Remembering the little warriors!

After reading a sad article about 1 of my fav fighters of all time Bobby "school boy" Chacon I thought I would mention just a few names from the 70's and 80's who lit up boxing's smaller weights better then Manny and Floyd etc ever will. The article stated that Chacon, former 2 time world champ and absolute warrior was walking around in his home town collecting aluminium cans to make a quick buck as he suffers from pugilistic dementia. Its a sad story as thousands watched and supported him in his great fights along with...

Ruban Olivares
Rafeal Limon
Boza Edwards
Danny Lopez
Rolando Naverrete

These guys pretty much faced each other so if you have not seen these fights yet or are looking for some good fights to watch then check them out. They are seldom talked about on boxing forums unlike other well known fighters but they provided great entertainment.

Good to see you have moved on from your 'Degale was robbed' crusade onetwo, and a nice mention for some seldom mentioned fighters.

Nice one, ONETWO.

Chacon's final fight with Limon might very well be the greatest fight I've ever seen.

I couldn't agree more - a terrific post. Chacon, with Matthew Saad Muhammad, is the greatest value for money fighter I've ever seen. He was never in a bad fight, but his epic fourth contest with Limon is in the all-time top ten for me. Alexis Arguello proved himself the greatest super-feather of them all by defeating Chacon, Limon, Navarrete and Boza, all within about eighteen months, but the guys you mention all left absolutely everything in the ring in their extraordinary contests against each other (Lopez excepted - a great value featherweight champ, I'd agree).

It's awful news about Bobby. Sadly, it's not a total surprise. Bad luck has dogged his personal life since pretty much forever, and his style of fighting always meant that he shipped far more punishment than a man should reasonably be expected to take. I sincerely hope that the boxing community in the US and around the world rallies around to help one of the great entertainers of our sport.

Lovely article, ONETWO. When I think of great 'value for money' fighters of the late seventies and early eighties, three names always spring to mind for me; Matthew Saad Muhammad, Victor Galindez and, as you rightly mention, Bobby Chacon. He was a warrior indeed and it's sad to see his plight. His mental condition was maybe unavoidable given his style, but it's a shame that he's apparently stumbled on financial difficulties as he was one of the most popular fighters in America during the explosion of network boxing over there at the time, and earned well from the sport.

Boza-Edwards' scraps with Chacon and also Limon were simply sensational. I'm sure most have seen them, but if not, you simply have to give them a watch. Absolute thrillers, and better than the Ward-Gatti affairs for my money.

As for Olivares? Well he was, quite simply, the hardest hitting Bantamweight of all time, with only Zarate to rival him in that department. Great article and a nice mention for these sometimes unheralded warriors. Never a dull moment with them!

HumanWindmill wrote:Nice one, ONETWO.

Chacon's final fight with Limon might very well be the greatest fight I've ever seen.

Agreed

When people ask what fight they would hypothetically make people watch if they're new to boxing the modern little young ones point to Ward v Gatti (most of the time before anyone accuses me of ignorance)...

Chacon v Limon IV makes that look like 2 guys dancing rings around each other whilst throwing exhibition pitt patts!

Damn you man, am going to waste my lunch watching it again!

Yeah I hope so too captain. I thought that after retirement he just settled down but he seemed to fade away out of sight. I never knew it was that bad for a man who was a hero to many. I wonder how many ex- greats wound up like Bobby?

Ha Ha coxy that fight between Chacon and Limon was fantastic. I wish I was there. The body shots Limon was throwing were murderous and I still cannot remember another fighter swing to the body like that since.