They referred to as him “The Schoolboy,” as a result of he had as soon as attended college, a uncommon factor amongst skilled prizefighters. However make no mistake, regardless of the nickname and the ever-present boyish smile, Bobby Chacon was as powerful and as recreation as they arrive. And this was lucky as a result of it might require unusual toughness and a real ardour for wrestle and fight to endure the ache of Bobby Chacon’s life.
Bobby’s love for one girl, his highschool sweetheart Valorie Ginn, and her love for him, outlined that life. They met in 1968, when Chacon was nonetheless a junior at San Fernando Excessive. “I used to be having a celebration, and I requested her if she wished to go,” recalled Chacon years later. “We have been by no means actually aside after that.”
Bobby had a repute for being an distinctive avenue fighter and Valorie inspired him to strive boxing. They might watch the fights on TV and it was Valorie who mentioned, “You are able to do that.” She even paid for his first boxing license. By 1971 they have been married and the following yr Chacon turned professional.
The profession of Bobby Chacon was a curler coaster, superb highs adopted by agonizing lows. He tore up the featherweight ranks, knocking off one contender after one other and shortly grew to become a sensation within the Southern California boxing scene. Then they matched him up with Ruben Olivares and “El Púas” and his lethal left hook taught “The Schoolboy” a harsh lesson, Chacon’s nook stopping the struggle after 9 violent rounds. However the next yr Bobby received his first world title, which he efficiently defended as soon as earlier than shedding, once more to Olivares. And so it went. Chacon would put collectively a string of wins solely to lose to Olivares. Or Alexis Arguello. Or his arch-nemesis, Mexico’s Rafael “Bazooka” Limon.
However even the wins could possibly be painful. In 1976, Chacon earned a ten spherical resolution over a Mexican club-fighter with 14 losses on his document named David Sotelo. Floored twice and almost knocked out, Chacon was lucky to exit the winner. In his dressing room afterwards, because the physician labored to sew up Bobby’s face, his high-school sweetheart and the mom of his kids begged him by tears to retire.
Valorie had helped get Chacon into boxing however now she couldn’t get him out, and the guilt and the worry have been taking their toll. By this time that they had three kids and he or she wished the household to maneuver to Hawaii for a recent begin. However Bobby had been a champion for a short time, had had a style of what it was prefer to get to the highest of that mountain. He wanted to style it once more.
In March of 1980, Chacon and the southpaw Limon locked up for a 3rd time and, like their first two clashes, this was one other vicious brawl. Stressed and anxious and eager to keep away from even serious about the struggle, Valorie determined to spend the night with pals in an area bar however she hadn’t counted on the late-night TV newscast. “First the loser,” boomed the tv and “Bazooka” Limon’s comparatively unmarked face appeared. “And now, consider it or not, the winner!” And there was Bobby with cuts above each eyes and darkish welts underneath.
“I can’t take it anymore,” she informed him that evening. “Please, it’s important to cease.”
However Bobby didn’t. And now neither did the arguments, the fixed bickering and pleading, the guarantees and the bargaining. Chacon would say all the proper issues to placate Valorie, however then he’d be gone and in coaching for one more match. He was in his mid-20s and for him, the die was forged: he was a fighter. He received one other title shot, misplaced one other powerful battle, however felt extra sure than ever he may do it, that if he simply stored working and preventing, he would make it to the highest once more.
However by February of 1982 Valorie had reached the breaking level. The household lived in Palermo now and Bobby was in Sacramento for his subsequent bout when Valorie informed the children she was taking a nap. Within the bed room she swallowed a handful of sleeping capsules however they discovered her in time and received her to the hospital. Bobby received that evening and Valorie quickly recovered, however then she disappeared for a month. The stress and worry have been an excessive amount of; she was cracking up. They discovered her wandering across the airport in Sacramento speaking to strangers about weapons.
Just some days later Chacon left residence for his subsequent bout, one other shot at a championship on the horizon if he stored successful. He and Valorie argued on the telephone after which the following day got here the decision, not from Valorie, however from her mom. Valorie was gone. After kissing the framed footage of her sleeping kids, she went into her bed room with the .22 rifle they stored in the home for defense, put the barrel to her head and pulled the set off. That evening Chacon drove again to Palermo to assist his household make funeral preparations. However twenty-four hours later he was in Sacramento, scoring a 3rd spherical TKO over a journeyman named Salvador Ugalde. Instantly after, he devoted the win to Valorie.
That is the tragic backdrop for one of many best fights in boxing historical past.
Chacon and Rafael Limon didn’t like one another. Limon, a local of Mexico Metropolis, noticed Bobby as a typical “fairly boy,” a pampered California boxer, missing in manhood, whereas “The Schoolboy” regarded “Bazooka” an an boastful prick. Their first three fights had been tough and nasty and the fourth promised to be no completely different, besides in a single regard: this time it was for the a super-featherweight world title belt which Limon had received earlier that yr. The bout was held in Sacramento, broadcast stay on nationwide tv, with Chacon followers packing the auditorium, everybody hoping Bobby would possibly redeem the years of ache and sacrifice by lastly successful a second world championship.
Earlier than the struggle, in his dressing, Chacon, paced restlessly, his ideas by no means removed from Valorie, as he stored repeating out loud to himself: “I can’t lose. I can’t lose.”
From the opening bell, the 2 warriors fought with startling ferocity and little regard for self-protection. Limon was the aggressor, touchdown huge, looping photographs and forcing Chacon to offer floor. He took the primary spherical and halfway by spherical two he had Bobby within the nook, working him over with each arms, earlier than Chacon abruptly charged ahead and fought his manner out, touchdown a collection of arduous rights as the gang erupted. Sure, it was going to be one other battle.
A left hand put Chacon down in spherical three and the 2 warriors took turns punishing one another by the center rounds, each battling with unusual depth. Increasingly more it grew to become a contest between the fighters’ energy arms, Chacon’s lead proper vs the southpaw Limon’s overhand left. Bobby got here on sturdy in rounds eight and 9, however an enormous counter left put the challenger down once more in spherical ten.
The tempo by no means slackened; each spherical was lethal shut, and in nearly each spherical each males have been rocked. Chacon bled from a minimize on the bridge of his nostril however appeared to win extra rounds, although the 2 knockdowns couldn’t be discounted. As if to emphasise the closeness of the wrestle, within the thirteenth they managed to stagger one another throughout the identical alternate, Limon touchdown the large left, Chacon the proper.
By the fourteenth, Limon’s legs have been gone and he clung to Chacon like a drowning man in tough water, whereas Bobby, determined and pushed, surged ahead, preventing as if his very life was on the road. And within the closing spherical, with the gang on its toes and chanting Bobby! Bobby! Bobby!, he lastly discovered what he had been trying to find. With fewer than fifteen seconds left, he caught Limon coming in with a tough proper and adopted up with two extra, the blows sending “Bazooka” crashing to the canvas as Chacon leapt on the ropes and let loose a wild bellow of triumph. Seconds later the ultimate bell rang. It was like one thing out of a film.
The group was silent because the judges’ resolution was introduced after which erupted as Bobby Chacon was declared the victor, a world champion once more, winner of an amazingly dramatic and action-packed battle by shut resolution. If he had not floored Limon within the closing seconds, the end result would have been a draw. At ringside, veteran struggle scribe Jack Fiske, who had lined the game for greater than 4 a long time, referred to as it presumably the best struggle he had ever seen.
Afterwards, an emotional Bobby devoted the win to Valorie.
“I lastly broke down after the Limon struggle,” Chacon recounted later. “I didn’t like that man to start with and with every thing that occurred… I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. I simply stored serious about Valorie. I cried for days … She got here to me in my desires. I’d cry after which after I may lastly sleep she got here to me, as stunning as at all times. Possibly to say goodbye.” — Michael Carbert
