Daniel Zaragoza-Mighty Mouse

He was known under the fighting alias of "El Raton", "mouse", hence the title. Daniel Zaragoza was and is one of the best super bantams in history and he won the WBC belt four times in all, first time in 1985 and last time in 1995. He is noteworthy as one of the few famous Mexican fighters to have been a boxer rather than a brawler, even though he was also capable of brawling. He was one of the first big names to be trained by today legendary Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain. He was as mentioned a skilled and clever boxer and was also a rather good puncher and a tough guy. The only bad thing about him was his face-it could never win him anything but the title of the ugliest world champion in boxing. He had a long and distinguished career and retired at 40.

Born in Mexico City on 11 December 1957, Zaragoza represented Mexico in the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as a bantamweight. He was eliminated in the second round on points to Jackie Beard of USA. He also competed at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and beat Phillip Sutcliffe of Ireland and Ray Gilbody of UK on points before being stopped in the quarterfinals by Michael Parris of Guyana, by TKO 2. He turned pro 17 October that year and then posted 14 victories before losing for the first time against Harold Petty of USA, by UD10. It was his second fight in USA. He then won the Mexican bantam title by decisioning Jose Ramirez over 12 rounds. He made 10 defenses of this title but also tried to win the NABF title in a rematch with Petty, 8 August '83, but again lost by UD, this time in 12 rounds. After vacating his Mexican title, he challenged for the WBC bantamweight title against Fred Jackson; the fight was in Oranjestad, Aruba, on 4 May '85 and after 6 rounds Zaragoza was ahead on one of the cards and behind on two, all by small margins, when Jackson was disqualified in the seventh round because of an intentional headbutt which opened a bad cut on Zaragoza's forehead. Zaragoza thus became a world champion for the first time, at 27, but this reign would be shortlasting, as he lost the title in his first defense to the slick Colombian Miguel "Happy" Lora. Fight was in Miami, 9 August, and Lora won clearly by a unanimous decision after 12 rounds.

Zaragoza then became a super bantamweight, a division at which he would fight for the rest of his career. In his first fight there he was matched against the Australian superstar Jeff Fenech,11 April '86 at the Entertainment Centre in Perth, Australia. Zaragoza was penalized one point for low blows in round 4 and in the end lost by too wide scores, despite the fight being competitive. Fenech's superior speed and reflexes prevailed. Zaragoza rebounded by winning the NABF belt at the end of the year, knocking out famed contender Mike Ayala in 7 in San Antonio, Texas on 6 December. He defended the title once by UD12 against Aaron Lopez, where he also put Lopez down in round 11, in April '87. He was then matched against a fellow countryman and a legend: former bantamweight world champion Carlos Zarate, one of the greatest punchers ever, in a fight for the vacant WBC 122-pound title. It was an unusual date, 29 February of '88, and the setting was Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. Zarate was however at the end of his career, aged almost 37, and Zaragoza dominated the fight, finally stopping Zarate in round 10 with several overhand lefts. It would be the taller Zarate's last fight. For his first defense Zaragoza had to go to South Korea and fought to a questionable (as always!) draw against Seung Hoon Lee, who was previously the IBF champion at this weight. He then knocked out future WBO champion Valerio Nati of Italy in 5 rounds in his second defense.

And then, in the third defense, he faced what would become his arch-rival: Paul Banke, an unheralded but underrated fighter from California. Banke was 25 and his record was 16-3, but he gave Zaragoza a much tougher fight than expected, that 22 June '89. In the end, Zaragoza retained his title by an uneven split decision, 116-110 and 117-110 for him and 115-113 against him. He then stopped Frankie Duarte, a former two-time world title challenger, by TKO 10 and finally in his fifth defense he again went to South Korea to fight Chan Young Park, but this time won by a split decision. When he signed for a rematch against Banke, few would have expected the outcome. It was 23 April '90 at the Great Western Forum and the two waged another unforgettable war, like the first time. Zaragoza was ahead on the cards after 8 rounds, even though Banke may have in reality been ahead slightly. Zaragoza was one that looked in worse shape as his right eye was badly cut and swollen up. In round 9, Banke went all out and hurt Zaragoza before putting him on the canvas with a left hook. Zaragoza got up in time and went back at it, but was again nailed with a big left hook which put him down again. This time, he was unable to beat the count and so, for the first time in his career, he was stopped and of course lost his world title for the second time. After Banke lost the WBC belt by a surprise knockout to Pedro Decima, Decima was then himself stopped by the Japanese Kiyoshi Hatanaka and Zaragoza got to fight him for the belt. The fight was in Nagoya, central Japan, 14 June '91, and Zaragoza outhustled the Japanese to win by a SD12. Only the Korean judge scored it for the champion, 115-113. The other two had Zaragoza winning clearly, 117-110 and 116-112. After beating another Korean, Joon Huh, by UD12 in his first defense, Zaragoza wanted revenge and signed to fight Banke in the third fight, the rubbermatch.

Banke, though still only 27, was no longer his old self, having wasted away his prime on partying and also getting brutally blown out by Decima. Therefore, Zaragoza won this time by a clearer margin than in their first fight and by UD, 9 December '91 in Inglewood. In his third defense however, he lost his title again to the skilled Thierry Jacob of France, who beat him in his own hometown of Calais, by UD12, 20 March '92. Jacob was then stopped by Tracy Harris Patterson in his very first defense and Zaragoza tried to reclaim his belt against "Black Caesar" Patterson, but fought to a draw with him, again in France, for some reason. They had a rematch on 25 September '93 and Zaragoza was stopped on cuts after 7 rounds. He was behind on all scorecards. He then decided to take a break from world title fights and had some lower-level fights, winning 6 of them, among others beating world title challenger Wilfredo Vargas by KO 7 and former IBF champion Jose Sanabria by UD10. He then challenged the reigning WBC champion Hector Acero Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, 2 June '95 in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The fight ended in a draw. They had a rematch on 6 November at the Great Western Forum, where Zaragoza fought a lot and this time it was a lucky place for him, as he finally recaptured his title by a split decision. He stopped the two-time world champion, Japanese Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, by TKO11 in Yokohama and also beat Tsuyoshi Harada by TKO7 in Osaka. His third defense against the teak-tough Wayne McCullough ended in a controversial split decision victory for the champion, 11 January '97 in Boston. He once again beat Tatsuyoshi, this time by UD, in his fourth and last successful defense, 14 April that year.

His final fight couldn't have been a better way of saying goodbye. Zaragoza, now pushing 40, faced a young lion in Erik Morales and it was a passing of the torch in many ways, as Morales became arguably even greater champion and fighter than Zaragoza. The fight was on 6 September in El Paso and Zaragoza held his own against the 21-yearold and was even ahead on one of the cards after 10 rounds, but was down in the 10th and stopped in the 11th. He retired with a record of 55 wins, scoring 28 ko's, 8 losses and 3 draws. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 2004. Zaragoza is still a popular figure in the sport in his native country and has trained two-weight world champion Rafael Marquez. He will be remembered for his boxing skills and longevity, if not also for his face.