Chavez vs Haugen

His 1993 fight with Greg Haugen featured trash talk from Haugen, who derided Julio Cesar Chavez's 82 fight unbeaten streak as consisting mostly of "Tijuana taxi drives that my mother could have knocked out" and insisting that "There aren't 130,000 Mexicans who can afford tickets" to see the fight in Estadio Azteca. Chavez responded by saying, "I really hate him bad. When he looks at me, I want to vomit. I am going to give him the worst beating of his life; I am going to make him swallow the words that came out of his dirty mouth." Ultimately, 136,274 showed up to set a world record for outdoor fight attendance as they watched Chavez drop Haugen quickly and then back off with the apparent intention of punishing him for his prefight remarks. However, the referee had seen enough by the fifth round and stopped it for a TKO victory for Chavez. After the fight, Chavez commented to Haugen, "Now you know I don't fight with taxi drivers," and a bloodied Haugen responded, "They must have been tough taxi drivers." Later that year, Chavez scored a sixth round TKO victory over number one ranked contender Terrence Alli.

Draw with Whitaker and first career loss

After a division-record 18 consecutive defenses of his light welterweight title, Chavez (87-0) moved up one more weight division to challenge Pernell Whitaker (32-1) for his WBC Welterweight title in September 1993. Since the late 1980s, Julio Cesar Chavez stated several times that he wanted a fight against Whitaker. The Whitaker team, among them Lou Duva, told The Ring that they did not want a fight against Chavez in those days. In the eyes of many experts, Whitaker waited for Chavez to age. The result of the fight was a controversial majority draw, allowing Chavez to remain undefeated with Whitaker retaining his title. Various members of the American media, including The Ring and Sport Illustrated, were critical of the decision. Sports illustrated put Pernell Whitaker on the cover of its next magazine with a one word title, "Robbed!" Chavez stated after the fight: "I felt I was forcing the fight, he just kept holding me too much, he was throwing too many low blows too." There was no rematch.

Chavez continued defending his light welterweight title and on December 18, 1993, he defeated British Commonwealth light welterweight champion Andy Holligan (21-0-0) by fifth round TKO. Chavez faced Frankie Randall on January 29, 1994, in a fight that most expected him to win easily. Instead, Randall knocked him down for the first time in his career and went on to win a split decision and Chavez lost the title to Randall. Chavez blamed his loss on referee Richard Steele, who deducted two points from Chavez for low blows, which affected the difference on the scorecards. The WBC ordered an immediate rematch and Chavez regained the title on a split technical decision in May 1994. The fight was fiercely contested when they collided heads, opening a large cut over Chavez's eyebrow in the seventh round. After the head cut, during round eight, the referee called for the doctor, who then stopped the fight. Under WBC rules, Randall lost one point, giving Chavez the technical victory. The two faced one another in a rubber match 10 years later, which Chavez won.

Chavez then faced Meldrick Taylor in a rematch, four years after their historic first fight. Chavez defeated him in the eighth round by a knockout that sent Taylor from one side of the ring to the other. In his next bout, Chavez defeated three time champion Tony Lopez. In 1995 he defeated former and future light welterweight champion Giovanni Parisi. Later that year, he defended his title against number on ranked challenger David Kamau, despite suffering a cut in the opening round. Prior to the bout, Chavez indicated that he was considering retirement: "I've had a lot of problems with my arms, with my knees. I really don't want to extend myself much longer", Chavez said. "After so many ears of working out, it all builds up. I am not giving what I used to be able to give. I will fight De La Hoya for a lot of money, and then retire."