Vicente Samuel Saldívar García (May 3, 1943 – July 18, 1985) was a Mexican
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who competed between 1971 and 1973. He was a two-time
featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Boxing
Professional boxing
History
A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...
champion, having held the
WBA,
WBC, and
''The Ring'' titles from 1964 until his retirement in 1967. He came back and once again held the WBC and ''The Ring'' titles in 1970. Saldivar has frequently been ranked amongst the greatest in the history of that division by many noted boxing historians and critics. He currently holds the record for the
most wins in unified featherweight title bouts and the
longest unified featherweight championship reign in boxing history at 8 title bouts and 7 title defenses respectively. Saldívar fought in front of the fourth largest crowd ever, 90,000 in
Estadio Azteca
Estadio Azteca () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Mexico City. It is the official home of football clubs Club América and Cruz Azul as well as the Mexico national football team. The stadium sits at an altitude of above sea level. Wit ...
, and has also regularly been cited as one of the finest left-handed fighters of all time.
Childhood
Saldívar was born in one of the many poor quarters of
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 ...
and is one of seven children. He used to get in fights on the streets and in school, so his father decided to channel the misguided energy into boxing. Like many other Mexicans his father was a big boxing fan, so it was a logical move. He was taught by Jose Moreno, a veteran trainer of a nearby Mexico City boxing gym.
Fighting style
As a
southpaw, Saldívar was a dynamic fighter in the ring. He could box or brawl, and often softened opponents with a brutal body attack. Among his greatest assets was his stamina; he scored seven knockouts after the 7th round. Saldívar had an unusually slow heart and pulse rate, which he claimed was the secret of the phenomenal pace he was able to maintain in the ring.
Amateur career
Saldívar had a successful amateur career, crowned with a Mexican Golden Gloves title at bantamweight. At seventeen years old, he was included into the 1960 Olympic team, but was eliminated in the first bout of the Rome tournament by
Ernst Chervet of Switzerland.
[
]
Professional career
Saldívar turned professional in 1961 and won the Mexican featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Boxing
Professional boxing
History
A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...
title with a second-round knockout of Juan Ramírez on February 8, 1964. His first major victory came on June 1 of that same year when he defeated future lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing.
Boxing
Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing.
Notable lightweight boxe ...
champion and hall of fame member Ismael Laguna. Before challenging for a world title, he accumulated a record of 25–1, with his sole loss avenged by knockout.
WBC and WBA Featherweight Championships
On September 26, 1964, Saldívar won the WBA and WBC Featherweight titles by upsetting fellow Mexican fighter and future hall of famer Sugar Ramos
Ultiminio Ramos Zaqueira (2 December 1941 – 3 September 2017) was a Cuban-born Mexican professional boxer who was better known as Sugar Ramos. Ramos fought out of Mexico where he was adopted as a national hero. He was a world featherweight cha ...
with an 11th-round knockout in an extremely bloody battle. His first reign as champion would last three years, in which Saldívar made eight successful title defenses. The reign was highlighted by his trilogy with Howard Winstone
Howard Winstone, MBE (15 April 1939 – 30 September 2000) was a Welsh world champion boxer, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. As an amateur, Winstone won the Amateur Boxing Association bantamweight title in 1958, and a Commonwealth Games Gold ...
.
In his first title defense, he defeated future champion Raul Rojas
Raul Rojas (November 5, 1941 – May 20, 2012) was an American featherweight boxer. He accumulated a record of 38 wins (24 by KO), 7 losses and 2 draws. On March 28, 1968, Rojas defeated Enrique Higgins to win the List of featherweight boxing ch ...
. On September 7, 1965, he defeated Winstone in their first meeting with a 15-round decision . Following that victory, he defeated Floyd Robertson by second round knock out. He then defeated Mitsunori Seki in two consecutive bouts. On June 15, 1967, Saldívar defeated Winston once again by a 15-round decision. In 1996, Ring magazine included their second meeting on their list of the 100 greatest title fights of all-time. In the final installment of their trilogy, he defeated Winston by 12th round knock out. Saldivar announced his retirement after that contest in October 1967. Three months later, Winstone won recognition as WBC featherweight champion, claiming the belt left vacant by Saldivar, by defeating Mitsunori Seki with a 9th-round stoppage due to a cut right eye.
Return to the ring
After 21 months of inactivity, Saldívar returned to the ring on July 18, 1969 and won a 10-round unanimous decision over another former as well as future Featherweight champion, José Legra. Then on May 9, 1970, he regained the featherweight title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Johnny Famechon
Jean-Pierre Famechon (28 March 1945 – 4 August 2022) was an Australian featherweight boxer.
Famechon was the 2003 Inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame Moderns category and was the third to be elevated to Legend status i ...
. This reign, however, was short-lived. Saldívar lost the crown seven months later in his first defense against Kuniaki Shibata
Kuniaki Shibata (柴田 国明, born March 29, 1947, in Hitachi, Japan) is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1977. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC and ''The Ring featherweight titl ...
.
Retirement and comeback
He would fight once more before retiring again in 1971, however, the lure of the ring was too strong. He returned at the age of 30 after 2 years and 3 months of inactivity for another title attempt on October 21, 1973. His opponent was fellow Hall of Famer and former bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from Ba ...
champion Éder Jofre
Eder Jofre (; 26 March 1936 – 2 October 2022) . Jofre, who was 37, had won the Featherweight crown after coming out of his own retirement (albeit a brief 7 month one). Saldívar's skills had greatly diminished and Jofre won the contest with a fourth-round knockout in Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. After the fight, Saldívar retired for good.
Professional boxing record
Death
He died of cancer on July 18, 1985, aged only 42. In 1999 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...
.Vicente Saldivar
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...
See also
*
Lineal championship
In combat sports where champions are decided by a challenge, the lineal championship of a weight class is a world championship title held initially by an undisputed champion and subsequently by a fighter who defeats the reigning champion in a mat ...
*
List of WBC world champions
This is a list of WBC world champions, showing every world champion certificated by the World Boxing Council (WBC). The WBC is one of the four major governing bodies in professional boxing, and certifies world champions in 18 different weight cla ...
*
List of WBA world champions
This is a list of WBA world champions, showing every world champion certified by the World Boxing Association (WBA). The list also includes champions certified by the National Boxing Association (NBA), the predecessor to the WBA.
Boxers who won t ...
*
List of Featherweight boxing champions Championship recognition
Public Acclamation: 1884 to 1921
Champions were recognized by wide public acclamation. A heavyweight champion was a boxer who had a notable win over another notable boxer and then went without defeat. Retirements from the ...
*
List of Mexican boxing world champions
In Mexico, boxing is considered a major sport, having produced over 200 world champions in professional boxing. Mexico ranks first worldwide between countries with most boxing world champions and is the second country to have world champions accred ...
*
List of undisputed world boxing champions
This is a list of undisputed champions in professional boxing. Eras that are not listed do not have any undisputed champions.
Championship recognition
Titles have been awarded by:
*New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), founded in 1920
* ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saldivar, Vicente
Boxers from Mexico City
Boxers at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Olympic boxers of Mexico
World boxing champions
World Boxing Council champions
World Boxing Association champions
World featherweight boxing champions
1943 births
1985 deaths
Deaths from cancer in Mexico
Mexican male boxers
International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees