BY THE NUMBERS: KID AZTECA By Don Stradley Depending on the source, Kid Azteca had anywhere from 300 to 400 fights. People lost count after a while. Here’s his incredible story by the numbers.
wins over Ceferino Garcia » Among Azteca’s shining moments was in the summer of 1933 when he twice defeated Ceferino Garcia, a bolo-punching power hitter from the Philippines who would someday win the middleweight
years as Mexican welterweight champion » In a clash for the vacant Mexican welterweight title in March 1936, Azteca defeated
title. First, Azteca won a 10-round decision over Garcia at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles on July 11. Wearing five-ounce gloves originally designed for great Irish welterweight Jimmy McLarnin, Azteca put Garcia down three times in the third and then boxed his way to an easy win. “Poker-faced and unruffled, Azteca was the calm killer, awaiting his chance to shoot the T.N.T. he packs in both hands,” reported a wire service, noting the “deafening applause” as Azteca left the ring. Since Azteca’s win was regarded as an upset – Garcia was popular in California and had been a 3-to-1 favorite – a rematch was made two weeks later. This time, it was an eighth-round TKO for Azteca, the fight stopped because Garcia was badly cut. Garcia got some revenge in 1936 with a fifth-round stoppage of Azteca in Hollywood’s Legion Stadium. Garcia evened their series at two wins apiece with a decision win in 1944, 11 years after they’d first met. working in the 1940s came up against Fritzie Zivic. Not surprisingly, Azteca fought Zivic four times. Zivic, the bent-nosed terror from Pittsburgh who would soon reign as the welterweight champion, handed Azteca a 10-round decision loss in Houston, Texas, in 1939. They rematched in 1944 and fought again in 1945, with Zivic taking both contests on points and giving Azteca a bloody pasting in the third bout. Finally, in their 1947 bout in Mexico City, Azteca had his hand raised after stopping Zivic in the fifth. Azteca “gave me a pretty good beating,” Zivic said later, though he was angrier about the way “every official in Mexico” seemed to get a piece of his paycheck. Zivic told the International News Service, “I had to borrow money to come home.” encounters with Fritzie Zivic » Chances are good that any welterweight
Eddie Cerda via 12-round decision. He would retain the distinction for 14 years, including 11 defenses, before losing it to longtime rival Tomas Lopez, aka “El Conscripto,” in 1950. Previously, Azteca had twice beaten Conscripto and drawn with him once, and he would defeat him again in 1954. Azteca had also tried for the Mexican middleweight title, losing to Vicente Villavicencio in 1947.
years old when he began his pro career » Well, maybe. The Kid’s exact birthdate is open to speculation, as
years in the business »
is his exact number of fights. He fought at a time when it was not unusual for a boxer or his manager to fudge a date, and no one was investigating. Child labor laws? Forget about it. The youngster born Luis Villanueva Paramo had to earn some money somehow – he was one of more than a dozen siblings living in one of Mexico City’s
Azteca (1913-2002) lived the life of a Mexican boxing star. He appeared in movies, and in the early days of television his fights
poorest neighborhoods – and fighting was his best bet. Official recordkeepers list the date of his first fight as 1929 when he was 16, but some claim he’d started in 1926. Later in his career, a reporter peeked at his passport and noted the date of birth as June 21, 1913, which meant he could’ve been 13 when he made his pro debut. Fighting for money at 13 was highly possible. Mexico had only recently established a boxing commission, but the country maintained a freewheeling, Wild West tone when it came to prizefighting. Bootleg bouts were still held in brothels, dance halls and other makeshift locations. It’s likely that young Luis Paramo took part in some illegal brawls to make a little bit of money. But whether he fought in a handful of illicit contests or a hundred, as his publicists liked to say, is something we’ll never be sure of. It became part of Kid Azteca’s mystique. Who ya gonna believe?
often aired on Mexico’s first channels. Yet by the end of his career, he’d become a novelty, a name one would mention when discussing other fighters who were working past the usual retirement age. He played on that, too, and by the time he quit boxing at age 47, Azteca was telling people he was over 50 just to get a reaction. Why not? A fighter doesn’t last 32 years in the business without having a flair for publicity. Whether he was a young contender making his debut at the Olympic Auditorium, or a 47-year-old geezer winning his final fight with a first-round KO of Alfonso Malacara in Veracruz, Azteca knew how to get noticed. He never won a world title, and never even challenged for one. Yet the legend of Kid Azteca, even without a world belt, was large enough.
recorded bouts » From his first “official” fight in 1929 to his retirement in 1961, Azteca participated in 254 bouts, which is among
archaeologists are still digging up old fight programs, and those numbers are sure to change. Among the better men he faced on his long boxing journey were Battling Shaw, Joe Glick, Baby Joe Gans, Cocoa Kid, Kenny LaSalle, Rodolfo Casanova and Izzy Jannazzo, all known names of the era, as well as Bep van Kleveren, a Dutchman who won a gold medal at the 1928 Olympics. Stylewise, Azteca was a free swinger, throwing haymakers as one would expect of a guy who started out as a boy fighting in saloons. He also threw a mean hook to the liver, though the assertion by some that he invented the punch is probably a myth.
rounds with Sammy Angott » Described by the INS as “a dull affair throughout,” the 1950 bout between Azteca and Sammy “The Clutch” Angott provided El Paso fans with an excuse to riot. Angott earned a 10-round decision over Azteca, by now 37 and no longer as sharp as he’d once been. When the two fighters continued punching after the final bell – odd, considering neither had done much punching prior to that – the rowdy audience took that as a cue to pelt the ring with debris. When the respective cornermen jumped in to separate the fighters, members of Azteca’s camp started swinging on Angott’s team. Once the melee was calmed, Angott left the ring under the protection of a police escort.
the highest totals for a professional boxer. Of the few fighters who had more, most competed in those same days of shoddy recordkeeping. Azteca’s final record, according to the always fluctuating BoxRec.com, was 192-47-11, with 114 knockouts and a few no-contests and no decisions along the way. However, Mexican
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