We all know that in Mexico Boxing, in addition to being a sport, is almost a culture. In history, the best boxers are mostly from the United States, but Mexico has always occupied an important place in Boxing and perhaps the worst era of Mexican Boxing is currently living. Boxers like Rubén Olivares, Kid Azteca, Juan Zurita, Lupe Pintor, Mantequilla Napoles, Julio César Chávez, Humberto González, Salvador Sánchez, Juan Manuel Márquez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erick Morales, Finito López come to mind. They were boxers who did not avoid anyone, they fought with whoever was put in front of them regardless of whether they ran the risk of losing.
That characteristic of courage was what characterized Boxing in Mexico in its history. Curiously, this characteristic does not characterize it today. Few Mexicans like Juan Francisco Estrada, Carlos Cuadras, Luis Nery and a few others are taking on the tough challenges. The main problem of the rest of Mexicans is not the lack of talent, it is the lack of courage. Speaking of bravery, it makes me sick to see how many tops don't even take Carlos Zárate into account, apparently if you're not a commercial boxer, the tops don't take you into account.
Personally, I have Carlos Zárate in the Top 10 in Mexico and I am sure that after reading this post many will consider him more. Carlos Zárate made his professional debut in 1970 by KOing Luis Castañeda in two rounds. His first 23 bouts he won by KO and met victory for UD for the first time when he beat Victor Ramírez. In March 1975, he beat American Joe Guevara by TKO in the third inning, to clinch the California State Bantamweight title, USA. He then faced the demanding Panamanian Orlando Amores and beat him with a strong left in the third round. Later that year he beat former title challenger Néstor Jiménez, knocking him out in the second round.
In March 1976 he knocked out César Desiga in four laps, which made him the # 1 challenger to the WBC title, which was in the possession of another great Mexican, Rodolfo Martínez. On May 8, 1976, just a month and a few days after his last fight, Zarate was competing with his compatriot in a fight for the WBC title. Despite the short time between his last fight and his title fight, Zárate looked well prepared on the night of May 8 and knocked out his compatriot in the eighth round, thus becoming the WBC champion after a very good fight. In early 1977, as a true warrior and boxer who fought with pride and greatness, he sought the unification match against another great Mexican, Alfonso Zamora, who was a WBA champion. But the bodies of the belts that were at stake (WBC and WBA) put up many obstacles.
They wanted both boxers to pay a large amount of money to carry out the match. In the end the fight was made, but due to all these obstacles that both organizations put up, California sanctioned the title fight and it became a non-title fight. Both boxers had nothing to do with these incidents. They wanted to do the right thing, but the agencies did not play in their favor. Still on April 23, 1977, they clashed and after a person broke into the fight during the first chapter, Zárate knocked out Zamora in the fourth round. This made the public recognize him as the true unified bantamweight champion and, in fairness, he should have been. Before the '80s, the FIB and OMB organizations did not exist, that is to say that being objective, Carlos Zárate should have been indisputed.