Alfredo Escalera

Alfredo "El Salsero" Escalera (born March 21, 1952) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer and is the former World Boxing Council Super Featherweight world champion. A native of Carolina, his nickname was "Salsero" because he was a fan of Salsa music. Escalera and his nephew Jesus Manuel Escalera is also a 2023 Florida Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee.

Early boxing career

Escalera had his first professional bout on September 4, 1970, against Bob Payzant, in Portland. He won by a knockout in round four. He would suffer his first defeat in his third fight, when faced against Doug McClendon, who beat him by a decision in six rounds on January 26, 1971, in New York. He won five bouts in a row, and then lost by decision in eight rounds to future world title challenger Edwin Viruet.

He began 1972 by losing to another future world title challenger, Diego Alcala, by knockout in round eight, but he won his three other fights that year.

In 1973, he began, once again, by losing to another future world title challenger, Miguel Montilla, by a decision in ten rounds. Before the year was over, however, he was able to avenge that defeat, defeating Montilla by a knockout in round eight, and he won seven of his eight other fights that year.

By 1974, he began climbing up the super featherweight rankings, going 8-2 that year. He beat his own future world title challenger Sigfredo Rodriguez by a knockout in round one, and former world champion Ricardo Arredondo by a disqualification in round eight.

Champion

On July 4, 1975, he fought the WBC super featherweight champion Kuniaki Shibata in Mito, Japan, knocking Shibata out in round two to become the WBC super featherweight champion. Coincidentally, Escalera won his world title the same day that Angel Espada won the WBA world Welterweight championship at a fight that took place in Puerto Rico; this was the first time two Puerto Ricans became world champions the same day and as a consequence, Puerto Rico, a country that had only produced two world boxing champions in its history, doubled their number of champions in one day with Escalera and Espada's victories.

Escalera became a household name in Puerto Rico during his tenure as world champion. He appeared in television commercials and was a popular public figure.

He defended his title ten times, including wins over Ray Lunny, Sigfredo Rodriguez and Tyrone Everett. Most observers consider the Everett "win" as one of the worst decisions in boxing history, as it appeared that Everett clearly won. A rematch was being negotiated when Everett was murdered.

Escalera lost his title on January 28, 1978, to Alexis Argüello of Nicaragua by a technical knockout in round 13 in Bayamón.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In this fight, Escalera suffered a broken nose and tooth, a cut on his tongue and above his left eye, and a closed right eye before submitting to Argüello. The first Arguello-Escalera encounter has been dubbed as "The Bloody Battle of Bayamon". The fight was described as "brutal".

Post-championship career

Escalera and Argüello had a rematch, on February 4, 1979, in Rimini, and Escalera held a small lead on the judges' cards after 12 rounds. However, he was knocked out in round 13 by Argüello. Shortly after drawing (tying) with Antonio Cruz in ten rounds in October of that year, he announced his retirement.

In 1980, Escalera dedicated himself to the sport of professional wrestling, competing on the Puerto Rican professional wrestling circuit.Template:Citation needed However, in 1981, he launched a boxing comeback. He lost to future world light welterweight champion Gene Hatcher in San Antonio, but he beat former world title challenger Maurice Termite Watkins at "The Battle of the Champions'" undercard in Miami, to complete his 1982 boxing campaign.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1983, he avenged his loss to Hatcher, scoring a ten-round unanimous decision win at the Roberto Durán-Davey Moore world title fight undercard in Madison Square Garden. On September 15 of that year he lost to future world title challenger Charlie White Lighting Brown.

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
70	Template:No2Loss	Template:Nowrap	Charlie Brown	UD	10 (10)	1983-09-15	Template:Small
69	Template:Yes2Win	53–13–3	Victor Babilonia	TKO	5 (10)	1983-08-12	Template:Small
68	Template:Yes2Win	52–13–3	Gene Hatcher	UD	10 (10)	1983-06-16	Template:Small
67	Template:Yes2Win	51–13–3	Martin Rojas	UD	12 (12)	1983-05-13	Template:Small	Template:Small
66	Template:Yes2Win	50–13–3	Trad Thompson	KO	3 (10)	1983-03-25	Template:Small
65	Template:No2Loss	49–13–3	Sergio Medina	UD	10 (10)	1983-01-29	Template:Small
64	Template:Yes2Win	49–12–3	Maurice Watkins	UD	10 (10)	1982-11-12	Template:Small
63	Template:Yes2Win	48–12–3	Guillermo Fernández	PTS	10 (10)	1982-09-18	Template:Small
62	Template:Yes2Win	47–12–3	Johnny Lira	MD	10 (10)	1982-07-02	Template:Small
61	Template:Yes2Win	46–12–3	Jesús Nava	KO	7 (10)	1982-05-21	Template:Small
60	Template:No2Loss	45–12–3	Gene Hatcher	UD	10 (10)	1982-04-09	Template:Small
59	Template:Yes2Win	45–11–3	Clemente Munoz	PTS	10 (10)	1982-03-08	Template:Small
58	Template:No2Loss	44–11–3	Angel Cruz	SD	10 (10)	1982-01-22	Template:Small
57	Template:Yes2Win	44–10–3	Johnny Torres	KO	8 (10)	1981-11-21	Template:Small
56	Template:Yes2Win	43–10–3	Ruby Ortiz	PTS	10 (10)	1981-10-16	Template:Small
55	Template:DrawDraw	42–10–3	Antonio Cruz	PTS	10 (10)	1979-10-13	Template:Small
54	Template:No2Loss	42–10–2	Alexis Argüello	TKO	13 (15)	1979-02-04	Template:Small	Template:Small
53	Template:No2Loss	42–9–2	Julio Valdez	UD	10 (10)	1978-10-27	Template:Small
52	Template:Yes2Win	42–8–2	Larry Stanton	TKO	3 (10)	1978-07-26	Template:Small
51	Template:Yes2Win	41–8–2	Rogelio Castañeda	UD	10 (10)	1978-06-03	Template:Small
50	Template:No2Loss	40–8–2	Alexis Argüello	TKO	13 (15)	1978-01-28	Template:Small	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	40–7–2	Sigfrido Rodriguez	UD	15 (15)	1977-09-10	Template:Small	Template:Small
48	Template:Yes2Win	39–7–2	Carlos Becerril	KO	8 (15)	May 16, 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
47	Template:Yes2Win	38–7–2	Ronnie McGarvey	TKO	6 (15)	1977-03-17	Template:Small	Template:Small
46	Template:Yes2Win	37–7–2	Tyrone Everett	SD	15 (15)	1976-11-30	Template:Small	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	36–7–2	Ray Lunny III	RTD	12 (15)	1976-09-18	Template:Small	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	35–7–2	Buzzsaw Yamabe	UD	15 (15)	1976-07-01	Template:Small	Template:Small
43	Template:Yes2Win	34–7–2	Buzzsaw Yamabe	TKO	6 (15)	1976-04-01	Template:Small	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	33–7–2	José Fernandez	TKO	13 (15)	1976-02-20	Template:Small	Template:Small
41	Template:Yes2Win	32–7–2	Sven Erik Paulsen	TKO	9 (15)	1975-12-12	Template:Small	Template:Small
40	Template:Yes2Win	31–7–2	Gaétan Hart	KO	6 (10)	1975-11-17	Template:Small
39	Template:DrawDraw	30–7–2	Leonel Hernandez	SD	15 (15)	1975-09-20	Template:Small	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	30–7–1	Kuniaki Shibata	KO	2 (15)	1975-07-05	Template:Small	Template:Small
37	Template:DrawDraw	29–7–1	Francisco Villegas	PTS	10 (10)	1975-03-31	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	29–7	Mario Román	TKO	3 (?)	1975-02-24	Template:Small
35	Template:No2Loss	28–7	Mario Román	TKO	2 (?)	1974-12-14	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	28–6	Rodriguez Valdez	KO	1 (?)	1974-11-29	Template:Small
33	Template:No2Loss	27–6	Memo Cruz	PTS	10 (10)	1974-10-28	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	27–5	Eleuterio Herrnandez	TKO	8 (10)	1974-10-18	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	26–5	Omar Ruben Realecio	TKO	5 (10)	1974-09-09	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	25–5	Ricardo Arredondo	DQ	8 (10)	1974-08-03	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	24–5	Armando Mendoza	TKO	8 (10)	1974-05-30	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	23–5	Jorge Ramos	TKO	5 (10)	1974-04-01	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	22–5	Sigfrido Rodriguez	KO	1 (10)	1974-03-03	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	21–5	Stanley Yanachek	KO	2 (?)	1974-02-04	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	20–5	Johnny Copeland	TKO	5 (10)	1973-12-17	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	19–5	Miguel Mayan	KO	4 (?)	1973-11-30	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	18–5	Antonio Amaya	PTS	10 (10)	1973-11-12	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	17–5	José Luis López	TKO	6 (?)	1973-09-15	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	16–5	Frankie Otero	TKO	5 (10)	1973-08-21	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	15–5	Leo Randolph	KO	2 (?)	1973-07-21	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	14–5	Miguel Montilla	TKO	8 (10)	1973-07-14	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	13–5	Carlos Gil	KO	1 (?)	1973-05-08	Template:Small
17	Template:No2Loss	12–5	Gino Febus	PTS	10 (10)	1973-04-28	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	12–4	Rocky Orengo	PTS	10 (10)	1973-03-31	Template:Small
15	Template:No2Loss	11–4	Miguel Montilla	PTS	10 (10)	1973-03-03	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	11–3	Miguel Morales	PTS	10 (10)	1972-09-18	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	10–3	Carlos Penson	KO	1 (?)	1972-07-14	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	9–3	Alejandro Falcon	KO	7 (?)	1972-06-12	Template:Small
11	Template:No2Loss	8–3	Diego Alcala	KO	8 (10)	1972-02-16	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	8–2	Henry Ocasio	PTS	8 (8)	1971-10-26	Template:Small
9	Template:No2Loss	7–2	Edwin Viruet	PTS	8 (8)	1971-09-23	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	7–1	Reynald Cantin	PTS	10 (10)	1971-09-14	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	6–1	Eddie James	MD	6 (6)	1971-09-02	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	5–1	Henry Ocasio	PTS	4 (4)	1971-07-26	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	4–1	Richie Lugo	PTS	6 (6)	1971-03-30	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	3–1	Jimmy Jaynes	PTS	6 (6)	1971-03-24	Template:Small
3	Template:No2Loss	2–1	Doc McClendon	PTS	6 (6)	1971-01-26	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Red Walsh	UD	4 (4)	1970-12-02	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Bob Payzant	TKO	4 (4)	1970-09-24	Template:Small

Retirement

After the Brown fight, Escalera announced his retirement from boxing once again. Shortly after, it was discovered that he had eyesight problems and had been fighting almost blinded for his last few fights.

Escalera now enjoys the fruits of his career in his farm in Puerto Rico. His son, Alfredo Escalera Jr., was once a boxer himself, who is based in Florida.

Legacy

The avid autograph signer left a boxing record of 53 wins, 14 losses and 3 draws, with 31 wins by knockout. His two fights with Argüello are considered by many to be boxing classics, Argüello-Escalera I making The Ring magazine's list of 100 greatest fights of all time at number 67, and Argüello-Escalera II making it at number 40.

See also

• Afro–Puerto Ricans
• Boxing in Puerto Rico
• List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions
• List of world super-featherweight boxing champions

External links

• Template:Boxrec

Template:S-start Template:S-sports Template:S-text |- Template:S-vac Template:S-ttl Template:S-vac Template:S-text Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-end