Richard Sandoval (October 18, 1960 – July 21, 2024) was an American professional boxer and
Lineal and
WBA Bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class ...
Champion. Sandoval was a silver medalist at the
1979 Pan American Games
The 1979 Pan American Games, officially the VIII Pan American Games () and commonly known as San Juan 1979, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization (PASO), and were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from July 1 to Jul ...
in
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
and was a U.S. Olympian during his amateur career. He was also the younger brother of title contender
Alberto Sandoval.
Early life
Sandoval who was of
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
descent was born in
Pomona, California
Pomona ( ) is a city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was ...
, a city famous in pugilistic circles as a hotbed for young boxing prospects, including
Shane Mosley
Shane Mosley (born September 7, 1971), often known by his nickname "Sugar" Shane Mosley, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2016. He held multiple triple champion, world championships in three weight classes, incl ...
.
Sandoval's brother
Alberto Sandoval was a popular
bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class ...
of the 1970s, who unsuccessfully challenged
Carlos Zarate and
Lupe Pintor
José Guadalupe Pintor Guzmán (born April 13, 1955), better known as Lupe Pintor, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1995. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC bantamweight title fro ...
for the world title.
The young Sandoval met another future world champion,
Alberto Davila
Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...
, at Pomona boxing gyms. Eventually, they became friends, and they shared the burden of boxing's dangers later on in life.
Amateur career
Sandoval was a two-time National Golden Gloves Champion and from 1979 to 1980, Sandoval went on to win the National AAU Championship at
Light Flyweight and then in the
Flyweight
Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing up to and including 51 kg (112 lb) for a title fight.
Professional boxing
The flyweight division was the last of boxin ...
division. Sandoval qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the
1980 Summer Olympics boycott
The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was the largest boycott in Olympic history and one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summ ...
. In 2007, he received one of 461
Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal is the oldest and highest civilian award in the United States, alongside the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is bestowed by vote of the United States Congress, signed into law by the president. The Gold Medal exp ...
s created especially for the spurned athletes.
Professional career
Richie Sandoval made his professional boxing debut on 5 November 1980, beating Gerardo Pedroza in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
by a knockout in two rounds. He won his first ten fights by knockout, including two over fringe contender Javier Barajas. For his eleventh fight, Sandoval met Harold Petty, a boxer who was still fighting professionally at the age of 42 and who challenged twice for world titles. On 28 January 1982, he outpointed the undefeated Petty over ten rounds, going on to seven more wins that year, including another ten-round points victory over Petty.
Sandoval had five wins in 1983, the year in which his friend Davila won the
WBC Bantamweight title by knocking out
Kiko Bejines, who died days later. This introduced Sandoval to the darker side of boxing as he saw how hard it was for Davila to recover.
WBA Bantamweight Championship
Sandoval's next fight was held on 7 April 1984. Despite his record of 22 victories without any losses, including fifteen knockouts, he was a virtual unknown to most boxing fans when he met the
Lineal and
WBA Bantamweight champion
Jeff Chandler
Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Cochise in '' Broken Arrow'' (1950), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting ...
in
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...
. After dropping the champion in round eleven, Sandoval won by
TKO A technical knockout (TKO) is a professional fighting term.
TKO may also refer to:
Sports
* TKO, the name of a professional wrestling move referring to either the cutter or stunner variant
* TKO Group Holdings, a combat sports company
Music Ar ...
in round fifteen to become a world champion in a major upset. He followed this up with his first trip abroad as a professional boxer, to
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...
on September 22. He outpointed the top ranked and well known Edgar Román over fifteen rounds on the undercard of
Donald Curry
Donald Curry (born September 7, 1961), is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1991, and in 1997. He held the WBA world welterweight title from 1983 to 1986, the undisputed world welterweight title from 1985 to 1986 ...
's sixth-round knockout win over Nino LaRocca. He fought again on 15 December against Cardenio Ulloa, who was attempting to become the first
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
an world boxing champion in history. According to the report made by ''
Ring En Español
The Ring En Español is a Spanish version of boxing publication ''The Ring'' magazine. ''Ring En Español'' was originally published from 1977 to 1985. Originally published from Caracas and later from Panama, it moved in 1981 to Miami, to Editorial ...
'', Ulloa caused Chilean dictator
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...
to jump off his chair with excitement when he dropped Sandoval in the third round, but Sandoval recovered and retained the title with an eighth-round knockout.
By then, however, Sandoval was facing weight problems and he could barely make the weight even for fights in the Featherweight division, two divisions above Bantamweight, and he was forced to fight all his fights in 1985 as a Featherweight instead. He scored three ten-round decisions that year and one in 1986, including wins over
Frankie Duarte
Frankie Duarte (born September 3, 1954) is an American retired professional boxer at Super Bantamweight.
Professional career
Duarte turned pro in 1973 and retired in 1989 after losing to Daniel Zaragoza
Daniel Zaragoza (born December 11, 19 ...
and
Diego Avila.
Last bout and title defence
After not defending his title for a year and a half, he was forced by the WBA to defend his title or be stripped of it. He chose to defend it, despite his problems making the weight. On 3 March 1986, Sandoval defended his title against
Gaby Canizales
Jose 'Gaby' Canizales (born May 1, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who won the Lineal championship in the bantamweight division.
Early life
Canizales was born in Laredo in Webb County, Texas.
Pro career
Canizales turned pro in ...
, as part of a super-undercard organized by promoter
Bob Arum
Robert Arum (born December 8, 1931) is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorn ...
, which included the
Hearns versus
Shuler and
Hagler versus
Mugabi encounters. Sandoval reportedly had to lose around twelve pounds in three days in order to be able to fight that night, staying off any solid foods and surviving only on water. Weakened and feeling the side-effects of such a sudden drop-off in weight, Sandoval suffered four knockdowns, but he fought on until the fifth knockdown, which happened in round seven, after which the referee stopped the fight. He fell unconscious a few minutes after the fight, stopping breathing for an estimated three minutes. He was rushed to hospital by local on-site paramedics, but he remained in critical condition for the next few nights. He had life-saving
brain surgery
Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, s ...
, but the inevitable consequence was that Sandoval was obliged to retire. His final record was 29 wins and one loss, 17 wins by knockout.
Professional boxing record
Retirement and death
Sandoval later went touring across the United States with Davila, as each had been through both sides of a tragic boxing bout. They went on television
talk-show
A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (20 ...
s and public appearances to explain to the general public how a boxer feels (in Davila's case) after an opponent has died, and how a boxer can be so close to death in an instant after a fight (in Sandoval's case), and then having to deal with the fact that he or she will never be able to box again. Sandoval and Davila remained friends.
Sandoval died on July 21, 2024, at the age of 63.
R.I.P Richie Sandoval – The Former WBA Bantamweight Champ Passes At Age 63
/ref>
See also
* Lineal championship
*List of boxing families
This is a list of boxing families with two or more notable boxers. Many families have had multiple members become famous in the sport of boxing, with some having held multiple world titles. While this does not have extensive details, their highe ...
*List of Mexican boxing world champions
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*List of world bantamweight boxing champions
This is a list of world bantamweight boxing champions, as recognized by the four major sanctioning organizations in boxing:
* The World Boxing Association (WBA), established in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA). The WBA often recognize ...
References
External links
*
Richie Sandoval - CBZ Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandoval, Richie
1960 births
2024 deaths
American male boxers
Boxers from California
Sportspeople from Pomona, California
American boxers of Mexican descent
Light-flyweight boxers
National Golden Gloves champions
Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers
Flyweight boxers
World bantamweight boxing champions
World Boxing Association champions
The Ring (magazine) champions
AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists
Boxers at the 1979 Pan American Games
Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in boxing
Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games
Congressional Gold Medal recipients
20th-century American sportsmen