Mexican former WBC Super Lightweight boxing champion, Julio Cesar Chavez of Culiacan, poses on the scales during an official weigh-in at the Hotel Camino Real in Mexico City yesterday Chavez will have his farewell fight against Frankie Randall of Tennessee, at the Mexico City's bullring today. - Reuters
MEXICO CITY, (Reuters):
MEXICO'S VETERAN boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez vowed yesterday to win the final fight of his 24-year career against longtime rival Frankie Randall.
Chavez, who punched his way to world titles at three different weights, insists he will hang up his gloves after facing Randall over 10 rounds in Mexico City's Plaza Mexico bullring on Saturday.
Once rated one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Chavez, 41, has suffered just five losses in 112 fights, the first to Tennessee-based Randall in a title bout in Las Vegas 10 years ago. He won it back four months later.
Looking trim in white jogging pants and a red T-shirt as he weighed in at a Mexico City hotel yesterday, Chavez said he felt "strong and very calm", and that the outcome of the clash was in no doubt. "I'm going to win," he told Reuters.
Now a grandfather, he has retired before only to make a comeback. But this time Chavez has vowed to hang up his gloves for good after the bout, billed by promoters as "Goodbye, Mexico ... Thanks."
HIGH-ALTITUDE TRAINING CAMP
An aggressive, two-fisted brawler from the rough and tumble town of Culiacan in northern Mexico, Chavez has prepared hard for the fight at a high-altitude training camp above the city of Toluca, west of the capital.
"He is in the best shape of his life," Chavez' long-term trainer Romulo Quirarte told Reuters. "He's been training for a win, either by knock out or on points, and that's what we'll see."
Making his debut in the paid ranks in February 1980, Chavez battled his way to win World Boxing Council titles at super featherweight, lightweight and light welterweight, racking up a record 37 title bouts.
Dubbed "J.C.," Chavez has a loyal following among millions of fight fans across Latin America, and among the Mexican community in the United States.
Some expressed mixed feelings at watching him bow out of the sport.
"I feel nostalgia as I have watched this boy's career from his first professional fight right up to his last bout ... Although it will be a relief to see him retire," WBC president Jose Sulaiman told Reuters.
"Julio is my idol. I would like him to go on and be a role model for young people," he added.
