Daniel Zaragoza

Daniel Zaragoza, known as “El Ratón” and also widely called “El Zurdo de Tacubaya,” was a Mexican southpaw who competed at bantamweight and super-bantamweight from 1980 until 1997. Born in Mexico City on December 11, 1957, he stood 5 ft 7 in with a reach of approximately 68in. Zaragoza completed 66 professional contests, winning 55, losing eight and drawing three, with 28 victories inside the distance. He became a world champion in two divisions and, through a combination of durability, experience and technical awkwardness, remained a significant figure at championship level long after most fighters in the lighter weights had retired.

Before turning professional, Zaragoza represented Mexico as a bantamweight at the 1979 Pan-American Games in San Juan. He defeated Alfonso Abata of Ecuador before losing on points to the American Jackie Beard. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, he beat Ireland’s Philip Sutcliffe and Britain’s Ray Gilbody, but was stopped in the second round by Michael Anthony of Guyana. Zaragoza made his professional debut at Poza Rica, Veracruz, on October 17, 1980, knocking out Mario Ernesto Gutierrez in the fourth round. He won his first 14 contests before suffering a points defeat by Harold Petty in Las Vegas in July 1982. A second loss to Petty followed in an unsuccessful challenge for the North American bantamweight title the following year, but Zaragoza had already become Mexican champion and continued to develop against experienced opposition.

His first world championship came on May 4, 1985, when he met Freddie Jackson for the vacant WBC bantamweight title in Oranjestad, Aruba. Jackson was disqualified in the seventh round for an intentional butt which cut Zaragoza, giving the Mexican the championship in unsatisfactory but legitimate circumstances. The reign was brief. Three months later, in his first defence, Zaragoza faced the unbeaten Miguel Lora at the Tamiami Fairgrounds Auditorium in Miami. Lora’s speed, movement and accurate right hand caused him persistent difficulty. Zaragoza was dropped in the fourth and fifth rounds and lost a unanimous decision by scores of 116–109, 118–107 and 115–110. In April 1986 he travelled to Perth for a non-title contest against the formidable Australian champion Jeff Fenech and was again beaten on points over ten rounds.

Those defeats might have marked the limit of a lesser fighter, but Zaragoza was better suited to super-bantamweight. He moved up, defeated former featherweight challenger Mike Ayala for the NABF title and assembled seven consecutive victories before meeting Carlos Zarate for the vacant WBC championship at the Great Western Forum on February 29, 1988. Zarate was one of Mexico’s great punchers, although by then well past his prime. Zaragoza boxed with discipline, survived the dangerous moments and stopped him in the tenth round. His first super-bantamweight reign produced a draw with Lee Seung-hoon in South Korea, a fifth-round knockout of Valerio Nati in Italy, a split-decision victory over Paul Banke, a tenth-round stoppage of Frankie Duarte and another split decision against former champion Chan-Yong Park. Zaragoza was seldom afforded an easy assignment or the comfort of fighting exclusively at home. He defended in Asia, Europe and the United States and became accustomed to contests decided in close, demanding circumstances.

Banke ended that reign at the Forum in April 1990, stopping Zaragoza in the ninth round of their second meeting. Zaragoza regained the championship 14 months later by travelling to Nagoya and defeating Kiyoshi Hatanaka on a split decision. He retained against Joon Huh in Seoul and then settled his rivalry with Banke by winning their third contest unanimously in December 1991. Thierry Jacob relieved him of the title on points in Calais in March 1992. Zaragoza then drew with Tracy Harris Patterson in another championship contest in France before losing their return in New York when a cut brought a seventh-round stoppage. Zaragoza objected to the intervention, but the result left him outside the championship picture and apparently nearing the end at 35.

Instead, he produced the strongest late period of his career. After six victories, Zaragoza challenged WBC champion Hector Acero Sánchez at Foxwoods in June 1995. The majority draw was widely regarded as fortunate for Sánchez, but Zaragoza received another opportunity five months later and won a split decision at the Great Western Forum. At 37, he again held the super-bantamweight championship. The achievement was exceptional in a division where speed and reflexes normally decline quickly with age. Zaragoza’s success depended less on youth than on positioning, judgement, and the ability to make opponents fight at an uncomfortable pace. He was a crouching, angular southpaw who moved his head constantly, changed levels and threw punches from positions which did not always conform to textbook form. He could be hit, and he was never a defensive purist, but he was difficult to control and even harder to discourage.

His final reign contained some of his finest results. In March 1996, he stopped the popular Joichiro Tatsuyoshi in the eleventh round in Yokohama, overcoming a younger, faster opponent before a partisan Japanese audience. He returned to Japan four months later and halted the previously once-beaten Tsuyoshi Harada in seven rounds. In January 1997 he met the unbeaten Olympic silver medallist and WBC bantamweight champion Wayne McCullough in Boston. McCullough brought constant pressure and exceptional stamina, but Zaragoza used his craft and variety to win a split decision. He then defeated Tatsuyoshi for a second time, taking a unanimous decision in Osaka in April. These were not ceremonial defences arranged for an ageing champion. McCullough and Tatsuyoshi were younger men of genuine world level, and Zaragoza defeated them through experience rather than reputation.

The championship passed to another generation on September 6, 1997, when Zaragoza defended against the unbeaten 21-year-old Erik Morales in El Paso. Morales was quicker, fresher and a heavy puncher, but Zaragoza competed stubbornly into the later rounds. He was knocked out with one second remaining in the eleventh. Zaragoza retired immediately afterwards at the age of 39, leaving a record of 55 wins, eight defeats and three draws. He had fought 608 professional rounds and had been stopped only three times, all against championship-class opposition. His defeats included Lora, Fenech, Banke, Jacob, Patterson and Morales, while his victories included Zarate, Nati, Duarte, Hatanaka, Banke, Tatsuyoshi and McCullough.

Zaragoza was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004. His standing rests not simply upon collecting WBC championships at two weights, but upon the length and geographical range of his career. He won or defended world titles in the United States, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Italy, and remained a champion into his late thirties without relying upon an easy schedule. In retirement he continued to appear at boxing functions and to offer his views on the modern sport, remaining a respected figure in Mexican boxing. He was not the most destructive of Mexico’s champions, nor the most celebrated, but he was among the most resourceful. His career was built on persistence, tactical intelligence and an unusual capacity to recover from defeat and return to championship level once more.