Why is this guy never discussed? A great fighter, very talented and skilled, who gave it his all in some of the most memorable fights of the 70's and 80's. 9 million threads on lesser fighters who happen to weigh over 200.
It never ceases to amaze me that a Bobby Chacon biopic hasn't been produced and then subsequently swept the Oscars. It could cover his early roots in Southern California and his romance with Valerie. It could go through his brilliant win over Danny Lopez, his rivalry with Bazooka Limon and his disapointing title loss to Ruben Olivares. Of course Bobby's stubbornness leads to Valerie's tragic death. Bobby is left at his lowest ebb, a single father, in professional decline, struggling with depression and alcohol abuse... Then in the third act he pulls it together and has his fourth fight with Limon. It is the grueling war we all know it was. The two are locked in a breath-taking battle for the championship when BOBBY KNOCKS HIM DOWN WITH 10 SECONDS LEFT!!! The crowd erupts in the arena when the decision is announced. Bobby his carried on his corner man's shoulders, pumping his arms. He looks into the cheering audience. For a second he imagines he sees Valerie smiling at him from the crowd a bit like the end of Braveheart. He dissolves into tears of simoultaneous heartache and ecstasy. As he weeps openly the screen fades to black and captions say that Bobby was inducted into the IBHOF blah blah blah you get the picture. While I'm using my imagination, maybe Selena Gomez could play Valerie. Call me crazy but she is actually a talented actress. I don't know who would play Bobby. Danny Boyle could be the director. EDIT: I'm going to change my profile picture to one of Bobby Chacon over this movie not being made.
Bobby Chacon was my mother's last favorite fighter. Little Red Lopez was my world when he fought Chacon and I hated Bobby for years because he won that fight. He earned my grudging respect over the years until, sometime about the 11th or 12th round of the last Limon fight, I became a fan. I have a friend that sparred with him leading up to the Mancini fight and he said that Chacon was a good guy, that they were friends, but that he could be an a-hole.
Bobby had a heart as big as California. It carried him through war after war. Amazes me how many of his fights were just can’t-take-your-eyes-off-it classics. Had a really pug-ugly, unscientific style of just wading in and throwing mostly wide shots. He knew he was going to take punishment but there would reach some point where what he was doing would begin to take its toll on the other guy and then they were at war for the rest of the way. I think the first time I saw him was against Arguello, and I was disappointed because I’d heard so much about the ‘Schoolboy’ of the Left Coast and he was completely outclassed and stopped on cuts. So after that I didn’t really expect as much from him and, boy was I wrong. He, of course, won me over as he kept campaigning and made himself one of my favorites. Always got your money’s worth with Bobby for sure. And, hey, who gets immortalized by Warren Zevon: “Hurry home early, hurry on home “Boom Boom Mancini’s fighting Bobby Chacon”
Such a huge part of the late 70's early 80's TV golden era. All action from bell to bell. Edit in..HBO real sports did an amazing story on him and Little Red. It's on YouTube. Highly recommend it.
Have seen a very poignant clip on You-Tube of a very young Bobby talking about future fights and aspirations, then towards the end trots out the old chess nut about how he is going to make a lot of money, then retire, get out the game with his faculties intact, and will not carry on to long like so many fighters before him , so sad, so familiar.
