The best of all time A to Z: Xeque

Sep

This is the 24th in a 26-part series in which RingTV.com endeavors to name the best boxers of all time based on last name – A to Z. We’ll post one letter each day for 26 days. Our criteria in making the selections were fairly simple: Accomplishments in the ring, with heavy emphasis on strength of opposition, as well as impact on the sport. This wasn’t easy, as our first installment — the letter “A” (Armstrong vs. Ali) — demonstrates. However, we’re confident that our choices are arguably the best. We also are including five more fighters for each letter to indicate others who were considered. Also, noted author and boxing historian Bert Sugar — who provided input — tells us where he ranks our choices among the greatest fighters pound-for-pound and gives us a thought on each selection. And, finally, we’d love to get your thoughts on the project. Here goes ÔÇª today’s letter: “X.”

X: Alfredo Xeque
Lifespan: 19xx-
Hometown: Campeche, Mexico
Record: 19-7-2 (14 knockouts)
Active: 1985-92
Weight class: Junior flyweight
Titles: None
Sugar’s ranking: None
The thought process: Xeque, an apparently decent but obscure little fighter from Campeche, a coastal town on the Gulf of Mexico, probably never expected to be on a list of the greatest anything. In the end, however, the unusual first letter of his last name has paid dividends. We can say with confidence that Alfredo Xeque is the greatest fighter ever whose last name begins with X. We actually tried to reach Xeque for this installment of our series but failed. A veteran manager who handles fighters in the Campeche area didn’t remember Xeque. Neither did a few other boxing people with ties to Mexico. (Where are you Alfredo?) Thus, unless we can reach someone familiar with Xeque or the former fighter himself, we can only extrapolate from his record how good he might’ve been. His most-telling results are as follows: He went 1-0-1 in 1985 with a raw Melchor Cob Castro (who would go on to become a two-time titleholder) and went the distance in 1992 with former title contender Alejandro Montiel (Fernando's brother) for the Mexican junior flyweight title. And Xeque drew with Raul Rios in a bid to win the WBC International junior flyweight belt, if there’s actually a belt for that. He had a nice run in 1990 and ’91, going 9-0 to presumably earn his shots at Montiel and Rios. Xeque, who never fought outside of Mexico, lost to a Filipino named Pretty Boy Lucas for something called the WBC Mundo Hispano junior lightweight title in 1992 and never fought again. He was only 23. We wonder what he’s doing now but believe that no one with a last name beginning with “X” does it any better than he does.
Five more (alphabetical order): Gift Xaluwa, Young Xeny, Rolly Xipu, Zamumzi Xola and Jose Juan Xool.