The Untold Story of Julio ‘J.C.’ Chavez

Born in July of 1962 in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, the former world champion Julio ‘J.C’ Chavez grew up poor, watching his mom work so hard. They lived in a train car. He promised his mother he would get her out of there. He lived with eleven others.

Chavez followed his brothers into boxing. At 17 in March of 1980, he made his debut and had his loss reversed. He packed up his stuff and moved away.

He was relatively unknown until he moved out of Mexico to fight. In September of 1984, with a 43-0 record (like Rocky Marciano), he won his first world title against WBC Super Featherweight champion Mario Martinez, 33-1-2, at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. He broke the champion down, stopping him in the eighth round.

In April of 1985, he defended his title against Ruben Castillo, 60-4-2, at the Inglewood Forum in L.A., stopping him in six rounds.

In August of 1986, he won a majority decision over Rocky Lockridge, 34-4. Then, he defeated Juan LaPorte, 27-6, with his showings not what they once were.

In November of 1987, he defeated the WBC Lightweight champ Edwin ‘Chapo’ Rosario, 31-2, in Las Vegas, Nevada, scoring a stoppage in the eleventh round. When the lights went out, he went back to the bottle.

In October of 1988, he defeated WBA champ Jose Luis ‘El Zurdo” Ramirez, 101-6, winning a technical decision in the eleventh round.

Next a rematch with Roger “Black Mamba” Mayweather, 34-5, known for his wins over Mexicans, in Inglewood Forum, L.A., stopping him in the tenth round.

In September of 1990 in Las Vegas, Nevada, when he fought former Olympic Gold Medalist Meldrick Taylor, 24-0-1, in the final round while well behind on points, he scored a stoppage with two seconds remaining when referee Richard Steele seeing Taylor’s trainer Lou Duva coming up the steps and waved it off.

In September of 1992, he fought Hector ‘Macho” Camacho, 40-1, in Las Vegas, Nevada, defeating him in twelve rounds.

In February of 1993, before almost 136,000 packed the stadium in Mexico City, stopping Greg Haugen, 31-4. The atmosphere was electric, stopping him in five rounds.

He was always in the gym, even before he turned to alcohol. He would spar ten rounds a day.

In the shadows, away from the fans, alcohol was replaced by cocaine. His sparring became more difficult. He would sneak the drugs into the gym in his gym bag.

In front of his fans and interviews, he would slur his words. Seeking drugs undercover was difficult, being who he was. His success covered up his problems. He finally had a wake-up call in rehab. He was in the fight of his life and, weeks later, back on drugs. He told his family and friends he would beat it but couldn’t.

Just when he was ready to give up, he finally beat his addiction. He started opening up full treatment programs to help others who were addicted.

In the early 2000’s he would talk about his addiction and troubles to beat it.

In talking about addiction, he made it public, unlike other athletes. In sharing, he said, “I want to help others like the help I got!”

His daily battle wasn’t in the ring but in the bottle and then drugs.

It was evident in September of 1993, when he fought Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker, 32-1, to a majority draw, in San Antonio, Texas, knowing he got a gift against this slick boxer the fans started to notice he wasn’t the boxer he once was.

In January of 1994, Frankie “The Surgeon” Randall, 48-2-1, was penalized for low blows in the seventh and eleventh rounds before getting dropped for the very first time in the eleventh round. He lost the split decision. At 89-0-1, he was finally beaten. In the rematch four months later, a head butt in the 8th round caused a serious cut and was awarded a controversial technical decision with the scores being split.

Next, in a rematch with Meldrick Taylor, 32-3-1, he stopped him in eight rounds in Las Vegas. He won his next five fights before meeting   Olympic Gold Medalist Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya, 21-0, in Las Vegas and was given a boxing lesson and suffered a cut losing the fight in the fourth round.

He would go 4-0-1, drawing with Miguel Angel Gonzalez, 42-1, in Mexico City, before the rematch with De La Hoya. Again, Chavez was stopped in the eighth round in Las Vegas and was never the unstoppable warrior the fans admired.

By the late 1990’s it was all over for Chavez, losing to Willie Wise, 23-6-4, in Las Vegas. Two fights later, in July of 200, he would lose again, this time to Kostya Tszyu, 24-1, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Two fights later, in a rematch in November with Willie Wise, 26-10-4, he won by a stoppage in two rounds. In May of 2004, he won a rematch with Frankie ‘The Surgeon’ Randall, 58-14-1, in Mexico City.

Two fights later, in May of 2005, he defeated Ivan Robinson, 32-9-2, in L.A, which would be his final win. Next, in his last fight in September, he lost to Grover Wiley, 29-6-1, being stopped in five rounds, in Phoenix, Arizona, ending his career with a 107-6-2, with 85 knockouts record.

Chavez earned over 100 million, but spending money on alcohol, drugs, and bad investments, he lost most of it.

Years have caused him to have mental problems with depression. Once surrounded by many, he found himself alone more than not. He watched his son Julio, Jr., 54-6-1, become WBC Middleweight champ, but he failed a drug test for a second time. His other son Omar turned to box currently with a 41-9-1 record. Chavez turned a bad relationship with them over time into a good one.

Chavez found the Julio Cesar Chavez Medical Center, sharing with others his problems and how he and they could overcome this addiction in Mexico. His fans heard how he overcame his financial and family problems.

That concludes the career of one of Mexico’s finest, if not best, boxers ever.