Bobby Chacon (born November 28, 1951) in Sylmar, CA, USA, was a two time world boxing champion. Chacon is a native of
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, where he campaigned most of his career. He turned professional in 1972 and won his first 19 fights, including a win against former champion
Jesus CastilloJesús Castillo is a defender currently playing for the club Monarcas Morelia, in the Primera División de México....
. Fourteen months into his professional career, Chacon faced world champion
Ruben OlivaresRubén Olivares is a former boxer of Mexican nationality. A native of Mexico City, Olivares was a world champion multiple times, and considered by many as the greatest bantamweight champion of all time. He was very popular among Mexicans, many of whom considered him to be Mexico's greatest fighter...
but lost the bout when Olivares scored a ninth round knock out.
After suffering his first defeat against Olivares, Chacon won his next four bouts then faced off against cross-town rival and future champion
Danny LopezDanny Lopez is a former American boxer from Fort Duchesne, Utah. Lopez was world Featherweight champion, and a very popular fighter both in television and Southern California, during the 1970s. His nickname is Little Red....
. Chacon outboxed Lopez and stopped him in the ninth round.
On July 9, 1974, Chacon won the vacant WBC Featherweight title by defeating former WBA Junior Lightweight champion Alfredo Marcano in nine rounds at the
Grand Olympic AuditoriumThe Grand Olympic Auditorium is the former name of a sports venue in Los Angeles, California, United States. Located at 1801 S. Grand Avenue, the venue was built in 1924 specifically for the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, which saw the boxing, weightlifting, and wrestling events held there. At the time...
in
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
. During his first period as a world champion, Chacon got to meet, and like, what many refer to as
the sweet life. He became an alcoholic and he loved partying. His clashes with the law became matters of public knowledge, and his life went on a wild downward spiral.
Chacon lost his title in his second defense against arch-rival Ruben Olivares. Almost immediately after his loss against Olivares, he fought the first of his four fight rivalry with another world champion,
Rafael Bazooka Limon. They would engage in what some boxing experts and historians have described as one of the fiercest and most spectacular
boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
rivalries in history. Limon beat Chacon in their first bout by a decision.
Chacon then scored nine straight wins, leading him to a third match with Olivares. This time Chacon defeated Olivares in their 12 round bout by a decision. In Chacon's next fight, he lost an upset decision to Arturo Leon. Chacon rebounded by scoring victories over Ignacio Campos, Augie Pantellas,
Gerald HayesGerald Hayes is a linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. In 2005, he had to sit out his third season after he injured his knee in training camp....
and Shig Fukuyama. He then fought to a technical draw in a rematch against Rafael Limon.
In November 1979, Chacon received a shot at the
WBCThe World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
title versus world champion
Alexis ArguelloAlexis Argüello , also known by the stage name The Explosive Thin Man, was a Nicaraguan professional boxer and politician. As a boxer he was a three-time world champion. After his retirement from boxing, Argüello became active in Nicaraguan politics and in November 2008 he was elected mayor of...
. Arguello defeated him by knock out after Chacon suffered a bad cut in the seventh round.
In 1980, Chacon had only one fight, but it was a significant one. He beat Limon in their third bout, and the WBC once again made him their number one challenger.
In 1981, Arguello had left the title vacant and gone up in weight to pursue the
worldWorld is a highly common name for the planet Earth, but it was originally used to mean the sum of human civilization living on it, specifically human experience, history, or the 'human condition' in general....
's Lightweight title. Limon then beat Idelphonso Bethelmy by a knockout in 15 in Los Angeles to win the WBC world Jr. Lightweight championship. In his first title defense, he lost it by a decision to
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
's
Cornelius Boza EdwardsCornelius Boza Edwards is a former world Junior Lightweight boxing champion. Edwards emigrated from Uganda to England, where he lived for a long period of time. Currently, he lives in the United States, where he trains other boxers.Cornelius Boza-Edwards won the WBC world Jr...
, who, in turn, defended his title against Chacon on his first defense. In a televised bout, Edwards retained the world title by a knockout in the thirteenth round.
Chacon would go on to win five in a row in 1982, including a rematch victory over Arturo Leon, which kept him as the number one challenger, but then a dramatic development outside the ring would change his life forever: Chacon's wife, Valerie Chacon, flew to
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
on February of that year, hoping to convince him to leave boxing and move there if she found them good jobs. She was able to find a job, but unable to convince him to join her in Hawaii, so she flew back. She pleaded for him to leave the sport but wasn't able to convince him to do so, and one night before he boxed Salvador Ugalde, she grabbed a rifle and shot herself, dying instantly. Chacon went through with the fight and KO'ed Ugalde in the third round. He dedicated his win to his deceased wife.
Two more victories would follow, and then came his fourth and final bout with Limon. Limon had regained the world's Jr. Lightweight title by beating
Rolando NavarreteRolando Navarrete is a Filipino ex-boxer who briefly held a junior lightweight world title in the 80s. He was a hard-punching southpaw.-Career:...
by a knockout in 12 rounds. Navarrete, for his part, had won the title by beating Edwards by a knockout in five in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. Chacon-Limon IV became one of the fights of the year and the decade, according to such magazines as Ring Magazine,
KO MagazineKO Magazine is a popular United States boxing magazine. It was first published in 1979, to compete with The Ring.During the 1980s, KO Magazine, nicknamed "The knockout boxing magazine", ran some popular features, such as a round-by-round section where the most important fights were described punch...
, and The Ring En Espanol, and Chacon recovered from knockdowns suffered in rounds three and 10 to drop Limon in the closing seconds of round 15, and secure a close decision and his second world title in Sacramento.
About one year and a half after Valerie's suicide, Chacon remarried and bought a large farm with a mansion and, according to what he said at an interview, about 40 horses. He also acquired a collection of Rolls Royce cars and some other vehicles. In between, he and Boza Edwards met for a second time, with his world title on the line, in what Ring Magazine called the
fight of the year for 1983. Chacon rose from a knockdown in round one and recovered from a dangerous cut to drop Boza Edwards in round twelve and avenge his earlier defeat to the Ugandan former champion.
In 1983, Chacon was signed to defend his WBC title in a rematch against Boza Edwards, who was the WBC's mandatory challenger. Even though WBC rules stated the mandatory challenger should receive a shot at the title, the WBC insisted Chacon fight
Hector CamachoHéctor Camacho , nicknamed "Macho Camacho", is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. His son, Héctor Camacho Jr., is also a boxer.- Early life and amateur career :...
in
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
instead, then stripped him of his title when he refused.
Chacon started 1984 with a move up in weight, to the Lightweight division, where he tried to join the exclusive club of boxing's three division world champions, but was knocked out in three during his challenge against world champion
Ray ManciniRay Mancini, known as "Boom Boom", is a retired Italian-American boxer. He held the World Boxing Association lightweight championship for two years in the 1980s. Mancini inherited his distinctive nickname, "Boom Boom", from his father, veteran boxer Lenny "Boom Boom" Mancini, who laid the...
in
RenoReno is a city in and the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The population was 180,480 at the 2000 census; in 2008, its population was estimated at 217,016, making it the fourth-largest city in the state after Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas, and the largest outside of...
. Chacon then beat Carlton Sparrow by a TKO in five rounds and announced his retirement.
Chacon came back in 1985 and he won five fights, including one against former world champion
Arturo FriasArturo Frias is a Chicano who was a world champion boxer. He is a native of Montebello, California.-Boxing career:Frias began his professional boxing career on February 7, 1975, one month and a half after he had turned eighteen years old. He beat Alfredo Medrano by a six round decision in San...
by a knockout in seven, and a knockout in five over
Rafael SolisRafael Solis is a former boxer from Puerto Rico. Raised at Caimito, a San Juan barrio that is actually much closer to the center of the city of Caguas than it is to that of San Juan, Rafael used to train at the Caimito Gym, but he also frequented the Bairoa Gym.Rafael Solis is the brother of...
, who had challenged Camacho for the world Jr. Lightweight title that had once belonged to Chacon.
In 1987 and 1989 he won one fight each year, and then he retired for good. But Chacon's life was once again marred by tragedy when his son was murdered in 1991. In 1996, he was spotted at a public appearance in
Phoenix, ArizonaPhoenix is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populous city in the United States...
to see the Pay Per View fight between
Oscar de la HoyaOscar "The Golden Boy" De La Hoya is a retired American boxer of Mexican descent. He won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games. De La Hoya comes from a boxing family. His grandfather Vicente, father Joel Sr., and brother Joel Jr. were all boxers...
and
Julio César ChávezJulio César Chávez González is a former Mexican professional boxer. He is a six-time world champion in three weight divisions. His career spanned over twenty-five years. In his prime he was considered the best pound-for-pound in the world, and also the greatest Mexican boxer in history...
together with fans at a public fight viewing held at a plaza there. But by year 2000, he was living in a run down hotel, after having lost his mansion, his farm and his cars. He had, according to the hotel's manager, no way to pay the rent, so the manager fixed a small room with boxing equipment and a few photos of Chacon in his heyday so that he could train street kids there as a way of paying for the rent and to help Chacon remember who he is to boxing fans. Supposedly, Chacon and the manager later had trouble, so Chacon currently stays with his mother.
Chacon had a record of 59 wins, 7 losses and 1 no contest, with 47 wins coming by
knockoutA knockout is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
. He holds victories over seven other men who held a world title. Olivares, Castillo, Lopez, Marcano, Limon, Edwards and Frias.
Some of his fights were broadcast by
HBOHBO is a premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner, offers two 24/7 pay television services to over 38 million U.S...
's boxing show,
HBO BoxingHBO World Championship Boxing is a sports television series, premiering in January 1973 that has shown a number of significant boxing events in the last three decades....
, and he was also able to beat Olivares (by a ten round decision in the third and final bout between them) and the then undefeated future world champion
Danny LopezDanny Lopez is a former American boxer from Fort Duchesne, Utah. Lopez was world Featherweight champion, and a very popular fighter both in television and Southern California, during the 1970s. His nickname is Little Red....
, by a knockout in 9.
In January 2005, Chacon was elected into the
International Boxing Hall of FameThe modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...
. In December of that year, he,
Mike WeaverMichael Dwayne Weaver is a former boxer who is better known in the boxing world simply as Mike Weaver. Older brother of "the fighting Weaver triplets" Floyd, Lloyd and Troy.-Marines:...
and a group of lesser known former boxers from California held an
autographAn autograph is a document written entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one transcribed by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's signature...
s session before a boxing undercard in Los Angeles.
He is referenced in the
Warren ZevonZevon redirects here. For his son Jordan, see Jordan ZevonWarren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his strange, sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical...
song "Boom Boom Mancini."
External links