Mike Tyson has revealed who he thinks is the greatest Mexican boxer to ever lace up a pair of gloves.
When it comes to identifying the greatest Mexican fighter of all time, the choices are as rich as the country’s boxing heritage. Mexico’s success over the generations has been such that only the United States has produced more world champions. Mexico’s total is around the 190 mark, almost double that of the United Kingdom, third on the all-time list.
In the May 2, 2024 issue of Boxing News, we named our top 10 Mexican fighters. The roster included featherweight stylist Vicente Saldivar, strawweight master Ricardo Lopez and eternal rivals Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales.
In first place, we selected Mexican national hero and sports icon Julio Cesar Chavez, who at one time set a record of 88 fights without defeat and defended his WBC super featherweight title nine times.
Mike Tyson, the former undisputed heavyweight champion and host of his podcast “Hotboxin’,” has now weighed in with a pick of his own — and it wasn’t Chavez. Instead, Tyson chose the man who ranked second on our list.
“Salvador Sanchez. I think Sanchez was just hard to beat, he’s one of those guys. Sanchez, that made him really special – if you’re a halfway fighter, a decent fighter, you could go the distance. As good as you are, the bigger you are, the more he kicks your ass.
“He fights just above the level of the game you’re fighting in. You’re going to ask him he’s going to fuck you up. He’s just above everyone else. Monster.”
Tragically, Sanchez lost his life in a car accident on August 12, 1982, aged just 23, just 34 days before a scheduled defense of his WBC featherweight title in a rematch with Juan Laporte at Madison Square Garden. By this time he had already conquered elite opposition consisting of Danny Lopez, Wilfredo Gomez and young Azumah Nelson.
Among the pantheon of Mexican greats, Sanchez was perhaps the most complete of them all – a fighter whose brilliance still resonates more than four decades after his death, clearly showing why Tyson feels the way he does.
