares honed a charismatic personality and exciting style that made him Mexico’s beloved and revered champion. ‘Mister Knockout’ was the original greatest Mexican boxer of all time. Held in prestigious company alongside Eder Jofre as the unofficial ‘Greatest Bantamweight Ever’, this Mexican KO machine dominated amongst the most stacked period in bantamweight history. Across his first 62 fights, he had compiled an impeccable record of 61-0-1 58KO.
Having won the title off Lionel Rose in his 54th fight via KO, the streak also includes wins over great fighters in Takao Sakurai, Alan Rudkin, Chucho Castillo and Kazuyoshi Kanazawa. The latter fight produced the most brutal 13th round in history. Upon losing the rematch to Castillo, Olivares regained the crown in the rubber match, defending it successfully multiple times, including a notable win over world champion Efren Torres.
A move up to become featherweight champion, with multiple wins over champions Bobby Chacon, Jose Luis Ramirez and contender Walter Seeley, strengthened his resume. Across the latter years, he lost to Hall of Famers Alexis Arguello, Danny Lopez, and Eusebio Pedroza.
A short, stocky puncher, Olivares drowned his opponents with pressure, pulverising them with punches that carried all his body weight through. His style provided many entertaining wars, usually beating his foes into submission, ending a legendary career with 79 KOs in 89 wins.
All of this was achieved alongside a party-fuelled lifestyle, where tequila proved as big of an enemy as any of his opponents.
Ruben Olivares
2. Salvador Sanchez – 44-1-1 32KO
Salvador Sanchez left such an indelible mark on the sport in his short career that many experts still claim him as the most complete boxer ever. A horrendously tragic death at 23 years of age prevented Sanchez from fulfilling his infinite potential. However, from his freakish accomplishments and in-ring ability across 46 fights, there’s no denying he is one of the all-time greats worldwide.
Salvador possessed a rhythm boxers dream of, constantly bouncing on his toes yet ready and able to plant his feet and pounce with precise power at any moment. A fluid counterpuncher who stalked opponents with unrelenting aggression, Sanchez would endlessly make you miss whilst picking you to pieces with pop-shots and combination punches.
As savage fights wore on, his energy increased, and his focus sharpened. He had physical and mental stamina on par with great featherweight champion Henry Armstrong. He had a strong ability to take a punch, although it usually slipped past his afro as he pivoted around unguarded opponents with a new angle of attack.
The style was not his only standout. More impressively was the level of competition he was consistently demolishing with it. A fresh 21-year-old Sanchez challenged the seasoned Hall of Fame champion Danny Lopez for the world crown. Lopez, a formidable puncher, held a 42-3 39KO record. Across three years, the featherweight champion had successfully retained the titles eight times, all within the distance, impressively entering the fight off the back of an 18-bout win streak, which included the scalps of Ruben Olivares and Chucho Castillo.
Sanchez mercilessly battered Lopez in a masterclass of counterpunching en route to a 13th-round TKO. After outpointing Ruben Castillo, a man who also faced Chavez and Arguello, Sanchez once again stopped Lopez. In the same year, he also defeated future world champion Juan Laporte.
An electrifying battle against fellow ‘Little-Giant’ Wilfredo Gomez, 32-0 32KO at the time, would give Sanchez his biggest KO victory to that point. His final bout perfectly encapsulated his iconic endurance, stopping Ghanaian future great Azumah Nelson in round 15.
Across his three-year featherweight reign, Sanchez scored four KO wins against prime Hall of Famers and defeated multiple world champions and notable contenders.
Salvador Sanchez tries to tame Azumah Nelson
1. Julio Cesar Chavez – 107-6-2 86KO
Chavez, the greatest pressure fighter in recent decades, perfectly embodied ‘Mexican Style’ boxing, drawing record attendances of 120,000 Mexican fans to his biggest fights. His dominance through three weight classes provided the greatest unbeaten streak of the modern era, a jaw-dropping 89-0-1 77KO record.
Across this 90-fight streak, Chavez clinically crushed all within his way, amassing a resume of brilliant champions in his win column. The way he pounded an in-form, multiple division champion, Edwin Rosario, so viciously across an 11-round masterclass was a standout stylistically and showed every trait Chavez had mastered in fighting up close.
His meticulous footwork cut you down, with both feet always set in unison, allowing for perfect balance. The balance allowed the head movement to seamlessly evade any punch the opponent threw while quickly allowing each of his punches to maximise power.
Up close, he was a master of head placement, elbow and shoulder defence, and constant set-up shots to create the openings for bone-crushing body punches and headshots. The pressure never let up, and when you cracked Chavez with the occasional clean shot, it was absorbed by an iron chin and only intensified his own attacks.
In the super fight against speedy, slickster Meldrick Taylor – Chavez’s courage and determination were on show. Down on the cards, requiring a KO to win, the accumulative damage this style had inflicted on Taylor finally sealed the victory with just three seconds remaining of the fight.
Across the 90-fight, three-division run, Chavez defeated notable world champions Roger Mayweather, Rocky Lockridge, Juan Laporte, Edwin Rosario, Rafael Limon, Jose Luis Ramirez, Meldrick Taylor, Lonnie Smith, Hector Camacho, and Greg Haugen. Further wins vs. notable contenders Mario Martinez, Sammy Fuentes, and Danilo Cabrera strengthen the resume even further.
A controversial draw to Pernell Whitaker and defeats to Oscar De La Hoya, Kostya Tszyu, and Frankie Randall, amongst others, rounded Chavez’s final career record to an astonishing 107-6-2 86KO. His 31 wins across 37 fights with world honours on the line remain the world record for most world title fights and wins.
Referee Richard Steele officiates the IBF and WBC light-welterweight title fight between Meldrick Taylor and Julio Cesar Chavez on March 17, 1990 at the Las Vegas Hilton in Winchester, Nevada (Focus on Sport/Getty Images)