The death of Sanchez. (long)
Alejandro Olague
I copied and translated this from the 12th of August (1997) edition of
El Universal. Last year was the 15th anniversary of Sanchez' death
and a lot was written in all the papers. I thought maybe it would
interest some of you. I really didn't check for spelling errorz, so
please excuse. ;-)
----------------------------------------------------
Boxer Salvador Sanchez completes his first day of training for his
September 15th fight at Madison Square Garden against Juan LaPorte.
Since he was crowned featherweight champion of the WBC in February of
1980, he has had 9 defenses. In the future, Salvador looks forward to
above all a fight against the imposing Nicaraguan lightweight Alexis
Arguello, whom he considers "the perfect boxer". After that, maybe
retirement....
What virtues does Salvador Sanchez Narvaez possess inside the ring? He
maintains the percect distance, with footwork, a good jab, accuracy
with his combinations and good movement of the waist.
Coming to San Jose Iturbide, on the property of Jose Torres Landa, to
prepare for his fights has become a habit. The country folk see "Sal
Sanchez" in the morning running through the rural roads while being
tailed by his trainer Cristobal Rosas in his car. From there he goes
to a ranch by the name of "La Palma" where he has constructed an open
air gym with a ring.
"So that I can get some sun" as Salvador likes to say.
There is also a swimming pool where the champ cools off after a day of
training.
That has been the custom.
This Wednesday, both the trainer and fighter arrived at San Jose
Iturbide. Since it is the first day of training camp, Salvador
loosened up a bit with a few rounds of shadow boxing. At lunchtime, he
received a phone call. He became aggitated. He played with the keys of
his white Porsche.
What? Your going to Queretaro? don Cristobal asked.
"Yes, I'm going to go see if Poncho will check out my speakers because
they aren't working."
"He isn't there. I dropped by to leave him my TV, but I had to leave
it with his brother. He told me that Poncho had to go to Mexico City
to pick up some parts and that he was going to stay with his mother
there."
Salvador stayed quiet. Soon one of the servants came and asked
Salvador
"Say Chava, what happened to the posters you promised me?"
(Chava is what the nickname for all Salvadors. At least in Mexico.)
"I have them in my trunk, lets go."
After a while, the sound of the Porsche taking off was heard.
Cristobal Rosas asked his assistant trainer Enrique Huerta,
"Didn't Chava ask you to go with him to Queretaro?"
"Nope. I think he's just going into town to buy a record...."
This happened at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, August 11th. The hours passed
and Salvador hadn't shown up yet. Night came. Don Cristobal
preoccupied himself with his English texts as he was studying the
language and had a test that Saturday. He began to fall asleep.
"Go to bed", said Huerta. "I'll wait up for him."
His vigilance only lasted until 2 in the morning before he decided to
got to sleep.
Salvador stayed all night in Queretaro, at a reunion with a group of
admireros. At around 2:00 AM of the 12th, he let everyone know that he
had to leave.
"I got to get back to San Jose. I'm getting up early to go jog."
He took off in his Porsche.
On the 14th kilometer marker a bus(license plate # H-7892) rear-ended
the Porsche(license plate # LMN-622), projecting it head-on into a
Dina semi trailer (license plate # 6166-AH)
The champ hit his head on the steering wheel, puncturing his skull.
That would was the fatal wound. His only tragic knockout.
Back at San Jose, they woke up to the news of his death. The first
call came from Tomas, Salvador's older borther. He said that on the TV
were reports of an accident.
Don Cristobal couldn't believe it. He immediatley called Torres Landa,
who confirmed the news.
Don Cristobal and Huerta took off right away toward Queretaro. On the
way, they encountered the Prosche. It didn't look as bad as they had
been shown: Only the driver side door had been crushed....
In Queretaro they went to identify the body. Don Cristobal saw a body
that he did not recognize and thought that the authorities had made a
mistake. He felt joy thinking about the possibility of an error.
"No, that isn't him." said Huerta.
The cold door was opened further.
"Yes, it's Salvador, it's him."
Don Cristobal broke down.
It's been 15 years since the accident and in Santiago Tianguistenco de
Galeana, the site where Salvador Sanchez Narvaez was born on Feb 5th
1959, preparations begin for the ceremony of rememberance.
"We were begining to forget the champ. We were only remembering how
much of a bad-ass he was in his fights. It's been 15 years since he
left.
The master mason Romero has been working a week on the base where a
sculpture of Sanchez will layed, facing the Auditorium Hidalgo in
Santiago Tianguistenco.
"They say it will be around 3 meters tall. We calculate that the champ
will be around the same height as the street lamps" comments the
master mason.
To the side of the auditorium, at the municipal cemetary, the
gardeners are fixing up the lawn. The grave reads clearly "Sal S." A
plaque say "Salvador Sanchez N. +12-VIII-82 de 23 years.
Two streets up, on Morelos 305, the parents of Salvador attend to the
new family restuarant.
"What were Salvadors favorite foods?"
"Enchiladas, verdolagas and codorniz" his mother say very certain.
His father, Felip Sanchez Guerrero has a bit of difficulty talking
about his son.
"It's been 15 years. We should let him rest."
But the rest of the family are working hard in the preparations for
the homage: Mass, and a honor guard in front of the tomb, the
unveiling of the sculpture, exhibition fights with the new hopes of
Santiago Tianguistenco who train at the gym named in Salvador's honor.
The WBC has promised to bring in champions and ex-champions.
It's a rememberance of a death that fell upon the boxing family in way
that was unexpected.
It's been 15 years.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Alejandro
Alejandro Olague
The Sanity Cruzer
Alejandro Olague wrote:
>
> I copied and translated this from the 12th of August (1997) edition of
> El Universal.
Nice article. Thanks for doing all of the work.
TSC
d...@cheetah.net
On Wed, 04 Feb 1998 05:41:56 -0800, The Sanity Cruzer
<snty...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>Alejandro Olague wrote:
>>
>> I copied and translated this from the 12th of August (1997) edition of
>> El Universal.
>
>Nice article. Thanks for doing all of the work.
>
> TSC
Sanity,
Yes, it was a good article. I read
articles in the Mexican newspaper
just after the accident. Alejandro
did a great job translating the
events leading up to the accident.
However, I would caution all readers,
quite often such accounts take on a
vanity styled historical account.
His article varies somewhat from the
accounts I read in the papers while
visiting the sights along the west
coast of Mexico (days after the accient).
Salvador Sanchez, despite anything to
the contrary or in agreement, was headed
for an almost certain high place in the
history of boxing. The first time I
saw him box, I was most impressed with
his overall skills, most of all was his
ability to counter the counter then hit
with power. That is a skill few fighters
have. I can count on one hand those
fighters I have seen that could pull those
moves off with such effectiveness.
DCI