Champion
On July 4, 1975, he fought the WBC super featherweight champion Kuniaki Shibata in Mito, knocking Shibata out in round two to become the WBC super featherweight champion.
Escalera became a house-hold name in Puerto Rico during his tenure as world champion. He appeared in television commercials and was a popular public figure.
He defended his title ten times, including wins over Ray Lunny, Sigfredo Rodriguez and Tyrone Everrett.
He lost his title on January 28, 1978, to Alexis Argüello of Nicaragua by a knockout in round 13 in Bayamón. In this fight, Escalera suffered a broken nose and tooth, a cut on his tongue and above his left eye, and a closed right eye before submitting to Argüello. The first Arguello-Escalera encounter has been dubbed as "The Bloody Battle of Bayamon".
Read more about this topic: Alfredo Escalera
Famous quotes containing the word champion:
“What a terrible thing has happened to us all! To you there, to us here, to all everywhere. Peace who was becoming bright-eyed, now sits in the shadow of death; her handsome champion has been killed as he walked by her very side. Her gallant boy is dead. What a cruel, foul, and most unnatural murder! We mourn here with you, poor, sad American people.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)
“But now Miss America, World’s champion woman, you take your promenading self down into the cobalt blue waters of the Caribbean and see what happens. You meet a lot of darkish men who make vociferous love to you, but otherwise pay you no mid.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“Let’s not quibble! I’m the foe of moderation, the champion of excess. If I may lift a line from a die-hard whose identity is lost in the shuffle, “I’d rather be strongly wrong than weakly right.””
—Tallulah Bankhead (1903–1968)