Carlos Zárate Serna (born May 23, 1951) 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 1970 to 1988, and held the WBC

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 ...

title from 1976 to 1979. He and fellow

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

and world Bantamweight champion

Rubén Olivares Rubén Olivares Avila (born January 14, 1947) is a Mexican former professional boxer and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame., Olivares was a world champion multiple times, and considered by many as the greatest bantamweight champio ...

have the distinction of being the only two professional boxers in history to put together two streaks of 20 or more

knockout 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 striking, a ...

wins in a row. Zárate was voted

Fighter of the Year '' The Ring'' magazine was established in 1922 and has named a Fighter of the Year since 1928, which this list covers. The award, selected by the magazine editors, is based on a boxer's performance in the ring.''The Ring'' magazine in 1977. Zárate was ranked #21 in ''The Ring's'' list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. and voted as the #1 bantamweight (along with

) of the 20th century by the Associated Press in 1999. In 1994, Zárate 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 ...

. He is also the father of once-defeated

Light Welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

prospect, Carlos Zárate, Jr.

Personal life

Carlos Zárate has family members who have followed him into boxing. His son

Carlos Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

, now retired, fought in the

division and his nephew, Joel Luna Zárate, is the former WBO Latino

Super Flyweight Super flyweight, also referred to as junior bantamweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . History The first title match in this division was in 1980, when the World Boxing Council respond ...

champion.

Amateur career

Zárate, considered along with rival

Wilfredo Gómez Wilfredo Gómez RiveraMexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

''Golden Gloves'', or ''Guantes de Oro'', in 1969.

Professional career

In 1970, Carlos made his professional debut with a 2-round knockout win over

Luis Castañeda Óscar Luis Castañeda Lossio (21 June 1945 – 12 January 2022) was a Peruvian politician who was the Mayor of Lima, the capital city of Peru, from 2003 to 2010. He became Mayor of Lima again in 2015, after being elected for a third nonconse ...

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

. That marked the beginning of a 23-fight knockout winning streak. The only boxers to get past the third round during that streak were Al Torres and Antonio Castañeda, who lasted 5 and 9 rounds respectively, both at

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

. Víctor Ramírez became the first boxer to last the distance with Zárate when Zárate beat him on points in January 1974 in

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 ...

over ten rounds. Next began his second 20 plus knockout wins in a row streak, when none of his next 28 opponents heard the final bell on their feet.

WBC Bantamweight championship

After knocking out former world title challenger Néstor Jiménez in two rounds at

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...

to end 1975, the WBC made Zárate their number one challenger at the Bantamweight division. So, after beating César Desiga by a knockout in four on March 29, 1976, in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, Zárate was faced on the night of May 8 of that year with defending WBC

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

Rodolfo Martínez Rodolfo Martínez Estrada (born 24 August 1948) is a Mexican former professional boxer. He is a former NABF super bantamweight, bantamweight and the WBC bantamweight champion. Early life Martínez was born on August 28, 1946, and raised in Tep ...

Los Angeles 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' ...

. Zárate became a world Bantamweight champion by knocking his countryman out in the eighth round. Zárate next won two fights by a knockout in the second and then defended it against Paul Ferreri, who lost by knockout in 12 in Los Angeles too. He finished '76 with a four-round knockout over Waruinge Nakayama in a title defense held at

Culiacán Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both the Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531, by the Spanish Conquistadores, con ...

Fight against WBA Bantamweight champion

''Main article: The Battle of the Z Boys'' After beginning 1977 with a third-round knockout win over

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

's Fernando Cabanela in Mexico City, Mexican boxing fans started talking about a possible unification bout between him and fellow Mexican

Alfonso Zamora Alfonso Zamora Quiroz (born 9 February 1954) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 1980. He was the Lineal and WBA bantamweight champion, and made five title defenses. As an amateur, he won a silver medal in the ban ...

, the WBA's world Bantamweight champion. Nicknamed by the American boxing press as ''The Z Boys'', the two did square off, but not before much hassle and hurdle putting by both the WBC and WBA, who wanted both boxers to pay a large amount of money before sanctioning the bout. So, the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

state boxing commission decided to sanction it as a ten-round, non-title bout instead. Fans didn't seem to care that no world title belt would be involved that afternoon, and they packed the fight venue when Zárate and Zamora met in the LA suburb of

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

, at the Forum on April 23 of '77. Zárate made the tactical mistake of going toe to toe with a shorter but harder hitting puncher. Zárate got tagged repeatedly and then a man wearing a white tank top and grey sweat pants entered the ring. The fight was momentarily stopped by referee

Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele (bap. 12 March 1672 – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright, and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine ''The Spectator''. Early life Steele was born in Du ...

and a contingent of helmeted policemen stormed the ring, forcibly removing the intruder thereafter, Zárate managed to stay away from Zamora. After a first round, Zárate the better boxer, with a reach advantage stayed away and outboxed Zamora wearing him down then knocking him out in four to gain recognition by most boxing fans as the undisputed world champion of the Bantamweights. Then, he retained the WBC title with a knockout in six over Danilo Batista, and finished 1977 with a trip to Spain, where he retained the belt against challenger Juan Francisco Rodríguez, beaten in five. In 1978, Zárate started out by meeting future world champion Alberto Dávila, whom he knocked out in eight at Los Angeles to retain his belt. Then, in April of that year, he made his first of two trips to

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

that year, to fight challenger Andres Hernandez, who lasted until the 13th. round at

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early death, he was pos ...

coliseum.

Zárate vs. Gómez

''Main article'':

Wilfredo Gomez versus Carlos Zarate Wilfredo is a given name which may refer to: *Wilfredo Alicdan (born 1965), Filipino figurative artist *Wilfredo Alvarado (born 1970), Venezuelan football defender *Willy Caballero (born 1981), Argentine football goalkeeper *Wilfredo Caraballo (bor ...

After retaining the title against Emilio Hernandez by a knockout in four and winning a non-title bout, Zárate announced he was moving up in weight and challenging the WBC

Super Bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanctioning organizations or ...

champion,

Wilfredo Gómez Wilfredo Gómez RiveraRing 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 ...

book The Ring: Boxing In The 20th Century, Gómez and Zárate had the highest knockout win percentage of any two boxers paired inside a ring in history: When Gómez and Zárate met on October 28, also at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, the challenger and still world Bantamweight champion Zárate was 52–0 with 51 knockouts, while defending world Super Bantamweight champion Gómez was 21-0-1 with 21 knockouts. Zárate went to the floor four times and tasted the sour taste of defeat for the first time in his career when he was beaten by a knockout in five rounds.

Return to Bantamweight

In 1979, Zárate made what would turn out to be his last successful defense, with a third-round knockout win over Mensah Kpalongo in Los Angeles. After winning a non-title bout against Celso Cháirez by a knockout in five in

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 ...

, Zárate met gym-mate

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 ...

in Las Vegas and lost a close and controversial 15-round decision. Enraged by losing a decision he (as well as many fans) thought undeserved, he announced his retirement from boxing and vowed never to fight as a professional again.

Five year retirement

Zárate spent five years in retirement, but the temptation of the public adulation boxers receive when they become champions and the aroma of the boxing ring led him back into competition as a boxer. Despite still retaining an acceptable amount of his boxing ability, Zárate was nonetheless, a shadow of what he was before his 5-year retirement. In his return bout in 1986 against Adam García, he won a four-round decision. 11 more victories in a row, all by knockout, including one over then number one world Super Bantamweight challenger Richard Savage (knocked out by Zárate in five in Mexico City), made him the WBC's number one challenger at the Super Bantamweight division once again. And so, in October 1987, he traveled to Australia to meet the man boxing fans consider to be the greatest Australian world champion of all time:

Jeff Fenech Jeff Fenech (born 28 May 1964) is an Australian former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2008. He won world titles in three weight divisions, having held the IBF bantamweight title from 1985 to 1987, the WBC super-bantamweight ...

. In a fight contested for Fenech's world Super Bantamweight title, Zárate lost by a four-round technical decision. After Fenech vacated the title soon after to pursue the world Featherweight crown, Zárate and countryman

Daniel Zaragoza Daniel Zaragoza (born December 11, 1957) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1997. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC bantamweight title in 1985 and the WBC super bantamweight title bet ...

met for the vacant world championship belt, but Zárate came back on the losing end once again, being knocked out in the tenth round and finally announcing his retirement for good. During the 1990s he also became a member of 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 ...

, and in 2003, he and

Wilfredo Gómez Wilfredo Gómez RiveraNotable boxing families Notability is the property of being worthy of notice, having fame, or being considered to be of a high degree of interest, significance, or distinction. It also refers to the capacity to be such. Persons who are notable due to public responsibi ...

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 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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zarate Serna, Carlos 1951 births Living people Bantamweight boxers Super-bantamweight boxers Boxers from Mexico City World boxing champions World bantamweight boxing champions World Boxing Council champions World Boxing Association champions International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Mexican male boxers