Julio Cesar Chavez Biography, Life, Interesting Facts

Early Life And Education

Julio Cesar Chavez Gonzalez was born 12th July 1962, in Obregon, Sonora, Mexico. He was one of ten children, with five sisters and four brothers. Chavez’s father worked for the railroad, but the family was very poor.

Julio Cesar Chavez chose boxing as his way of making money.

Career

Julio Cesar Chavez started boxing as an amateur at the age of 16, and made his professional debut at age 17. He moved to Tijuana to pursue his professional boxing career.

In September 1984, Julio Cesar Chavez won his first championship. It was the WBC Super Featherweight title. His opponent, a fellow Mexican called Mario Martinez, had been the hot favorite, but he was knocked out by Chavez.

Julio Cesar Chavez then defended his title in April 1985. Over the next few years, Julio Cesar Chavez successfully defended his title nine times.

In November 1987, Julio Cesar Chavez moved up a division to Lightweight. His first fight was against Edwin Rosario, the WBA Lightweight Champion. Chavez won the fight, which was a surprise to many. He then went on to successfully defend his title on multiple occasions.

Once again, Julio Cesar Chavez vacated his titles so that he could move up a division to Light Welterweight. He successfully won the title from Roger Mayweather, and went on to successfully defend the title from challengers.

Julio Cesar Chavez won against Meldrick Taylor in March 1990, which unified the titles. (Taylor had been the IBF Light Welterweight Champion). Over the next two years, Chavez went on to win several fights, some of which were to defend his title, which he did successfully. He defended his Light Welterweight title 18 times, after which he moved up another division, to Welterweight.

Julio Cesar Chavez had a total of 115 fights, of which he won 107. He won six world titles, across three different weight divisions – WBC Super Featherweight, WBA Lightweight and WBC Lightweight, WBC Light Welterweight and IBF Light Welterweight.

He retired after 25 years as a professional boxer, and is lauded by many as the greatest boxer to come out of Mexico, and one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Awards And Honors

1987:   Awarded Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America:   2011:  Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame

Personal

Julio Cesar Chavez married Amalia Carrasco. They have two children, Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., and Omar Chavez. Both of his sons are professional boxers.

Julio Cesar Chavez did struggle with drug addiction and alcohol during the later part of his career, but is great to see that he has overcome his addictions. He has been sober for quite some time, and continues to stay in shape by training.