Edwin "El Chapo" Rosario (March 15, 1963 - December 1, 1997) was a Puerto Rican boxer. He won the lightweight championship three times, as the WBC lightweight champion (1983-84), and the WBA champion (1986-87) and (1989-90). After moving up to the junior welterweight class, he won the WBA championship, holding the title from 1991 to 1992.

Early life and career

Edwin Rosario was born in Barrio Candelaria, Toa Baja, an extremely poor barrio on the north coast of Puerto Rico. Rosario's older brother Papo became a professional boxer with what looked like a promising career.

His boxing manager and coach (trainer), Manny Siaca Sr., had noticed the younger Edwin Rosario's talent when he was 8 years old. Inspired by his brother Papo, Chapo Rosario, as he became known in the world of boxing, had a stellar amateur boxing career.

Professional career

Chapo's brother Papo died unexpectedly, supposedly do to drugs, two years after his move to professional boxing. Rosario persevered, wanting to honor his brother's memory by winning a world championship. He scored big knockout wins over Young Ezzard Charles and Edwin Viruet, the former in three rounds on the Holmes-Cooney undercard, and the latter, who had boxed 25 rounds against Roberto Duran including a world lightweight championship bout without being knocked out, also in three rounds.

He eventually gained a record of 21-0 with 20 knockouts. This led to talks of a title fight against World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight champion Alexis Arguello, to be held in Miami, but Arguello relinquished the title to move up in weight to challenge junior welterweight champion Aaron Pryor.

Boxing champion

With Arguello moving divisions, Rosario was matched with Mexico's Jose Luis Ramirez on May 1, 1983 for the vacant WBC lightweight title. Rosario dominated the first 7 rounds, but tired down the stretch to make for a very close fight. The judges, as well as most of the public present, felt Rosario had done enough to win. He became world lightweight champion by the unanimous score of 115-113 on all 3 judging cards. Rosario injured his hand during the fight and needed surgery, for which the World Boxing Council gave him a dispensation.

Rosario did not return to the ring until 1984. In his first defense of the title, he faced Roberto Elizondo,, who had lasted 7 rounds with Arguello in a previous world title challenge and was expected to give him a tough fight. Rosario knocked out Elizondo in one round. Howard Davis Jr. proved more of a challenge, Davis Jr. was ahead on all scorecards with ten seconds remaining in the bout, but was dropped by Rosario and lost a split decision.

A rematch with Ramirez was scheduled, again in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on November 3, 1984. Rosario dropped Ramirez once in round one and again in the second, but the challenger got off the canvas to take Rosario's title away with a fourth round TKO. This was Rosario's first defeat. Some fans felt he never fully recovered, although he won three more championships.

Rosario won a comeback fight against Frankie Randall, the future world champion, in London. He had to wait another year before an opportunity to regain the title. On June 13, 1986, he met the world champion Hector 'Macho' Camacho at Madison Square Garden in New York. The fight was televised by HBO, and although Rosario shook Camacho badly in the fifth round and rallied down the stretch, Camacho swept the middle rounds. The judges, in a split decision, awarded Camacho the fight.

Because of the closeness of that bout, the WBA gave Rosario a chance to challenge Livingstone Bramble, the other world lightweight champion. Rosario went to Miami and defeated Bramble by knockout in the second round to become world lightweight champion for the second time. His pose, raising his arms after the fight, became The Ring magazine cover for the next month.