Yamil Chade

Yamil Chade (born c. 1930) is a part Lebanese, part Cuban and Puerto Rican sports team owner and athlete manager.

Biography

Yamil Chade was born in Lebanon. He spent his teenage years in Cuba, but by his 20s he had moved to Puerto Rico, where part of his ancestors came from. By the late 1940s, Chade became interested in boxing; although he himself had no interest in getting into boxing as a participator, he gained a license to manage boxers while still a relatively young man.

Related Topics:
Teenage - Puerto Rico - 1940s - Boxing

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One of the first boxers that Chade managed was Kid Gavilan. On May 18, 1951, Gavilan became Chade's first world boxing champion when he defeated Johnny Saxton by a decision in fifteen rounds to win the world Welterweight title. By then, Chade had become a fixture around boxing circles in the Eastern coast of the United States.

Related Topics:
Kid Gavilan - May 18 - 1951 - Johnny Saxton - United States

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Two decades later, Chade met a young Puerto Rican prospect, Wilfredo Gomez. Chade signed Gomez when Gomez was still an amateur fighter. After Gomez won the professional, WBC world Jr. featherweight title in 1977, both him and Chade gained celebrity status in Puerto Rico and abroad. Chade attempted to make Gomez famous around the world, going with Gomez to Central America before Gomez won his first world title, and taking him to Japan and Thailand to defend it. But Gomez became an iconic figure in Puerto Rico and among Hispanics in the United States, so most of his fights were confined to those two countries.

Related Topics:
Wilfredo Gomez - WBC - 1977 - Central America - Japan - Thailand - Hispanic

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Many people in Puerto Rico actually believed that Chade was Gomez's trainer as well, but Gomez was trained by Felix Pagan Pintor.

Related Topics:
Trained - Felix Pagan Pintor

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Chade's relationship with Gomez became sour after Gomez's fight with Lupe Pintor in 1982; Gomez went through a transitional period during 1983, becoming a Featherweight, and he only had two, non title bouts that year. This was due in fact that one of Gomez's lifelong dreams was to win the world Featherweight title (which he did in 1984 by beating Juan Laporte). Chade, meanwhile, signed a contract to try to revive Wilfred Benitez's career during that same year.

Related Topics:
Lupe Pintor - 1982 - 1983 - 1984 - Juan Laporte - Wilfred Benitez

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After Benitez lost to Davey Moore in Monaco, a retirement seemed imminent for the former three division world champion. Atfer Chade and Benitez became contractually involved, however, Benitez returned with three wins, including two over world ranked boxers: Benitez knocked out former Donald Curry world title challenger Elio Diaz in two rounds at Venezuela, and he outpointed Kevin Moley, who was ranked among the top ten Jr. Middleweights at the time, in ten rounds at New York's Madison Square Garden. Benitez lost his next two fights and was left stranded in Argentina after his passport was stolen, however, and Chade then concentrated on the career of Carlos De Leon, four times world Cruiserweight champion. During his tenure with DeLeon, there were talks about a "super-fight" involving DeLeon and the then undisputed world Heavyweight champion Mike Tyson (the term "super-fight" is used in boxing when two well known boxers are to fight each other; for example, Tyson's fight with Michael Spinks in 1988 was named the "super-fight 1988" by most United States boxing magazines).

Related Topics:
Davey Moore - Monaco - Donald Curry - Elio Diaz - Venezuela - Kevin Moley - New York - Madison Square Garden - Argentina - Carlos De Leon - Mike Tyson - Michael Spinks - 1988

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During 1991, Chade and Felix Trinidad Sr. began a partnership in order to take Felix Trinidad Jr. to professional world championships. Once again, Chade employed the same tactics that he tried to use with Gomez on Trinidad Jr., by taking him to different countries to box so he could become well known around the world. Trinidad Jr. fought in France and Italy early in his career. Before Trinidad knocked out Pedro Torres in Mexico as part of the Julio Cesar Chavez-Greg Haugen undercard, Chade suffered a heart attack, requiring hospitalization. Chade recuperated and was soon again one of the two men leading Trinidad Jr.'s career.

Related Topics:
1991 - Felix Trinidad Sr. - Felix Trinidad Jr. - France - Italy - Knocked out - Pedro Torres - Mexico - Julio Cesar Chavez - Greg Haugen - Heart attack

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After Felix Trinidad Jr. became the IBF's world Welterweight champion in 1993, Chade continued on trying to make him well known across the world; Trinidad defended his title once in Monterrey, Mexico in 1994, and was greeted by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez after he beat Oscar De La Hoya in 1999, during a visit to the South American country. But like Gomez, Trinidad Jr. also became an iconic figure in Puerto Rico and among Hispanics in the United States, so most of Trinidad Jr.'s fights also took place either in his home country or the States.

Related Topics:
IBF - 1993 - Monterrey, Mexico - 1994 - Hugo Chavez - Oscar De La Hoya - 1999 - South America

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In between the fight in which he became world champion for the first time and his victory against De La Hoya, however, Trinidad Jr. had a relatively small number of fights, actually fighting only once in 1998. Both the Trinidad's and Chade blamed each other for this. The relationship between Chade and the Trinidads became so bad that, in 2001, a court dissolved the contract tying Chade and the Trinidads.

Related Topics:
1998 - 2001 - Court

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Perhaps fed up with boxing, Chade turned to basketball, buying the BSN's Arecibo Captains in 2003. The Captains had not won a Puerto Rican national championship tournament since 1959, and when Chade and other team personnel promised the city of Arecibo that they would become champions again soon, they were met with many skeptics, both among Puerto Rican basketball fans and sports writers. But, after signing Larry Ayuso, Edgar Padilla, Mario Butler, Keenon Jourdan, former Chicago Bulls player Dickey Simpkins and Sharif Fajardo, among others, the Captains became champions for the second time in their team's history, when they defeated the Bayamón Cowboys in four games at the 2005 BSN finals.

Related Topics:
Basketball - BSN - Arecibo Captains - 2003 - 1959 - Arecibo - Larry Ayuso - Edgar Padilla - Mario Butler - Keenon Jourdan - Chicago Bulls - Dickey Simpkins - Sharif Fajardo - Bayamón Cowboys - 2005

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During September of that year, rumors surfaced that Chade, alongside Captains vice-president Regilio Babilonia, were planning to buy a Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League team as well, but Chade and Babilonia soon after dropped their offer, with Chade saying that "With the Captains' win, we have enough".

Related Topics:
September - Regilio Babilonia - Baseball

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