By: Jim Amato

He was a hard banger and a crowd pleaser who battled some of the best welterweights of his era. Eventually he would move up to 154 pounds and win a world title in that division. He thrilled crowds in his home state of Texas and would also become a popular draw on the West Coast. His name was Oscar Albarado and they called him ” Shotgun “.

Born in 1948, Oscar turned professional in 1966 and reeled off 25 straight victories. He suffered his first loss via a decision to the highly touted Hedgemon Lewis in 1969. He came back in 1970 with two wins over Youngstown, Ohio veteran L.C.Morgan. Oscar would then drop verdicts to rated contenders Adolph Pruitt and ” Have Mercy Mr. Percy ” Pugh.

Albarado bounced back with five straight wins including a decision over rugged Raul Soriano. He was then upset over ten rounds by Manuel Fierro. In May of 1971 Oscar met then undefeated Armando Muniz and the two battled to a draw in an action packed bout. Oscar would then lose a decision to top contender Ernie ” Red ” Lopez. Albarado would win seven in a row but in 1973 he was surprised in one round by Dino Del Cid. Oscar came right back to stop Del Cid in the second round of a rematch.

In June of 1974 Oscar traveled to Tokyo, Japan take on world junior middleweight king Koichi Wajima. In a tough battle Albarado rallied to halt Wajima at 1:57 of the fifteenth round to capture the crown. Oscar would return to Japan to defend against Wajima’s countryman Ryu Sorimachi. Albarado retained his title with a seventh round stoppage. It was back to Tokyo again to face Wajima in a rematch. This time Wajima paced himself and fought a smart fight in regaining his title by decision. There would be no rubber match.

It would be over five years before Oscar boxed again and it was obvious he was no longer the same fighter. He did find himself matched with some pretty good fighters though. In 1981 he was kayoed by Bobby Czyz and Bernard ” Superbad ” Mays. In 1982 he was taken out by Louis Arcaries and John Collins. Finally he was stopped in two rounds by Ayub Kalule in his last fight.

Albarado ended his 72 fight career with a record of 58-13-1. He scored 43 knockouts. He was stopped seven times but six of those stoppages came after his five year layoff. In his prime he was a game and durable fighter with a lethal punch.