Francisco Guilledo
| Pancho Villa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Francisco Villaruel Guilledo |
| Nickname(s) |
Pancho Villa Filipino Whirlwind Little Brown Boy |
| Rated at | Flyweight |
| Height | 5 ft 1 in (154cm) |
| Nationality | Filipino |
| Born |
August 1, 1901 Ilog, Negros Occidental, Philippine Islands |
| Died | July 14, 1925 (aged 23) San Francisco, California |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 103 (17 NWS) |
| Wins | 89 (13 NWS) |
| Wins by KO | 22 |
| Losses | 8 (4 NWS) |
| Draws | 4 |
| No contests | 2 |
Francisco Guilledo (August 1, 1901 – July 14, 1925), more commonly known as Pancho Villa, was a Filipino professional boxer. Villa, who stood only 5 feet and 1 inch (154 cm) tall and never weighed more than 114 pounds (51 kg), despite the racial discrimination of that time, rose from obscurity to become the first Asian to win the World Flyweight Championship in 1923, earning the reputation in some quarters as one of the greatest Flyweight boxers in history. He was never knocked out in his entire boxing career, which ended with his sudden death at only twenty-three from complications following a tooth extraction.
Guilledo was born in Ilog, Negros Occidental, the son of a cowhand who abandoned his family when Guilledo was just six months old. He grew up in the hacienda of a wealthy local, helping his mother raise goats she tended on the farm.
When Guilledo was 11, he sailed to Iloilo City to work as a bootblack. While in Iloilo, he befriended a local boxer and together they migrated to Manila, settling in Tondo. He would occasionally spar with friends and soon attracted the attention of local boxing habitués. He fought his first professional fight in 1919 against Alberto Castro. Within two years, he was the Philippine Flyweight Champion, having dethroned Terio Pandong. He nearly gave up boxing after being spurned by a woman he courted, actually returning to Negros early in 1922 to retire. The clamor of Filipino boxing fans compelled him to return to the ring.
It appears that during this period, Guilledo was under the tutelage of at least two important local boxing figures. One was the American boxing promoter based in Manila, Frank E. Churchill. Another was a Filipino ice plant executive and boxing manager named Paquito Villa. The renaming of Francisco Guilledo to Pancho Villa has been attributed to both men, depending on the source. One version tags Churchill as having renamed Guilledo into Villa, taking the name from the Mexican guerrilla leader. Another version maintains that Paquito Villa had legally adopted Guilledo as early as 1918, renaming him Pancho.
...
Wikipedia