Rafael Limon
Encyclopedia
Rafael Limón is a Mexican former boxer who was a world champion in the Super Featherweight /Jr. Lightweight division twice.He is better known as Bazooka Limón. Limón shares his nickname, Bazooka, with at least two other known world boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 champions: Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

's Wilfredo "Bazooka" Gómez
Wilfredo Gómez
Wilfredo Gómez , sometimes referred to as Bazooka Gómez, is a former boxer and three time world champion.-Biography:...

 and Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

's Ike "Bazooka" Quartey
Ike Quartey
Ike "Bazooka" Quartey is a former WBA Welterweight champion boxer. He has fought numerous world champion boxers including Oscar De La Hoya, Fernando Vargas, Vernon Forrest and Ronald "Winky" Wright.-Biography:...

. Limón was a southpaw, and fought with a wide arm, wild-swinging style that was all his own. In spite of the fact that he often-arm punched, he scored a lot of knockouts by wearing opponents out by letting them hit him in his iron jaw, then refusing to stop moving forward.

Limón is very famous also for his legendary rivalry with Bobby Chacon
Bobby Chacon
Bobby Chacon is an American former, two-time, world boxing champion.-Career:Chacon turned professional in 1972 and won his first 19 fights, including a win against former champion Jesus Castillo...

. Their first fight took place on December 7, 1975, in Mexicali, Mexico. Limón defeated a streaking, and heavily-favoured Chacon by a decision in ten that day.

It was around 1977 and 1978, that negotiations took place to put Limón against the WBA
World Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...

's world junior lightweight champion, Samuel Serrano
Samuel Serrano
Samuel Serrano , nicknamed Sammy and El Torbellino, is a Puerto Rican who won boxing's world junior lightweight championship twice.-Early history:...

. However, the negotiations stalled and that fight never took place.

After Limón unsuccessfully challenged Alexis Argüello
Alexis Argüello
Alexis Argüello , also known by the stage name El Flaco Explosivo , was a Nicaraguan professional boxer and politician...

 in February 1979, (losing by a knockout
Knockout
A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

 in 11 rounds for the WBC
World Boxing Council
The 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...

's world junior lightweight title) he and Chacon met for the second time. That time, a clash of heads ended the fight in the seventh round no contest
No contest (boxing)
No contest is a technical term used in some combat sports to describe a fight that ends for reasons outside the fighters' hands.-Boxing:...

. Limón and Chacon met for the third time on March 21, 1980, in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. Chacon came out the winner, by a very controversial decision in ten.

Despite losing to Chacón, it was Limón who later that year found himself fighting for the world title that Arguello had vacated. And so, Limón became the WBC's world junior lightweight champion by knocking out Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

's Idelphonso Bethelmy in round 15 at Los Angeles.

Before his first defense, against England based Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

n Cornelius Boza Edwards
Cornelius Boza Edwards
Cornelius Boza Edwards was a Ugandan boxer in the Light Welterweight division and the former WBC Super Featherweight Champion. Edwards emigrated from Uganda to England, where he lived for a long period of time...

, Limón made a reference to the tragic fight between Lupe Pintor
Lupe Pintor
Jose Guadalupe Pintor Guzman , better known as Lupe Pintor, is a former world boxing champion from Cuajimalpa, Mexico. Nicknamed El Indio De Cuajimalpa or The Indian From Cuajimalpa, he started boxing professionally in 1974...

 and Johnny Owens
Johnny Owens
Johnny "No-Triggers" Owens is the drummer for heavy metal band Brown Brigade. He was recruited by Dave Baksh to join as the band's drummer, after Dave left Sum 41 to focus on Brown Brigade full-time. When playing live, Johnny plays drums along with Cess Rock who joins him on another percussion...

, which had taken place the year before, and after which Owens died. His comments shocked many, because he suggested that Boza-Edwards should expect something tragic to happen since this was another bout between a Mexican and a fighter with British connections. Boza-Edwards nevertheless, went on to become world champion by beating Limón by a 15-round decision.

In 1982, Rolando Navarrete
Rolando Navarrete
Rolando Navarrete is a Filipino ex-boxer who briefly held a junior lightweight world title in the 80s.-Fighting style:A fine boxer, Navarrete had a good talent and was known for his hard-hitting punches....

 was the WBC world junior lightweight champion, after dethroning Boza-Edwards by 5th round KO. Limón was given a chance to recover his title, and he became a two-time world champion by knocking Navarrete out in round 12. Limón trained like a demon for perhaps the only time in his career, and withstood a blistering assault by the hard-punching Filipino before stopping him in 12. After defending his title successfully once against Chung Il Choi, Limón once again met Chacon. Their fourth bout, held on December 11, 1982 in Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

, was the first bout in their series with a world championship involved. Limón dropped Chacón in rounds 3 & 10, but Chacon turned the tables on Limón with only a few seconds left in round 15, and knocked him down . The referee very generously allowed Bazooka to climb the ropes to get to his feet to finish the fight, and luckily, the bell went as soon as he was upright. Chacón won the fight by a split decision. The fight won various Fight of the Year awards for 1982.

In 1983, Chacón refused to defend his world title against Héctor 'Macho' Camacho
Héctor Camacho
Héctor Camacho , nicknamed "Macho Camacho", is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. His son, Héctor Camacho Jr., is also a boxer.- Early life and amateur career :...

, so Limón accepted the opportunity to travel to Puerto Rico to try to become a world champion for the third time. This time, however, was not to be as Limón was no match for Camacho, who landed 6 crisp punches for every miss that Limón threw and stopped him in 5 rounds.

Limón went on boxing until the 1990s, but he never again challenged for a world title. He did fight, however, a number of world champions and important boxers from 1984 to 1992, including Julio César Chávez
Julio César Chávez
Julio César Chávez is a retired Mexican professional boxer.He is a six-time world champion in three weight divisions, and for several years he was considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world...

 and Roger Mayweather
Roger Mayweather
Roger Mayweather is a retired professional boxer. He won two major world titles in two different weight classes. Throughout his career, Mayweather fought against many other boxing champions of the 1980s and 1990s. He is a part of the Mayweather boxing family; his brothers are former welterweight...

, both of whom beat Limón.

Limón's record is 52-23-2 (39 KOs).

External links

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