Ray Mancini vs. Bobby Chacon
The [Richard Green (referee)|]Ray Mancini vs. Bobby Chacon, or, alternatively, Bobby Chacon vs. Ray Mancini fight was a boxing contest which was held on January 14, 1984, in Reno, Nevada. It was for Mancini's WBA's world Lightweight title. Mancini won the fight, to retain his title, by a third-round technical knockout. Because of its location this fight was promotionally nicknamed as "the biggest little fight in the world". In the United States, the fight was televised on HBO World Championship Boxing, while in Puerto Rico, it was shown live on channel 2.
Prelude
Ray Mancini
was born Raymond Michael Mancino on March 4, 1961, the son of former boxer Lenny Mancini. Ray, from Youngstown, Ohio, fought as a professional for the first time on October 18, 1979, when he beat Phil Bowen by a first-round knockout. Mancini proceeded to build an 18–0, 14 knockout wins record before he challenged Puerto Rican Jorge Morales for Morales' North American Boxing Federation's Lightweight title in a bout Mancini won by ninth-round technical knockout on May 16, 1981, earning Mancini his first regional, professional boxing title.For his first title defense of the regional championship, Mancini met Mexican Jose Luis Ramirez, a future two-time WBC world Lightweight champion. Going into their July 19, 1981 contest, Ramirez had 71 wins and 3 defeats in 74 professional fights, but Mancini beat him comprehensively to earn a 12 rounds unanimous decision victory, setting the Italian-American for a challenge of the then WBC world Lightweight champion, Nicaragua's Alexis Arguello. Mancini was 20–0, with 15 wins by knockout when he faced Arguello, who was 67–5 in 72 bouts, for the Nicaraguan's WBC world Lightweight title in Mancini's first world championship fight. He lost to Arguello by a 14th-round knockout on Saturday, October 3, 1981, at the Bally's Park Place hotel and Casino of Atlantic City, New Jersey, in a contest that was refereed by Tony Perez. Mancini gave a good account of himself as he was losing the bout on the three judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage, but only by 2, 3 and 5 points on the cards. Arguello and Mancini became friends right after their bout had finished and Arguello himself predicted to Mancini that Mancini would become a world champion in the future.
Mancini then defended his NABF title twice successfully before receiving his second world title shot, this time against WBA world champion Art Frias. Frias-Mancini was held on May 8, 1982. Mancini-Frias is considered by many boxing experts, including Ring Magazine's writer Lee Groves, as one of the greatest one-round fights in the sport's history. Frias shook Mancini badly early in the round and bloodied the Ohioan challenger's nose, but Mancini roared back to drop the champion and force a stoppage by referee
Richard Green at 2:57 of the round, thus becoming the WBA world Lightweight champion.
Mancini defended his title once before meeting South Korean challenger Duk Koo Kim for his second title defense, in what proved to be a tragic fight. Fought at the Caesars Palace hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 13, 1982, and also refereed by Richard Green, the fight was a brisk-paced event until its conclusion in round 14, when Mancini landed a combination that dropped Kim near the ring's ropes. Kim got up but the fight was immediately stopped. Kim later collapsed and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he ultimately died on November 17. Both Kim's mother and referee Green committed suicide in the months after the bout, and Mancini had a personal bout with depression. In addition, the death of Kim led to the WBC shortening their world championship fights from 15 rounds to 12, a move that was later followed by all other boxing world leading organizations.
1983 was a difficult year for Mancini: not only did he battle depression, but a proposed "super-fight" with fellow Ohioan, the WBA world Jr. Welterweight champion Aaron Pryor, proved impossible to make. After Pryor had defended his championship by knocking out Arguello in round 14 at the Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami, Florida in another HBO World Championship Boxing show telecast which took place the night prior to the tragic Mancini-Kim encounter, a cheating scandal concerning a bottle used by Pryor's trainer, Panama Lewis, during various breaks in the contest ensued, and Pryor was ordered to fight Arguello a second time. Pryor announced what was ultimately a temporary retirement right after the Arguello rematch, and Mancini was left without the potential Mancini-Pryor super-fight in his future. Also, he was able to defend his WBA world Lightweight title only once that year, knocking out Peruvian challenger Orlando Romero in nine rounds on September 15. The one positive note to Mancini's 1983 boxing campaign was that the Romero contest marked Mancini's debut as a fighter in the world famous New York City's Madison Square Garden. Mancini finished 1983 with a win over an over-matched opponent, the 12 wins, 11 losses trial-horse Johnny Torres of Homestead, Florida, in a non-championship, 10 rounds Jr. Welterweight fight that formed part of the Larry Holmes versus Marvis Frazier fight's undercard that also took place at the Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas, on November 25. This undercard was promoted by a newcomer into boxing promoting named Robert Andreoli, a fact which set up the wheels in motion for the major promotion and program that the Mancini-Chacon match-up represented at the time. Mancini was, at this point of his career, 28–1 with 22 of those wins coming by knockout before facing Chacon.
Bobby Chacon
was a Mexican-American professional boxer from Pacoima, California whose official professional boxing debut is recorded by Boxrec.com as having taken place on April 17, 1972, versus undefeated, 7-0 prospect Jose Antonio Rosa at the Inglewood Forum in Inglewood, California with Chacon prevailing by a fifth-round knockout of a contest that was part of an undercard headed by Jerry Quarry's meeting with Eduardo CorlettiChacon set a torrid pace as a professional fighter, building a record of 18–0 with 16 wins by knockout as well as a considerable fan base, before facing former world Bantamweight champion Chucho Castillo on April 28, 1973, at the Inglewood Forum, Chacon defeating Castillo by tenth-round knockout. This win set up a match against arch-rival Ruben Olivares.
The first of three fights between Chacon and former world Bantamweight and Featherweight champion Olivares took place on June 23, 1973, at the Inglewood Forum and was contested for Olivares' regional, NABF Featherweight title. Olivares had won 71, lost 3 and drawn 1 of his 75 professional boxing fights. Olivares inflicted Chacon's first loss as a professional boxer by beating the Californian by a ninth-round technical knockout.
Chacon got back on the winning columns with four consecutive knockout victories before a widely awaited-for match-up with cross-town rival, undefeated, 23-0 hard-punching Danny "Little Red" Lopez was set-up, this time at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles, on May 24, 1974. Chacon dominated Lopez, building leads of four rounds and five rounds on the other scorecard before stopping the Utah native but California residing Lopez in round nine.
The win versus WBC world-ranked Lopez, himself a future WBC world Featherweight champion, made Chacon a challenger for the WBC world Featherweight title, which at that time was vacant, and for which Chacon fought versus Venezuela's Alfredo Marcano. Chacon became a world champion for the first time when he stopped Marcano,a former WBA world Jr. Lightweight champion who was 43-9-3 in 55 contests, in nine rounds at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, September 7, 1974.
Chacon defended the WBC world Featherweight championship successfully once before facing Olivares in a rematch on June 20, 1975, at the Inglewood Forum. Once again, Olivares, by then 79-5-1 in 85 previous fights, proved to be Chacon's better by dropping the defending champion twice in the second round before the contest was stopped in that round.
Chacon next beat Fel Clemente before the beginning of his four fight rivalry with Rafael "Bazooka" Limon. On December 7, 1975, Chacon first faced future two time WBC world Jr. Lightweight champion Limón in what also constituted Chacon's first fight abroad, held at the Plaza de Toros Calafia in Mexicali, Mexico. Limon outpointed Chacon over ten rounds, winning by a ten rounds unanimous judges' decision.
Chacon proceeded after the first fight with Limón by winning his next nine contests, eight of them by knockout, before facing Ruben Olivares in a rubber match. Chacon-Olivares III was a ten rounds fight with no world titles at stake. It took place on August 20, 1977, at the Inglewood Forum, and Chacon was able to avenge his two earlier defeats at the hands of the legendary Mexican boxer by outpointing him over ten rounds, winning by a somewhat close but convincing unanimous decision. The win in the third fight with Olivares was followed by a loss in an upset against 20-14-2 Arizonan Arturo Leon, a ten rounds split decision defeat that happened on November 15, 1977, at the Convention Center in Anaheim.
Chacon recuperated from the loss to Leon by posting four wins, three by knockout, in a row before facing Limón in their second fight, this time with the NABF Jr. Lightweight championship on the line. Limón-Chacon II was fought at the L.A. Sports Arena on April 9, 1979. The fight was declared a technical draw after seven rounds because Chacon had hit Limón with an unintentional head-butt and California State Athletic Commission's rules at the time dictated that, despite Chacon being leading on the judges' scorecards in the contest, since he caused the head-butt, the fight had to be declared a tie. That rule has since been rescinded by all athletic commissions in the United States.
Chacon then had a victory against Jose Torres, before fighting Alexis Arguello in a bid to become a two-division world boxing champion, for Arguello's WBC world Jr. Lightweight title, on November 16, 1979, at the L.A. Forum. Chacon was actually leading the fight by one point on two of the judges' three scorecards before losing by a seventh-round technical knockout due to a cut which was caused by a punch connected by the Nicaraguan.
Following the title fight loss to Arguello, Chacon and Limon retook their rivalry. Contest number three between the two rivals took place on Friday, March 21, 1980, at the Inglewood Forum, with Chacon scoring his first victory over Limon, by a ten rounds split decision, with two judges deeming him a winner by one point each, and one judge giving Limon the contest by two points. Two wins over rather mediocre opposition with combined records of 16 wins, 23 losses and 5 ties came after his first victory over Limon, and then Chacon was allowed to challenge for the WBC's world Jr. Lightweight championship for a second time. This time the world champion was Uganda's Cornelius Boza-Edwards. The two fought a brutal fight on May 30, 1981, at the Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, but Boza-Edwards dominated on his way to retaining the title by a thirteenth-round technical knockout.
Soon afterwards, tragedy touched Chacon's life. His wife Valerie had been clamoring for him to retire from the sport, fearing he could die or suffer brain damage from all his hard contests. She reportedly left him during a period to move to Hawaii and find the Chacons jobs, in hopes that he would fly there to follow her. But Bobby insisted on fighting as a professional, with hopes of becoming a world champion for a second time. Valerie Chacon had returned to California before, on March 15, 1982, reportedly committing suicide with a gunshot to her head. Chacon was in Sacramento for a bout at the city's Memorial Auditorium with Salvador Ugalde the next night. Bobby Chacon beat Ugalde by third-round knockout and was afterwards ranked number one again by the WBC among the world's Junior Lightweights. After the Ugalde contest was over, Chacon tearfully grabbed the Auditorium's public microphone to dedicate the win to his late wife.
Chacon then beat Rosendo Ramirez and Arturo Leon in a rematch, before trading punches with Rafael Limon in their fourth and final installment of their rivalry. Limón-Chacon IV is generally considered to be among the greatest boxing fights of all times by both fans and experts alike, veteran writer Jack Fiske calling it "possibly the greatest fight" he'd ever seen. Fought at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento 28 days after Mancini-Kim on December 11, 1982, Chacon-Limon IV was the only fight in their rivalry to be for a world title, as Limon was in his second reign as WBC world Junior Lightweight champion. The bout also has the distinction of being the last WBC contest to be scheduled for 15 rounds, as starting in 1983, and due to the aforementioned Kim tragedy, the WBC limited their fights to 12 rounds only. Chacon was dropped in round three and again in round ten, but he rebounded furiously down the stretch and dropped Limon with ten seconds remaining in the last round in order to secure a close but unanimous decision and win his second division's world championship in Ring Magazine's 1982 fight of the year. Once again, he dedicated his triumph to his late wife Valerie.
Chacon began having problems to defend his second world title almost right away, which indirectly led to his challenge of Mancini. Promoter Don King wanted to offer Chacon $210,000 to fight a relative newcomer in the Jr. Lightweight rankings, King's boxer Hector "Macho" Camacho in San Juan, Puerto Rico in a defense of Chacon's WBC world Junior Lightweight championship. Chacon, however, opted to fight the WBC's number one challenger at the time, his former conqueror and former WBC world champion Cornelius Boza-Edwards, in a rematch bout where Chacon would earn $450,000 instead. Despite Boza-Edwards being ranked number one by the WBC, the Mexico-based organization sided with King and declared that Chacon-Boza Edwards II would not be considered a world championship contest by the WBC and that shall the Ugandan win, the WBC title was going to be declared vacant. Despite all of this, Chacon-Boza Edwards II took place on May 15, 1983, at the Caesars Palace hotel, in a program produced by boxing promoter Don Chargin. Chacon and Boza-Edwards traded knockdowns in another brutal affair, with Chacon dropping the African in rounds one and two before Boza-Edwards almost finished him in the third, dropping Chacon with a left to Chacon's chin. Chacon got up and the two kept fighting at a furious pace until Chacon, for the second fight in a row, scored a last round knockdown to secure a close but unanimous decision win in what was declared Ring Magazine's 1983 fight of the year. Afterwards, Chargin himself offered Chacon a reported $1,000,000 to fight Camacho, but Chacon decided to refuse that offer too. Instead, he left the WBC word Jr. Lightweight title vacant and moved to the Lightweight division, plans for the Chacon-Mancini showdown beginning immediately afterwards. Chacon brought a record of 52 wins, 6 losses and one draw with 42 of his wins by knockout, into the match.