The boxing fight between Mexicans Carlos Zárate and Alfonso Zamora, respectively the WBC and WBA World Bantamweight titleholders, was known as The Battle of the Z Boys.
Alfonso Zamora was the first one of the so-called "Z boys" to become a world champion, when he knocked out Soo Hwan Hong in four rounds on March 14, 1975, in Inglewood.
[1] Ever since, Zarate and Zamora's managerial teams carried on a war of words that was not missed by the Latin American sports media.
The fact that both the WBA and WBC refused to recognize it as a world championship bout did little, if anything, to cool the ardor of enthusiastic boxing fans.
He defended his WBC World Bantamweight title five more times before losing it on June 3, 1979, to Lupe Pintor by a 15-round split decision in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Zarate retired after losing to Pintor, but had a mildly successful comeback during the middle 1980s, going as far as challenging Jeff Fenech for the WBC World Jr. Featherweight championship on October 16, 1987, in Sydney, Australia.
Zamora lost his WBA World Bantamweight title in his very next fight, being knocked out in ten rounds by Panamanian Jorge Luján on November 19 in Los Angeles.