Zovek Barajas
Posted: 05 May 2018, 07:53
Former welterweight contender Zovek Barajas lives humbly in his native Mexico but he still shapes up pretty well for a 67-year-old and he still uses rope and once upon a time he looked destined to rule the whole boxing world.
Barajas goes way back to the early 1970s when he was good enough to punch his way out of Mexico for rings in the United States. He won a couple of nothing fights in Chicago and another in Los Angeles so he was still unheard of when he made his way to Hawaii in January 1973 to face local sensation Young Kennedy, a destructive puncher ranked No. 6 in the world, and Barajas walked through the man's big punches and smashed his way into the world rankings with a stunning third-round knockout and proved it was no fluke when he repeated the feat a few months later, this time in the fourth.
The word was definitely out on Barajas and he soon established himself as a big-hitting favourite at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles with powerhouse victories over the formidable likes of Mando Muniz, Billy Backus and Gil King, plus a thrilling 10-round draw with future brilliant world champion Carlos Palomino, whom he had on the deck in the final round (only Barajas, Muniz and Roberto Duran ever floored Palomino). The very real prospect of a crack at Jose “Mantequilla” Napoles loomed on the near-horizon.
Then came a bewildering loss of form as Barajas looked terrible against Argentina's Jose Roberto Sosa in Los Angeles in early 1974, even though he won in the end, before he fell apart completely and suffered back-to-back knockouts to Philly's Billy Lloyd and was also stopped by Palomino and Muniz in rematches. Something was obviously amiss.
The word on the street told the story. Barajas, still a remarkably young man at 22, enjoyed the company of women and those women enjoyed his money and suddenly training got in the way and... It was a classic case of too much too soon for Barajas, who had earned well from his 10-rounders at the Olympic and never regained his form, winding up as fodder for anyone building a record around that time. He even made his way here a couple of times to face Jimmy Batten and Dave “Boy” Green (who is sadly unwell, these days) but he failed the doctor both times, which tells you everything about his fitness.
He returned to Mexico in the 1980s and won a couple of nondescript bouts and then never fought again.
Barajas goes way back to the early 1970s when he was good enough to punch his way out of Mexico for rings in the United States. He won a couple of nothing fights in Chicago and another in Los Angeles so he was still unheard of when he made his way to Hawaii in January 1973 to face local sensation Young Kennedy, a destructive puncher ranked No. 6 in the world, and Barajas walked through the man's big punches and smashed his way into the world rankings with a stunning third-round knockout and proved it was no fluke when he repeated the feat a few months later, this time in the fourth.
The word was definitely out on Barajas and he soon established himself as a big-hitting favourite at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles with powerhouse victories over the formidable likes of Mando Muniz, Billy Backus and Gil King, plus a thrilling 10-round draw with future brilliant world champion Carlos Palomino, whom he had on the deck in the final round (only Barajas, Muniz and Roberto Duran ever floored Palomino). The very real prospect of a crack at Jose “Mantequilla” Napoles loomed on the near-horizon.
Then came a bewildering loss of form as Barajas looked terrible against Argentina's Jose Roberto Sosa in Los Angeles in early 1974, even though he won in the end, before he fell apart completely and suffered back-to-back knockouts to Philly's Billy Lloyd and was also stopped by Palomino and Muniz in rematches. Something was obviously amiss.
The word on the street told the story. Barajas, still a remarkably young man at 22, enjoyed the company of women and those women enjoyed his money and suddenly training got in the way and... It was a classic case of too much too soon for Barajas, who had earned well from his 10-rounders at the Olympic and never regained his form, winding up as fodder for anyone building a record around that time. He even made his way here a couple of times to face Jimmy Batten and Dave “Boy” Green (who is sadly unwell, these days) but he failed the doctor both times, which tells you everything about his fitness.
He returned to Mexico in the 1980s and won a couple of nondescript bouts and then never fought again.
