Romeo Anaya (5 April 1946 – 24 December 2015) 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 from 1967 to 1980, holding 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 mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

titles from 1973 to 1974.

Professional career

Anaya won the Mexico

title in 1971. He became the world bantamweight champion when he defeated Lineal and WBA bantamweight champion

Enrique Pinder Enrique Pinder (born August 7, 1947) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1966 until 1973. He held the undisputed WBA, WBC, and ''The Ring'' bantamweight titles from 1972 to 1973. Professional career In 1966, Pinder be ...

of Panama on January 20, 1973. On November 3, 1973, Anaya met

Arnold Taylor Arnold Taylor (15 July 1945 – 22 November 1981) was a South African boxer who held the Lineal and WBA bantamweight championships in 1973. Background Taylor lived during the apartheid period; Born to Muriel and Joe Taylor on 15 July 194 ...

in a match refereed by

Stanley Christodoulou Stanley Christodoulou (Greek: Στάνλυ Χριστοδούλου; born 31 January 1946) is a South African international boxing judge and referee of Greek Cypriot descent. Christodoulou has judged bouts in his native South Africa, as well as int ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. The 14 round fight is considered by many to be one of boxing's classic fights. One South African sportswriter called it "the bloodiest fight in South African boxing history". Taylor suffered a cut and was knocked down once in round five and three times in round eight (the WBA has since adopted a rule where a fighter is automatically declared a knockout loser if he or she is knocked down three times in the same round). Nevertheless, Taylor also cut the champion, and, in round fourteen, he connected with a right hand to Anaya's jaw, sending him to the floor. Feeling that this was his moment to become a world champion, Taylor screamed to his trainers: "He's gone!" from a neutral corner. It took Anaya two minutes to get up, and Taylor won the Lineal and WBA bantamweight titles.

References

External links

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Romeo Anaya - The Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia
1946 births 2015 deaths Mexican male boxers Bantamweight boxers Super-bantamweight boxers Boxers from Chiapas World bantamweight boxing champions World Boxing Association champions {{Mexico-boxing-bio-stub

Professional career

See also

References

External links