This April 12, 1980 final round of boxing for the WBC World Featherweight Championship Title Fight between Champ Salvador Sanchez vs. Ruben Castillo was fought at the Civic Auditorium in Tucson, Arizona was televised live on ABC’s Wide World of Sports featuring legendary boxing sportscaster Howard Cosell….took place just 2 years before Sanchez’ tragic death.
When Featherweight Champion Salvador Sanchez died in a tragic accident in August 1982 at age 23…. another future Mexican boxing legend, Julio Cesar Chavez, was climbing the rungs of the bantamweight division with an undefeated record in 29 fights with 25 knockouts and 20 years of age. Sanchez and Chavez were two meteors on a collision course for a fight that, from a distance, seemed inevitable. The clash of two of Mexico’s greatest boxing legends was thwarted at the moment when Salvador Sanchez’s Porsche struck a concrete enbankment which prematurely cut short the life of a truely outstanding boxer at the tender age of 21 years old.
In fact is that Salvador Sanchez had nine title defenses after his defense against Castillo….as seen in this video herewith…..whereby in the last five title fights….Sanchez was able to make the weight limit of 126 pounds on the last day just prior to his fights….which meant that sooner or later, he would be forced to rise to the super featherweight division….where Julio Cesar Chavez had also ascended. Playing the hypothetical, and what would have happened, Chávez would arrive for the first time to dispute a world championship against a Sanchez Salvador fighting already in the super feathers.
Rubén Castillo was a common opponent of both Sanchez and Chaves…..as the fighter from Lubbock, Texan…..was a solid contender in the featherweight and super feather divisions….who in the first half of the 1980s had fought four times for the world championship, but lost all four…..whereby 3 of those defeats went to future Hall of Famers Alexis Arguello, Salvador Sánchez and Julio Cesar Chavez….while the fourth was against another future world champion in Juan Laporte.
Ruben Castillo went the distance with Champ Salvador Sanchez in this 15 round WBC Featherweight Title fight that we get to see the final round herewith….for the boxer from West Texas was really good….but not as good as his opponent, Salvador Sanchez who wins this fight by unanimous decision.
