Salvador Sanchez Narvaez (January 26, 1959 – August
12, 1982)
Mexico City, Aug. 12, 1982 – Salvador Sanchez, the
World Boxing Council’s featherweight titleholder and one of the more
accomplished of current champions, was killed early today when his
sports car collided with a truck on a highway north of here.
Sanchez,
who was 23 years old, successfully defended his crown for a ninth
time last month in New York and was already in training for a title
fight scheduled for Madison Square Garden Sept. 15 against Juan LaPorte,
a New Yorker.
They young boxer’s death stunned and puzzled Mexican
sporting circles. During preparations for a fight, Sanchez normally
went to bed at 9 P.M. and was up at 5:30 A.M. to do road work. It
was not immediately known why he was driving his Porsche 928 between
Queretaro and his training camp at San Jose Iturbide, 160 miles north
of Mexico City, at 3:30 A.M., when the crash occurred.
In contrast
to many previous Mexican champions, Sanchez had a reputation for being
disciplined both in his personal life and inside the ring. “I like
to have a good time like anyone else,” he said in a recent interview,
“but when I’m in training, that’s what I concentrate on. It’s my job,
and I have to do it properly. I can’t disappoint my public and, most
of all, myself.”
In the ring, Sanchez was methodical, rarely
seeking a quick knockout but instead slowly measuring his opponent
and then gradually destroying him. As was typical, his fight last
month at the Garden against Azumah Nelson of Ghana went into the 15th round
before Sanchez won by a knockout. He ended the bout with his face
virtually unmarked.
Despite his record of 43 victories 1 defeat
and 1 draw, however, he had earned less of a following in Mexico than
some more sensational – and wild – fighters of the past. He still
seemed eager to prove himself, and as a result he talked about moving
up two divisions to challenge for the W.B.C. lightweight crown, held
by Alexis Arguello of Nicaragua.
But he had nevertheless decided
to retire from boxing at the end of next year, undefeated, he hoped,
in the featherweight division, whose limit is 126 pounds. “I’ve already
distinguished myself in boxing,” he said with quiet self-assurance
last month. “Now I’d like to distinguish myself in life. I want to
carry on studying and become a doctor.”
Born to a lower-middle-class
family in the nearby town of Santiago Tianguistenco, Sanchez began
boxing at the age of 14 and dropped out of school two years later
to turn professional. Having moved to Mexico City, he was introduced
to a wealthy lawyer, Juan Jose Torres Landa, who had served as adviser
to four previous Mexican world champions.
Mr. Torres Landa then
began planning Sanchez’s career, organizing bouts throughout Mexico
and the southwestern United States with an eventual title fight in
mind.
When Sanchez finally challenged Danny (Little Red) Lopez
for the featherweight crown in February 1980, Mexican critics said
the bid was premature. But Sanchez scored a 13th round knockout and,
in a return bout four months later, again won, this time knocking
out Lopez in the 14th round and sending him into retirement.