Julio César Chávez

Later that year, he unified the WBA and WBC belts by a technical decision win over champion José Luis Ramírez. An accidental head-butt opened a cut on Ramírez's forehead and the doctor halted the fight, sending the decision to the judges' scorecards at that point in the fight. Chávez, ahead on all scorecards, was declared the winner. He was also awarded the The Ring Lightweight title after the victory. Chavez vacated his WBA and WBC Lightweight titles in order to move up to the super lightweight division.

In his next bout, he won the WBC Light Welterweight title by defeating Roger Mayweather for a second time. Mayweather did not come out of his corner after the tenth round, giving Chavez the TKO win. Read Less

World champions whom Chávez defeated include Jose Luis Ramírez, Rafael Limón, Rocky Lockridge, Meldrick Taylor, Roger Mayweather, Lonnie Smith, Sammy Fuentes, Héctor "Macho" Camacho, Juan Laporte, Edwin Rosario, Greg Haugen, Tony López, Giovanni Parisi, Joey Gamache and Frankie Randall, who had taken the WBC Light Welterweight belt from Chávez just four months earlier. He lost to only three champions: Randall, Oscar De La Hoya and Kostya Tszyu, plus to Willy Wise and Grover Wiley. He was held to a draw by two others: Pernell Whitaker and Miguel Ángel González.

Chávez finally retired in his 25th year as a professional boxer with a record of 107 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws, with 89 knockouts and a reputation as one of the best boxers of all time. He holds records for most successful consecutive defenses of world titles (27), most title fights (37), most title-fight victories (31) and he is tied with Joe Louis for most title defenses won by knockout (21). Chávez also has the longest undefeated streak in boxing history, 13 years. His record was 89-0-1 going into his first loss to Frankie Randall and had an 87 fight win streak until his draw with Whitaker. He was ranked #50 on Ring Magazine's list of "100 greatest punchers of all time." As an in-fighter or swarmer, Julio César Chávez was renowned specially for his devastating left hook and his ability to take a punch due his extremely strong chin. Read Less

Chavez dominated Camacho en route to a unanimous decision win. The final scores were 117-111, 119-110 and 120-107 for Chávez. After the fight, on his arrival to Mexico, the President Carlos Salinas de Gortari sent the special car for the Pope to take him from the airport to the President's house. Read Less

The fight was fiercely contested when they collided heads, opening a large cut over Chávez's eyebrow in the seventh round. After the head cut, during round eight, the referee called for the doctor, who then stopped the fight. Under WBC rules, Randall lost one point, giving Chávez the technical victory. The two would face one another in a rubber match 10 years later, which Chávez would win.

Chavez then faced Meldrick Taylor in a rematch, four years after their historic first fight. Chavez defeated him in the eighth round by a knockout that sent Taylor from one side of the ring to the other. In his next bout, Chavez defeated three-time champion Tony Lopez. Read Less

Major World Titles:

The Ring/Lineal Championship Titles:

T-Bone mentioned Chavez in the song "Throwin' Out tha Wicked" with the line "I knocking out the devil like Julio César Chávez." Read Less