THIS irresistible Mexican undoubtedly scored some of his great wins in the 1980s but he won bouts with Meldrick Taylor (twice), Hector Camacho, Greg Haugen in front of more than 130,000 people and Tony Lopez, as well as avenging a defeat to Frankie Randall in the 1990s. Past his best by the time a young Oscar De La Hoya put his fast hands on him, still many of Chavez’s best nights came in the last quarter-century. A Mexican idol, one of the very best in the history of the sport and a crowd-pleasing body puncher who ran up 107 wins, he would be higher if we could include those big nights when he and Mike Tyson ran the sport in the mid-to-late 1980s. He scored plenty of wins late in his career, but it was not the same Chavez; it was not the same calibre of opponent, either.
Best 25 fighters of the last 25 years: Number Eight
Tris Dixon lists the best 25 boxers from the past quarter of a century
