Edwin Rosario vs. Julio César Chávez, billed as Duel in the Desert, was a professional boxing match contested on November 21, 1987, for the WBA lightweight title.
Background Just before his scheduled title defense against Danilo Cabrera on August 21, 1987, reigning WBC super featherweight champion Julio César Chávez announced that his fight against Cabrera would likely be his last in the super featherweight division and that would be moving up in weight to challenge WBA lightweight champion Edwin Rosario in the fall of that year.World Boxing Council junior lightweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez,..., UPI article, 1987-08-21 Retrieved on 2024-09-30 Rosario, in his second reign as lightweight champion, was made a 7–5 underdog against the now 54–0 Chávez. Rosario, however, strongly criticized Chávez's choice of opponents prior to facing him stating that Chávez had mostly fought "guys right out of the bar", that he would be the "first real fighter he's going to fight" and that Chávez's management had "took him by the hand and built his record."World Boxing Association lightweight champion Edwin Rosario, a 7-5..., UPI article, 1987-11-19 Retrieved on 2024-09-30 Furthermore, Rosario claimed that Chávez was afraid to fight him and had only taken the fight after being pressured into fight by his promoter Don King, though Chávez denied Rosario's claims stating that "I wouldn't have signed for the fight if I was afraid of him."Julio Cesar Chavez's 54-0 record is one big lie..., UPI article, 1987-11-20 Retrieved on 2024-09-30
The Fight Often considered the greatest performance of his career, Chávez dominated Rosario throughout the fight, fighting well on the inside and battering Rosario with combinations to both the body and head all fight long. Chávez would connect with a staggering 61% of his 743 thrown punches while Rosario threw a similar amount (731) but connected with only 36%. By the 11th round, Rosario, who was bleeding from both his nose and mouth, suffering from a cut above his right eye and his left eye was swollen shut, had gotten backed into a corner by Chávez, who relentlessly attacked the exhausted Rosario. Finally, with Rosario taking a tremendous amount of abuse, his corner threw a white towel in the ring to signify surrender and in turn, Richard Steele stopped the fight with 22 seconds remaining, giving Chávez the victory by technical knockout.Chavez Finally Commands the Spotlight, NY Times article, 1987-11-23 Retrieved on 2024-09-29
Fight card Confirmed bouts: Weight Class Weight vs. Method Round NotesLightweight135 lbs.Julio César Chávez def.Edwin Rosario (c)TKO11/12Super Welterweight154 lbs.Julian Jacksondef.Baek In-chul TKO3/12Super Featherweight130 lbs.Victor Callejas def.Pedro NolascoKO1/10Super Featherweight168 lbs.Jose Rivera def.Ramiro LozanoTKO2/10Super Welterweight154 lbs.Santos Cardonadef.Joey FerrellPTS8/8Bantamweight118 lbs.Renaldo Carterdef.Esteban GuzmanPTS8/8Cruiserweight190 lbs.Freddie Delgadodef.Paul MadisonPTS4/4
Broadcasting Country Broadcaster HBO
References