His son Carlos, now retired, fought in the Light Welterweight division[4] and his nephew, Joel Luna Zárate, is the former WBO Latino Super Flyweight champion.
So, after beating César Desiga by a knockout in four on March 29, 1976, in Monterrey, Zárate was faced on the night of May 8 of that year with defending WBC Bantamweight Champion Rodolfo Martínez in Los Angeles.
Nicknamed by the American boxing press as The Z Boys, the two did square off, but not before much hassle and hurdle putting by both the WBC and WBA, who wanted both boxers to pay a large amount of money before sanctioning the bout.
Fans didn't seem to care that no world title belt would be involved that afternoon, and they packed the fight venue when Zárate and Zamora met in the LA suburb of Inglewood, California, at the Forum on April 23 of '77.
The fight was momentarily stopped by referee Richard Steele and a contingent of helmeted policemen stormed the ring, forcibly removing the intruder thereafter, Zárate managed to stay away from Zamora.
After a first round, Zárate the better boxer, with a reach advantage stayed away and outboxed Zamora wearing him down then knocking him out in four to gain recognition by most boxing fans as the undisputed world champion of the Bantamweights.
After retaining the title against Emilio Hernandez by a knockout in four and winning a non-title bout, Zárate announced he was moving up in weight and challenging the WBC Super Bantamweight champion, Wilfredo Gómez.
After winning a non-title bout against Celso Cháirez by a knockout in five in Houston, Texas, Zárate met gym-mate Lupe Pintor in Las Vegas and lost a close and controversial 15-round decision.
[9] And so, in October 1987, he traveled to Australia to meet the man boxing fans consider to be the greatest Australian world champion of all time: Jeff Fenech.