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Pancho Villa

Francisco Guilledo was born in Iloilo on the Island of Panay in the Philippines, on August 1, 1901. At the age of 18, he assumed the name Pancho Villa from the controvercial Mexican folk hero and began his boxing career. In 1922, he came to the United States and fought Frankie Genaro in Jersey City for 10 rounds without a decision. He then won an easy decision over a little-known fighter named Johnny Hepburn in the old Madison Square Garden. After that, he fought seven times in two months in and around New York, culminating in an 11th round knockout of Johnny Buff to capture the American flyweight title.

After losing his American title to Frankie Genaro in a 15 round decision on March 1, 1923, Villa chalked up a string of victories leading to his world title match at to Polo Grounds against Jimmy Wilde. While the crowd was rooting madly for Wilde, Villa had youth and skill on his side. As the bell sounded at the end of the second round, Villa landed one flush on the jaw, knocking the champion to the canvas. Wilde was dragged to his corner as his seconds argued that the punch was a foul. (In England, a punch tossed after the bell would have resulted in a disqualification.) Villa went on to dominate the Welshman until a right hand blow finally put the world champion down for the count in the seventh round.

Following his defeat of Wilde, Villa went on to fight bantamweights, featherweights, and lightweights. His career tragically ended in a loss to Jimmy McLarnin on July 4, 1925 in Oakland, California. Villa was suffering from complications of a wisdom tooth extraction at the time of the fight. After losing the fight, he had to have more teeth removed and died from an infected tooth ten days later.

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