Rubén Olivares

Rubén Olivares
Olivares in 2010
Statistics
Real name	Rubén Olivares Avila
Nickname(s)	El Púas, Rockabye, Mr. Knockout
Weight(s)	Super Featherweight Featherweight Super Bantamweight Bantamweight
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Reach	67 in (170 cm)
Nationality	Mexican
Born	(1947-01-14) 14 January 1947 (age 74) Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	105
Wins	89
Wins by KO	79
Losses	13
Draws	3
No contests	0

Rubén Olivares Avila (born January 14, 1947) is a Mexican former professional boxer and actor, and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.,^[1] Olivares was a world champion multiple times, and considered by many as the greatest bantamweight champion of all time. He was very popular among Mexicans, many of whom considered him to be Mexico's greatest fighter for a long period.^[2] He currently holds the record for the most wins in unified title bouts in bantamweight history, at 6. Olivares has also had cameo appearances in Mexican movies, and he participated in more than 100 professional bouts.^[3]

Professional career[]

Olivares made his pro debut at the age of 17, by knocking out Freddy García in round one at Cuernavaca. With that knockout win, a streak of 22 knockout wins in a row had been set off. During that streak, he beat Tony Gallegos, Monito Aguilar and Antonio Leal, among others. It was on March 8, 1967, that Felipe González became the first one to go the distance with Olivares, when Olivares defeated him by a decision in 10 at Mexicali. Then, on July 29 of that same year, Olivares had the first spot on his record, Germán Bastidas holding him to a ten-round draw.^[4]

He had back to back rematches with González and Bastidas, knocking González out in round six on November 19, and Bastidas in round four on January 28, 1968. Then came a step up in opponent quality, when he met former world champion Salvatore Burruni in Mexico City. Olivares knocked Burruni out in three rounds. After defeating Manuel Arnal by a disqualification in six, he set off on another knockout win streak, this one reaching 21 in a row. One of the fights in that streak was against Bernabé Fernández, in Los Angeles. Olivares won his first fight abroad that day, beating Fernández in round three. On May 23, 1969, he defeated Olympic gold medalist Takao Sakurai.^[5]

World Bantamweight Championship[]

After accumulating a record of 51-0-1, Olivares received his first world title bout when he faced world bantamweight champion Lionel Rose, who was defending his world title that day, at the Inglewood Forum. According to boxing book The Ring: Boxing In The 20th Century, the forum's director, fearing a riot like the one that happened after Rose had beaten Chucho Castillo there might happen again, went to Olivares' locker room to express his worries, and Olivares guaranteed he wouldn't let that happen again. Olivares became the world bantamweight champion by knocking Rose out in round five on that day, August 22 of 1969.^[6][7]

After beating Alan Rudkin in a title defense and a couple other fighters in non-title bouts, Olivares started his trilogy of bouts with arch-enemy and countryman Castillo. Olivares' knockout streak ended in that fight, but he won the first installment of the Olivares-Castillo rivalry after rising off the canvas to score a 15-round decision. After three more non-title wins, Olivares and Castillo met again, on October 16 of 1970. This time, Olivares suffered a cut in round one, and the fight was stopped in round 14, Castillo the winner and new world Bantamweight champion by a technical knockout. This was Olivares' first loss in his 62 fight career.

After one more win, Olivares and Castillo had their rubber match, on April 3 of 1971. Olivares was knocked down once, but he rose to regain the world Featherweight title in the last fight between him and Castillo with another 15-round decision.^[8] Then, he had six more knockouts in a row, including one in a non-title bout in Nicaragua, one in Nagoya, Japan while defending the crown in the rematch for a fight which took place in 1969, won by Olivares by TKO in the 2nd round. The rematch against Kazuyoshi Kanazawa was a brutal affair and in the 13th round Kanazawa seemed to be on the verge of stopping Olivares, having him pinned to the ropes and a corner. It appears Kanazawa emptied his "tank" with this last attack and before the round ended Kanazawa could hardly keep his feet, and fell clumsily after missing with an uppercut. Olivares floored Kanazawa three times in the 14th round, prompting the stoppage victory. This fight was voted as the best Japanese match of 1971. Another victory came against former champion Efren Torres, and one against Jesus Pimentel, also in round 11.

On March 19, 1972, Olivares lost the world's Bantamweight title to another countryman, Rafael Herrera, by a knockout in round eight. After defeating Godfrey Stevens in Monterrey, he and Herrera met again, with Herrera the winner by a 10-round decision.

Move to Featherweight[]

Next for Olivares was a move up in division, and he started to campaign in the Featherweight division by defeating Walter Seeley. On June 23 of 1973, he met future champion Bobby Chacón in the first installment of another trilogy of fights. What was contested for the NABF featherweight title, ended in round nine when Olivares knocked Chacón out. In his next fight, the 78th of his career, he suffered an upset, when unknown Art Hafey knocked him out in five rounds, but then he set off on a string of three more wins in a row, including a decision over Hafey in a rematch, before fighting for the WBA's vacant world Featherweight championship.

WBA Featherweight Championship[]

On July 9, 1974, Olivares became world Featherweight champion by beating Zenzuke Utagawa by a knockout in round seven. After two non-title wins, he met Alexis Argüello on November 23 of that year, losing the world title by a knockout in round 13.^[9] He was winning this fight before he gassed and was eventually stopped.^[10]

WBC Featherweight Championship[]

One more win, and Olivares met Chacón in the second installment of their trilogy, this time with Chacón as the WBC's world Featherweight champion. Olivares won the fight by a knockout in round two, to become world champion for the fourth time. This time, however, he also lost the title in his first defense, beaten by Ghana's David "Poison" Kotey, who became that nation's first world boxing champion ever by winning a 15-round decision against Olivares. A seven-round knockout defeat at the hands of future world champion Danny "Little Red" López followed.^[11]

Olivares won two fights in 1976 and lost one, including a victory over world title challenger Fernando Cabanela of the Philippines and a loss to another world title challenger, José Cervantes, from Colombia. In 1977, Olivares and Chacón boxed the final bout of their trilogy, and this time Chacón came out the winner, by a 10-round decision. But in 1978, Olivares found what would be the beginning of his last hurrah in his 93rd bout, as he knocked out the future 2 time world Lightweight champion José Luis Ramírez in two rounds at Ciudad Obregón, and he followed that win with wins over Shig Fukuyama and Isaac Vega.^[12]

After drawing in ten rounds with Guillermo Morales on April 22, 1979, he received what would turn out to be his last world title try: On July 21 of that year, he was knocked out in 12 rounds by WBA world Featherweight champion Eusebio Pedroza in Houston, for the WBA Featherweight title.

For the next eight years, he fought sporadically and with mixed success, until he was able to walk away from professional boxing in 1988.

Legacy[]

Until Julio César Chávez came onto the scene, Olivares was considered Mexico's best boxer. He became a mainstream star, and had friends in the Mexican entertainment world. He frequently performed cameos in comic Mexican films. He remains a Mexican national hero.^[13]

Olivares' acting career prolonged for 12 films,^[14] including , a 1984 film based on Olivares' life that also starred an all star Mexican cast including Sasha Montenegro, Carmen Salinas, Manuel "Flaco" Ibáñez, , Raul Padilla, Sergio Bustamante and Rafael Inclan among others.^[15]

He had a record of 89 wins, 13 losses and 3 draws, with 79 wins by knockout. His knockout winning streaks of 22 and 21 in a row qualify as two of the longest knockout winning streaks in the history of boxing. Similarly, his 78 knockout wins make him a member of an exclusive group of boxers to have won 50 or more fights by knockout. In 2003, The Ring placed him at number twelve in their list of the greatest punchers of all time.^[16]

Olivares is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.^[17]

Olivares was voted as the #1 bantamweight (along with Carlos Zárate) of the 20th century by the Associated Press in 1999.^[18]

Professional boxing record[]

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
105	Loss	89–13–3	Ignacio Madrid	KO	4 (10)	1988-03-12	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
104	Draw	89–12–3	Roman Almaguer	MD	4	1986-02-25	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
103	Loss	89–12–2	Margarito Marquez	SD	10	1981-11-24	Houston, Texas, United States
102	Loss	89–11–2	Rafael Gandarilla	TKO	9 (10)	1980-08-24	McAllen, Texas, United States
101	Win	88–10–2	Sergio Reyes	TKO	7 (10)	1980-04-25	Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
100	Win	88–10–2	Carlos Serrano	TKO	5 (10)	1980-03-07	Uptown Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, United States
99	Loss	87–10–2	Eusebio Pedroza	TKO	12 (15)	1979-07-21	Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, United States	For WBA featherweight title
98	Win	87–9–2	Adrian Zapanta	TKO	2 (10)	1979-06-30	Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
97	Draw	86–9–2	Guillermo Morales	MD	10	1979-04-22	Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico
96	Win	86–9–1	Isaac Vega	TKO	3 (10)	1978-11-20	Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, United States
95	Win	85–9–1	Shig Fukuyama	KO	2 (10)	1978-10-18	Houston, Texas, United States
94	Win	84–9–1	José Luis Ramírez	TKO	2 (10)	1978-04-28	Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico
93	Win	83–9–1	Ricky Gutierrez	UD	10	1977-12-06	Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio, Texas, United States
92	Loss	82–9–1	Bobby Chacon	UD	10	1977-08-20	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
91	Loss	82–8–1	Jose Cervantes	KO	6 (12)	1976-11-19	Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, United States
90	Win	82–7–1	Fernando Cabanela	UD	10	1976-07-30	Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, United States
89	Win	81–7–1	Pajet Lupikanet	TKO	1 (10)	1976-06-02	Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, United States
88	Loss	80–7–1	Danny Lopez	KO	7 (10)	1975-12-04	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
87	Loss	80–6–1	David Kotey	SD	15	1975-09-20	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Lost WBC featherweight title
86	Win	80–5–1	Bobby Chacon	TKO	2 (15)	1975-06-20	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Won WBC featherweight title
85	Win	79–5–1	Benjamin Ortiz	TKO	6 (10)	1975-04-07	Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
84	Loss	78–5–1	Alexis Arguello	KO	13 (15)	1974-11-23	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Lost WBA featherweight title
83	Win	78–4–1	Carlos Mendoza	TKO	6 (10)	1974-10-05	Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
82	Win	77–4–1	Enrique Garcia	TKO	5 (10)	1974-08-31	Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
81	Win	76–4–1	Zensuke Utagawa	KO	7 (15)	1974-07-09	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Won vacant WBA featherweight title
80	Win	75–4–1	Adrian Zapanta	KO	2 (10)	1974-05-14	Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
79	Win	74–4–1	Art Hafey	SD	12	1974-03-04	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
78	Win	73–4–1	Francisco Durango	UD	10	1973-12-02	Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
77	Loss	72–4–1	Art Hafey	TKO	5 (10)	1973-09-15	Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
76	Win	72–3–1	Bobby Chacon	RTD	9 (12)	1973-06-23	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Won NABF featherweight title
75	Win	71–3–1	Walter Seeley	TKO	2 (10)	1973-04-28	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
74	Loss	70–3–1	Rafael Herrera	MD	10	1972-11-14	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
73	Win	70–2–1	Godfrey Stevens	UD	10	1972-08-19	Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
72	Loss	69–2–1	Rafael Herrera	KO	8 (15)	1972-03-19	Toreo de Cuatro Caminos, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico	Lost WBA, WBC, and The Ring bantamweight titles
71	Win	69–1–1	Jesús Pimentel	TKO	11 (15)	1971-12-14	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Retained WBA, WBC, and The Ring bantamweight titles
70	Win	68–1–1	Kazuyoshi Kanazawa	TKO	14 (15)	1971-10-25	Aichi Prefectural Gym, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan	Retained WBA, WBC, and The Ring bantamweight titles
69	Win	67–1–1	Kid Pascualito	TKO	9 (10)	1971-08-23	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
68	Win	66–1–1	Efren Torres	TKO	4 (10)	1971-07-10	Auditorio del Estado, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
67	Win	65–1–1	Vicente Blanco	KO	5 (10)	1971-06-07	Managua, Nicaragua
66	Win	64–1–1	Tsuguo Mineyama	TKO	3 (10)	1971-05-19	Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
65	Win	63–1–1	Chucho Castillo	UD	15	1971-04-02	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Won WBA, WBC, and The Ring bantamweight titles
64	Win	62–1–1	Chung Park	KO	6 (10)	1971-03-03	Auditorio del Estado, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
63	Loss	61–1–1	Chucho Castillo	TKO	14 (15)	1970-10-16	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Lost WBA, WBC, and The Ring bantamweight titles
62	Win	61–0–1	Memo Rodriguez	KO	5 (10)	1970-09-11	Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
61	Win	60–0–1	Jose Arranz	TKO	3 (10)	1970-08-14	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
60	Win	59–0–1	Shuji Chiyoda	UD	10	1970-07-22	International Amphitheatre, Chicago, Illinois, United States
59	Win	58–0–1	Chucho Castillo	UD	15	1970-04-18	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Retained WBA, WBC, and The Ring bantamweight titles
58	Win	57–0–1	Romy Guelas	TKO	6 (10)	1970-03-18	Convention Center Arena, San Antonio, Texas, United States
57	Win	56–0–1	Angel Hernandez	KO	3 (10)	1970-02-22	Acambaro, Guanajuato, Mexico
56	Win	55–0–1	Alan Rudkin	TKO	2 (15)	1969-12-12	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Retained WBA, WBC, and The Ring bantamweight titles
55	Win	54–0–1	Shigeyoshi Oki	KO	3 (10)	1969-10-27	Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
54	Win	53–0–1	Lionel Rose	KO	5 (15)	1969-08-22	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States	Won WBA, WBC, and The Ring bantamweight titles
53	Win	52–0–1	Nene Jun	TKO	1 (10)	1969-06-29	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
52	Win	51–0–1	Takao Sakurai	TKO	6 (12)	1969-05-23	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
51	Win	50–0–1	Frank Adame	KO	2 (10)	1969-05-06	Nogales, Sonora, Mexico
50	Win	49–0–1	Ernie Cruz	TKO	9 (10)	1969-03-17	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
49	Win	48–0–1	Carlos Zayas	TKO	7 (10)	1969-03-09	Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico
48	Win	47–0–1	Jose Bisbal	KO	3 (10)	1969-02-23	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
47	Win	46–0–1	Kazuyoshi Kanazawa	TKO	2 (10)	1969-01-26	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
46	Win	45–0–1	José Medel	KO	8 (10)	1968-11-24	Estadio Universitario, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
45	Win	44–0–1	Wally Brooks	KO	1 (10)	1968-10-11	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
44	Win	43–0–1	Antoine Porcel	KO	1 (10)	1968-09-15	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
43	Win	42–0–1	Bernabe Fernandez	TKO	3 (10)	1968-08-28	Forum, Inglewood, California, United States
42	Win	41–0–1	Tiny Palacio	TKO	6 (10)	1968-08-10	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
41	Win	40–0–1	Gary Garber	TKO	5 (10)	1968-07-11	Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico
40	Win	39–0–1	Enrique Yepes	KO	5 (10)	1968-06-25	Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
39	Win	38–0–1	Octavio Gomez	KO	5 (10)	1968-06-08	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
38	Win	37–0–1	King Gavilan	KO	4 (10)	1968-05-20	Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
37	Win	36–0–1	Manuel Arnal	DQ	6 (10)	1968-04-27	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
36	Win	35–0–1	Salvatore Burruni	TKO	3 (10)	1968-03-31	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
35	Win	34–0–1	Pornchai Poprai-ngam	TKO	9 (10)	1968-03-03	La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
34	Win	33–0–1	German Bastidas	TKO	5 (10)	1968-01-28	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
33	Win	32–0–1	Felipe Gonzalez	TKO	6 (10)	1967-11-19	La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
32	Win	31–0–1	Chamaco Castillo	KO	5 (10)	1967-11-03	Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico
31	Win	30–0–1	Ushiwakamaru Harada	TKO	2 (10)	1967-10-14	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
30	Win	29–0–1	Gustavo Sosa	TKO	3 (10)	1967-09-20	Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
29	Win	28–0–1	Grillito Aguilar	KO	5 (10)	1967-09-06	Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico
28	Draw	27–0–1	German Bastidas	MD	10	1967-07-29	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
27	Win	27–0	Angel Hernandez	KO	5 (10)	1967-07-14	Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico
26	Win	26–0	Julio Guerrero	KO	4 (10)	1967-06-17	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
25	Win	25–0	Felipe Gonzalez	UD	10	1967-02-26	Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
24	Win	24–0	Antonio Leal	KO	1 (10)	1967-02-05	Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
23	Win	23–0	Daniel Gutierrez	TKO	10 (10)	1966-12-17	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
22	Win	22–0	Rafael Martinez	TKO	5 (8)	1966-11-09	Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico
21	Win	21–0	Rafael Macias	TKO	5 (10)	1966-10-18	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
20	Win	20–0	Ernesto Aguilar	TKO	3 (10)	1966-10-07	Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico
19	Win	19–0	Ramiro Garcia	KO	9 (10)	1966-09-17	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
18	Win	18–0	Oscar Rivas	TKO	3 (10)	1966-08-07	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
17	Win	17–0	Gerardo Lujano	TKO	5 (10)	1966-07-10	Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico
16	Win	16–0	German Guzman	KO	4 (10)	1966-06-24	Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico
15	Win	15–0	Alfonso Jose Cazares	TKO	2 (10)	1966-06-11	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
14	Win	14–0	Emeterio Campos	TKO	4 (10)	1966-05-20	Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico
13	Win	13–0	Juan Molina	TKO	2 (10)	1966-04-23	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
12	Win	12–0	Gallito Camacho	TKO	1 (10)	1966-03-12	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
11	Win	11–0	Eduardo Alvarado	KO	2 (10)	1966-02-16	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
10	Win	10–0	Reynaldo De La Cerda	TKO	3 (10)	1966-01-28	Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico
9	Win	9–0	Pablo Martinez	TKO	2 (10)	1965-11-24	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
8	Win	8–0	Mateo Jaimes	TKO	5 (10)	1965-10-20	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
7	Win	7–0	Jorge Gomez	TKO	8 (10)	1965-09-09	Plaza de Toros, Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico
6	Win	6–0	Nemesio Zenil	TKO	2 (8)	1965-08-14	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
5	Win	5–0	Antonio Gallegos	TKO	4 (10)	1965-04-01	Arena Olímpico Laguna, Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico
4	Win	4–0	Torito Silva	KO	6 (10)	1965-02-18	Arena Olímpico Laguna, Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico
3	Win	3–0	Geronimo Cisneros	TKO	3 (6)	1965-02-01	Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
2	Win	2–0	Freddie Garcia	KO	1 (6)	1965-01-18	Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
1	Win	1–0	Isidro Sotelo	KO	1 (6)	1965-01-04	Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

See also[]

• List of WBC world champions
• List of WBA world champions
• List of featherweight boxing champions
• List of bantamweight boxing champions
• List of Mexican boxing world champions
• List of undisputed world boxing champions

References[]

External links[]

• Rubén Olivares at IMDb
• International Boxing Hall of Fame Bio
• Boxing record for Rubén Olivares from BoxRec
• Rubén Olivares - CBZ Profile