Do you remember where you were when Salvador Sanchez's death was announced?

Do you remember where you were when Salvador Sanchez's death was announced?

 

On August 12 1982, I was at work at the local hospital, playing on the radio was, It's Gonna Take A Miracle by Deniece Williams. The radio announcer told of the details of the tragic accident. A Housekeeping Aide who only spoke Spanish told me of how the auto accident had occurred. Salvador was to have faced Juan La Porte in a rematch in defense of his WBC Featherweight title on Sept 15 1982 in Madison Square Garden. There was talk of a potential bout against Alexis Arguello.

 

Pat Cowdell gave Salvador Sanchez a good fight, Salvador finally figured him out, then began to take control.

 

I was 23 years old when I heard the tragic news.

 

To be honest, I thought Wilfredo Bazooka Gomez was going to win, he took apart another tall rangy fighter in Carlos Zarate in Oct 1978. But Salvador Sanchez took apart Gomez rather easily, proving that weight does matter, Sanchez did have a granite chin, he took bombs from Danny Little Red Lopez and Gomez, he was willing to fight all of the well known dangerous fighters. I sure do remember the day that he was killed in August 1982, like I posted, I was 23 years old at the time. It was a hot humid gloomy cloudy day when I heard the sad news.

 

When Salvador Sanchez defeated Danny Little Red Lopez on Feb 2 1980 for the WBC Featherweight title I was on my drill weekend, I was in the Air National Guard. Someone came running in, told all of us that Sanchez had won by TKO 13, the fight was held in my home state of Phoenix, Az. I saw some highlights of that fight on television, I was very impressed, he was cool, calm and collected in the ring. He did not have a style like Ruben Olivares or even Jose Mantequilla Napoles, he fought more like an American boxer in my opinion. I followed him until his untimely death. Sal was one month older than me, my birthday is Feb 4 1959. A great loss to all of us boxing fans.