We finish the top ten Mexican boxers of all-time with the top five.
The ranking from six through ten with honorable mentions here.
For the purposes of this list- Here are the ground rules.
I am looking at Canelo Alvarez's body of work as if he announced his retirement today and never returned to the ring.
Canelo will have several opportunities to move higher on this list as his career continues, but for now, I am going on what is, not what could happen in the future.
This is also a list that relies heavily on who you defeated and when you defeated them along with nuances such as Marco Antonio Barrera's final loss to Amir Khan doesn't cost him a lot because of the natural weight differential and Canelo Alvarez's KO win over Khan doesn't gain him very much for the same reason.
Also, I did not include the great welterweight Jose Napoles on this list because even though he fought out of Mexico, he was of Cuban Heritage.
Had I included "Mantaquilla", he certainly would have resided in the top ten.
This is not a list of who would have beaten whom in a mystical tournament of peak fighters without weight advantages
You want that in the future?
Perhaps it can be arranged.
On with the countdown in full Casey Kasem voice with the rankings of 1-5 and I expect some controversy here.
1: Julio Cesar Chavez
Chavez was, at one time or another, the best fighter in three different weight divisions, defeated fourteen boxers that were champions at one time, and won his first eighty-seven matches before a draw with Pernell Whitaker.
A ferocious body puncher, Chavez didn't get hit as much as you would think for an aggressive fighter.
Chavez holds the record for title fight wins (31) and title defenses (27 combining all his title reigns) and known for his rock-like chin, Chavez could stand toe to toe or break a retreating boxer down.
About the only bad things that you could say about Chavez were that late in his career, he was more willing to surrender when times were tough ( losses to Oscar De La Hoya and Kostya Tszyu ended with Chavez ending fights in his corner) and the officials helped in his miracle win over Meldrick Taylor (the famous Richard Steele stoppage with two seconds to go) and the draw with Pernell Whitaker (which Whitaker easily deserved the decision).
On the full body of work, Chavez gets the top spot, but some of the other top five have a strong case as well.
2: Ruben Olivares
Rockabye Ruben has a case as the greatest bantamweight ever (although someone below can make an argument) and won the featherweight title on two occasions as well.
A devastating puncher with either hand with 79 of his 89 victories by knockout, Olivares was undefeated in his first sixty-one fights (Olivares did have one draw during this stretch) before winning the world (both WBA and WBC) titles with a 1969 fifth-round knockout of Lionel Rose.
Olivares suffered his first loss by 14th round knockout to Chu Cho Castillo ( listed in Honorable Mention) after decisioning Castillo in the first fight of their trilogy held from April 1970-April 1971 but won the title back from Castillo in their third fight.
The savage battles against Castillo drained Olivares and he was never quite the same fighter after those fights as he defended the title twice before losing to Rafael Herrera in the eighth round.
After losing a majority decision to Herrera in their rematch, Olivares moved up to featherweight, skipping the junior featherweight division.
Olivares won the vacant WBA title but was knocked out by a young Alexis Arguello in his first defense in the thirteenth round.
Two fights later, Olivares massacred a weight-drained Bobby Chacon (the win over Chacon would be the only win over a Hall of Famer for Olivares) in two rounds to win the WBC version of the title but lost in his first defense to David "Poison" Kotey via a split decision.
Olivares would be stopped by Danny "Little Red" Lopez in his next fight and began to decline with losses to Chacon in a rematch, Jose Cervantes and to Eusebio Pedroza in his final attempt to regain the title, although he did have a second-round knockout over future lightweight champion Jose Luis Ramirez.
3: Salvador Sanchez
Had Sanchez not passed away at only 23, Sanchez might have been tops on this list.
Sanchez defended his WBC featherweight crown on nine occasions, defeating a Hall of Famer in Danny "Little Red" Lopez to win his title, stopping Lopez again in their rematch, and defeated two other Hall members by knockout during his reign in Wilfredo Gomez and Azumah Nelson.
Legendary for his stamina, Sanchez's heart rate returned to normal during the one minute between rounds and he stopped four opponents between the tenth and fifteenth rounds during his time as champion.
An accurate counterpuncher, Sanchez wasn't always comfortable leading, but could when needed as when he jumped on Wilfredo Gomez and almost ended their anticipated meeting in the first round.
Only Sanchez's death kept him from number one on the list as his passing at 23 kept him from possible fights against WBA champion Eusebio Pedroza in what would have likely been an awkward meshing of styles and possibly Julio Cesar Chavez in what might have been the greatest fight in Mexican boxing history.
Sanchez was only three years older than Chavez and it's likely that the two could have met more than once at junior lightweight or lightweight.
4: Juan Manuel Marquez
A champion at featherweight, junior lightweight, and lightweight, Marquez was hurt more than any of these great fighters by unfavorable judging.
Marquez lost six times after a debut loss by disqualification and all were arguable except for a clear loss to Floyd Mayweather.
One could argue that Marquez won all of the first three fights against Manny Pacquiao ( a draw, split decision, and majority decision, was robbed against Freddie Norwood and Chris John (in John's native Indonesia) and his split decision loss to Timothy Bradley could have been given to either man.
Marquez started his career as a speedy boxer-puncher that threw lots of combinations, ended it as more of an aggressive brawler, and was so good that he was shamelessly ducked for two years by Naseem Hamed as the WBO's mandatory challenger.
Marquez defeated nine fighters that held world titles, holds a win over Hall of Famer Marco Antonio Barrera (which was the difference between their 4th and 6th ranking), and his memorable KO win over certain Hall inductee Manny Pacquiao.
With a few breaks, Marquez could have been number one on the list.
5: Carlos Zarate
Zarate and Ruben Olivares each have a case for best bantamweight ever.
Carrying top-notch power with either fist, Zarate didn't fight as long as Olivares, but his KO percentage is even more impressive with 63 of his 66 wins inside the scheduled distance, his nine defenses of his WBC title outshined Olivares as well (Olivares successfully defended four times) and who could forget his non-unification/unification win over then-WBA champion Alfonso Zamora by fourth-round knockout in Los Angeles?
So, why Olivares second and Zarate fifth?
Zarate never defeated a Hall of Famer, lost two of his three biggest fights in his prime, a fifth-round knockout loss to Wilfredo Gomez that made Gomez a star in an attempt to win the junior featherweight crown and a split decision loss to Lupe Pintor that was a terrible decision by the judges, and his petulant retirement at age 28 rather than fight Pintor again, all work against Zarate.
Zarate did defeat three fighters that held a championship with his title victory over Rodolfo Martinez, his aforementioned win over Alfonso Zamora, and a title defense over Alberto Davila, who would win his title in 1983.
Zarate would come back seven years later to win ten fights in a row against lesser competition other than a fifth-round knockout over top ten rated Richard Savage, before losing to Hall of Famers Jeff Fenech and Daniel Zaragoza at age 37, retiring for good at age 38, but the retirement cost him plenty of his prime and he could have moved higher on the list with a revenge win over Pintor and maybe a win over WBA champion Jeff Chandler.
If I had to pick a winner of a Zarate-Olivares fight, I think I'd pick Zarate.
But picking the better career, I select Olivares by a sliver.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and thanks to Ramon Malpica for the idea.
If you like this and want similar posts in the future, let me know and spread the word on boxing social media...
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