Cinco de Mayo (“Fifth of May”) is the annual Spanish celebration which observes the improbable victory that the Mexican Army had over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. In Mexico, this day is celebrated by commemorating the victorious battle through ceremonies and military parades. In America, however, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated by downing six Tecate tall-boys before noon.
My way of memorializing the holiday (before the Tecate’s fully kick in) is to honor the athletes that symbolize the true meaning of the Cinco de Mayo celebration. Here are the top Mexican athletes of all time. ¡Salud!
5. Oscar De La Hoya
“The Golden Boy” is a former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. De La Hoya represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics, and became a gold medal winner in the lightweight division. He was named Fighter of the Year by the The Ring magazine in 1995, and was their top-rated fighter in the world, pound for pound, in 1997 and 1998. After sixteen-years of professional boxing, De La Hoya announced his retirement in 2009.
4. Lee Trevino
Also known as the disappointed-looking head-shaker from Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore, Trevino is a retired professional golfer regarded as one of the greatest players in professional golf history, and the greatest Hispanic golfer of all time. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981.
“SuperMex” won six major championships and 29 PGA Tour events over the course of his career. He is one of only four players to twice win the U.S. Open, The Open Championship and the PGA Championship. The only major that he never won was the Masters Tournament.
3. Fernando Valenzuela
Fernando Valenzuela is a former MLB pitcher who played for six different teams from 1980 to 1997, primarily the Los Angeles Dodgers. Valenzuela is most notable for being the only pitcher, to date, to win both Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season (1981), while also being a World Series champion that year. The southpaw holds a career win-loss record of 173–153 along with a 3.54 ERA. Baseball Hall of Fame inducted him in 2014.
2. Lorena Ochoa
Lorena Ochoa is a Mexican professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour from 2003 to 2010. Ochoa was the top-ranked female golfer in the world for 158 consecutive and total weeks (both LPGA Tour records), from April 23, 2007 to her retirement in on May 2, 2010, at the age of 28.
The two-time major winner was the first Mexican golfer of either gender to be ranked number one in the world and is considered to be the best Mexican golfer and the best Latin American female golfer of all time. Ochoa was elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame and will be inducted this upcoming September.
1. Julio Cesar Chavez
Julio Cesar Chavez is a former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005. He is considered by many as the greatest Mexican boxer of all time, as well as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Chavez is a six-time world champion in three weight divisions and for several years was considered, pound for pound, as the best boxer in the world. Chavez was named Fighter of the Year for 1987 and 1990 by the Boxing Writers Association of America and The Ring magazine, respectively. He ranks #24 on ESPN’s list of “50 Greatest Boxers of All Time”. In 2010 he was inducted into the prestigious International Boxing Hall of Fame for the Class of 2011. He is the father of current boxers Omar Chavez and former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
@Eddie_ThePAS