International Boxing Hall of Fame member and lineal Super Bantamweight world champion Wilfredo “Bazooka” Gomez made the first defense of his title after stopping Raul Tirado at 2:59 of round five at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente, in San Juan, Puerto Rico on July. 11th, 1977. The 20 year old Gomez improved to 16-0-1, 16 KO’s.
World Boxing Council Super Lightweight World Champion Bruno Arcari made his first defense of his title when Rene Roque was disqualified for head butting at 1:29 of round six at Stadio Beach, Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy on July 10th, 1970. The 28 year old Arcari improved to 40-2, 22 KO’s, while the 28 year old Roque dropped to 43-8-6, 6 KO’s. Arcari would go on to make nine successful defenses before vacating the belt to move up to welterweight.
International Boxing Hall of Fame member Orlando Canizales won the IBF World Bantamweight championship after stopping Kelvin Seabrooks at 1:03 of round 15 at the Sands Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey on July 9, 1988. Canizales scored knockdowns in round one and 15 and led on the scorecards 138-127, 138-128, and 137-128 at the time of the stoppage. The 22 year old Canizales improved to 20-1-1, 17 KO’s and would go on to defend the title a Bantamweight record 16 times. The 25 year old Seabrooks was making the fourth defense of the title and fell to 26-14, 21 KO’s.
International Boxing Hall of Fame member and World Boxing Council Super Featherweight World Champion Alexis Arguello made the fifth defense of his title after stopping Rafael Limon at 1:40 of round 11 at the Felt Forum in New York City on July 8th, 1979. A cut over Limon’s right eye prompted referee in charge Tony Perez to call a halt to the bout. The 27 year old Arguello led on all three scorecards 7-1, 7-2, and 6-2. Arguello improved to 59-5, 49 KO’s while the 25 year old Limon dropped to 43-9-2, 32 KO’s.
World Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes tied Joe Louis’ record with his seventh straight title win via stoppage after referee Davey Pearl rendered Scott LeDoux unable to continue due to a severe cut under his left eyelid at 2:05 of round seven at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, Minnesota on July 7th, 1980. The 30 year old Holmes led 60-53 on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage and improved to 35-0, 26 KO’s. LeDoux, 31, fell to 26-9-4, 17 KO’s.
World Boxing Association Flyweight World Champion Betulio Gonzalez made the third defense of his title after stopping Shoji Oguma at 1:12 of round 12 at the Tochigi Prefectural Gym in Utsunomiya, Japan on July 6th, 1979. This was an immediate rematch after the pair fought to a 15 round draw in January. The 29 year old Gonzalez was up on the cards at the time of the stoppage with scores of 107-105 twice and 106-104. With the victory, Gonzalez improved his record to 65-7-3, 44 KO’s while the 27 year old Oguma fell to 31-8-1, 18 KO’s.
Alfredo Escalera won the WBC Super Featherweight World Championship after stopping Kuniaki Shibata at 2:56 of round two at the Kasamatsu Athletic Park Gym in Hitachinaka, Japan on July 5th, 1975. The 28 year old Shibata was making his fourth defense of the title and entered with a record of 44-5-3, 25 KO’s. The 23 year old Escalera entered with a record of 29-7-1, 18 KO’s and this was his first World Championship bout. Escalera would go on to make 10 successful title defenses before losing to future International Boxing Hall of Fame member Alexis Arguello in 1978.
International Boxing Hall of Fame member and Jr Lightweight Champion of the World Aaron “The Hawk” Pryor made the fifth defense of his title after stopping Akio Kameda at 1:44 of round six at the Riverfront Colosseum in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 4th, 1982. The 26 year old Pryor survived a first round knockdown to drop the 25 year old Kameda twice in round two and again in the third. Pryor improved to 31-0, 29 KO’s, while Kameda lost for the first time (17-1, 14 KO’s).
Lineal and WBC Super Flyweight World Champion Sung Kil Moon made the ninth defense of his title after beating Carlos Gabriel Salazar by 12 round split decision on July 3rd, 1993 at the Education Culture Center in Seoul, Korea. Two judges scored the bout for Moon, 116-111 and 116-112, with one judge favoring Salazar 115-114. This would be the final victory of Moons career, as he fought just once more. Salazar would go on to become a two-time World Champion, winning titles in both the Super Flyweight and Flyweight divisions.
In boxing’s first ever million dollar gate, World Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey made the third defense of his title after stopping Light Heavyweight World Champion Georges Carpentier in the fourth round at Boyle’s Thirty Acres in Jersey City, New Jersey on July 2, 1921. The 26 year old Dempsey entered with a record of 54-4-11, 41 KO’s while the 27 year old Carpentier had a record of 84-10-5, 52 KO’s.
Castro's Kingdom 