The 5 Best Mexican Boxers Ever
The best Mexican boxers of all time!
Mexico’s contribution to boxing is unparalleled. This is not just because it has given us some of the most entertaining fighters ever, but the second-most number of champions are Mexican too.
Pinpointing the best Mexican boxer of all time is a difficult task! In this article, find out about the 5 best Mexican boxers ever.
The History of boxing in Mexico
Before we look at the top boxers from Mexico, let’s get to know a bit of the background behind the country’s excellence in boxing.
The sport can be traced back to the 19th century when prizefighters competed in matches against each other.
Miguel Ángel Febles has the honor of Mexico’s first ever pro boxer and the first of its many champions.
He was a fearless fighter who fought all across the country, and he is credited with setting up Mexico’s first ever pro fights with a set of proper rules, in as early as 1915.
With time, boxing in Mexico started to become more regulated. The country set up its first-ever boxing commission all the way back in 1921.
A couple of years later in 1932, Francisco Cabañas Pardo became the first Mexican to win a boxing Olympic medal.
By the 1960s, Mexican boxers had built up quite a reputation around the globe, especially in the United States.
As a result, they were some of the most sought-out competitors among the boxing promoters and some of the most feared among their international peers.
The following are the best Mexican boxers ever:
Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.
We begin with the man who revolutionised the explosive style of Mexican boxing that we all know and love today.
Julio Cesar Chavez is one of the greatest boxers ever to do it, as he was a force to be reckoned with in the 1980s and 1990s.
Chavez is known for being undefeated for more than a decade, winning 87 fights in a row.
He is a 3-division champion, having won more than 30 battles for world titles (a record). He shares the number of most successful title defences as well.
Chavez retired with a gleaming record of 107 wins, 6 draws and just 2 losses.
Ruben Olivares
Here’s a fighter who began competing while the aforementioned Chavez was still in diapers.
Ruben Olivares is a multiple-time world champion who dominated the bantamweight (and for a while) the featherweight divisions during the late 1960s and the 1970s.
Olivares has fought more than 100 times, staying undefeated for the first 62 of them, and that too in the toughest era to be a bantamweight!
He was known for his amazing punching power, and this led him to become the first-ever double champion from Mexico.
Olivares’s ended his career at 89-13-3, with most of his losses stemming from the latter part of his career.
Salvador Sanchez
They say that the good die young, and Salvador Sanchez is a prime example of this.
The featherweight fighter’s accomplishments are the stuff of legend- especially in such a short space of time!
From his world championship reigns to his dominating victories over legendary fighters, he did it all.
Sanchez competed during the 1970s and 1980s; losing only one fight out of the 46 that he was in (and that too by a close split-decision), and winning 32 of them by knockout.
Unlike many great fighters, he wasn’t a one trick pony and he excelled at every aspect of the game.
Sanchez has a stunning record of 44–1–1.
Carlos Zarate
Carlos Zarate is one of the greatest bantamweight fighters of all time. The legendary Mexican boxer is known for being a fighting world champion and for being undefeated in 52 fights.
His punching power was insane and was sure to knock your lights out. He also competed at the same time as the aforementioned Salvador Sanchez.
Zarate was such a fierce knockout artist that he picked up two separate KO streaks of 20ish matches.
In fact, surviving beyond the 5th round was a feat that only a few of his opponents could accomplish.
Zarate retired with a respectful record of 66-4.
Vicente Saldivar
Here’s a superhuman fighter that we also lost too soon.
Vincente Saldivar was known for his insane endurance and cardio, along with high-intensity body attacks. The legendary Mexican boxer is one of the featherweight GOATs who made his mark during the 1960s.
Half a century later, he still holds the honour of being the featherweight with the most unified title defences and he continues to be the longest unified champion until this date.
Saldivar is also revered for a successful comeback after a 2-year hiatus to dethrone the division’s rulers at the time.
He would eventually quit the business with a record of 37–3.
Honourable Mention: Marco Antonio Barrera
There are several others who could have taken this spot, but it would be blasphemous to not include “The Baby Faced Assassin”.
Marco Antonio Barrera is a 3-division world champion, and he is the most recently retired fighter on this list; having competed from 1989 to 2011.
Barrera was known to be a fighting champion with 21 wins in hotly contested title fights. He was also undefeated for 43 of his first matches.
The icon was highly appreciated by the fans for his rather aggressive fighting style and he is often talked about when it comes to the best super bantamweights.
Barrera retired with a sporting record of 67–7.
Due to the sheer number of Mexican boxing legends, there could be a variety of honourable mentions on this list.
For example, Canelo Alvarez is one of the best boxers in the world that is still competing, and he is considered to be the top draw in the business today and is certainly still one of the fastest boxers out there.
Other Mexican fighting sensations of the past include Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Canto, Ricardo Lopez and Alberto Arizmendi.
