Pac was 19 when he defeated the man, the main guy, the boss of the division. He did this at Flyweight back in the 90s. How rare is this? Who else has done it? Has it been done since? What other teenagers have won a world title since then? Even if not beating the top guy.
Probably one of the youngest lineal champs ever. I'm not sure if Wilfred Binetez was lineal, but if he was, he would have been the youngest.
Also Pac stopped the man as a teenager. That may have never been done before. For a teenager to knockout the top fighter in the division.
Fighting Harada won the flyweight title from the top man Pone Kingpetch at 19. Lionel Rose won the bantamweight title from Harada when he was only 19.
Terry McGovern first beat the top man, Pedlar Palmer, for the bantamweight crown - and then later the top man at feather, George Dixon, for that title. Both times by ko - and both times as a teenager!
Mickey Walker and Terry McGovern won titles at 19. Tony Canzoneri was only 18-19 when he beat Benny Bass. Pep and Duran were 20. Mayweather was 21 when he knocked out Genaro Hernandez. Salvador Sanchez knocked out Wilfredo Gomez when he was 21. Benny Leonard knocked out Freddy Welsh when he was 21. Julio Cesar Chavez captured one at 22 like Ali, Sandy Saddler, Billy Conn, and Stanley Ketchel. Joe Louis captures the title at 23, as did Barney Ross and Ray Leonard. Gene Tunney, Roy Jones Jr., and Eder Jofre 24. Robinson, Armstrong, Whitaker get theirs at 25. Youngest Champs by division HW: Mike Tyson (20) CW: Carlos De Leon (21) LHW: Michael Moorer (21) SMW: Darrin Van Horn (22) MW: Al McCoy (19) LMW: Darrin Van Horn (20) WW: Pipino Cuevas (18 LWW: Wilfred Benitez (17) LW: Edwin Rosario (20) JLW: Ben Villaflor (19) FW: Tony Canzoneri (18 SBW: Julio Gervacio (20) BW: Teddy Baldock (18 SFW: Cesar Polanco (18 FW: Joe Symonds (19) JFW: Netrnoi Vorasingh (19) SW: Hiroki Ioka (18
I believe Walker was 20, when he became world champion. Also, at 20 David Benavidez is the youngest champ at SMW.
Was Cervantes the consensus man? Because though often times the man and the lineal champ are the same fighter sometimes they are not. Sergey Kovalev was the man at 175 for years while Stevenson was the lineal champ for example.
I hear ya. In this case, Pambele was both lineal and the man. His main contemporary pre Benitez was Italian Bruno Arcari, who had some odd and not particularly impressive defenses before vacating his WBC title. In contrast, Cervantes had defeated former champs in Locce and Frazier, future titleholder Mamby, and Estaban DeJesus. He was considered the best in the world at 140lbs at that point, as well as lineal, for good reason.
