Taking a headbutt to the eye didn’t stop Julio Cesar Chavez from taking down an undefeated title contender near the end of his legendary career.
The Mexican boxing legend stepped into the ring for the 97th time in 1995 when he took on David Kamau in a WBC Light Welterweight title defense.
Kamau was undefeated going into the bout, with 26 wins on the bounce without defeat as he rose the ranks to become the top contender in the division.
Julio Cesar Chavez was near the end of his career, admitting previously that he wanted to call it quits after fighting Oscar De La Hoya in his 100th bout.
He still had to get there, and Kamau was looking like one of the toughest opponents he’d face in a while when they battled on September 16, 1995.
However, the bout got off to a horrible start when Kamau did something illegal that the referee somehow overlooked.
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Julio Cesar Chavez was cut up in the first round after a headbutt from David Kamau
Chavez’s bout with Kamau did not start well for the Mexican. He spent the opening three minutes just sizing up his opponents, barely throwing a punch to try and see what he would do.
However, the round ended with Kamau hitting Chavez with an errant headbutt, presumably unintentionally, which opened up a large gash above his left eye.
The referee did not penalize Kamau and admitted after the fight that he missed the headbutt, but the damage had been done. Chavez immediately pawed at the cut, as blood began to flow, and his corner did their best to stem the bleeding.
This had a huge effect on the bout. Chavez was deeply affected by the cut, as he had to constantly wipe blood out of his eyes in order to be able to see his opponent properly.
This gave Kamau an in, but he still struggled to overcome the legendary fighter. Chavez knocked him down in the eighth round and stayed on top from then on, outside of a brief slip towards the end that didn’t count as an official knockdown.
Chavez won the fight by unanimous decision despite the headbutt bloodying his vision, and helped him move towards that dream fight with De La Hoya.
Oscar De La Hoya knocked out Julio Cesar Chavez after the Mexican followed the David Kamau win with a victory
Chavez got his dream fight with De La Hoya, although it was not his 100th and final fight as he had imagined.
He followed the win over Kamau with a second-round knockout win over Scott Walker, to set up a title defense against “Golden Boy” in June 1997.
De La Hoya already held two world titles at just 23 years old and agreed to the dream fight against the Mexican legend, which was one of the biggest fights in the world that year.
However, it was only the 99th bout of Chavez’s career, which ended in a fourth-round TKO loss to spoil his penultimate century bout.