Sánchez started his professional career at the age of 16, as a teenager (after a brief amateur career consisting of reportedly four amateur bouts) he started piling up wins against tough Mexican opposition. His first fight of note came in his 19th professional fight against the Mexican
bantamweight champion Antonio Becerra. Becerra proved too experienced for the young Sánchez, the bout ended in a split decision defeat for Sánchez. Sánchez kept on fighting and moved to the Featherweight division. Soon he had beaten people like the
Puerto Rican featherweight champion
Felix Trinidad Sr., on his way to securing a title shot at world champion
Danny "Little Red" Lopez, a popular TV fighter of the late 1970s who was an impressive fighter and had won some spectacular fights against the likes of former world champion
David Kotei (twice), Juan Malvares and
Mike Ayala. Confident and hard to beat, Lopez was beaten by the 21-year-old Sánchez, who knocked out the defending champion in 13 rounds in
Phoenix, Arizona, United States on February 2, 1980. Sánchez defended his title for the first time with a 15-round unanimous decision against
Ruben Castillo (47–1). Thinking it was just a case of '
beginner's luck' (as it was Sánchez's first world title fight ever), Lopez looked for a rematch and this he got, in
Las Vegas. This time Sánchez defeated Lopez by 14th-round TKO. In his next fight, he defeated Patrick Ford (15–0) . On December 13, 1980, Sánchez defeated future champion
Juan Laporte by unanimous decision. Sánchez then defended his title against Roberto Castanon (43–1–0) and scored a win over Nicky Perez (50–3–0). Then undefeated World Jr Featherweight champion
Wilfredo Gómez (32–0–1) went up in weight and challenged Sánchez.
Sánchez retained the crown by a knockout in round eight on August 21, 1981, in Las Vegas, and Gómez had to return to the Jr. Featherweight division. With that victory, Salvador was an unknown to the casual
boxing fan no more. He became a household name all over the United States that night. In his next fight, he defeated Olympic medalist
Pat Cowdell by split decision. His defense vs unheralded Jorge "Rocky" Garcia was the second fight featuring two featherweights ever to be televised by
HBO, the first having been his contest with Cowdell. He beat Garcia punch after punch, but the challenger gave honor to his nickname, an unknown fighter who lasts the distance with the world champion. On July 21, 1982, Sánchez faced future champion
Azumah Nelson at
Madison Square Garden. Nelson, a late substitute for
mandatory challenger Mario Miranda, was unknown at the time however, and was expected to only go a few rounds with the champ. It was an intense battle, with Sánchez managing to drop his young charge in the 7th round. After that they engaged in violent exchange after violent exchange. In the 15th, Sánchez broke out finally, connecting with a serious combination that dropped the challenger almost outside the ring. Referee
Tony Perez had to stop the fight seconds later.
Azumah Nelson went on to have a glittering career and was inducted into the
International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004. Sánchez proved a dominant featherweight champion. He held title defense victories over the next three fighters (LaPorte, Gomez, and Nelson) who won the WBC title after his death. He went 4–0, all by knockout, against fellow members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame (Danny Lopez twice-KO 13, KO 14-Wilfredo Gomez-KO 8-and Azumah Nelson-KO 15) and defeated four future or former world champions (Lopez, Gomez, LaPorte and Nelson). ==Death==