Forgotten Warriors: Juan Lazcano

[BoztheMadman]

Known by his famous nickname "Hispanic Causing Panic" and for his never say die, all-out fighting style, Juan Lazcano was one of the best boxers of his era that never won a world title. He has stopped John John Molina, Stevie Johnston, Wilfredo Vazquez, Dorin Spivey and Courtney Burton and decisioned Jesse James Leija and Ben Tackie-some of the best boxers of his time, despite not all of them being in their prime. Johnston was never stopped before, in fact, he was the first one to do it. At 5'9 and a reach of 72 inches, Lazcano was also physically formidable for a lightweight and super lightweight. His career seemed to deteriorate after losing his biggest fight to Jose Luis Castillo for the WBC belt in 2004 and his career at 140 was ultimately unsuccessful, forcing him to retire at a rather young age of 33. Here is some info on Juan Lazcano.

 

He was born 23 March 1975 in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, but moved to El Paso, Texas, when he was two years old. He started boxing while in high school and eventually won the Texas Golden Gloves. His amateur record is 135 wins and 15 losses. He turned pro at the age of 18, 21 July 1993, on the undercard that included Shane Mosley, winning by a KO1 against Chris Crespin. He scored two more first round ko's and went 8-0 before being upset in a 6-rounder by decision, after breaking his hand, against Jose Manjarrez. In September 1996, he beat Antonio Diaz, brother of Joel and Julio, by MD6. At the end of the year, on 16 December, he tried to win the World Boxing Federation lightweight title against Daniel Lujan, but the fight ended a draw. They fought again for this title on 20 February and this time Lazcano won by a KO4. He defended it once by MD12 against James Crayton in July 1997 before vacating it. On 6 June next year, he was stopped for the first and only time as a pro by Golden Johnson, a future welterweight contender, by TKO3. After scoring 7 knockouts and 1 split decision, he got to fight the aging Wilfredo Vazquez for the NABF title, 16 June 2000 at Mandalay Bay. He was impressive as he sent Vazquez into retirement, effectively, and stopped him by TKO9. He then faced Jesse James Leija in a non-title fight and beat him by SD10. He then defended his NABF belt for the first time against Dorin Spivey and won by TKO8. On 5 May 2001, he would face another former world champion who was by now faded but still one of the most clever boxers of his time: John John Molina. It was a great war on that night in El Paso and despite some resistance from Molina, Lazcano was again dominant and in the end, Molina's corner threw the towel in in round 11, after their man had taken too much punishment. It would be Molina's last fight. Lazcano also won the IBA title with that victory.

 

The boxing world now knew who Juan Lazcano was. After making 2 more defenses of the NABF title and 4 more of the IBA title, Lazcano set his goals higher and vacated the titles to fight in a WBC-eliminator against former two-time world champion Stevie "Lil But Bad" Johnston. Johnston was 35-2-1, those two losses coming against Cesar Bazan (avenged) and Jose Luis Castillo (rematch ended in a draw). Despite being 5'4, some writers expected him to school Lazcano because of his experience and boxing IQ. They faced off on 13 September 2003 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas. It was another great fight where Lazcano first put Johnston down in the first round, before being down himself in the second. He came back to establish himself in the middle rounds and put Johston down twice more before stopping him by TKO11. He was now ready to challenge the big man in the division: his fellow Mexican Jose Luis Castillo, who held the WBC belt. Also, The Ring Magazine title was on the line. Once again, the fight was at the MGM Grand on 5 June 2004. Lazcano did very well early on and won several rounds, but after round 7 he began to fade and Castillo took over. Castillo was famous for his stamina and the ability to adapt to his opponent's game. That made him the victor in the end, with the scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113. That was Lazcano's last fight at 135 and his last true world title fight, as well the only one, sadly. After a year away, he came back with a 1-round destruction of Marco Angel Perez and then stopped the contender Courtney Burton (who knocked out Angel Manfredy) by KO9 after a competitive fight. He then beat another world class contender, Ben Tackie of Ghana, by UD10 to start 2006. After beating Manuel Garnica by SD, he fought in another WBC eliminator, this time at 140, against Vivian Harris. It was on 10 February 2007 at Mandalay Bay when Harris ended Lazcano's hopes of another world title chance by beating him by a close unanimous decision. Lazcano took another year off from boxing before returning for the last time to fight Ricky Hatton, the IBO-champion, who was coming back after his first loss to Floyd Mayweather jr. The fight was on 24 May 2008, at the City of Manchester Stadium, Hatton's hometown. Lazcano was outworked by the smaller and faster Englishman, but wobbled him in round 8 with a left hook to the chin and again hurt him with another left hook in round 10. However, that proved to be too little and he lost by too wide scores, 118-110, 120-110 and 120-108.

 

Having wasted another chance to get back in the ranks and land another title shot, Lazcano chose to retire there and then, with a record of 37 wins, 27 by ko, 5 losses and 1 draw. He has only been stopped once and by a guy that was probably already a natural welter, and he has fought guys like Castillo, Hatton and Harris-all dangerous punchers. That means one thing-Juan Lazcano surely deserves to be considered a true FORGOTTEN WARRIOR!