Biography:

Julio Cesar Chavez Gonzalez was born in Ciudad Obregon, MX. His father, Rodolfo Chavez, worked for the railroad, and Julio grew up in an abandoned railroad car with his five sisters and four brothers. He began boxing as an amateur at the age of sixteen and after 14 wins entered an tournament in Mexico City, in which he got his first and only amateur loss. Chavez decided he would fare better as a pro and got his pro career off to a good start by knocking out Andres Felix in the sixth round of his debut on February 5, 1980. He fought on average once a month and already had thirty-seven fights under his belt by 1983. After a couple more fights televised in the US and with a record of 44 and 0, Chavez earned a shot at the WBC super featherweight title which had been vacated by Hector Camacho. On September 13, 1984, he TKO'ed Mario Martinez in the 8th round to gain his first championship belt.

After many years of success in his fighting career, Chavez lost his undefeated record in a January 1994 match with Frankie Randall. In this fight Chavez suffered the first knockdown of his career and then was penalized for low blows in the 7th and 11th to loose a twelve round split decision, losing his WBC light welterweight belt. In May of that year, however, he won it back from Randall with an eight-round technical decision after the fight was stopped due to a head butt. Chavez then offered a shot at his title to Meldrick Taylor, though it was probably a bit late for that rematch, and won with an eighth round TKO. In June of 1996, a super fight was made between Chavez and upcoming superstar Oscar De La Hoya. With his WBC light welterweight title on the line, Chavez suffered the second loss of his career when he suffered a bad cut, and the fight was stopped. He accumulated a few more wins before attempting to win back the title. De La Hoya had vacated it in a move up to welterweight, so a fight was set between Chavez and Miguel Angel Gonzalez (March 1998) to determine the new champion. Most ringside scorers had the fight for Gonzalez, but the official decision was another draw. Chavez tried for a rematch with De la Hoya in September 1998. This time the fight would be for De la Hoya's WBC welterweight title. It went for a full eight rounds before Chavez's corner stopped the fight due to a bad cut once again, this time on the lip of Chavez.

In May 2005, Chavez made yet another stop on his farewell tour, beating Ivan Robinson in Los Angeles on another card featuring JC Jr. However, a hand injury from that fight resulted in a final loss for Chavez, as he was forced to retire in his corner during the fight with Grover Wiley in September of that year. After months of waiting to see if the hand would heal, Chavez announced his official retirement at the end of January 2006. The focus now is on helping his son Julio Jr. in his career and working on a possible biographical movie.