Promising Boxing contender Gunned Down - Hector Sanchez

Promising Boxing contender Gunned Down - Hector Sanchez

SecondsOut special to Doghouse Boxing (March 6, 2013)
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By José Santana Jr. - Hector “El Flaco” Sanchez passed away Sunday in Puerto Rico after being gunned down in front of a residence in the Barrio Obrero neighborhood of San Juan. Sanchez was a, 19-3 (9), light welterweight with a promising career still ahead of him.

Sanchez, who was 26, turned pro in 2005 and won his first 18 fights. He had lost three of his last four. He recently enlisted the services of trainer Freddie Trinidad in order to retake the reins of his career and get back on the path towards a world title. At a lean 6-foot-1 Sanchez was considered trouble for most fighters.

Sanchez is the second Puerto Rican boxer to be murdered this year – the other, Kenneth Diaz, was shot last January in front of a school in Trujillo Alto. Diaz was also trained by Trinidad.

“The criminal wave that is plaguing (Puerto Rico) is taking away our good youth,” Trinidad said in an interview with Puerto Rican newspaper PrimeraHora. Both were boxers with promising futures for this country and were people who were on the right track. They are two great athletes who we have lost.”

Sanchez was a successful amateur. He was a member of the Puerto Rican National Boxing team and a former Junior Olympic champion.

“He was a great young man,” said the trainer of the Puerto Rican National Amateur Boxing team José Laureano. “Everyone loved him. He was always quiet, very humble. He didn’t have any vices or signs that he was involved in the things of the streets.”

Sanchez suffered wounds to the abdomen and the head. The shooting occurred late Saturday night. Three other men also died in the incident.

SecondsOut.com to Doghouse Boxing.

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