By Sam Gregory: The sport of boxing has had more than its share of great athletes whose careers were cut short and turned into a tragic ending. One of the greatest boxers in the last fifty years whose life was cut short is Salvador “Chava” Sanchez. If Salvador’s life had not been cut short, this week he would have celebrated his 50th birthday. Salvador Sanchez died tragically when the Porsche he was driving collided with a pick-up truck killing him and his passenger on August 12, 1982; Sanchez was just 23 years old.
Sanchez was considered such a great fighter that ring experts believe the occurrence of his premature death was the only thing that could possibly have stopped his title defense run. At the time of his death, Sanchez’ final record was 44-1-1 with 32 knockouts; that was achieved in just seven short years.
In 1979 Ring magazine ranked Sanchez eighth in the featherweight division after he stopped a top ten contender Richard Rozelle in three rounds. Less than 6 months later, Sanchez won the WBC featherweight belt by pummeling Danny “Little Red” Lopez for 12 straight round. Referee Waldemar Schmidt stopped the bout in the 13th round with Sanchez winning the title by TKO. He defended the belt nine times defeating six top ten contenders in a row, including a rematch with Lopez as well as wins over contenders Juan LaPorte and Roberto Castanon.
On August 21st, 1981 Sanchez fought his career’s best, and a fight many consider the best fight of the 1980’s. Sanchez fought WBA Jr. Featherweight champion Wilfredo “Bazooka” Gomez to an eighth round TKO. The highly favored Gomez came into this fight with an impressive record of 32-0-1 with 32 knockouts. At the time of the stoppage Sanchez was ahead on all three judge’s score cards; Duane Ford 67-65, Henry Elesperu 67-66, and Chuck Minker 67-65. Gomez was down 3 times in the fight. Referee Carlos Padilla called a stop 2:09 into the eighth round.
At the young age of 23, Sanchez was in the seventh year of a brilliant career but little did anyone know the last minute substitute Azuma Nelson would be his last opponent.
In July of 1982 Salvador Sanchez fought what was to be the last fight in his career. Sanchez faced a relative novice from Ghana in a fight that was almost too close to call by the 14th round. Sanchez’ fight with Azuma Nelson went toe to toe and hung in the balance until in the 15th round. Nelson, who went ten rounds in his pro debut, and five times in all up to that point, found himself in the ring with a man he couldn’t handle as Sanchez stopped him in the 15th and final round.
Sanchez had been looking forward to a mega-fight with Alexis Arguello when he ran into the little-known Ghanaian, who dropped Sanchez before he was knocked down and out in the 15th round. Azuma Nelson later became a 2-time Jr. Lightweight Champion, but his whole career was launched by a loss to Salvador Sanchez.
Salvador Sanchez was born on January 26th, 1959 in Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico. He turned pro at the age of 16. Sanchez won 17 of his first 18 fights by knockout. His first and only lose was a 12 round decision to the 13-3 journeyman fighter Antonio Becerra in a bid the Mexican bantamweight title; in was Sanchez’ 19th pro fight.
When Sanchez’ career ended he fought a total of 46 pro fights in seven years for a record of 44 wins, losing 1 with 1 draw and a total of 32 knockouts. Salvador Sanchez was inducted into the International Boxing Hall-of-Fame in 1991.
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