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Six great Puerto Rican-Mexican grudge matches that lived up to the hype
This weekend will see Jake Paul take on Julio César Chávez Jr at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The bout, and its undercard, will be broadcast live and exclusive on DAZN.
To prepare for the bout, Paul has retreated to his multi-million-dollar compound in Puerto Rico, where he trains for his boxing matches alongside his brother Logan (who has so far had a successful career wrestling in WWE).
While Paul is based down in Puerto Rico, he is not a Puerto Rican fighter. However, that US territory has maintained a boxing rivalry with Mexico – the home country of Chávez - over the decades.
Puerto Rican fighters have tended to carry the reputation of being smooth boxers, able to turn both an opposing fighter and the fight itself on its head with one move. Mexican boxers, however, can be summed up with this paraphrasing of Muhammad Ali: They fight only for two things - God and country.
Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito
It may be difficult in 2025 to understand how big a star Miguel Cotto was in his prime. Cotto, 41-6 (33), may have been born in the mainland US, but there was never any doubt that he was Puerto Rican. A complex, compact wrecking ball of a fighter, Cotto spent his career terrifying the divisions between 140lbs and 154lbs. He even picked up the lineal middleweight title from Argentine great Sergio Martinez in a packed Madison Square Garden in 2014.
Cotto also made a habit of fighting Mexican fighters throughout his various tenures – and beating them, too.
Amongst his victories were wins over Alfonso Gómez and Antonio Margarito. The first Margarito fight was controversial when Cotto was battered into a corner by Margarito and, his face swollen, was pulled out of the fight after eleven rounds. Margarito would later be disgraced when, in his next fight, he was discovered to have wrapped plaster of Paris around his fists. A rematch with Cotto nearly three years later saw Margarito battered and humiliated, stopped in nine rounds.
Miguel Cotto vs Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, 2015
While Cotto beat many Mexican fighters, one thoroughly got the best of him – Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, who outpointed him nearly ten years ago in what was essentially a passing of the guard. After two lower-profile fights, including a loss to the unheralded Sadam Ali in 2017, Cotto called time on his career.
De La Hoya vs. Félix Trinidad, 1999
It was Mexico against Puerto Rico. And while both men could box, they were also renown for throwing left hooks. Meeting on the Las Vegas strip, De La Hoya came in with a 31-0 (25) record, while Trinidad entered the ring with a 35-0 (30) slate.
It was De La Hoya who seemed to have the better of it through the twelve rounds the fight lasted, but then he removed his foot from the pedal in the final stretch, allowing Trinidad to move back into the scoring. The majority decision for Trinidad was controversial, but no rematch was ever made.
Julio César Chávez Sr. vs. Héctor Camacho Sr, 1992
While the pair met for the world super-lightweight title nearly thirty years ago, the real battle was for the championship of each other. Meeting at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, the flashy Camacho stood as an antithesis to the bullying machismo of Chávez.
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While the pre-fight hype ratcheted up the tension between the two, the fight itself was one-sided with Chávez winning by scores of 119-110, 120-107, and 117-111.
Salvador Sánchez vs. Wilfredo Gómez, 1981
But for his early death at the age of 23 in a car accident, Sánchez may have become recorded as Mexico’s greatest fighter instead of Chávez Sr. Sánchez, 44-1-1 (32), died only a month after beating Ghanaian great Azumah Nelson in fifteen rounds at Madison Square Garden.
Perhaps his greatest opponent, however, was Wilfredo Gómez, 44-3-1 (42). The Puerto Rican puncher was undefeated in 33 fights (one draw) when the pair met at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for the world featherweight title. It made no difference to Sánchez, who knocked Gómez down in the fifth and eighth rounds, the latter leading to a stoppage moments later.
Jake Paul vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr will be streamed exclusively on DAZN PPV, Saturday, June 28. Buy the PPV now here
