Francisco "Kiko" Bejines (January 1, 1962 – September 4, 1983) was a professional boxer from
Guadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. He was a top-rated Bantamweight who fought for the
WBC's world Bantamweight title, dying days after his championship bout against
Alberto Davila.
Pre-fight career
Francisco Bejines made his professional boxing debut on September 16, 1977, against undefeated (2–0) Rodolfo Quintero at the
Arena Coliseo
Arena Coliseo is an indoor arena in Mexico City, Mexico located at República del Perú 77 in the Cuauhtémoc, D.F., Cuauhtémoc Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District, borough. The arena is primarily used for professional wrestling, or ''lucha ...
in Guadalajara. He outpointed his rival over eight rounds. His very next fight was his first ten round test, as he battled undefeated (7–0–1) Miguel Navarro, who knocked Bejines out in round eight on October 21 of the same year, also at the Arena Coliseo.
On November 25, only one month and four days after his first loss, Bejines was back in a ring as a professional, facing David Vera (6–3). Bejines scored his first professional knockout win when he beat Vera in round eight of a scheduled ten rounds.
Bejines' first 1978 bout took place on February 17 at the Arena Coliseo when he took on 1–4 Anastacio Chavez, beating Chavez by ten round decision. Six months later, he faced undefeated Rosendo Alonso, 6–0–1 coming in, and lost to him by ten round decision on August 11. On September 8, Bejines returned to the winning column, notching a ten round points victory against Agustin Macias, 5–2 coming in. Bejines' last fight in 1978 was a rematch with Rodolfo Quintero, who by then had a record of 2–2, and who was again beaten by Bejines, this time by decision over ten rounds, on November 3.
1979 proved to be, boxing-wise, a busy year for Bejines, as he fought nine times, beginning with a February 2 fifth round knockout of undefeated but also inexperienced (1–0) Lupe Torres; a March 16 technical decision loss to Manuel Luna (2–5) in what constituted a small upset when a clash of heads in round six left Luna, who was winning the bout on the judges scorecards, unable to continue; a June 8 second round knockout win against debuting Jorge Martinez; a June 22 first round knockout win versus the also debuting Jesus Garcia; a July 13 third round knockout win against 0–1 Victor Hernandez; a step-up in class to face 22–10 boxing veteran Francisco Javier Nunez-whom he beat by three round technical decision August 10 when Nunez slipped to the canvas and sustained a dangerous cut, not being able to continue and Bejines winning the Jalisco state Bantamweight championship; a first round knockout on October 12 of 5–4 Jorge Manuel Vera; a November 16 fight against 0–1 Leonardo Martinez; beaten by knockout in two, and Bejines' first defense of the Jalisco state Bantamweight title, when he lost by a twelve round decision in a rematch with 15–3–1 Rosendo Alonso, on December 14.
Bejines had a less busy year in 1980. Nevertheless, he still fought seven times that year, including twice in a seven-day span and twice in a six-day one. On May 24, he faced 5–6–1 Hector Cortes, winning by a ten round decision. On June 26, he followed that victory with a losing effort; this time against 3–4 Ramiro Garcia in a minor upset, in what was his first fight outside Guadalajara, the bout being held at
Uruapan
Uruapan is the second largest city in the Mexico, Mexican state of Michoacán. It is located at the western edge of the Tarascan Plateau, Purépecha highlands, just to the east of the Tierra Caliente (Mexico), Tierra Caliente region. Since the colo ...
,
Michoacan de Ocampo. Three months and a half later, on October 4, Bejines fought Fabian Palma, 4–7–2 coming in, and knocked him out in round one in what was Bejines'
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
debut. Seven days later, on October 11, Bejines boxed world ranked
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
ian
Hector Cortez (no relation to Bejines' earlier rival on the same year), 30–6–3, winning by first round knockout which made him ranked among the world's top ten Bantamweights by the WBC. On November 16, Bejines re-matched Leonardo Martinez, now 0–2, and beat him by a second round knockout, and on November 22, he beat 8–3 Freddy Martinez by a third round knockout before making his debut abroad, his first fight in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, against future
Jeff Chandler
Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; yi, יראַ גראָססעל; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor, film producer, and singer, best remembered for playing Cochise in '' Broken Arrow'' (1950), for which he was nom ...
beater and world title challenger
Oscar Muniz, who outpointed Bejines over ten rounds on December 11 at the
Olympic Auditorium
The Grand Olympic Auditorium is a former sports venue in southern Downtown Los Angeles, California. The venue was built in 1924 at 1801 South Grand Avenue, now just south of the Santa Monica Freeway. The grand opening of the Olympic Auditorium ...
, in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
1981 saw Bejines fight Jose Resendez, 13–17–1, beaten on points in ten rounds on January 22 at the Olympic Auditorium; 2–3 Gilberto Villacana, knocked out in three rounds on February 22 at
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
; 12–6–4 Franco Torregrosa, outpointed over ten rounds on March 19 at the Olympic Auditorium; 2–12–1 Calvin Sheppard, beaten by unanimous ten round decision on August 1 at the Olympic Auditorium; undefeated (9–0) Adriano Arreola, who'd' later last ten rounds against
Julio César Chávez
Julio César Chávez González (; born July 12, 1962), also known as Julio César Chávez Sr., is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005. A multiple-time world champion in three weight divisions, Chávez was liste ...
and beat
Lupe Pintor
José Guadalupe Pintor Guzmán (born 13 April 1955), better known as Lupe Pintor, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1995. He won the WBC bantamweight title in 1979 after defeating Carlos Zárate Serna, and made e ...
-and whom Bejines defeated by six round knockout on August 20 at the
Inglewood Forum
Kia Forum (formerly The Forum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located between West Manchester Boulevard, across Pincay Drive and Kareem Court, it is north of SoFi Stadium and t ...
; 2–4–1 Ruben Solorio, defeated by Bejines by way of a ten round decision on October 1 at the Olympic Auditorium, and 22–2, former
WBA and
Ring Magazine
''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...
world Bantamweight champion,
Puerto Rican Julian Solís
Julian Solís (born 7 January 1957) is a former boxer from Puerto Rico. He was born in the San Juan area of Río Piedras, but because of the closeness of his birthplace to Caguas, he often trained at the Bairoa Gym in Caguas. His training base, h ...
, who was dropped four times by Bejines before Bejines prevailed by a seventh round technical knockout, also at the Olympic Auditorium. By then, Bejines was well known and popular among boxing audiences in the United States'
southwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
as well.
Bejines continued his rise on the WBC's Bantamweight rankings during 1982, meeting and defeating several ranked fighters and losing only to one, including Javier Flores, 25–12–3, beaten by seventh round knockout on January 20 at the Olympic Auditorium,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
n
Jovito Rengifo-who had previously challenged Lupe Pintor for the WBC world title-whom Bejines outpointed over ten rounds at the Olympic Auditorium on March 5, recent Pintor challenger
Hurricane Teru, who had gone fifteen rounds with Pintor before getting knocked out in another world title fight; taken out in four rounds by Bejines June 3 at the Olympic Auditorium, and another Venezuelan,
Edgar Roman
Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear").
Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...
, who in 1984 would challenge
Richie Sandoval
Richard Sandoval (born 18 October 1960) is an American retired professional boxer and former Lineal and WBA Bantamweight Champion. Sandoval was a silver medalist at the 1979 Pan American Games in Puerto Rico and was a U.S. Olympian during his a ...
for his WBA world Bantamweight title and who beat Bejines by a fifth round knockout on August 12 at the Olympic Auditorium.
World title fight
On the wake of the death of South Korean boxer
Duk Koo Kim
Kim Duk-koo (Hangul:김득구; born Lee Deokgu, Hangul: 이덕구; July 29, 1955November 18, 1982) was a South Korean boxer who died after fighting in a world championship boxing match against Ray Mancini. His death sparked reforms aimed at better ...
, who died four days after challenging
Ray Mancini
Ray Mancini (born Raymond Michael Mancino; March 4, 1961), best known as "Boom Boom" Mancini, is an American former professional boxer who competed professionally from 1979 to 1992 and who has since worked as an actor and sports commentator. H ...
for the latter's WBA world Lightweight title, the WBC voted to have its world title fights reduced in distance from 15 rounds to 12, effective 1983. The first world title fight with the reduced distance as scheduled was between WBC Junior Bantamweight champion
Rafael Orono
Jesus Rafael Orono (born August 30, 1958) is a former super flyweight boxing champion from Venezuela.
Amateur career
Born in Patono, Sucre, Orono began as an amateur and compiled a record of 49 wins and 8 losses.Mike DeLisa of www.cyberboxingzon ...
of Venezuela and Pedro Romero, Orono retaining the title by a fourth round knockout.
Meanwhile, WBC world Bantamweight champion Lupe Pintor suffered a vehicular accident and was sidelined by injury. The WBC then ordered Bejines and Alberto Davila to fight for the WBC's vacant interim world title, in a twelve round bout to take place September 1, 1983. The fight's referee was the experienced Puerto Rican of German descent,
Waldemar Schmidt.
Bejines and Davila boxed for eleven rounds without landing particularly hard punches. Bejines was leading on two of the three judges scorecards before the final round began. About 25 seconds into the round, Davila, realizing he was behind on the scorecards, landed a left jab which stunned Bejines, followed by a hard right to the chin which dropped Bejines, who hit his head against the lower rope. Bejines tried to get up, but referee Schmidt stopped the bout.
After the fight
Ringside physicians tried to revive Bejines, but he did not respond to treatment. He was then taken to
California Hospital, from where he was airlifted to
Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, where several attempts were made at saving his life the following days, including the removal of part of his brain and skull and of a
blood clot
A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of c ...
to try to diminish his brain pressure. Bejines was held on a respirator machine until he died on September 4.
Bejines' death was the first in professional boxing since Kim's; it was also the first involving a boxer after a fight at the Olympic Auditorium since
Johnny Owen
John Richard Owens (7 January 1956 – 4 November 1980) was a Welsh professional boxer who fought under the name Johnny Owen. His seemingly fragile appearance earned him many epithets, including the "Merthyr Matchstick" and the "Bionic Ba ...
's after his unsuccessful challenge of Pintor in 1980.
Davila was later named full champion by the WBC once Pintor decided not to return to the Bantamweight division. The WBC, on the other part, was criticized for sanctioning this bout, especially since Bejines had lost his prior fight.
Bejines had a record of 27 wins and 8 losses in 35 bouts, 16 wins by knockout.
Personal
Bejines' wife was pregnant with his baby when he died. His brother, Oscar Bejines, was also a professional boxer of note during the 1980s and 1990s.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bejines, Kiko
1961 births
1983 deaths
Deaths due to injuries sustained in boxing
Bantamweight boxers
Mexican male boxers
Boxers from Jalisco
Sportspeople from Guadalajara, Jalisco