5 of the best Mexican boxing showdowns (VIDEO)

4. Carlos Zarate vs. Alfonso Zamora

Boasting an impeccable combined undefeated record of 74 victories with an astonishing 73 knockouts, Mexico City's Carlos Zarate and Alfonso Zamora guaranteed a knockout when they faced off in 1977.

Both men held bantamweight titles, with Zarate having made three defenses of his WBC title and scoring 21 straight knockouts with an impressive 45-0 record with 44 knockouts. The younger of the two, at 23, Zamora, a 1972 Olympic silver medalist, was a perfect 29-0 with 29 knockouts and made five defenses of his WBA bantamweight title, including a second-round stoppage over future featherweight legend Eusebio Pedroza.

The last few generations of boxing have been maligned for having promoters and networks delay or hinder major fights from taking place. When it comes to the battle of the power-punching Zamora and Zarate, not much was different. The WBC and WBA wouldn't sanction the fight as a unification match, and the personal bad blood between the fighter's management teams led to the fight being a non-title bout scheduled for ten rounds.

Despite being a non-title affair, the winner would be recognized as the world's best bantamweight. Held at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, CA, the fight did not disappoint. It featured multiple knockdowns, a fan entering the ring in the first round, and two appearances of a police riot squad.

Any notion that the fight being non-title would impact either fighter's performance was put to rest in the first round. The two knockout artists circled one another, trading power punches and hooks. As is the case with all boxing matches, the bigger puncher is the one who can take his opponent's punches.

In the third round, the 26-year-old Zarate was able to hurt Zamora with lead right hands, dropping his opponent to the canvas. Zamora never fully recovered. Zarate scored two more knockdowns in the fourth round, and Zamora's father threw in the towel.

It may have only gone four rounds, but within those twelve minutes, the circumstances inside and outside the ring provided a noteworthy fight between two champions out of Mexico.