Biography of Alfonso Zamora

Alfonso Zamora (b. February 9, 1954) was a Mexican bantamweight boxer who fought from 1973 to 1980. Zamora was the silver medalist at the 1972 Munich Olympics and enjoyed a meteoric rise in his professional career.

Zamora won the WBA world Bantamweight championship on March 14, 1975 when he knocked out Soo Huan Hong in 4 rounds, two years after turning pro. Fighting contemporaneously, and holding the WBC crown, was fellow Mexican legendary Bantamweight Carlos Zarate. A showdown between the two was inevitable and they met in a non-title match on April 23, 1977. Zamora went into the bout sporting a record of 29 wins in 29 fights, all by knockout. Zarate’s record was an equally impressive 45 fights, 45 wins, with 44 KOs. In an eargely anticipated fight Zarate scored a technical knockout over Zamora in the fourth round.

Zamora never seemed to recover from this loss. In his next fight he lost his WBA Bantamweight title to Jorge Lujan by knockout in the 10th round. His record thereafter was spotty, and he even was stopped by a fighter (Eddie Logan) sporting a record of 5 wins and 7 losses on November 16, 1979. Zamora retired after losing, again by knockout, to Rigoberto Estrada on September 19, 1980.

Zamora was a knockout seeker, but he seemed to lose confidence after his devastating loss to Zarate. Nevertheless, he was selected to the Ring Magazine’s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. His final career record included 33 wins, with 32 KOs, and 5 losses.