Juan Vázquez was a follower of Wilfredo Gómez and died shortly after purchasing tickets for Gomez's fight against Carlos Zarate.
[3] This affected Vázquez, who decided to mimic Gómez and win a professional world championship, drawing motivation from his accomplishments.
[3] He began training at Ruiz Soler gym, where he met several boxers that he regarded as "world class" material, but all of them failed to reach success after following other paths.
Vázquez was scheduled to participate in Don King's Carnival of Champions card, where Gómez and Wilfred Benítez competed, but an injury suffered during training left him out of the event.
[4] His opponents during this time frame were: Euginio Paulino, Andres Torres, Robert Mullins, Ramón Cruz and Pedro Rodriguez.
On March 17, 1984, Vázquez defeated Juan "Chiqui" Torres by knockout in the fourth round to win the vacant Puerto Rican bantamweight title.
Following this defeat, Vázquez signed a contract with Felix "Tutico" Zabala who managed to secure a regional title fight against Fernie Morales.
[5] The contest was for the International Boxing Federation's Inter-Continental bantamweight championship, in twelve rounds, Vázquez earned a points victory.
[5] After recovering from this loss, he defeated Joe Orewa to win the International Boxing Council's super bantamweight title on September 10, 1990.
His last fight of the year was against Jose Luis Velazquez whom he defeated by technical knockout to win the vacant WBA Fedelatin featherweight championship.
During the break between rounds, his corner told Vázquez that he was losing, surprising him since he considered that the fight was close to the point of being tied.
[6] Realizing this fact, he pressured the offensive, scoring two knockdowns which prompted the referee to stop the fight as a technical knockout.
In March 1998, the WBA stripped the championship from Vázquez, citing that he failed to meet the organisation's regulation by not signing a contract against their first contender, Antonio Cermeño, within the established time.
[7] He openly expressed anger over the issue, citing that a contract was solicited but not signed due to managerial differences with Don King.
In 2000, he returned after a year on inactivity, defeating Antonio Oscar Salas and Russell Mosley before losing to Juan Lazcano in a contest for the vacant NABF lightweight championship.
Vázquez closed his career that year after defeating Julio César Cardona and Eddie Saenz twice, including his last fight that was held in Bayamón.
[9] Following his first retirement, Vázquez followed a practice done also by other pugilists, such as Juan Laporte, Félix Trinidad, Julio César Chávez, Bobby Czyz, Sean O'Grady, Sugar Ray Leonard, Santos Laciar, Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones Jr. and Héctor Camacho among others, deciding to become a boxing commentator.
Vázquez has expressed that he didn't want his son to become a boxer, expecting him to study and develop a profession within the fields of law, but he accepted to train him after noticing real interest, despite knowing that he lacked any amateur experience.
[9] He won this recognition after he made history by becoming the first boxer to win three separate titles within the same organisation, in this case the World Boxing Association.
Vázquez subsequently commented that he expected to win the "Boxer of the Year" award that was won by Evander Holyfield, but he accepted the selection under the circumstances.
[13] He is the only Puerto Rican boxer to be honored by having a long-distance foot race named after him, with the "Maratón Wilfredo Vázquez" being held annually in Bayamón since 1988.
[13] Prior to many of his fights, Vázquez spent months training for them at Toluca, Mexico, a city that was also favored by such other boxing luminaries as Chávez and Salvador Sánchez for such practice