43 years ago: Salvador "Steel Lung" Sánchez Narváez vs. Roberto "Leonés de Hierro" Castañon González

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Here is Mexico's legendary son, now in the conversation for national GOAT right alongside JCC and probably the most complete world champion to ever hail from the Land of the Sun (or, as Castañon's fellow Spaniards refer to it, "El Águila Real" - the Royal Eagle, symbolically perched upon a cactus and eating a snake in the Mexican coat of arms) - at the height of his powers. Early nineteen eighties. Fifth defense - of the nine that fate would allow him, before dragging his Porsche 928 off a Querétaro highway - of his WBC featherweight title in arguably the greatest reign the division has known.

Now what of his challenger, the mustachioed and mulleted European who shared language and profession but neither culture nor pedigree with the mercurial, many-monikered Mexican (to wit: "Sal", "Chava", "Invincible Eagle", and Pulmón de Acero - "Iron Lung") on this occasion, in March of '81?

We begin his tale in the mid-late 1960s, when a pubescent Castañon was brought to a local boxing event by his father. The main event happened to feature José Adolfo "Pocket Cassiuc Clay" Legrá Utria, the future two-time WBC featherweight king (this, while the detail of his opponent isn't cited as such anywhere, can only have been José Legrá's bout with José Luis Torcida - his only time competing in León). He was so impressed he was soon in the gym under the guidance of coaches Juan Manuel Mayo and Guillermo Valbuena.

Fast-forward to June of 1974, and Castañon has summited the domestic amateur scene, winning the 57kg national championship defeating Emilio Barcala. From there, it was a matter of trying for Olympic gold or turning pro. Given that Spain didn't even put together a boxing team for the 1976 games in Montreal, the choice to do the latter was sort of made for him.

From his debut in November of '75, it took shy of two years for him to replicate his amateur feat and become Spanish national featherweight champion in the pros as well. Striking while the "Iron Man of León" was hot, Castañon's team - now helmed by coach Manuel Pombo - soon positioned him to challenge undefeated countryman Manuel Masso for his EBU title. Castañon would take Masso's zero and European belt via KO11, and make a whopping eleven defenses of that coveted prize (once held by José Legrá himself) - including one versus familiar rival Barcala.

In the course of that run, he would catch the world championship bug twice. He was stopped in both attempts - first by Danny López and then by our Sal - but he gave a good account of himself and did La Piel de Toro proud in each. (López did knock him out in 2, but it was a short brutal war in which Castañon had dominated the 1st).

Alright, the stage is set - and the crowd was hot. Michael Dokes and Randall Cobb had just put on a ten round heavyweight slugfest in the chief supporting action.

In the blue corner we have Salvador "Pulmón de Acero" Sánchez, 22 years old, one loss and one draw on his record against his 38 victories with 29 by knockout - a boxer-puncher with no major weaknesses in his game to speak of and precocious beyond his years, possessed of enormous "ring vision".

In the red corner we have Roberto "Leonés de Hierro" Castañon, 28 years old, also just once beaten with 42 victories and twenty-four of those secured inside schedule - a decorated amateur with moderate skill but a lunchpail fighter whose calling-card was his courageous style and mental & physical toughness.

The outcome was, of course, as inevitable as it ever shall be when you pit Iron (hierro) versus Steel (acero).

Just as there's a difference in tensile strength between those metals, there is a difference of scale in the shadows cast by these combatants. One man is fondly remembered within his region of the Iberian peninsula, but the other was destined to become the stuff of myth for not just his native country but all boxing historians.

To his eternal credit, however, Castañon was trading until the very last. Davey Pearl intervened timely and saved him from himself. Those combinations - ¡Ay, Dios mío!