Edwin Rosario

Edwin Rosario
Edwin "El Chapo" Rosario in 1984
Statistics
Real name	Edwin Rosario
Nickname(s)	"El Chapo"
Rated at	Lightweight
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Born	March 15, 1963 Puerto Rico
Died	December 1, 1997

Edwin "El Chapo" Rosario (March 15, 1963 – December 1, 1997) was a Puerto Rican boxer. He was the WBC lightweight champion from 1983–84 and the WBA champion in 1986–87 and again in 1989–90. After moving up to the junior welterweight class, he became a WBA champion once more, holding the title from 1991 to 1992.

Early life and career

Chapo, as he was known in the world of boxing, was born in Barrio Candelaria, Toa Baja, an extremely poor barrio. Rosario's brother, Papo Rosario, was a professional boxer in the beginning of a promising career. His boxing manager and coach (trainer) was Manny Siaca Sr. that notice Rosario's talent since he was 8 years old. Rosario was inspired by his brother, and had a stellar amateur boxing career.

Papo died unexpectedly, supposedly due to drugs, two years after his brother's move to professional boxing. Rosario persevered, wanting to honor his brother's memory by winning a world championship. He scored big knockout wins over Young Ezzard Charles and Edwin Viruet, the former in 3 rounds on the Holmes-Cooney undercard. He eventually gained a record of 21-0 with 20 knockouts. This led to talks of a title fight against world lightweight champion Alexis Argüello, to be held in Miami, but Argüello abandoned the division to challenge Aaron Pryor.

Boxing champion

External videos
	You may watch Edwin Rosario vs José Luis Ramírez here

Rosario was then matched with Mexico's José Luis Ramírez on May 1, 1983. Rosario dominated the first 7 rounds, but tired down the stretch to make for a very close fight. The judges, as well as most of the public present, felt Rosario had done enough to win, and Rosario had become world lightweight champion by the unanimous score of 115-113 on all 3 judging cards. Rosario injured his hand during the fight and needed surgery, for which the World Boxing Council gave him a dispensation.

Rosario returned to the ring in 1984. In his first defense of the title, he faced Roberto Elizondo, who had lasted 7 rounds with Argüello in a previous world title challenge and was expected to give Rosario a tough challenge. However, Rosario knocked out Elizondo in a single round. Howard Davis Jr proved more of a challenge—he led Rosario on all scorecards with ten seconds remaining in the bout, but was dropped by Rosario and lost a split decision.

A rematch with Ramírez was scheduled, again in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on November 3, 1984. Rosario dropped Ramírez once in round one and again in the second, but Ramírez was well trained and got off the canvas to take Rosario's title away with a four round TKO. This was Rosario's first defeat, and he seemed to never fully recover.

Rosario won a comeback fight against future world champion Frankie Randall in London and then had to wait one more year before an opportunity to recover the title. On June 13, 1986, he met world champion Hector 'Macho' Camacho at Madison Square Garden in New York. The fight was televised by HBO, and although Rosario shook Camacho badly in the fifth round and rallied down the stretch, Camacho swept the middle rounds and the judges thought that had been enough for him to retain the title by a split decision.

Because of the closeness of that bout, the WBA gave him a chance to challenge the other world lightweight champion, Livingstone Bramble. Rosario went to Miami and defeated Bramble by a knockout in the second round to become world lightweight champion for the second time. His pose, raising his arms after the fight, became The Ring magazine's cover for the next month—the only time Rosario was featured on the cover of that magazine's English version. He defended the title against fellow Puerto Rican Juan Nazario with a knockout in eight in Chicago, but in his next defense he was brutally beaten by Julio César Chávez in Las Vegas. By the eleventh round, Rosario's eye was almost completely shut and he was spitting blood from his mouth; the fight was stopped by his corner, and Rosario lost.

Rosario took off for 7 months, went 7-0 with 6 KO's, and after Chavez vacated the title in 1989, Rosario came back and won it again, beating tough Kronk prospect Anthony Jones for the championship. Rosario joined the short group of men who had become world champions 3 times in the same division. This time, however, he didn't last long; he gave Nazario a rematch, and Nazario stopped him on cuts in 1990 at Madison Square Garden in the 8th round.

Rosario moved up a weight class to the junior welterweight division, and then defeated defending world champion Loreto Garza in three rounds in Sacramento's Arco Arena to become a world champion for the 4th time. However, personal problems started to take their toll. In his first defense, against Japanese Akinobu Hiranaka in Mexico City on April 10, 1992, he lost by TKO in the 1st round.

Later career and death

Rosario disappeared from the boxing scene, but years later received media attention after being arrested for stealing beer from a supermarket. He vowed to stay clean and went into a program to achieve this. In 1997, he won two comeback fights, then won the Caribbean welterweight title by beating Roger Benito Flores of Nicaragua in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, in a twelve-round decision. Rosario, once an HBO staple, was now fighting on small cards without any TV showings. He was, however, ranked #10 among Oscar De La Hoya's challengers at the welterweight division after his win over Flores, making him an official world title challenger once again.

However, after defeating Sanford Ricks at Madison Square Garden and celebrating his final fight on September 25, 1997 by knocking out Harold Bennett in 2 rounds at Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Rosario died before any more fights could take place. He died of an aneurysm on December 1, 1997. Many celebrities and dignitaries attended his funeral, and a group of Puerto Rican world boxing champions were among the pallbearers. More than five thousand people came to the funeral or watched from their homes as the coffin was driven from the funeral home to the cemetery. On January 12, 2006, Rosario was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, thus becoming the sixth Puerto Rican inducted into the hall.

According to Ring Magazine, Edwin Rosario ranks #36 on the list of "100 Greatest Punchers of All Time."

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans
• List of lightweight boxing champions
• List of WBC world champions
• Hector Camacho versus Edwin Rosario
• List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions

External links

• Professional boxing record for Edwin Rosario from BoxRec

Preceded by Alexis Argüello Vacated	WBC Lightweight Champion 1 May 1983–3 November 1984	Succeeded by José Luis Ramírez
Preceded by Livingstone Bramble	WBA Lightweight Champion 26 September 1986–21 November 1987	Succeeded by Julio César Chávez
Preceded by Julio César Chávez Vacated	WBA Lightweight Champion 9 July 1989–4 April 1990	Succeeded by Juan Nazario
Preceded by Loreto Garza	WBA Light Welterweight Champion 14 June 1991–10 April 1992	Succeeded by Akinobu Hiranaka

Puerto Rican Boxers in the International Boxing Hall of Fame

Number	Name	Year inducted	Notes
1	Carlos Ortiz	1991	WBA Lightweight Champion 1962 Apr 21 – 1965 Apr 10, WBC Lightweight Champion 1963 Apr 7 – 1965 Apr 10, WBC Lightweight Champion 1965 Nov 13 – 1968 Jun 29.
2	Wilfred Benítez	1994	The youngest world champion in boxing history. WBA Light Welterweight Champion 1976 Mar 6 – 1977, WBC Welterweight Champion 1979 Jan 14 – 1979 Nov 30, WBC Light Middleweight Champion.
3	Wilfredo Gómez	1995	WBC Super Bantamweight Champion 1977 May 21 – 1983, WBC Featherweight Champion 1984 Mar 31 – 1984 Dec 8, WBA Super Featherweight Champion 1985 May 19 – 1986 May 24.
4	José "Chegui" Torres	1997	Won a silver medal in the junior middleweight at the 1956 Olympic Games. WBC Light Heavyweight Champion 1965 Mar 30 – 1966 Dec 16
5	Sixto Escobar	2002	Puerto Rico's first boxing champion. World Bantamweight Champion 15 Nov 1935– 23 Sep 1937, World Bantamweight Champion 20 Feb 1938– Oct 1939
6	Edwin Rosario	2006	Ranks #36 on the list of "100 Greatest Punchers of All Time." according to Ring Magazine. WBC Lightweight Champion 1983 May 1 – 1984 Nov 3, WBA Lightweight Champion 1986 Sep 26 – 1987 Nov 21, WBA Lightweight Champion 199 Jul 9 – 1990 Apr 4, WBA Light Welterweight Champion 1991 Jun 14 – 1992 Apr 10.
7	Pedro Montañez	2007	92 wins out of 103 fights. Never held a title.
8	Herbert "Cocoa Kid" Hardwick	2012	Member of boxing's "Black Murderers' Row". Never held a title .

     = Indicates the person is still living