A Boxing Memory: Salvador Sanchez

A Boxing Memory: Salvador Sanchez

A pub quiz back in the day posed the question of which Mexican world featherweight champion was tragically killed in a car crash. The answer the quiz master gave was Wilfred Benitez.

There were many flaws with his answer. I pleaded my case with much ferocity trying to reclaim a lost point for my team. My bemused team members watched on, probably with embarrassment thinking here we go again. Trust me, there was more than just a solitary point at stake in some meaningless pub quiz. My pride was on the line.

I left my seat and started to plead my case. I was confident the case against me would soon be dismissed. I argued Benitez wasn’t from Mexico. He wasn’t a featherweight. And I finished with the ultimate bombshell. The argument to end all arguments. Benitez wasn’t actually dead. When the defence rested its case, I was more than optimistic victory would soon be mine. But my undeniably strong case still fell on deaf ears. It was one of many arguments I would have on those regular Thursday nights out. It was the time before receipts. Even the undoubted facts I had in the memory bank couldn’t save me.

The correct answer was, of course, Salvador Sanchez. The brilliant Mexican was only 23, the reigning WBC featherweight champion and was well on his way to becoming an all-time great. Just three weeks after another Hall of Fame display against Azumah Nelson in July 1982, Sanchez was dead.

Sanchez was driving his Porsche 928 in his native country at great speed in the early hours, and he crashed into a pickup truck. A tragic accident that cost the brilliant Mexican featherweight everything. The love for cars, he had nine, would cost him his life.

In 46 professional fights, there were only two minor blemishes. A split decision defeat in 1977 to Antonio Beccera and a majority draw to Juan Escobar the following year are forgotten with what came later. Sanchez went unblemished for the rest of his career until that awful automobile accident that took his life and left a boxing career that was heading into another dimension. The peak years were ahead, and a mouth-watering fight with Alexis Arguello who held the WBC lightweight title was more than possible. Sanchez talked about moving up two weight divisions to challenge the equally brilliant Nicaraguan for his lightweight crown. Like everything that lay ahead, the fight with Arguello was a case of what could have been.

Sanchez turned professional at 16 after a reported four amateur fights and started his professional career with 18 straight wins before the setback against Beccera in Mazatlan. After the final blemish on his resume, the draw against Escobar in 1978 Sanchez ran off thirteen victories on the bounce and earned himself a shot at Danny Lopez in 1980 for his WBC featherweight title. The big-punching Lopez had held the WBC bauble for three years, but Sanchez dismantled him in 13 largely one-sided rounds. Lopez, a big TV draw because of his give-one-take-one style, had a trademark of overcoming a slow start to retain his title and many expected a 21-one-year-old Sanchez to suffer the same fate. But Sanchez, an effective counterpuncher and ring maturity beyond his years, was far too much for a champion who while never stopped trying but had finally found a challenger who was far too much for him.

They were different times and unlike the two fights a year schedule that many fighters of the modern era employ, Sanchez defended his title four times in the same year that he won it. Sanchez defended his WBC world title against Ruben Castillo, Patrick Ford and Juan LaPorte, winning those three fights on points. A repeat stoppage win over the former champion Lopez followed his first defence over Castillo. Lopez lasted a round longer, but again couldn’t handle a fighter who seemed destined for greatness.

Sanchez kept winning but it was a fight against Wilfredo Gomez in 1981 that pushed his career to another level. It was billed as ‘The Battle of the Little Giants.’ Gomez a formidable Puerto Rican was unbeaten in 33 fights, including bringing a 32-fight knockout streak into his much-anticipated showdown with Sanchez. Gomez, the WBC junior-featherweight champion was strongly favoured to add another world title to his fighting CV and extend his knockout streak in the process. But Sanchez looking to escape from relative obscurity had Gomez down in the opening round, and despite Gomez working his way back into the fight and more than having his moments, Sanchez claimed victory in the 8th round. A forgotten classic that catapulted Sanchez into the mainstream.

A split-decision victory over the brave British challenger Pat Cowdell followed the win over Gomez. Two judges saw it wide for the Mexican, but one judge gave it to Cowdell by a point. Cowdell, who was down in the 15th round, was inspired and gave Sanchez far more trouble than he expected.

Sanchez had two fights in 1982, a routine win over Rocky Garcia was followed by the final dance against the unbeaten African Azumah Nelson. The Ghanaian was then an unknown and untested fighter and came into the fight with Sanchez at short notice, replacing the respected Mario Miranda. Nelson was 13-0, but expectations were low. The fight didn’t quite take that course. The fight delivered far more than it promised, and it was close. Another forgotten classic. Sanchez finally saw off his determined challenger in the 15th and final round.

Nelson would go on to prove his greatness. Sanchez never got the chance. We didn’t know it at the time but the career of Nelson was just getting started and sadly, the career and life of Sanchez would end just a few weeks later. Sanchez was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991, but we were left wondering what could have been. A career and life tragically cut short, he left enough memories inside a boxing ring to satisfy, but that early morning drive in Mexico in 1982 stopped us from having a lot more. A tragedy in every sense of the word.