Cecilio Lastra | |
---|---|
Born | Cecilio Lastra August 12, 1951 |
Nationality | Spanish |
Statistics | |
Weight(s) | Featherweight |
Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
Stance | Southpaw |
Boxing record | |
Total fights | 54 |
Wins | 39 |
Wins by KO | 24 |
Losses | 13 |
Draws | 2 |
No contests | 0 |
Cecilio Lastra (born August 12, 1951, in Santander, Cantabria) is a former Spanish professional boxer. He fought 54 times between 1975 and 1982; winning 39 (24 by knockout), losing 13 and drawing 2. The highlight of Lastra's career came in 1977 when he won the WBA world featherweight title against Rafael Ortega. During his career he also became the Spanish champion and twice challenged for the EBU title.
Lastra made his professional debut at the age of 24, with a six round points victory against Juan Barros in December 1975. As with the majority of his early fights, the bout took place in his hometown of Santander. Lastra won the first twelve fights of his career, including six first round knockouts, before losing for the first time, in September 1976, against Carlos Hernandez. Following this defeat, Lastra won eight successive fights in Santander, before beating Isidoro Cabeza for the Spanish featherweight title. He suffered his first knockout defeat in August 1977, losing in the eleventh round against Roberto Castanon in his first title defence.
In December 1977 Lastra challenged Rafael Ortega for the WBA featherweight title in front of an estimated crowd of 6,300 in Santander. Ortega, a Panamanian who had won the title earlier in the year, was knocked down in the second round after a left jab to the nose. The champion rose from the canvas at the count of eight and lasted the full fifteen rounds. At the end of the contest the scorecards revealed a split decision in Lastra's favour. [1] For the first defence of his title Lastra travelled to Panama City to fight Eusebio Pedroza in April 1978. The 22-year-old challenger knocked Lastra down three times en route to a thirteenth-round technical knockout victory. [2]
Although Lastra never fought for a world title again, he twice challenged Roberto Castanon for the EBU title; losing their second fight on points and their third by a fourth round technical knockout, to go 0-3 versus Castanon. After four losses in a row, including two Spanish title fights, Lastra fought for a final time in July 1982, losing in the fifth round against Amalio Galan.
Alexis Argüello was a Nicaraguan professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 1995, and later became a politician. He was a three-weight world champion, having held the WBA featherweight title from 1974 to 1976; the WBC super featherweight title from 1978 to 1980; and the WBC lightweight title from 1981 to 1982. Additionally, he held the Ring magazine and lineal featherweight titles from 1975 to 1977; the Ring lightweight title from 1981 to 1982; and the lineal lightweight title in 1982. In his later career, he challenged twice for light welterweight world titles, losing both times in famous fights against Aaron Pryor.
Eusebio Pedroza was a Panamanian boxer who held the WBA and lineal featherweight championship from 1978 to 1985, having defended the title against 18 different contenders, more than any other boxer in featherweight history. His cousin, Rafael Pedroza, was a world champion also, in the junior bantamweight division, although Rafael's reign as world champion was short-lived. Eusebio Pedroza died one day before his 63rd birthday.
Jorge Adolfo Páez is a Mexican actor, circus performer and former professional boxer. In boxing he held the WBO and IBF featherweight titles. Paez's nickname of "El Maromero" is in honor of the somersault acts he performs at the circus. It was in the circus that he learned acrobatic moves he would later use in the boxing ring. Páez is also the father of Azriel Páez, Jorge Páez Jr., and Airam Páez.
Julian Solís De Jesus is a former boxer from Puerto Rico. He was born in the San Juan area of Río Piedras, but because of the closeness of his birthplace to Caguas, he often trained at the Bairoa Gym in Caguas. His training base, however, was the Caimito Gym.
During the 1970s, boxing was characterized by dominating champions and history-making rivalries. The decade had many superstars, who also had fierce rivals. Alexis Argüello, for example, who won the world Featherweight and Jr. Lightweight titles in the '70s, had to overcome Alfredo Escalera twice before the decade was over.
Benjamin Villaflor is a Filipino former professional boxer who competed from 1966 to 1976. He was a two-time WBA and The Ring super-featherweight champion between 1972 and 1976.
The boxing fight between Mexicans Carlos Zárate and Alfonso Zamora, respectively the WBC and WBA World Bantamweight titleholders, was known as The Battle of the Z Boys. Held in Inglewood, California, on April 23, 1977, the bout was not recognized as a unification fight by either of the sanctioning bodies without any specific reason given for withholding the sanction. As it turned out, the fight was one of the most-anticipated 10-round fights in history among boxing fans.
Celestino Caballero is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2014. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super) and IBF super bantamweight titles between 2006 and 2010, and the WBA (Regular) featherweight title from 2011 to 2012.
Kuniaki Shibata is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1977. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC and The Ring featherweight titles from 1970 to 1972, the WBA and The Ring super-featherweight titles in 1973, and the WBC super-featherweight title from 1974 to 1975.
Ernesto Marcel was a Panamanian professional boxer who competed from 1966 to 1974. He held the WBA featherweight title from 1972 to 1974 and challenged for the WBC featherweight title in 1971.
Antonio Gomez is a Venezuelan former professional boxer who fought in the featherweight division. He won the WBA world featherweight title in 1971.
Rafael Ortega is a former professional boxer. The highlight of his career came in 1977, when he won the WBA World featherweight title.
Alfredo Layne was a Panamanian professional boxer. Layne is notable for having won the WBA and lineal super featherweight titles.
Juan Antonio Guzmán Batista, better known as Juan Guzman, was a Dominican former professional boxer and WBA world Junior Flyweight champion. Due to his high percentage of wins by knockout, he was nicknamed "El Pequeno Foreman". Guzman was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, during the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship era.
Angel Robinson Garcia was a Cuban professional boxer, who was the Latin American Super-Featherweight champion. He also fought for the Cuban national Lightweight title, but lost.
Enrique "Kiko" Solis De Jesus is a former boxer from Puerto Rico, who in 1978 challenged Eusebio Pedroza of Panama for Pedroza's WBA's recognized world Featherweight championship. Solis is a member of a prolific Puerto Rican boxing family, his brothers being former WBA and Ring Magazine world Bantamweight champion Julian Solís, former WBC world Junior Lightweight title challenger Rafael Solis and Santos Solis, who once fought Wilfred Benítez as a professional and went ten rounds with him. He is from Caimito, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Jorge Luján is a Panamanian who was a professional boxer and fought many top-flight boxers and several champions during the 1970s and 1980s. Luján is the former Lineal and WBA Bantamweight world champion. He was managed by Aurelio Cortez.
Arturo Leon is a Mexican-American former boxer from Arizona, United States. He was a junior lightweight who once challenged Alexis Arguello for the Nicaraguan's World Boxing Council's world Junior Lightweight title, losing by 15 round unanimous decision.
Carlos Piñango was a Venezuelan noted amateur and professional boxer and boxing trainer, who once fought Eusebio Pedroza for the World Boxing Association's world featherweight title and who later on, trained several world champion boxers, both male and female ones, and who, as a trainer, traveled around the world training his boxers and instructing them during their contests.
Juan "Johnny" De La Rosa is a former professional boxer from the Dominican Republic. A featherweight and junior lightweight, he was a two-time world title challenger who, on June 25, 1983, came very close to becoming a world champion, losing a 12 rounds split decision to then World Boxing Council world featherweight champion Juan Laporte in San Juan, Puerto Rico.