Cinco de Mayo and boxing
Mexicans know the meaning of the celebration of May 5, commemorating the Battle of Puebla, involving the defence of Mexican territory against the French invasion.
This date has been geographically widened through migrants in the United States, and boxing had a lot to do with positioning May 5 as a great celebration, along with September 16, Mexico’s official Independence Day.
It was the boxing cards in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Texas, mainly, that gave it the dimension of a national holiday and for more than 30 years the most important fights in the world have been held on the weekend around this date.
U.S. migrants started this tradition celebrating important fights of Mexican idols Rubén “Puas” Olivares, Carlos Zarate and Salvador Sanchez, almost 50 years ago.
It was in the 90’s when May 5 and September 16 became the basis for promoters and television stations in the world to make their annual calendar based on those two weekends.
Great representatives of Mexico have fought on these important dates, for example the three great Mexican featherweights, Erik “Terrible” Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera. Manny Pacquiao also starred in 3 dates in Las Vegas. Legend to legend.
Julio Cesar Chavez passed it on to Oscar De la Hoya, The Golden Boy passed it on to Floyd Mayweather who owned May 5 for four consecutive years! And currently who is the face of world boxing, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Canelo took over in 2016 when he defeated Britain’s Amir Khan to defend his WBC middleweight world title.
Top 10 Cinco de Mayo Fights
10. Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao (2015)
9. Oscar De La Hoya vs Ricardo Mayorga (2006)
8. Canelo Alvarez vs Daniel Jacobs (2019)
7. Floyd Mayweather vs Shane Mosley (2010)
6. Manny Pacquiao vs Ricky Hatton (2009)
5. Floyd Mayweather vs Miguel Cotto (2012)
4. Floyd Mayweather vs Marcos Maidana 1 (2014)
3. Oscar De La Hoya vs Floyd Mayweather (2007)
2. Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez 1 (2004)
1. Diego Corrales vs Jose Luis Castillo 1 (2005)
Five Cinco de Mayo Fun Facts
5. Cinco de Mayo isn't Mexico's official Independence Day
4. It's a day to commemorate the Battle of Puebla, where 2,000 Mexican soldiers defeated a 6,000-strong French army against crazy odds on May 5th, 1862.
3. The winning General Ignacio Zaragoza, only 33 at that time, was honoured in a very special way when the place of victory was renamed from Puebla to Puebla de Zaragoza in his honour.
2. Every school in Mexico closes for Cinco de Mayo, even though it's not an official national holiday.
1. The celebration was promoted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 to establish good relations with their Latin American neighbours, which has seen Cinco de Mayo become one of the biggest weekends filled with festivals in the U.S. calender.
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