Growing up in a Mexican/Mexican American family in Southern California exposed me to a lot of things. Rice, beans, tortillas, menudo, ceviche, piñatas, Chapulín Colorado, El Chavo Del Ocho, and rancheritas were just a few of the many experiences I had growing up in such a home. Sports were also a big thing in my family. As a child and growing into a teenager, I have fond memories of my grandpa watching baseball/soccer games every time I went to visit him. However, I especially remember the times when he was glued to the television watching boxing.
I don’t remember there being a die-hard boxing fan in the family, but for some reason the presence of the sport always existed throughout the house. It was just part of our culture.
Around the age of 10, I started hearing my grandfather and uncles excited about this new Mexican kid starting to make a name for himself in the sport. That fighter was called Julio Cesar Chavez. Chavez would eventually become the fighter that would draw me, my family and our entire culture back to the sport of boxing.
Mexicans/Mexican-Americans have never been as crazy about boxing as they were when Chavez was in his prime. It was a big event every time Chavez was in a big fight. I remember hearing neighbors, grocery store people, hairdressers, and many others excited about Chavez’s upcoming fights. I definitely had the best of both worlds as I was exposed to the Mexican/Mexican-American boxing craze in San Diego, CA, 5 minutes from the San Diego/Tijuana border crossing (San Ysidro border crossing to be exact).
Today, the glory years of Chavez are behind us, but Mexican boxing lives on. Mexicans and Mexican Americans continue to make up a large portion of the boxing fan population. Fighters such as Rodolfo Chango Casanova, José Toluco López, Baby Arizmendi, José Becerra, Miguel Canto, Vicente Saldívar, Carlos Zárate, Alfonso Zamora and Rubén Olivares helped lay the foundations of Mexican boxing. Since then, Salvador Sánchez, Julio César Chávez and Ricardo López have solidified their impact on the sport. Today, Oscar De La Hoya, Fernando Vargas, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera continue to carry the torch.
The continuing popularity of boxing among Hispanics, particularly Mexicans, can be seen in today’s biggest boxing matches. Outside of the heavyweight division, if two non-Hispanic fighters are set to do battle in a “superfight,” attendance is often sparse. It doesn’t matter if two very good fighters face each other. Ricardo Mayorga vs. Vernon Forrest is a recent example of a major fight that didn’t go as well as it should have. Even proven big name fighters like Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Kostya Tsyzu struggle to fill arenas and draw fans to watch their fights.
Due to boxing’s declining popularity since the 1980s, many of the matchups featuring Mexican and Mexican-American superstars don’t sell out, but fare better in ticket sales and TV ratings compared to other matchups. That Don’t Include This Combination Today, if you ask a boxing fan who’s been in a handful of fights, they’ll attest that the fights that include Mexican/Mexican-American superstars are almost always the most electrifying, exciting and , in general, the most pleasant. It is the enthusiasm and pride of the Mexican/Mexican-American fan base that creates this one-of-a-kind element. Some past and recent examples of fights that have produced this element include any major Mexican/Puerto Rican rivalry, Chavez/Taylor, Chavez/Haugen, Barrera/Morales, and Barrera/Hamed.
Personally, there are not many feelings that compare to the energy I feel during a boxing match with an arena full of other Mexican/Mexican-American boxing fans. When I hear the rancherita ring walk music or when I see the beautiful greens, whites and reds, something inside me explodes. It is a very powerful feeling. It is pride, fervor and machismo wrapped in a single feeling. One has to experience it to understand it. Goose bumps don’t even compare.
I guess the reason so many of us feel that way is because boxing is a sport that allows us to show our tremendous pride. Outside of soccer, Mexicans don’t really excel at any other sport. What better sport to stand out than one that allows an entire culture to exercise the machismo of its culture? For Mexican/Mexican-American boxing fans, it is very important that our warriors in the ring proudly represent our people and our culture. It allows us to identify with something positive, something victorious.
It goes without saying that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans have always done well in the sport of boxing, but in the last 20 to 25 years there has been a huge explosion in terms of the level of talent that has been developed. Could this be the reason why many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans remain interested in this sport?
I tend to believe it has more to do with our love of the nature of the sport.
We continue to love this sport because it represents us with an unparalleled passion. No other sport makes us feel so good about ourselves. Not many sports bring an entire culture together. Boxing is the exception.
On those big fight nights when a fellow “Raza” is performing, it allows us to be a part of something special and almost mythical. This is Mexican/Mexican-American boxing. We wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Originally Published – January 2002