By Rafael Soto
Canastota, New York - Julio Cesar Chavez achieved his dream and goal as a professional. The "Great Mexican Champion" who made history and became a legend, will, on Sunday, June 12, will become immortal in the sport of boxing. On that day, he will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, located in Canastota, New York. He will get inducted with the satisfaction that his eldest son, Julio Cesar Jr., recently became a world champion and his youngest son, Omar, remains unbeaten and just headlined his first card.
In last few weeks, Omar won his first 10 round fight by way of a fourth round knockout over Genaro Trazancos, on May 28 in Mexicali, while on June 4, in Los Angeles, Julio Cesar Jr. won the WBC middleweight world championship with a decision over unbeaten German Sebastian Zbik.
Julio Cesar Chavez had over 115 professional fights, won six world championships divided into three divisions: super featherweight, lightweight and super lightweight. Chavez made his debut in February 1980 and retired in September 2005 with a record of 107 wins (86 KOs), six defeats and two draws. He remained undefeated for 90 fights and took part in 37 world championship fights.
In this class of 2011, Julio will be the 11th Mexican boxer to be inducted into the hall of the immortals, and shares the stage with the boxers like Mike Tyson, who co-headlined with Chavez, and Kostya Tszyu, one of the fighters who beat Chavez. Also being immortalized is Mexican coach Ignacio Beristain, referee Joe Cortez and the film producer Sylvester Stallone for his contribution to the boxing industry.
Mexican boxers immortalized - Miguel Canto, Jose "Pipino" Cuevas, Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez, Ricardo "Finito" Lopez, Ruben "Spikes" Olivares, Carlos Palomino, Vicente Saldivar, Salvador Sanchez, Daniel Zaragoza, Carlos Zarate.
Fights That Marked Memorable Nights For Chavez were:
1984/Sep. 13 Mario Martinez TKO8 WBC Title Super feather
1987/Nov. 21 Edwin Rosario TKO11 WBA Lightweight Title
1988/Oct. 20 José Luis Ramírez TD11 WBA-WBC Lightweight Unification
1989/May 13 Roger Mayweather TKO10 Super light WBC Title
1990/Mar 17 Meldrick Taylor TKO12 with 2 seconds to go in the fight
1992/Sep. 12 Hector Camacho UD12 The fight that paralyzed Mexico
1993/Feb. 20 Greg Haugen TKO5 Record attendance at Estadio Azteca
1993/Sep. Pernell Whitaker Draw, win streak ends at 87
1994/Ene. 29 Frankie Randall L SD12, loses unbeaten run after 91 fights
1996/Jun. 7 Oscar de la Hoya L TKO4, PPV Record
2003/Nov. 22 Willy Wise TKO2, shared card with his children
2005/May. 28 Ivan Robinson UD10, his last victory in boxing
2005/Sep. 17 Grovey Wiley L TKO4, the last fight of his career