Sixto Escobar - Retirement, Death and Legacy

Retirement, Death and Legacy

After his military service, Escobar confronted problems to meet the bantamweight's limit and retired. He became a spokesman for a liquor brand and relocated to New York temporally, with his family. Subsequently he returned to Puerto Rico where he worked selling liquor in bars. In May 1947, Escobar and Jiménez Sicardó co-promoted a fight with the intention of bringing fans back to boxing. In the main event, Diego Sosa was matched against Francisco Colón García. Escobar was inducted into the Madison Square Garden's Boxing Hall of Fame in 1950. Escobar continued in his job as a liquor salesperson, during which it was common for liquor salesmen to drink a little bit of the product which they sold in front of potential customers. This contributed to the development of Escobar's alcoholic tendencies. His alcoholism would later combine with his diabetes and contribute to his death when he was 66 years old. Weeks before his death, Escobar participated in his last ceremony, where Diego Suárez, president of V. Suárez & Company. gave him a recognition.

After his death, the town of Barceloneta honored his memory by a statue. Escobar became the first world boxing champion in history to have a statue in his honor. On June 9, 2002, Escobar was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He became the fourth Puerto Rican to receive this distinction and the first to be included in the "Old Timers" section. In March 2005, a second statue of Estobar was unveiled at the Estadio Sixto Escobar in San Juan. Among the celebrities that attended the ceremony were former boxing world champions Julian Solís and Alfredo Escalera. This statue's location served as a remembrance tribute during the 94th anniversary of Escobar's birth, when a flower crown was placed at its feet. During this date, an activity was presented by Puerto Rico's House of Boxing in the library of the Pabellón de la Fama del Deporte Puertorriqueño. Among those who attended the ceremony were Solís, Escalera and Iván Calderón. On this date, People Inc. presented a documentary covering his life, which was donated to the venue. Several buildings and streets were named after Escobar posthumously, including the Auditorio Sixto Escobar. The house where he lived was later turned into a library and museum bearing his name.