Through out the history of boxing we've had some bizarre records made for one reason or another but for me the most bizarre is the record held by little known Mexican Arturo Mayan who holds the record for the shortest career of any world title challenger at just 90 seconds.

Mayan would be the first challenger to Puerto Rican Alex Sanchez (who had won the belt just weeks earlier) and would be shown to be completely inept almost from the opening bell. It didn't take long for Mayan to turn his back on the champion forcing referee Ismael W. Fernandez to wave the bout off and effectively end Mayan's career with a record of 0-1.

Whilst Mayan's career may have been one of the very shortest and least memorable in title hisotry Sanchez himself went on to a have fruitful career. Sanchez would defend his title 5 more times before running into the legendary Ricardo “Finito” Lopez in a WBO/WBC unification bout. Sadly after being stopped by Lopez Sanchez was never the same fighter winning only 6 of his following 13 to leave his record at 31-8-1 (21).

In the history of boxing only 1 world champion has ever finished his career with more losses than wins, that man was former WBA Light Flyweight champion Francisco Quiroz (11-15-1-1, 5). Not only was he an anomaly in terms of his record at the end of his career but also his record when he ultimately got his world title opportunity in 1984. In fact it's fair to say that Quiroz has one of strangest careers of any fighter.

Quiroz started his career fighting in the capital of his homeland (The Dominican Republic), the city of Santo Domingo in the south of the island. Whilst fighting in Santo Domingo Quiroz recorded 6 wins between 1978 and 1980 as he beat the limited local opposition.

Following on from his good start Quiroz would leave his homeland and begin fighting in the much harsher boxing environment of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was here that Quiroz suffered the first loss of his career as he was out pointed by local fighter Ramon L Perez. This loss started a major slide for Quiroz who fell to 6-10-0-1 (1) with losses coming in Puerto Rico, Colombia, The Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Amongst the losses were two TKO losses to future world title challenger Ramon Antonio Nery (one coming in a national Flyweight title bout), one to future world champion Bebis Rojas, one to former world title challenger Jose Reinaldo Becerra, one to former (and future) world champion Rafael Orono and one to future world champion Israel Contreras. Meaning 6 of his 10 losses came to men who fought for a world title with 3 of the losses coming to one time champions.

Quiroz rebuilt his career following the string of tough losses stopping Oscar Bolivar in the 8th round of a rematch of one of his losses, this win was Quiroz's first in over 2 years. Quiroz would then win 2 of his next 3 bouts, including stopping former title challenger Rodolfo Rodriguez and then out pointing Jose Reinaldo Becerra (in a rematch). Those two wins helped earn Quiroz a chance at the WBA Light Flyweight champion Lupe Madera who had won the title just 10 months earlier.

Going into the big title bout Quiroz's record stood at a rather poor 9-10-1-1(3) a stark contrast to Madera who was 37-14-1 (23) (who had himself once been considered a journeyman before eventually proving his worth and winning a world title). Quiroz managed to eventually break down the champion in round 9 dropping him hard with a combination that caused the referee to wave the bout off as Madera was rising. As you can see in the video below (of the full fight) the crowd went crazy in celebration for Quiroz. This was the last fight of Madera's career.

Sadly Quiroz's reign didn't last long as he made only a solitary successful defence stopping Victor Sierra in 2 rounds in Panama just months after winning the belt. Quiroz would lose in his second defense the following year as he was narrowly out pointed in his US debut by Joey Olivo.

Following his title loss Quiroz's career would tail spin with 4 straight losses, each coming in a different country (Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico) before he hung up his gloves in 1990. Sadly Quiroz was killed less than 3 years later in a night club brawl aged just 45.

Of Quiroz's 11 career wins 6 came in the Dominican Republic, 4 came in Venezuela and 1, his only title defense, came in Panama. His losses however came in 7 countries (Puerto Rico, Colombia, The Dominican Republic, Venezuela, The USA, Argentina and Mexico) and it's his those, more than his wins, that have made him one of boxing's more forgotten “World Champions”. It seems only fitting to include him in this section of our website.

The video below is thanks to joeji42