Editing Sixto Escobar (section)

==Professional career==
Escobar turned professional on September 1, 1930, in a [[fight card]] organized at the Victory Garden gym in San Juan. In this event, he defeated Luis "Kid Dominican" Pérez, who entered the fight as the Dominican Republic's champion, by knockout in the third round.<ref name="p.22">Fonseca et al., p.22</ref> In Puerto Rico, Escobar fought in 15 contests, before moving to Venezuela after the popularity of professional boxing declined in his home country.<ref name="p.22"/> This move was motivated by Roberto Andrade, who provided transportation to the country. In Venezuela, he fought in Caracas, competing against José Lugo, Sindulfo Díaz, Rafael "Moralito" Morales, Pica Pica and Simón Chávez among others.<ref name="p.22"/> On November 11, 1931, Escobar competed against [[Enrique Chaffardet]] for the Venezuelan Bantamweight Title, but lost by decision. After 17 fights, he returned to Puerto Rico and competed in five cards. But professional boxing suffered another decline in interest, which forced Escobar to work as an accommodator in baseball games three days of the week, generally on weekends.<ref name="p.22"/> In the meanwhile, Tony Rojas, a friend of his managers Gustavo Jiménez and Arturo Gigante, convinced them to release Escobar of the contract which bound them.<ref name="p.22"/> Since Escobar turned professional while he was still legally a minor, his father had to sign the unbinding agreement. After succeeding in this task, Rojas presented Escobar with a steam boat ticket to New York, which covered his food, clothes and hotel expenses.<ref name="p.22"/> Escobar reached New York in early 1934, intending to "obtain fame and honor" for "[his] motherland", there he was received by Rojas and professional trainer [[Whitey Bimstein]]. His first fight in the United States took place at the [[Valley Arena]] in [[Holyoke, Massachusetts]] on May 7, 1934.<ref name="p.23">Fonseca et al., p.23</ref> In this contest he was paired against Canadian bantamweight titleholder Bobby Leitham, defeating him by technical knockout in the seventh round.

Escobar's manager, Lou Brix and his trainer recognized that Escobar could be close to a championship fight once the incumbent, Panamian [[Panama Al Brown|Alfonso Teófilo Brown]], refused to defend the championship against the first contender, which led to it being stripped by the [[World Boxing Association|National Boxing Association]] (NBA).<ref name="p.23"/> A rematch was then organized against Leitham. This was an eliminatory card organized by the Montreal Athletic Commission, which was to determine a contender for their vacant Bantamweight World Championship, against first contender [[Baby Casanova]], who attended the card. After scoring three knockdowns in the fourth round, Escobar connected another punch that injured Leitham, after which Leitham's manager surrendered the fight. This marked Leitham's last fight. Following this result, the NBA immediately called for a fight between Escobar and Casanova.<ref name="p.23"/> By this time he had gained a reputation as a quick and technical boxer, capable of gathering quick knockouts with body punches if confronted by an unprepared opponent.<ref name="p.23"/> The fight took place on June 26, 1934, and it was organized in [[Montreal, Quebec]], Canada. Escobar scored a knockdown in the third round; the fight concluded in the ninth round when Casanova lost by knockout. With this win, Escobar won the Montreal Athletic Commission World Bantamweight Title, thus becoming the first Puerto Rican to win a world boxing championship title.<ref name="p.23"/> This had a significant impact on Puerto Rico, where it was constantly discussed by the general public. Songs, decimas and poetry were written about this accomplishment.<ref name="p.23"/> However, the [[New York State Athletic Commission]] (NYSAC) and [[International Boxing Union (1913–1946)|International Boxing Union]] (IBU) of France didn't recognize the outcome of this fight, conserving Tony Marino and Brown as their recognized champions.<ref name="p.26"/>

===Undisputed world bantamweight title===
On August 8, 1934, he defeated Eugene Hart by points in a non-title match organized in Canada. This was the first time in his career that Escobar completed a 15-round contest. After this event, he stayed in Montreal expecting to fight against the winner of a matchup between [[Louis Salica]] and Bobby Quintana, which was scheduled to take place on December of that year. However, Escobar was forced to cancel his plans after suffering a heel injury when he was hit by a car.<ref name="p.24">Fonseca et al., p.24</ref> He spent a month in inactivity while recovering, and in the winter he returned to Puerto Rico.<ref name="p.24"/> The governor ordered to have all government buildings closed so that public employees could attend a welcoming ceremony.<ref name="p.24"/> The event, which took place in [[Old San Juan, Puerto Rico|Old San Juan]]'s dock, was followed by a parade.<ref name="p.24"/> Upon arriving in Barceloneta, Escobar was recognized as a "predilect son" of that municipality by the city's mayor, which was followed by a week of festivities in his name.<ref name="p.24"/> Escobar pursued a fight with Brown, but his offers were refused while the Panamanian pugilist promoted a campaign protesting the removal of his recognition as champion, demanding to be reinstated.<ref name="p.26"/>

On August 7, 1935, Escobar defeated [[Pete Sanstol]]—who once held, in 1931, the Canadian Boxing Federation and Montreal Athletic Commission (MAC) world bantamweight titles—by unanimous decision in 12 rounds.<ref name="p.26">Fonseca et al., p.26</ref> However, Escobar still wasn't considered the division's [[Undisputed Champion]] because [[Balthazar Sangchili]] had defeated Panama Al Brown and was recognized by the IBU. Due to this, Sanstol sent a letter to the NYSAC noting that the fight was of eliminatory nature, even though it was recognized as a titular contest by the NBA and MAC.<ref name="p.27">Fonseca et al., p.27</ref> Wanting to be recognized as such, Escobar pursued a title unification fight against Tony Marino, who had defeated Sangchili by knockout in his previous fight.<ref name="p.27"/> He won the fight by knockout in the thirteenth round, receiving the "undisputed world champion" 
distinction.<ref name="p.27"/> On November 13, 1935, Escobar became the first Puerto Rican to win a title fight in the first round, defeating "Indian" Quintana by knockout.<ref name="p.27"/>

This outcome made it possible to organize a fight against Louis Salica, it was the first time that Escobar fought a title fight in Puerto Rico.<ref name="p.27"/> The card was promoted by Arturo Gigante and Gustavo Jiménez Sicardó. Escobar won the fight by unanimous decision, while [[Jack Dempsey]] served as referee.<ref name="p.27"/> He participated in Mike Jacobs's "Carnival of Champions" on September 23, 1937 and lost the title to [[Harry Jeffra]] by unanimous decision.<ref name="p.27"/> Shortly after, he recovered from this loss and he returned to the gym; he defeated Johnny Defoe in a preparatory contest.<ref name="p.27"/> On February 20, 1938, Escobar faced Jeffra in a rematch organized at the ''El Escambrón'' baseball park in [[Puerta de Tierra, Puerto Rico|Puerta de Tierra]]. He won the contest by unanimous decision, scoring three knockdowns.<ref name="p.28"/> This became an early example of fights that attracted the attention and criticism of boxing analysts, particularly those in New York.<ref name="p.28">Fonseca et al., p.28</ref>  On April 2, 1939, Escobar defeated Kayo Morgan before a sold-out crowd of 15,000 at the ''[[Estadio Sixto Escobar]]'', which had been inaugurated three years earlier.<ref name="p.28"/> After this fight, he received [[The Ring (magazine)|''The Ring'']] Bantamweight Championship, which was presented by the magazine's editor, [[Nat Fleischer]].<ref name="p.29">Fonseca et al., p.29</ref> Later in 1939, Escobar received a draft notice from the [[United States Army]], ordering him to take a physical exam for possible military service. He and his manager presented the issue to the Puerto Rico Boxing Commission, managing to receive a postponement of two months before surrendering his title.<ref name="p.29"/> On April 6, 1940, Escobar fought Simón Chávez for ten rounds in what ended as a draw. Escobar then fought some short non-title fights, of which he lost four, all by points.<ref name="p.29"/> On December 2, 1940, Escobar participated in his last professional fight, losing to a ten-round decision to Harry Jeffra. Throughout his career Escobar avoided being knocked down or out in any fight, all of his losses being by decision. In April 1941, he was drafted to the [[United States Army]] and participated in [[World War II]].<ref name="p.29"/>