Willie Jorrin

                  The Golden Age of boxing for Sacramento, California was between 1982 and 2002 when 3 separate local boxers held world boxing titles. Tony “The Tiger” Lopez was the first and most successful world champion. Lopez twice held the International Boxing Federation super featherweight title between 1988 and 1991. Lopez also held the Word Boxing Association title from 1992 to 1993. Local product Loreto Garza held the World Boxing Association Super Lightweight title between 1990 and 1991. The best pure boxer of all 3 and the least known champion was Willie Jorrin who held the World Boxing Council Super Bantamweight title between 2000 to 2002. This is Willie Jorrin’s story.

            I previously had written stories on both Lopez and Garza for various boxing publications, but I had never written a story on Jorrin  before. I had seen Jorrin  fight, but had not meet him  in person until he arranged to meet with me in January of 2025 at a local Sacramento , California restaurant to do this story.

            55 year old Willie Jorrin advised me that he was born on November 1th, 1969 in Bryte, which is a suburb of West Sacramento, California  Willie started boxing at age 11 when he walked into the local River City boxing club with his father. Willie found out that he had the natural talent for boxing as he was first coached by John Maes, Henry Rodriguez, Gilbert Savala, and Dan Knight.

            Jorrin did so well in the amateur ranks that he went on to win the 80 pound division of the 1984 Junior Olympics tournament held in Saginaw, Michigan. Willie also won 3 Golden Glove titles in Northern California tournaments.

            In the 1988 Olympic trials, Jorrin just missed making the Olympic team, as he lost a close decision to the winner, Michael Carbajal  in the Semi finals of the 106 pound weight division. Jorrin did make the USA amateur boxing team that was coached by Pat Nappi after the Olympic Trials. Jorrin was victorious  in matches against the National teams of Ireland, Sweden, Canada, and Poland. The highlight of Jorrin’s amateur career was beating future world champion Wayne McCullough in his hometown in Northern Ireland.

            In the 1992 Olympic trials, Jorrin again fell just short of making the team when he lost another close decision in the semi finals to Junior Witter in the 125 pound division. Jorrin’s final amateur career record was 158 wins, and 18 loses. Willie won 55 amateur fights by knockout. Frustrated that he came up short again to make the 1992 Olympic boxing team, Jorrin decided to turn to professional boxing in 1993.

            A local Sacramento, California promoter named Sid Tenner was friends with a member of the John Madden family and the former National Football League coach, signed Jorrin to a 3 year contract and co-managed him along with Willie’s father Alfonso Jorrin.

            Jorrin made  his professional debut as a 122 pound  Super Bantamweight in his hometown of Sacramento, California in February of 1993 when he knocked out Esau Dieguez in the first round.  Jorrin won his first 3 fights by first round knockout before he had to go 6 rounds to win a brutal  decision from Pat Chavez in October of 1993. At the time, Jorrin was being trained locally by John Maes, and Don Conley.

            Jorrin was known for his terrific hand speed, fast combination punching and excellent footwork that he had developed in his extensive amateur boxing career.  In March of 1994 Jorrin moved up to 8 round fights, and won an unanimous decision over David Munoz. Jorrin moved up to 10 round fights in May of 1995, and knocked out Max Maldonado in 8 rounds for his 10^th consecutive victory.

            Jorrin stated that he would always remember his 11^th professional fight against Lazaro Padilla. In November of 1995. Jorrin knocked Padilla down with a body shot in the 5^th round. Padilla then urinated on the floor while taking the 10 count from the referee. Jorrin claimed that he and the referee had to avoid the puddle forming around Padilla’s body on the floor during the count.

            Jorrin had a close call in his 14^th professional fight at the Raddison Hotel in Sacramento. Jorrin won a close 10 round split decision over awkward defensive minded Roberto Lopez. Some ringside fans disagreed with the verdict and threw beer at the referee Terry Smith. One of Jorrin’s corner men then proceeded to knock out a couple of the fans who started the melee.

            Jorrin took on rugged George Parra in his 16^th professional fight, and he stopped Parra in the 7^th round of a toe to toe slugfest.  Jorrin was then matched with world ranked super bantamweight Enrique Jupiter in May of 1997 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento. Jorrin entered the ring as an underdog, but he won a decisive decision over the world ranked fighter, which placed him in in the top ten listings of Super Bantamweight fighters. Around this time Jorrin’s contract with John Madden had expired and he was then solely managed by his father, Alfonso Jorrin. Sid Tenner, and Don Chargin began promoting his fights

            Jorrin won a surprisingly tough 10 round decision against club fighter Juan Luis Torres in December of 1997, and then immediately went on a 3 fight knockout spree which included wins over Luis Valenzuela in March of 1998, Antonio Salas in May of 1998, and Julio Cardona in August of 1998. In March of 1999 Jorrin  was being trained by Freddy Roach, of the Wild Card boxing gym and he challenged champion Aristead Clayton for the North American Boxing Federation Super Bantamweight title in July of 1999 in Sacramento.  Willie won a convincing 12 round decision over Clayton for the title which put him in line for a championship fight.

            Prior to challenging for the world title Jorrin decided to give club fighter Juan Luis Torres a rematch, as Torres claimed he was robbed of the decision in his first fight.  Torres began the fight by intentionally butting Jorrin until the fight was finally stopped in the 5^th round, and Jorrin was awarded a technical decision due to cuts he received from the head butts.

            Jorrin was finally able to fight for the World Boxing Council Super Bantamweight title vacated by Erik Morales. Jorrin was matched against Michael Brodie in Manchester, England for the vacant title in September of 2000. Brodie was the hometown favorite but Jorrin matched him punch for punch throughout the first half of the fight  Willie came on strong in the second half of the fight and finally dropped Brodie near the end of the 10^th round, with an overhand right punch. Jorrin took the last 2 rounds on two of the officials scorecards to win a majority decision for the World Boxing Council Super Bantamweight championship. Jorrin then became the 3^rd fighter to win a major world boxing championship from Sacramento, California.

Jorrin knocking down Brodie in the 10th round to win super bantamweight title

                  Jorrin returned home to Sacramento a world champion, and he was soon training back in the gym for a January 2001 title defense against number 1 contender Oscar Larios from Guadalajara, Mexico. Jorrin defended his title against Larios at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.

                  Larios around 5-8 was tall for a Super Bantamweight and his height and reach advantage gave Jorrin problems in the first part of the fight. Jorrin started off the fight slow but slowly worked his way back into the fight. By the end of the 10^th round the fight was even. Jorrin outscored Larios in the last 2 rounds to win an unanimous decision by 115 to 113 scores on all 3 of the official scorecards. 

            Jorrin rested for a year, and then traveled to Japan to meet another top contender in Osamu Sato. Jorrin defended his title against Sato in Tokyo, Japan in February of 2002 Jorrin was usually a slow starter, but this time he started fast, and dropped Sato twice in the 3^rd round. Jorrin nearly got the knockout, but Sato was able to last until the end of the round. Sato began to catch up to Jorrin in the middle rounds, but Jorrin held his lead until the end of the fight. Surprisingly Jorrin was only awarded a draw decision, which allowed him to keep his title based on the verdict.

            Larios had been screaming for a rematch for the title, and it was finally set for November of 2002 in Sacramento again. Freddy Roach would not be in Jorrin’s corner for this fight, as he was traveling with Manny Pacquaio for one of his title defenses.

            About one minute into the title rematch Larios came up with a right-hand uppercut from the floor which dropped Jorrin.  Jorrin beat the 10 count, but when Larios flurried after the knockdown, the referee stopped the fight and awarded the fight and the title to Larios. Jorrin, would later claim that he could have continued the fight but the complaint fell on deaf ears.

            For some reason, unlike Larios Jorrin was never give a chance to regain his title, and Roach never worked another corner for him. Jorrin returned to the ring in April of 2003 and knocked out John Hoffman in 2 rounds in Rosemont, Illinois. The match was promoted by a Robert Mittelman who never paid Jorrin for his fight. Mittleman only paid for food, lodging, and travel expenses. Mittelman would later be convicted by the US government for fight fixing, and other boxing related charges.

            Jorrin traveled to Phoenix, Arizona for the last fight of his career in November of 2003 in a fight promoted by the Goosen family. Jorrin was paid 10 thousand dollars for the fight and lost a majority decision to club fighter Christian Favela. Disgusted with the fight game, Jorrin retired with a professional ring record of 29 wins, 2 loses, and 1 draw, with 13 wins coming by knockout.

            Upon retirement, Jorrin opened up a boxing gym along with his father called “CHAMPS” in West Sacramento. The gym was opened in 2003 and Willie closed it in 2011 when his father passed away. Jorrin then moved his large extended family to a suburb named Southport in West Sacramento.

            Jorrin is divorced and has two grown children. Jorrin still needs to be enshrined into a couple of local boxing hall of fames in the Sacramento area and he still sees other retired champions Tony Lopez, and Loreto Garza at boxing events held in the area.

            Willie Jorrin may have been somewhat overshadowed by the other boxing champions from the Sacramento area, but his ring skills and outstanding ring record prove that he belongs among the elite boxing champions in the Super Bantamweight division of boxing.

                        Published by Larry Carli    January 28 2025