Gritty Argentine battler Carlos Salazar came up short in three world title attempts in Asia before coming good in the later stages of his career to become an unlikely two-weight world champion in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Salazar, who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 5, 1964, grew up in and around boxing.

"When I was about one-month old we moved to Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena [around 12 hours and nearly 700 miles north of the capital,]" Salazar told The Ring through Nicolás Samuilov. "My father, Juan Carlos Salazar, was a fighter, he was also an electrician and maintenance operator at a local hospital. He worked there until 1 p.m. and after the he worked in the gym and had his own fighters that he trained. The gym was set inside my grandmother's house. Most of my childhood was spent watching the fighters at the gym."

He began to box at 12 and by the time he was 16 he was an accomplished amateur and dropped school to focus his attention on boxing. Salazar was a two-time national champion. He earned a spot in the Argentine team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

"Despite the fact that I made the weight, 48 KGs, my body in those last months continued to develop, especially in muscle," he explained. "After making weight I was very dizzy and the medical staff didn't let me fight."

Salazar was disappointed to not be able to perform on the world stage but used that as fuel to push ahead with his professional career that began with a second-round stoppage over Roberto Ledesma in December 1985.

"It was great to begin my career and have my debut at Luna Park," he said. "I used to rent a room, in the south of Buenos Aires, outside the city but it's only a short while to the get downtown. I trained at the Luna Park stadium, it had a very famous gym between the 1960s and 1987, the best fighters used to go there and train and to spar. The first two fighters were with Carlos Monzon as my coach and manager in my corner. Then I couldn't afford to live here anymore, so I had to continue my career living at home."

The opportunity to work under Monzon, albeit briefly, was not wasted on Salazar.

"He was a very good coach, he used to take the best out of you," he recalled. "He was very fond of correcting specific things when you were sparring, he would go into detail. He didn't just leave you punching the bag, he stood with you correcting every single thing, the way you correct a blow, your movements, he also pointed out the jab was very, very important and he was always insisting on the jab in order for you to maintain your distance, to connect your other blows. He was a very good teacher."

Salazar quietly made his way through the notoriously tough Argentine circuit, winning the provincial title and the national titles before adding the South American title all at flyweight, which quickly lead to something even bigger.

"I was told I had the chance to go to Thailand to fight [WBC flyweight champion] Sot Chitalada but that fight was 20 days after winning the South American title against [Adrian] Roman," he said. "I didn't have much time to prepare. It was over 40 hours of flying over to Thailand. First from Buenos Aires, to Rio, Toronto, Vancouver... and then to Bangkok. I had a few days [to prepare]; I don't recall how many.

"There were a few things that happened between arriving and the fight. I was cut in a sparring session [in Thailand] a few days before the fight. I had to have some stitches, it was like an anaesthetic surgery, really fast. I was sent to a hospital and the surgeon who took care of the injury had been the director of the hospital in Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena, my hometown. He did a really good job; the injury wasn't re-opened in the fight.

"I didn't fight comfortably, I wasn't the same, I was always thinking of the injury. I lost on points, which wasn't bad, considering it was my first title experience."

Salazar suffered something of a hangover and lost his national title on his return against unbeaten compatriot Hugo Soto (RTD 8). He felt his career was going downhill and decided the time was right to move back south to the capital. It proved a wise move as he had much better training.

After several wins, he was rewarded with a second world title tilt, this time up at junior bantamweight against long-reigning WBC boss Sung Kil Moon in Seoul, South Korea in July 1993.

"It was a totally different situation from the first world title fight. I had a lot of time to prepare," he said. "With my team, we decided to travel to make training camp in Panama. I needed to not be around my family and friends and be 100 percent focused in the fight and the other reason, I didn't have enough sparring in my weight division in Argentina. I had a lot sparring in Panama. I had a wonderful camp and from there I travelled direct to Seoul.

"The fight was a tremendous fight. Sung Kil Moon was always coming forward, I made a very tidy job working with my defense, working in offense. When I had to punch, I punched, when I had to move to make use of my footwork, I did. I showed all of my boxing skills and I'm sure I won the fight despite the fact they gave it to the guy who was always going forward. I connected the best blows, the most clear ones. It was very hurtful for me."

Although Salazar lost a 12-round split decision he remained highly ranked by the WBC and after two stay busy fights his team won the purse bid to bring a young Marco Antonio Barrera to Buenos Aires for a WBC 115-pound eliminator in April 1994.

"It was an interesting thing because we knew of the history of Barrera, he had a lot of previous good fights," recalled Salazar of his young protagonist, who came in over the division weight limit thus forfeiting the right to fight for the title.

"We knew Barrera perfectly; we knew the difficulties in that fight. We had to make a very intelligent fight. Barrera was a very exciting, explosive and powerful puncher. Not only was he unbeaten but also most of his fights didn't go the distance. I had to fight with a lot of intelligence trying to avoid being hurt, trying to avoid being cut, fighting at distance, using a lot of footwork, not going to the short distance to exchange. It was a wonderful fight, I lost it [by 10-round majority decision.]"

In his next fight, Salazar met recently minted WBC junior bantamweight Hiroshi Kawashima in Tokyo, Japan in August 1994.

"For this fight, I went abroad to concentrate, I had my camp in the U.S. at that time, it was cold in Argentina, it was August we are still in winter and in Japan it was really hot, that's why we went to a hot place in the U.S. first to get used to a different temperature like I was going to have in Japan. It was a very good camp," he explained.

"I got an unusual kind of Oriental fighter. Kawashima wasn't the typical Japanese fighter, who goes forward constantly, this guy was really tall, he worked a lot from the distance, he connected punches and then moved all around the ring. I recall a big blow that Kawashima connected - he was a southpaw which was a big issue - to the temple. After receiving that blow, I kind of felt a small concussion. After that blow, I was powerless, I had no strength, I had no boxing style. That was decisive for the fight. Kawashima won fair and square; it was a very good win for Kawashima."

While lesser men may have retired or fallen into the journeyman role, the defeat stiffened Salazar's resolve. He won four fights at home before his team were able to bring IBF 115-pound titlist Harold Grey to Argentina in October 1995.

"I knew this was my fourth chance, my first one in Argentina and I knew I couldn't miss it," he said. "In the ring, I did exactly the job that we had set to be done. It wasn't an easy fight, I was very tidy attacking connecting the best blows, moving a lot, avoiding some of the blows by Grey, though I received many. I won it, in a just [12-round split] decision. I knocked him down and that was important to win on the scorecards.

"All of the years spent training at the different gyms, travelling a lot, studying the opponents and the sport of boxing, trying to become better, trying to supress all of the obstacles, getting that title was like getting a diploma. It was a really nice celebration but not very intense. I knew I was entering into the history of Argentine boxing, which is very respected."

Salazar made a title defense in Italy against previously unbeaten Antonello Melis (TKO 6) before he met Grey in a rematch, this time in Colombia.

"I just concentrated on fighting, I was told we have an opportunity, there's a fight here, so we went there," he said. "The weather there was decisive, it was very hot in the stadium. The fight took place around 5 or 6 in the afternoon. The heat was unbearable, the humidity was even worse. I was affected by that enormously. I started well but as the fight progressed, I felt as though I was running out of air and I didn't finish the fight as neat as I always used to. Grey won [a 12-round unanimous decision.]"

Having achieved his dream, most would have expected Salazar to retire but he decided to carry on and made the surprising decision to drop down to flyweight.

"I was very small to fight junior bantamweight, I had no difficulties making weight but after making weight, while other fighters ended up going up in weight, 4/ 5 KG, at most, I gained one-and-a-half kilos," he explained. "It benefited me to go back to flyweight. It was my natural weight, not junior bantamweight."

After a comeback win, his team were able to persuade the very talented Mexican Alberto Jimenez to bring his WBO 112-pound title to Buenos Aires in September 1996.

"In our first fight that ended in a draw, he was the most complete fighter I have faced," he said. "He had several strategies, he defended very well, he attacked in a very intelligent way, he moved from one side to the other, he knew when to throw and when to defend and it was a spectacular fight."

The two met in a direct rematch again in Argentina, just three-months later.

"It was a totally different fight," he said. "Jimenez went out to attack me in a more direct way, he went out to destroy me. He didn't have a different plan, and I ended up knocking him out [in 10-rounds.]

"He was a fighter of a lot of respect and facing such a challenge made me think, 'If I lose, I will probably retire but I lose to someone who is a No. 1, an elite fighter, luckily for me after the draw I was the one beating Jimenez, so I was the one celebrating. If not, I wouldn't have regreted anything because I would have lost to a great fighter."

This time the aging warrior was able to make five successful defenses over a near two-year period before losing to Ruben Sanchez-Leon (Tech Dec. 8) in August 1998.

"It was a great challenge, first of all to become a solid champion, which is not easy," he said. "I knew I had beaten and incredibly talented fighter as Alberto Jimenez but I couldn't just keep on remembering the victory. So, I worked a lot in order to maintain myself, to making a big difference improving my skills.

"I had nothing left to show, I had given my heart, I had given everything. The blows I received I felt much more than when I was younger. In my last fight my jaw fractured again. As soon as that happened, I knew I wasn't the same. My bones were becoming fragile. I was about to be 35 - it was the time.

"My father always used to tell me, 'Fighters need to retire before not afterwards.' I decided not to get in the ring again, my health came before any future fight. There was nothing more for me to do."

In retirement, Salazar (47-8-3, 18 knockouts) moved back to Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena and emersed himself in the local sporting scene.

"I was the director of sport of Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena for quite a few years," he said proudly. "I built up my own gym, I started teaching boxing and continue doing it. I was named Distinguished Person of Chacco province by the province government. Sporting Ambassador of Chacco and in 2022, there was a park named after me, with a small monument of me.

"Many years have gone by, I've not boxed for around 25-years and people stop me to say, 'Hi' and to take a photograph, that's unpayable, indescribably, that's what I enjoy the most."

Salazar, now 60, is married, has three children and two grandchildren.

He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he fought in 10 key categories.

Marco Antonio Barrera: "It was a really powerful and well directed jab, preparing the distance to combine it with a cross or a blow from the other hand."

Alberto Jimenez: "Most of the first-class opponents I faced were really good attackers, so I was the one preparing the defense. Probably one of the best was Alberto Jimenez, he made a very good movement with the wrist that made it very difficult to for me to land clear blows. Moving the wrist from one side to the other and that made me try to change a little bit of the attack moving my own wrist from those fights onwards to improve a bit."

Sung Kil Moon: "In the first rounds of the fight, I felt a sensation as if I couldn't breathe because of the amount of blows that Sung Kil Moon was sending, it was one after the other. It was with a lot of intensity; a lot of speed and he never lost the pace until the last rounds."

Hiroshi Kawashima: "The one that surprised me was Hiroshi Kawashima. He had very neat footwork. This guy went to the short distance, moved out of it moved side-to-side always in a very neat way, very precise and well worked."

SMARTEST

Kawashima: "He was very intelligent, he read the fight well. Not only his footwork but also taking out the distance."

Moon: "I landed many and continuous heavy blows, especially in the second part of the fight and no matter how many blows I landed Sung Kil Moon was always close to me. It was as if he enjoyed being hit because the more, I hit him the more he came close. I hit him with tons of heavy, clear blows and he was continually on me, as if he not only resisted them but as if he was enjoying it."

Barrera: "He threw punches to the solar plexus which if you receive the blow on the right side, you felt it on the right and left side. Those kind of dry, very explosive blows with the short distance which were spectacular and if you didn't go with it, you would definitely go down. Nobody has hit me as hard as Marco Antonio Barrera."

Undecided: "I wasn't a heavy puncher, so it is hard to say. I was more about combinations; I didn't have many knockouts. It is hard to say."

Jimenez: "He was incredibly brave, his desire and heart of getting out of the ring was impressive. He was always in great shape, always prepared as a professional champion. He had a very good past as a fighter."

Barrera: "Barrera was only 20 years old. I made a different fight because I knew Barrera was extremely explosive, extremely good. He was young and hungry. I had to avoid getting knocked out. I trusted my own skills to prevail but also not being hit. All in all, I think Barrera was the best fighter I ever faced."

Nicolás Samuilov helped co-ordinate and translate this feature. The Ring appreciated his assistance.