Verdell Smith

Verdell Smith, a.k.a. Tommy Bowles, a.k.a. Tim Brooks (born November 1, 1963 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) was a professional boxer in the light welterweight (140 lb) division. Smith, a journeyman fighter, appeared on the front page of the May 10, 2004, edition of The New York Times, as he was the focal point of a lengthy article in the Times's sports section on alleged fight fixing.

Professional career

Smith turned professional in 1988 and fought the majority of his fights in Oklahoma and other Midwest states, under his birth name and other boxing aliases. In the article, Smith explained that fighting under assumed names "is what we needed to do, [in order] to get paid", and was also quoted as saying: "None of my fights are fixed. I just don't like getting hurt, and I'm not going to risk my brain and my kids to prove anything."

Among his notable fights, Smith lost to Jesse James Leija, Julio César Chávez, and Jorge Páez. The fight with Paez was the subject of a 2004 FBI investigation against promoter Bob Arum for fight fixing.

Smith

People

Occupations

Julio Cesar

Julio César (Spanish) or Júlio César (Portuguese) may refer to:

Public figures

Academics

Music

Politics

Sport

Association football

Players

Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez (born César Estrada Chávez, locally: [ˈsesaɾ esˈtɾaða ˈtʃaβes]; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers union, UFW).

A Mexican American, Chavez became the best known Latino American civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement, which was eager to enroll Hispanic members. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the farm workers' struggle a moral cause with nationwide support. By the late 1970s, his tactics had forced growers to recognize the UFW as the bargaining agent for 50,000 field workers in California and Florida. However, by the mid-1980s membership in the UFW had dwindled to around 15,000.

During his lifetime, Colegio Cesar Chavez was one of the few institutions named in his honor, but after his death he became a major historical icon for the Latino community, with many schools, streets, and parks being named after him. He has since become an icon for organized labor and leftist politics, symbolizing support for workers and for Hispanic empowerment based on grass roots organizing. He is also famous for popularizing the slogan "Sí, se puede" (Spanish for "Yes, one can" or, roughly, "Yes, it can be done"), which was adopted as the 2008 campaign slogan of Barack Obama. His supporters say his work led to numerous improvements for union laborers. Although the UFW faltered after a few years, after Chavez died in 1993 he became an iconic "folk saint" in the pantheon of Mexican Americans. His birthday, March 31, has become Cesar Chavez Day, a state holiday in California, Colorado, and Texas.

Julio César Chávez

Julio César Chávez González (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxuljo ˈsesaɾ ˈtʃaβes ɣonˈsales]; July 12, 1962), also known as Julio César Chávez Sr., is a Mexican former professional boxer. He is considered by acclamation as the greatest Mexican fighter of all time and one of the best boxers of all time.

Chávez is a six-time world champion in three weight divisions, and for several years was considered the best pound for pound fighter in the world. In a career that spanned over 25 years, Chávez won the WBC super featherweight title in 1984, the WBA and WBC lightweight titles in 1987 and 1988, the WBC light welterweight title in 1989 and 1994, and the IBF light welterweight title in 1990.

He holds records for the most successful defenses of world titles (27), most title fight victories (31), most title fights (37), and the second most title defenses won by knockout (21, after Joe Louis with 23). Chávez also has the longest undefeated streak in boxing history: 13 years. Chávez's record was 89–0–1 going into his first official loss to Frankie Randall in 1994, before which he had an 87-fight win streak until his draw with Pernell Whitaker in 1993. Chávez also set the record for the largest attendance for a boxing match, with 132,274 people at the Estadio Azteca for his fight against Greg Haugen in 1993.