BoxRec

The great Panama Al Brown became the first Hispanic/Latin fighter to ever capture a world title in 1929. Since the Panamanian great historical feat, Latin America has produced an unbelievable and unforgettable crop of fighters. The great Wilfred Benitez of Puerto Rico became the youngest world champion in history at age 17. Another great, Julio Cesar Chavez, of Mexico won more world championship bouts than any boxer in professional ranks. He won 31 title fights and fought in 34 that mattered. He also won 87 in a row from beginning of career. All those numbers are world records in boxing, and probably will never be broken. After Brown's achievement, Latin fighters didn't do much. Baby Arizmendi of Mexico made noise when he fought the great Henry Armstrong 5 times, winning the first two bouts in the 1930s. In that same decade, extraordinary Cuban Kid Chocolate was so fast with his fists. Two-time world bantamweight champion, Manuel Ortiz of California dominated the 1940s.

In the 1950s and 60s, a small wave of great fighters came into the scene: Kid Gavilan (Cuba), who fought and entertained us with his trademark bolo punch in American TV audiences at least 34 times. Dazzling Puerto Rican Carlos Ortiz was a lightweight dandy. Miami based Cuban, Luis Manuel Rodriguez, made headlines fighting the great Emile Griffith of U.S. Virgin Islands 4 times. He beat a great handful of welterweight and middleweight contenders, even though his title reign was short. Fast handed Panamanian Ismael Laguna was a beautiful boxer and twice lightweight king. Pascual Perez of Argentina was a terror at flyweight even though he turned pro at 26 after winning a gold medal in the 1948 Olympic games in London. He held the flyweight crown for 6 years. Eder Jofre of Brazil was his country's first world champion. And he was a bad ass! And of course, we cannot forget El Zurdo de Oro, the great Mexican Vicente Saldivar! An unbeatable featherweight champion in the 1960s that gave us many thrills. And who did he beat to become champ? Cuban warrior Sugar Ramos.

All could have ended there for Latin boxing, but not. The best was yet to come. Since 1969, when the great Jose "Mantequilla" Napoles of Cuba via Mexico became the first Latino to win The Ring Fighter of the Year Award, Latin America invaded and dominated the weight classes below heavyweight with flavor, guts, will, skill and flair never seen before or since. From 1969 to about 1982, Latin boxers dominated big! It was the GOLDEN ERA OF THE LATIN INVASION CONNECTION. American boxing below the heavyweights was an afterthought. By 1976, there were only two Americans as world champions: Danny Lopez at featherweight and of course, at heavyweight, the great Muhammad Ali who was making most of the boxing headlines. We saw great champions like Mexicans Ruben Olivares, Miguel Canto, Chucho Castillo, Rodolfo "Gato" Gonzalez, Carlos Zarate, Pipino Cuevas, and the unforgettable Salvador Sanchez. In Argentina, we had Carlos Monzon, Nicolino Locche and Victor Galindez. Alexis Arguello in Nicaragua. Antonio Cervantes and Rodrigo "Rocky" Valdez in Colombia. Esteban De Jesus, Hector "Macho" Camacho, Edwin "Chapo" Rosario, and of course, Benitez and Gomez in Puerto Rico. Americans Bobby Chacon, Raul Rojas and Carlos Palomino. Eusebio Pedroza of Panama. And of course, his countryman, the incredible Roberto Duran, who was probably boxing's pound per pound best fighter of that time frame.

And after that, in the new millennium, more Latin boxers came, and made much more money. American Oscar De La Hoya of California was boxing's Golden Boy and pay per view top superstar for a decade and a half. Mexican greats like Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales gave us fistic wars between them. Their underrated countryman, Juan Manuel Marquez was also in the mix, and fought the great superstar Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines 4 times! And the little giant Ricardo "Finito" Lopez, is the best strawweight boxer of all times. American flyweight Michael Carbajal of Arizona gave us the attention for the little men. And Puerto Rico's superstar Felix "Tito" Trinidad was the island's most beloved fighter ever. This is the history of Latin American boxing. Huge contributions these boxers made to the history of the sport. These to me, are the top 25 best boxers that Latin America had offered so far:

1. Roberto Duran (Panama)
2. Carlos Monzon (Argentina)
3. Julio Cesar Chavez (Mexico)
4. Eder Jofre (Brazil)
5. Alexis Arguello (Nicaragua)
6. Pascual Perez (Argentina)
7. Panama Al Brown (Panama)
8. Kid Gavilan (Panama)
9. Kid Chocolate (Cuba)
10. Salvador Sanchez (Mexico)
11. Ruben Olivares (Mexico)
12. Jose "Mantequilla" Napoles (Cuba)
13. Wilfredo Gomez (Puerto Rico)
14. Carlos Zarate (Mexico)
15. Carlos Ortiz (Puerto Rico)
16. Manuel Ortiz (USA)
17. Juan Manuel Marquez (Mexico)
18. Wilfred Benitez (Puerto Rico)
19. Luis Manuel Rodriguez (Cuba)
20. Miguel Canto (Mexico)
21. Marco Antonio Barrera (Mexico)
22. Erik "El Terrible" Morales (Mexico)
23. Ricardo "Finito" Lopez (Mexico)
24. Eusebio Pedroza (Panama)
25. Vicente Saldivar (Mexico)

Honorary mention:
Oscar De La Hoya (USA)
Felix "Tito" Trinidad (Puerto Rico)
Ismael Laguna (Panama)
Hector. "Macho" Camacho (Puerto Rico)
Victor Galindez (Argentina)
Antonio Cervantes (Colombia)
Edwin " Chapo" Rosario (Puerto Rico)
Baby Arizmendy (Mexico)
Pipino Cuevas (Mexico)
Carlos Palomino (USA)
Wilfredo Vazquez (Puerto Rico)
Esteban Dejesus (Puerto Rico)
Bobby Chacon (USA)
Michael Carbajal (USA)
Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez (Mexico)
Sugar Ramos (Cuba)

lol at Chavez and Finito. Not gonna bother adressing your ranking of DLH and quite a few on the HM list.

And I know that the Great JCC went undefeated and bla...

Jaywheel wrote:lol at Chavez and Finito. Not gonna bother adressing your ranking of DLH and quite a few on the HM list.

Yeah, this list is all kinds of suck.

Where is Zapata?

Trying to focus in on the worst mistake is difficult, but pascual Perez wins the booby award. Shocking to see kid gavilan so low when on top of his already stellar career Elmer thinks he beat Robinson twice. That's nothing next to the great pascual Perez.

Of the top 25 best Latin boxers ever, 10 are from Mexico.

Nile4000 wrote:Where is Zapata?

A very good boxer with tremendous defensive skills. The Panamanian hall of fame boxer fought in 24 world title bouts, more than any fighter that ever come out of Panama. Hilario Zapata won two world titles. He was twice WBC World jr flyweight champion and WBA World flyweight champion.

Another very fine flyweight was Betulio Gonzalez of Venezuela. He became flyweight champion 3 times.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Trying to focus in on the worst mistake is difficult, but pascual Perez wins the booby award. Shocking to see kid gavilan so low when on top of his already stellar career Elmer thinks he beat Robinson twice. That's nothing next to the great pascual Perez.

The crowd booed the decision. The great Kid Gavilan was a hell of a fighter. Little giant Pascual Perez held the world flyweight crown for 6 years, making 11 title defenses. How about that?

Jaywheel wrote:lol at Chavez and Finito. Not gonna bother adressing your ranking of DLH and quite a few on the HM list.

You are free to tell the forum your opinion. Go head!

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Jaywheel wrote:lol at Chavez and Finito. Not gonna bother adressing your ranking of DLH and quite a few on the HM list.

Yeah, this list is all kinds of suck.

Your old girl sucks harder.

Obviously you knew he was not going to rate De La Hoya in the Top 25 because he doesn't like him and he was going to have Duran #1. Otherwise it's not that bad. There are a ton of guys that are really close.

Ambling Alp II wrote:Obviously you knew he was not going to rate De La Hoya in the Top 25 because he doesn't like him and he was going to have Duran #1. Otherwise it's not that bad. There are a ton of guys that are really close.

Oscar De La Hoya was a good fighter. But, therefore, he doesn't belong in the same class or breath with those LATIN BOXING LEGENDS.

Delahoya was greater than Perez. So was laciar and he didn't even make the top 40.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Delahoya was greater than Perez. So was laciar and he didn't even make the top 40.

Not in my view

It's always nice to put Horse's monthly British p4p list into context

Elmo's lists do that

All these fighters that appear in the top 25 greatest Latin boxers list that I have shown are also top 100 pound per pound greatest boxers of all time. Great Latin boxers that would have succeeded in any other era

Just like in the 1970s decade the heavyweight division was dominated by American boxers, the bantamweight division was dominated by great and exceptional Mexican boxers: Ruben Olivares, Jesus Pimentel, Chucho Castillo, Rafael Herrera, Rodolfo Martinez, Carlos Zarate, Alfonso Zamora, Romeo Anaya and Lupe Pintor. It was also probably the golden era of Mexican fighters from flyweight to welterweight.

Wouldn't Chavez never losing in his prime count in his favor in these rankings?

Cojimar 1946 wrote:Wouldn't Chavez never losing in his prime count in his favor in these rankings?

And him being a great fighter.... I think Duran at no1 is right then a toss up on monzon and chavez for no2 I haven't seen to much of monzon myself obviously he had a long unbeaten reign but I'm a Chavez fan

paddy chavez wrote:

Cojimar 1946 wrote:Wouldn't Chavez never losing in his prime count in his favor in these rankings?

And him being a great fighter.... I think Duran at no1 is right then a toss up on monzon and chavez for no2 I haven't seen to much of monzon myself obviously he had a long unbeaten reign but I'm a Chavez fan

The great Julio Cesar Chavez was an incredible boxer. Won 87 straight fights from beginning of career. A world record. Also won 31 world title bouts, also a world record and fought 36 world title bouts, more than any fighter in history. A true champion.

The great Wilfredo Gomez of Puerto Rico had the record of most consecutive world title defenses won by knockout with 17. He did it at the 122lbs division. Who broke his world record? Gennady "GGG" Golovkin of RUSSIA with 18. Who had the record before Gomez? The great Roberto Duran of Panama with 10.

John "The Quiet Man" Ruiz of Boston, MA of Puerto Rican heritage, became the first Latin boxer to become world heavyweight champion when he defeated the great Evander Holyfield of Atlanta, GA in the rematch.

The great Enlogated Panamanian, Panama Al Brown has the world record of most fights without being knocked out or stopped. He had a total of 158 fights!

The great Eusebio Pedroza of Panama has the world record of most world title defenses in opponents' back yards. He had 10. No other boxing champion has come close. Pedroza was a true champion and road warrior. A true featherweight and boxing pound per pound all time great fighter.

You tried to claim this before. There were only 8, and he had 6 in his own hometown.

Ambling Alp II wrote:You tried to claim this before. There were only 8, and he had 6 in his own hometown.

Pedroza had 10 title defenses in his opponents' backyards. Look it up.

I'm only coming up with 8. Go ahead and name them.