The Battle of the Little Giants
| Date | August 21, 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Title(s) on the line | WBC Featherweight Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Boxer |
 Salvador Sánchez |
 Wilfredo Gómez |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Chava | Bazooka | |
| Hometown | Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico | Las Monjas, San Juan, Puerto Rico | |
| Pre-fight record | 40-1-1 (30 KO) | 32-0-1 (32 KO) | |
| Recognition | WBC Featherweight Champion | WBC Junior Featherweight Champion |
The Battle of the Little Giants was a 1981 boxing event with a deep social impact.
Fought on August 21, 1981, at the Caesars Palace hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, it pitted Wilfredo Gómez, a Puerto Rican who had a record of 32 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw, and all his wins by knockout, and who was the world's Jr. Featherweight champion, against the lesser known Salvador Sánchez, who hailed from Mexico with a record of 40 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw. Salvador Sanchez was defending his WBC world Featherweight crown.
Gómez was the strong favorite at the betting windows due to his knockout win streak of 32 fights in a row and Sánchez's relative obscurity. During the build-up to the fight, Gomez talked often of his intention to score an early knockout over Sanchez and the betting public seemed to be in agreement.
The fight was broadcast on closed-circuit television to all of the United States and through many Latin American countries. Sánchez began by surprising most fans and dropping Gómez 40 seconds into round one. Gómez got up but was battered around the ring by Sanchez for the remainder of the round, nearly going down again from an overhand right in Wilfredo's own corner. Gomez began to recover in round three and had his moments over the next three rounds, continually going forward and throwing combinations in an effort to turn the fight. However, Gómez's right eye started to swell by the third round and was nearly closed by the seventh. Sánchez started zeroing into that area and landed a number of hard punches that repeatedly rocked Gomez. In the seventh round, Gomez finally landed the combination he wanted, a right-left to the chin that partially lifted Sanchez off his feet; however, he was able to shake off the effects and move away from the corner without further trouble.
Round eight proved to be the final round. With Gómez almost blinded by his swollen eyes and the Mexican partisans shouting "Ole!" with every volley of punches, Sánchez landed a straight right hand that had Gomez teetering and badly hurt on the ropes, followed by a series of punches that almost sent Gómez off the ring. Though Gómez was able to beat the count, referee Carlos Padilla stepped in and stopped the fight, giving Sánchez an eighth round technical knockout (TKO) win.
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