The great Julio Cesar Chavez was the world’s finest fighter and seeking to extend his remarkable record of 84-0 when, on February 20, 1993, he fought the apparently fearless Greg Haugen at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium in front of a record 132,247-strong crowd.
Billed ‘The Grand Slam of Boxing‘, tickets were priced from five Mexican pesos – then $1.65 – to $1,000, but America’s Haugen, the challenger that night to the revered WBC super lightweight champion, questioned whether there were 130,000 Mexicans who could afford to pay to attend.
Chavez was, and remains, Mexico’s most popular ever fighter. It therefore did little for Haugen’s standing when he insisted that his record had been built by fighting ‘nothing but stiffs’. “Every one of them was a taxi driver from Tijuana,” he continued.
On the undercard that night, the great Azumah Nelson was defending his WBC super featherweight title against Gabriel Ruelas, another Mexican fighter. There were also fights between the WBA super middleweight champion Michael Nunn and Dan Morgan, the WBC light middleweight champion Terry Norris and Maurice Blocker, Gerald McClellan and Tyrone Moore, and Felix Trinidad and Pedro Aguirre.
In the days before the grudge match that represented the main event thousands of Mexicans missed school or work to watch their favourite fighter work out in the car park outside of the stadium at which he would fight. Some had even camped there to ensure their presence and increase their hopes of getting his autograph; the then-president Carlos Salinas de Gortari even arrived by helicopter to wish Chavez luck.
Among the many present were those also wearing the red headbands embroidered with the initials ‘JC’ by which the iconic Chavez was immediately identifiable. He continued to wear his, he once explained, to keep bad spirits away. “I am not going to let you down, Mr President,” Chavez was said to have told Salinas. “I know you won’t,” Salinas was said to have replied.
The tough Haugen, then 32, had lost only to Vinny Pazienza, Pernell Whitaker and Hector Camacho before fighting Chavez – ultimately three of the finest fighters of their times. Among those he had beaten were Camacho, Ray Mancini, and Freddie Roach.
As a young adult – he had boxed since childhood – he moved to Anchorage, Alaska, where he entered ‘Tough Man’ contests against heavier opposition and won all 24 of his fights. After his career-best victory over Camacho – which delayed Camacho fighting Chavez – in 1990, he then tested positive for marijuana and was fined to the tune of $25,000.
For all that his ability and resilience made him so proven when he retained his focus, in Chavez, 30 that night in 1993, he was fighting the world’s very best. Chavez had also beaten Camacho having previously recorded victories over Meldrick Taylor and Roger Mayweather, and had made a bet of $100,000 with his promoter Don King that he would win inside 12 rounds.
On the previous Sunday Chavez and Haugen appeared on a live television broadcast together, and after being angered by Haugen calling him a “Loudmouth” Chavez shouted “Someone give me some gloves – we’ll start the fight now”.
That such tension existed between the US and Mexico would not have helped the escalating rivalry between them, nor will Chavez also saying in the build-up: “I will have no compassion. I will meet you in the ring and cut your head off. Get ready.” “This guy is not invincible,” Haugen had responded. “There’s no cape and no ‘S’ on his chest.”
Whether his bullishness was an attempt to hide a sense of intimidation or a manifestation of his conviction, his composure would no doubt have been undermined when shortly before that fight he learned that his wife Karen was romantically involved with someone he had considered a friend.
Among those ringside at the Azteca on that cold February night was Mr T, who watched Norris, Nunn, McClellan and Trinidad record stoppage victories, and Nelson win via majority decision.
When Chavez then entered the ring he did so fuelled by a sense of personal and national pride. Typically a slow starter, he fought with aggression from the opening bell, and therefore required only 20 seconds to drop his tormentor to one knee. A succession of strong lefts to the body then preceded a left-right to the head and right-lefts to face and body, and a right hand then hurt Haugen, who responded with a left hook before the end of the opening round.
It was perhaps that that contributed to Chavez’s increased patience during the second, when he continued to succeed with the left hook before landing a hurtful right-right-left-left combination that again tested Haugen’s durability. The American, in turn, punished him with a right hand in the third, but Chavez’s consistent success to his body ensured that he was being broken down.
An uppercut hurt the defiant Haugen again in the fourth, at the end of which he and Chavez exchanged words. Whether that inspired Chavez to then finish him remains as unclear as whether King paid Chavez the $100,000 they had bet, but Chavez emerged for the fifth with renewed intent, and followed a jab with a right hand that forced Haugen to the ropes, and then two rights to the head and a left to the body that dropped him to one knee. When he returned to his feet after a count of six he found himself trapped in Chavez’s corner and unable to defend himself, ultimately then forcing the referee Joe Cortez to intervene.
“Physically I was ready, but mentally I was in outer space,” Haugen later said of the affect of his marital discord. “I wasn’t ready to fight Julio Cesar Chavez. I went out there in a daydream.”
“He deserved to be punished like this,” Chavez said, post-fight. “He said some bad things and he deserved this. Now you know I don’t fight with taxi drivers.”
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