Francisco Guilledo aka Pancho Villa (91-8-4, 1919-1925) is the first Filipino world champion. Villa packed 100 fights into six years, and excited fans with a take-no-prisoners style. He won two national titles, fighting larger men, before venturing to America to make his name. Success did not come immediately when he was matched tough in close defeats to future champ Frankie Genaro and Abe Goldstein. He gained international acclaim when he defeated Jimmy Wilde, who was unable to keep the fight at a distance. Villa tore into his body, and an exhausted Wilde was stopped in the seventh. Villa held the title for three years, but in his last bout (a non-title affair) Hall of Famer Jimmy McLarnin won a 10 round decision. Villa was obviously affected by an infected tooth he had extracted the morning of the fight, and he had three more pulled two days later. He died of blood poisoning from those procedures, the same day his wife gave birth to Villa's son. She loudly proclaimed Villa was murdered, by an intentional overdose of anesthesia ordered by a gambling syndicate. (Source: ESPN.com's 'The Ten Best Filipino Fighters')
Filipino Pancho Villa (left) and Welshman Jimmy Wilde (right) squaring off to spar in the ring before their flyweight championship bout in New York City on June 18, 1923. (Image is from http://www.britannica.com/)
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