Romeo Anaya

Romeo Anaya (5 April 1946 – 24 December 2015) was a Mexican boxer in the Super Bantamweight division. He was the Lineal and WBA World Bantamweight Champion.^[1]

Pro career

On 3 November 1973, Arnold Taylor met Lineal and WBA World Bantamweight Champion Anaya in a match refereed by Stanley Christodoulou in Johannesburg in South Africa. The 14 round fight is considered by many to be one of boxing's classic fights. One South African sportswriter called it "the bloodiest fight in South African boxing history". Taylor suffered a cut and was knocked down once in round five and three times in round eight (the WBA has since adopted a rule where a fighter is automatically declared a knockout loser if he or she is knocked down three times in the same round). Nevertheless, Taylor also cut the champion, and, in round fourteen, he connected with a right hand to Anaya's jaw, sending him to the floor. Feeling that this was his moment to become a world champion, Taylor screamed to his trainers: "He's gone!" from a neutral corner. It took Anaya two minutes to get up, and Taylor won the Lineal and WBA world Bantamweight titles.

Retirement

During his boxing career, which ran from 1967 to 1980, Anaya held the Lineal and WBA Bantamweight Championship of the World in 1973 and the Bantamweight Championship of Mexico in 1971.^[2] His boxing record was won 46 (KO 38) and lost 19 (KO 14) and drew 1.^[3]

See also

• List of lineal boxing world champions
• List of WBA world champions

References

External links

• List of Anaya's bouts
• Anaya on the The Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia