Alfonso Zamora Quiroz (born 9 February 1954) is a Mexican former
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 from 1973 to 1980. He was the Lineal and WBA
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 MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...
champion, and made five title defenses. As an amateur, he won a silver medal in the bantamweight event at the
1972 Munich Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
.
Amateur career
Bantamweight silver medalist at the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
in Munich. Results were:
*Defeated Ricardo Fortaleza (Philippines) KO 2
*Defeated Stefan Forster (West Germany) points
*Defeated Juan Francisco Rodríguez (Spain) KO 3
*Defeated
Ricardo Carreras
Ricardo Luis Carreras (born December 8, 1949) is a retired bantamweight boxer from the United States, who won the bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In the semifinals of the men's bantamweight (– 54 kg) division he was defeated b ...
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 MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...
title on 14 March 1975 when he
knocked out
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...
Soo-Hwan Hong in four rounds, two years after turning pro. Zamora defended his title twice that year via knockout, against Thanomchit Sukhothai and Socrates Batoto. On April 3, 1976, he knocked out future hall-of-famer
Eusebio Pedroza
Eusebio Pedroza (March 2, 1956 – March 1, 2019) was a Panamanian boxer who held the WBA and lineal featherweight championship from 1978 to 1985, having defended the title against 18 different contenders, more than any other boxer in featherwe ...
in the second round. Later that year, he successfully defended his title via knockout against Gilberto Illueca and a rematch with Soo-Hwan Hong.
Zamora vs. Zarate
Fighting contemporaneously, and holding the WBC crown, was the fellow-Mexican legend,
Carlos Zárate Serna
Carlos Zárate Serna (born May 23, 1951) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1970 to 1988, and held the WBC bantamweight title from 1976 to 1979. He and fellow Mexican and world Bantamweight champion Rubén Olivares have the ...
. A showdown between the two was inevitable and they met in a non-title match on 23 April 1977. Zamora went into the bout sporting a record of 29 wins in 29 fights, all by knockout. Zarate's record was an equally impressive 45 fights, 45 wins, with 44 KOs. In a largely anticipated fight Zarate scored a technical knockout over Zamora in the fourth round.
Zamora never seemed to recover from this loss. In his next fight he lost his Lineal and WBA Bantamweight titles to
Jorge Luján
Jorge Luján (born March 18, 1955) is a Panamanian who was a professional boxer and fought many top-flight boxers and several champions during the 1970s and 1980s. Luján is the former Lineal and WBA Bantamweight world champion. He was managed b ...
by knockout in the tenth round. His record thereafter was spotty, and he even was stopped on 16 November 1979 by Eddie Logan, who sported a record of 5 wins and 7 losses. He retired after losing, again by knockout, to Rigoberto Estrada on 19 September 1980. In 1983, Zamora was to fight
Wilfredo Gómez
Wilfredo Gómez RiveraThe Ring'' list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. His final career record included 33 wins, with 32 KOs, and 5 losses.
Professional boxing record
See also
*
List of world bantamweight boxing champions
This is a list of world bantamweight boxing champions, as recognized by the four major sanctioning organizations in boxing:
* The World Boxing Association (WBA), established in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA). The WBA often recognize ...
*
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 accre ...