Michael Carbajal (born September 17, 1967) is an American five-time world boxing champion of Mexican descent. His nickname was "Little Hands of Stone" after his favorite boxer, "Hands of Stone" Roberto Durán.
Amateur career
Carbajal had an amateur record of 94-9 and won a silver medal as a light flyweight at 1988 Seoul Olympics in South Korea.
Highlights
1986 National Golden Gloves Light Flyweight champion
1987 – Carbajal won the silver medal at the 1987 Pan American Games
1988 – United States amateur Light Flyweight champion
1988 Olympic Results
Below are the results of Michael Carbajal, an American light flyweight boxer who competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics:
Round of 32: Defeated Kwang-Soo Oh (South Korea) points (3:2 decision) Round of 16: Defeated Dang Hieu Hien (Vietnam) points Quarterfinal: Defeated Scotty Olson (Canada) points Semifinal: Defeated Robert Isaszegi (Hungary) points Final: Lost to Ivailo Marinov (Bulgaria) points (0:5 decision) There were suspicions of politics influencing the judges in Carbajal's decision loss in the gold medal bout.
Professional career
Seven months after the Olympics, in February 1989, Carbajal made his debut in front of a national television audience as part of the card where Duran became a four-time world champion by beating Iran Barkley in Atlantic City. In his first fight, Carbajal outboxed another future world champion, Will Grigsby.
Carbajal followed that win with a spectacular first-round knockout of Silviano Perez on NBC. In his tenth bout, he met Pedro Feliciano, handling him a ten-round beating. Four more wins followed, and Carbajal was presented with an opportunity to fight for a world championship.
IBF light flyweight title
On July 29, 1990, Carbajal faced Muangchai Kittikasem, who came to Phoenix from Thailand to defend his IBF light flyweight championship. Carbajal methodically took apart the champion in front of an ABC national audience. In round 7, after a combination of punches left Kittikasem lying defenseless against the ropes, the referee stepped in and stopped the fight, making Carbajal the world champion for the first time in his career.
Carbajal began a string of twelve victories over the next two and a half years, including six title defenses against challengers such as Leon Salazar, Hector Patri, Kim Kwang-Sun and Robinson Cuesta, and a win over future champion Jesus Chong in a non-title fight.
Unification against Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez
He then fought a highly anticipated unification match with WBC champion Humberto González on March 13, 1993. Carbajal and Gonzalez became the first Junior Flyweights in history to earn a million dollar purse, and it was the first Junior Flyweight "superfight" and championship bout to headline a Pay Per View event.
Carbajal was downed in rounds 2 and 5, and he was bleeding from his right eyebrow when he blasted a tremendous left hand to the side of Gonzalez's chin in the seventh round. Gonzalez turned sideways, and Carbajal landed another right hand that sent him to the canvas. Gonzalez could not beat the count, and Michael Carbajal had unified the world's Junior Flyweight championship in The Ring's fight of the year. He would also be named fighter of the year for 1993.
Many television endorsement deals followed, including printed and television ads for Diet Pepsi and Emergency Chiropractic, but trouble seemed to follow, as well. He was accused of firing gunshots onto the roof of a party in Scottsdale.
This unwanted attention seemed to take its toll on Carbajal, and after two additional defenses, he fought Gonzalez once again in a pay-per-view match in Los Angeles, California. In his 11th world title fight, Carbajal suffered the first loss of his career as he was defeated by a controversial 12 round split decision.
WBO light flyweight title
Carbajal next took on former sparring partner Abner Barajas, winning by a fifth-round knockout in Laughlin, Nevada, and then was given another shot at a world title by the WBO title holder Josue Camacho, who came from Puerto Rico to the challenger's hometown to defend his title. Carbajal put on a brilliant performance and won a unanimous twelve-round decision over Camacho.