Michael Carbajal

Carbajal in 2023
Personal information
Nickname	Manitas de Piedra (Little Hands of Stone)
Born	(1967-09-17)September 17, 1967 (age 58) Phoenix, U.S.
Height	5 ft 5.5 in (1.66 m)
Weight	Light Flyweight
Boxing career
Reach	63 in (160 cm)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	53
Wins	49
Win by KO	33
Losses	4
Medal record Men'sboxing Representingthe United States Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Light flyweight Pan American Games 1987 Indianapolis Light Flyweight

Michael Carbajal (born September 17, 1967) is an American five-time worldboxing champion of Mexican descent. His nickname was "Little Hands of Stone" after his favorite boxer, "Hands of Stone"Roberto Durán.^[1]

Carbajal had an amateur record of 94-9 and won a silver medal as a light flyweight at1988 Seoul Olympics inSouth Korea.

• 1986 NationalGolden Gloves Light Flyweight champion
• 1987 – Carbajal won the silver medal at the1987 Pan American Games
• 1988 – United States amateur Light Flyweight champion

Below are the results of Michael Carbajal, an American light flyweight boxer who competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics:

• Round of 32: DefeatedKwang-Soo Oh (South Korea) points (3:2 decision)
• Round of 16: DefeatedDang Hieu Hien (Vietnam) points
• Quarterfinal: DefeatedScotty Olson (Canada) points
• Semifinal: DefeatedRobert Isaszegi (Hungary) points
• Final: Lost toIvailo Marinov (Bulgaria) points (0:5 decision)^[2]

There were suspicions of politics influencing the judges in Carbajal's decision loss in the gold medal bout.^[3]

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 beatingIran Barkley inAtlantic City. In his first fight, Carbajal outboxed another future world champion,Will Grigsby.

Carbajal followed that win with a spectacular first-roundknockout ofSilviano Perez onNBC. 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.

On July 29, 1990, Carbajal facedMuangchai Kittikasem, who came to Phoenix fromThailand to defend hisIBFlight flyweight championship. Carbajal methodically took apart the champion in front of anABC 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 asLeon Salazar,Hector Patri,Kim Kwang-Sun andRobinson Cuesta, and a win over future championJesus Chong in a non-title fight.

He then foughta highly anticipated unification match withWBC championHumberto 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 aPay 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 inThe Ring's fight of the year. He would also be namedfighter of the year for 1993.^[4]

Many television endorsement deals followed, including printed and television ads forDiet Pepsi andEmergency Chiropractic, but trouble seemed to follow, as well. He was accused of firing gunshots onto the roof of a party inScottsdale.

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.

Carbajal next took on former sparring partnerAbner Barajas, winning by a fifth-round knockout inLaughlin, Nevada, and then was given another shot at a world title by theWBO title holderJosue Camacho, who came fromPuerto 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.

A title holder again, Carbajal set to try to recover his International Boxing Federation andWBC belts against Gonzalez in a third unification bout between the boxers. In November 1994, three months after the Camacho victory, they met once again, this time inMexico City. Once again, it was a split decision, and once again, Carbajal came out on the losing end. He wouldn't give up, however, and he kept training under the guidance of his brother,Danny Carbajal, the only man ever to train Michael.

He put another string of seven wins together, against the likes of former world championJose Quirino, whom he stopped in one round, and toughMauro Salas, who lasted seven. Then he met two-time world championMelchor Cob Castro inLas Vegas for the vacant International Boxing Federation Junior Flyweight title. Carbajal beat Castro by unanimous decision to claim his fourth world title.

His third title reign lasted 22 months and three defenses, including an eighth-round knockout of tough two-time challengerTomas Rivera, before he lost his crown again. On January 18, 1997, Carbajal suddenly looked aged and was unable to do anything against the charges of ColombianMauricio Pastrana. Carbajal still made the fight close, but lost a twelve-round split decision.

After that, Carbajal met Canada'sScotty Olson inSan Antonio, Texas. Carbajal showed he had more left than Olson did, and dominated the fight until a spectacular right hand sent Olson down for the count in round 11.

The win over Olson gave Carbajal a minor title, but in July 1997 in Las Vegas once again, he was defeated by South Africa'sJacob Matlala. Matlala handed Carbajal his first inside the distance defeat ever, stopping the past-his-prime former world champion in round nine via cuts. Carbajal did not fight for 19 months after this defeat.

Carbajal announced a comeback early in 1999. He won three bouts, including a tko victory over former championJosé de Jesús, and on July 31, 1999, he took the short flight from Phoenix toTijuana to challengeWBO world Junior Flyweight championJorge Arce, who was fighting in his hometown. Arce dominated Carbajal for nine of the first ten rounds, but Carbajal floored the 21-year-old Arce in the sixth round. The fight moved along, and in the 11th round, Carbajal struck Arce with a right hand that sent him into the ropes. The referee stopped the fight, and Michael Carbajal was a world champion for the fifth time.^[1]

After this fight, Carbajal retired as a world champ. Carbajal is trying to live a quieter life nowadays in Phoenix, but he does many public appearances. He enjoys meeting his public and signing autographs for his fans. Carbajal also owns two boxing gyms in Phoenix.^[1]

Michael Carbajal and former rival Humberto González were elected together to theInternational Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006.^[1]

His career record was 49 wins against four losses, with 33 wins coming by way of knockout.^[1]

• List of light-flyweight boxing champions

• Boxing record for Michael Carbajal fromBoxRec(registration required)
• Michael Carbajal - CBZ Profile

• 1967 births
• Living people
• Olympic boxers for the United States
• Boxers at the 1988 Summer Olympics
• Martial artists from Phoenix, Arizona
• Light-flyweight boxers
• World light-flyweight boxing champions
• International Boxing Federation champions
• World Boxing Council champions
• World Boxing Organization champions
• International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees
• American people of Mexican descent
• Sportspeople of Mexican descent
• Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers
• Boxers from Arizona
• American male boxers
• Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics
• Olympic silver medalists for the United States in boxing
• Boxers at the 1987 Pan American Games
• Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games
• Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in boxing
• 20th-century American sportsmen

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• Short description matches Wikidata
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