Chavez
vs Haugen
His 1993 fight with Greg Haugen featured trash talk from
Haugen, who derided Julio Cesar Chavez's 82 fight unbeaten streak
as consisting mostly of "Tijuana taxi drives that my mother could
have knocked out" and insisting that "There aren't 130,000 Mexicans
who can afford tickets" to see the fight in Estadio Azteca. Chavez
responded by saying, "I really hate him bad. When he looks at me,
I want to vomit. I am going to give him the worst beating of his life;
I am going to make him swallow the words that came out of his dirty
mouth." Ultimately, 136,274 showed up to set a world record for outdoor
fight attendance as they watched Chavez drop Haugen quickly and then
back off with the apparent intention of punishing him for his prefight
remarks. However, the referee had seen enough by the fifth round and
stopped it for a TKO victory for Chavez. After the fight, Chavez commented
to Haugen, "Now you know I don't fight with taxi drivers," and a bloodied
Haugen responded, "They must have been tough taxi drivers." Later
that year, Chavez scored a sixth round TKO victory over number one
ranked contender Terrence Alli.
Draw with Whitaker and first
career loss
After a division-record 18 consecutive defenses of his
light welterweight title, Chavez (87-0) moved up one more weight division
to challenge Pernell Whitaker (32-1) for his WBC Welterweight title
in September 1993. Since the late 1980s, Julio Cesar Chavez stated
several times that he wanted a fight against Whitaker. The Whitaker
team, among them Lou Duva, told The Ring that they did not want a
fight against Chavez in those days. In the eyes of many experts, Whitaker
waited for Chavez to age. The result of the fight was a controversial
majority draw, allowing Chavez to remain undefeated with Whitaker
retaining his title. Various members of the American media, including
The Ring and Sport Illustrated, were critical of the decision. Sports
illustrated put Pernell Whitaker on the cover of its next magazine
with a one word title, "Robbed!" Chavez stated after the fight: "I
felt I was forcing the fight, he just kept holding me too much, he
was throwing too many low blows too." There was no rematch.
Chavez
continued defending his light welterweight title and on December 18,
1993, he defeated British Commonwealth light welterweight champion
Andy Holligan (21-0-0) by fifth round TKO. Chavez faced Frankie Randall
on January 29, 1994, in a fight that most expected him to win easily.
Instead, Randall knocked him down for the first time in his career
and went on to win a split decision and Chavez lost the title to Randall.
Chavez blamed his loss on referee Richard Steele, who deducted two
points from Chavez for low blows, which affected the difference on
the scorecards. The WBC ordered an immediate rematch and Chavez regained
the title on a split technical decision in May 1994. The fight was
fiercely contested when they collided heads, opening a large cut over
Chavez's eyebrow in the seventh round. After the head cut, during
round eight, the referee called for the doctor, who then stopped the
fight. Under WBC rules, Randall lost one point, giving Chavez the
technical victory. The two faced one another in a rubber match 10
years later, which Chavez won.
Chavez then faced Meldrick Taylor
in a rematch, four years after their historic first fight. Chavez
defeated him in the eighth round by a knockout that sent Taylor from
one side of the ring to the other. In his next bout, Chavez defeated
three time champion Tony Lopez. In 1995 he defeated former and future
light welterweight champion Giovanni Parisi. Later that year, he defended
his title against number on ranked challenger David Kamau, despite
suffering a cut in the opening round. Prior to the bout, Chavez indicated
that he was considering retirement: "I've had a lot of problems with
my arms, with my knees. I really don't want to extend myself much
longer", Chavez said. "After so many ears of working out, it all builds
up. I am not giving what I used to be able to give. I will fight De
La Hoya for a lot of money, and then retire."