By: Ted Sares
It ain’t over till it’s over-Yogi Berra
Luis Ramon “Yori Boy” Campas (who is 47) is still fighting and stopped Joel Jurarez (32-28) on March 16, 2018. His remarkable record is 107-17-3 and he has gone undefeated in his last nine bouts. Over the years he has fought just about every solid fighter out there and, among other accomplishments, stopped come backing and undefeated Tony Ayala Jr. His first fight was in 1987 and he won by KO; he would win his next 12 the same way and was an astounding 56-0 when he met and lost to Tito Trinidad (23-0 at the time) in an action-filled fight for the IBF World Welterweight Title in 1994.
Some of the names that dot Yuri Boy’s resume include Cassius Clay Horne, Roger Turner, Jorge Vaca, Heath Todd, Anthony Jones, Jose Louis Lopez, undefeated Raul Marquez whom he stopped to win the IBF World Super Welterweight Title in Atlantic City in 1997, Anthony Stephens, Larry Barnes, undefeated Fernando Vargas, Oba Carr, Daniel Santos, Oscar De La Hoya—and then in later years—Eric Regan, Matt Vanda (twice), undefeated John Duddy by a controversial decision, Eromosele Albert, Norberto Bravo, Matthew Macklin in a fight that many thought he had won, Saul Roman, Hector Camacho against whom he went 0-1-1, Rogelio Medina, Les Sherrington, and Anthony Bonsante. The heavy-handed Campas from Sonora, Mexico has scored 82 KOs along the way and has been a global road warrior in the process.
In March 2012, Campas reached a milestone when he won for the 100th time by way of a second round KO of Mauro Lucero. The win gave Yori Boy his 79th win inside the distance and improved his overall record to 100-16.
Yuri Boy defined what “teak tough” means
Singwancha
But now comes Sirimongkhon Iamthuam alias Sirimongkol Singwancha (96-4), a 41-year-old Thai welterweight who waxed winless Muhammad Nsubuga on September 1, 2018.
Back in 1995, he beat Juanito Boy Cuma (15—4) for the vacant WBU Super Flyweight Crown and then, in 1996, beat Joes Louis Bueno (8-7-1) for the interim WBC World Bantamweight Title which he successfully defended three times before losing it to Joichiro Tatsuyoshi in Osaka, Japan in 1997.
After the defeat in Osaka, the Thai ran off 50 straight wins but against dreadful opposition before losing to Uzbekistani Azizbek Addugofurov in Singapore in 2017. He lost again to Aussie Tommy Brown—also in Singapore—in October 2017. He has fought outside of Thailand on a number of occasions—something that’s rare for Thai boxer. His last decent win came against Dan Nazareno, Jr. (20-11) in 2014. He fought Jesus Chavez (39-2) in 2003 in Austin, Texas and lost the WBC World Super Featherweight title that he won from South Korean Yong Soo Choi (29-3-1) in Japan in January 2003, but that was then and this is now.
Between 2009 and 2015, he fought seventeen opponents who were making their pro debut. Others had records like 0-2,0-4, 01, 0-1 (thrice), 2-1, and 10-11.
Unless the Thai continues to feast on debuting opponents, Luis Ramon “Yori Boy” Campas quite likely will become the Last Centurion. Jorge Fernando “Locomotora” Castro was the last and he retired in 2007 after a remarkable career in which he won 130, lost 11 and drew 3 times. Roberto Duran, Jose Louis Ramirez, Julio Caesar Chavez, and Harold Brazier were others.
But what distinguishes Yori Boy from Singwancha, is that he is a beloved Mexican legend who has done it the hard way; he is earning it the hard way. He may well be the the last of a breed.
Oh yes, this little tidbit about his nickname:
“I started boxing I was 12 years old, and I remember being a guerito, almost blond,” Luis Ramon Campas told RingTV.com in a telephone interview from his training headquarters somewhere in the state of Montana, a deer-hunting ground in its own right. “My hair has this light coffee color even today, but back then I was blond, and my hair was yellow! And my first trainer, Salvador Mendoza, told me ‘you’ll be a champion one day, and I will give you a nickname that no one will forget. It is short but catchy. Do you know what ‘yori’ means in the language of the Navojoa natives?’ I don’t know, I replied. ‘Yori means that you are not of their same race, that you are a stranger.’ And that’s how I became a ‘yori boy’, a ‘white kid’ among the natives.” (From Diego Morilla, the RING)
One other thing, If Yori says he is retiring, don’t bet on it. He has a hunger that doesn’t seem sated just yet.
Ted Sares is one of the oldest active full power lifters and Strongman competitors and recently won the Maine State Champions in his class. He is a member of Ring 10, and Ring 4’s Boxing Hall of Fame. He is an Auxiliary Member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).