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Roberto Elizondo (born December 28, 1955) is an American former professional boxer of Mexican descent. Elizondo competed in the sport of professional boxing from 1977 to 1987, and he fought for the World Boxing Council's world Lightweight title twice, both times challenging unsuccessfully. Elizondo, from Corpus Christi, Texas, is a member of the Corpus Christi Boxing Hall of Fame.
Elizondo responded to that first defeat with a streak of 16 wins in a row, including a ten rounds unanimous decision win over Arturo Leon, 26-16-2 before their contest, on his second bout after the loss to Romas, in a fight held at Corpus Christi's Memorial Coliseum on August 7, 1979, his first fight as a professional boxer outside Texas when he traveled to Los Angeles, California to meet 31 wins, 16 losses and 1 draw (tie) Don Sennett at the Olympic Auditorium in the main event of a program held on March 13, 1980, in a fight in which Elizondo emerged victorious by first-round knockout, a second-round knockout of Norman Goins in another main event at the Olympic Auditorium on August 7 of the same year and a ten rounds unanimous decision win against 44-13-1 James Martinez back in Corpus Christi on September 2, 1980. By this time, Elizondo had become a fan favorite both among California and Texas boxing fans. On December 19, 1980, Elizondo made his Las Vegas, Nevada debut when he fought 13 wins-11 losses and 3 draws trial horse Jesus Salcedo as part of a program headlined by the World Boxing Council's world Bantamweight championship fight between Lupe Pintor and Alberto Davila (which champion Pintor won by 15 rounds majority decision), Elizondo beating Salcedo by third-round knockout.
A few days after, the contest came off. Fought on November 21, 1981, at the Showboat Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, it was contested at a brisk pace for most of its duration, with Elizondo showing an aggressive style and pinning the champion against the ropes from time to time. In round four, however, Arguello dropped Elizondo to the floor for the first time, with a counter-punch. Elizondo recovered, but Arguello underlined his dominance in round seven when he dropped Elizondo with a right to the chin for the first knockdown in that round and second in the fight. Elizondo got up again but Arguello proceeded to connect with a left to Elizondo's body and a right that graced Elizondo's head, sending him down for the second time in the round and third time in the bout. Elizondo crawled to a sitting position but was counted out by referee Joey Curtis seven seconds after the bell had sounded to finish round seven, giving Arguello a seventh-round knockout at the official time of 3 minutes and 7 seconds, Arguello retaining the WBC world Lightweight title.
Years later, Elizondo alleged, on an interview that was published on American boxing writer Christian Giudice's book about Arguello named "Beloved Warrior", that he had broken one of his teeth on one of the first two falls he suffered during the fight; Elizondo, according to himself, had to await two days to get it fixed at a dental office.
The championship defeat at the hands of Arguello was followed by another contest against a world caliber opponent, this time former WBC world Junior Lightweight champion Cornelius Boza-Edwards, an Ugandan who was by now a United States resident. Boza-Edwards had 35 wins and three losses when he and Elizondo fought on June 26, 1982, at the Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas. Boza-Edwards pulled a close but unanimous decision win over the Mexican-American, winning the fight on the three judges' scorecards by scores of 96-94 (twice) and 97–93 in his favor.
Elizondo went on with his career and, after a win against inexperienced Romero Sandoval (who only had 6 previous professional boxing fights before facing Elizondo), the Texan scored what was probably his biggest career victory: faced with former World Boxing Association world Lightweight champion Hilmer Kenty on October 24, 1982, at the Great Gorge Resort in McAfee, New Jersey, Elizondo dominated the former champion, who was 22-1 coming into their contest and whose lone loss had been in his title losing effort to Sean O'Grady one year before, to score a second-round knockout. Kenty was apparently physically hurt during the second round and quit on his stool before the start of the third.Archived at Ghostarchive and the
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Wayback Machine: Because Kenty quit before the start of round three, Elizondo was credited with a second-round knockout. Kenty later retired with only his fights with O'Grady and Elizondo as losses.
Despite fighting gallantly (getting up from two quick knockdowns) Elizondo was dominated by the Puerto Rican; the fight being stopped by American referee Davey Pearl after the second knockdown. Rosario retained the world title by a first-round technical knockout.
Elizondo's next fight was his last; he took on 24-5-1 prospect John Sinegal as part of a program headlined by future International Boxing Hall of Fame member Daniel Zaragoza at the Memorial Coliseum in Corpus Christi on July 31, 1987. He stopped Sinegal with a second-round technical knockout after dropping him three times.
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