Vilomar Fernandez

Last updated

Vilomar Fernandez (born August 12, 1952 [1] in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican Republic former professional boxer who twice challenged for the world Lightweight championship. Known as a very capable, defensive-minded fighter, Fernandez is mostly known for his victory over International Boxing Hall of Fame member Alexis Arguello, in a contest that took place on July 26, 1978, and which was scored as a ten-rounds decision win for Fernandez. [2]

Contents

Early boxing career

Fernandez was a top amateur boxer in the United States. In 1970, when Fernandez was 18 years old, he and his brother, José, who was another top amateur competitor and who fought for a world title as a professional himself, reached the finals of the New York Golden Gloves competition at the 126 pounds division's open division tournament. Since the Golden Gloves rules prohibited brothers from fighting each other, the Fernandez brothers were declared co-champions. [3]

Professional boxing career

On May 24, 1971, the still 18 years old Fernandez made his professional boxing debut, facing the also debuting, Salvador Ramirez. This contest took place at the Felt Forum in New York city, and Fernandez won by a second-round technical knockout. [4]

Fernandez won his first four bouts before meeting the debuting Dave Smith on Thursday, January 13, 1972, at the Sunnyside Garden in Sunnyside, Queens, New York, as part of a program headlined by his brother José versus Marion Thomas. Somewhat surprisingly, Fernandez lost his condition as an undefeated boxer when knocked out by Smith in round three of a scheduled 4 rounds contest. [4] The loss at the hands of Smith was followed by three wins against the same opponent, José Resto, who was defeated by six rounds decision on March 1, 1972, at the Sunnyside Garden, [4] by another six rounds decision at the Felt Forum on April 17 of that year [4] and by yet another six rounds decision, on April 28, also in 1972 at the Sunnyside Garden, as part of another program headlined by his brother, José. [4]

Counting the three wins over Resto, Fernandez built a nine-fight winning streak. Three of those wins were by knockout. Included in that streak was a win over Puerto Rican Gregorio Benitez (brother of International Boxing Hall of Fame member Wilfred Benitez), a 7 wins, 1 loss prospect, by a six rounds unanimous decision on Friday, November 17, 1972, at the Madison Square Garden in New York, as part of a show that had Esteban De Jesus beat world Lightweight champion Roberto Duran in a non-title main event. [4]

That early, nine fight win streak was interrupted when the 7 wins, 2 losses prospect Eduardo Santiago met Fernandez on February 23, 1973, at the Sunnyside Garden. The pair fought to a ten rounds draw (tie) that afternoon, [4] but, exactly six months later, on July 23, the two had a rematch as the headliner bout of a show at the Felt Forum, with Fernandez the winner by a close but clear unanimous decision victory, two judges giving him the fight by a 7–3 rounds margin and the third one by 6–4. [5] A series of consecutive setbacks followed the second fight with Eduardo Santiago, as Fernandez then lost three contests in a row: to 22 wins, 3 losses and 3 draws Walter Seeley by 10 rounds unanimous decision on October 23, 1973, [4] to Puerto Rican contender, 17 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws Edwin Viruet on March 8, 1974, at the Madison Square Garden, [4] and to fellow Dominican, Ezequiel "Cocoa" Sánchez by decision in 12 rounds on June 15, 1974, in what constituted Fernandez's first contest at his home-country as the bout was held in the Dominican Republic's capital city of Santo Domingo. [4]

Following those three losses, Fernandez had a record of 14 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw, with 4 wins by knockout.

Fernandez rebounded from those three losses by defeating the veteran Puerto Rican contender Frankie Otero, 43 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws coming in, twice in a row: first on Tuesday, January 7, 1975, at the Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida, by a ten rounds unanimous decision, [4] and then on Tuesday, February 11 of the same year at the same place, also by ten rounds decision, albeit this time by a majority one and in the main event of the boxing show that night. [4]

Fernandez then met Antonio Amaya, a former world title challenger from Panama who had 45 wins, 12 losses and 4 ties [4] when the pair met at Santo Domingo on Monday, April 28, 1975, with Fernandez imposing himself by a ten rounds unanimous decision. [4] The win against Amaya and his two next wins, against previously undefeated Ray Lunny III (22-0-3), whom Fernandez dropped in round nine en route to a twelve rounds unanimous decision at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California on Friday, August 22, 1975 [4] and against Ray Lampkin (32-4-1), whom Fernandez dropped in round one and who was defeated by the Dominican by ten rounds unanimous decision on a program headlined by a Saoul Mamby fight on February 6, 1976, at the Madison Square Garden in New York, [4] allowed Fernandez to be ranked and qualify for a world championship fight for the first time in his career, despite a setback in his next contest, when he was outpointed on June 15 at the Nassau Coliseum in Nassau, New York by then-undefeated Vicente Mijares (10–0) as part of a program headlined by George Foreman's second win over Joe Frazier. [4] Fernandez had a knockdown called against him in round four of the Mijares contest.

First world title challenge

Fernandez fought Roberto Duran, widely considered one of the best boxers in history by experts and other boxers such as International Boxing Hall of Fame member Barry McGuigan, [6] for Duran's World Boxing Association's world Lightweight title on Saturday, January 29, 1977, at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Duran was 58–1, with 49 wins by knockout coming in. Fernandez put serious resistance but was down by a considerable margin on the scorecards when Duran was finally able to stop him at 2 minutes and sixteen seconds of round thirteen to retain the championship. [4] Duran-Fernandez was televised nationally in the United States by the CBS channel network. [7]

First fight with Alexis Arguello

The loss to Duran was followed by Fernandez with three wins in a row against more or less obscure opponents with combined records of 18 wins, 38 losses and 2 draws, then a draw against 16-6-2 Larry Stanton (in a contest scored by Sam Irom for Fernandez 5-4 but as a 5–5 tie by Joe Santarpia and 6-4 for Stanton by Harold Lederman) as part of a March 2, 1978, program at the Felt Forum which was headlined by a bout between Mike Rossman and Yaqui Lopez, [4] and then, Fernandez faced another all-time great in former WBA world Featherweight and then current WBC world Junior Lightweight champion, Nicaragua's Alexis Arguello, who was actively seeking a third divisional world title in the Lightweight division. Arguello-Fernandez I came on at the Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday, July 26, 1978, and Fernandez caused an upset when he outpointed the world Junior Lightweight champion, winning the non-title Lightweight division affair by a ten rounds majority (some sources of the time called it a split one) decision, with judge Irom scoring it 6–4 and judge Artie Aidala 5-4 in rounds in favor of Fernandez and referee and judge Arthur Mercante having it a 5–5 tie. [4]

Second world title challenge

Fernandez was once again ranked among the Lightweights by the WBA. So, after a win over Isidro "Gino" Perez, [4] (who would die of an injury sustained during another boxing contest a few years later) [4] and a very close but unanimous 12 rounds decision loss to 1976 boxing Olympic gold medalist Howard Davis, Jr. at the Resorts International in Atlantic City, New Jersey, after dropping Davis to the canvas in round two on Saturday, February 23, 1980, [4] Fernandez faced WBA world Lightweight champion, Hilmer Kenty, a hard-hitting, 19-0 with 15 wins by knockout boxer, at the Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on Saturday, November 8, 1980. Fernandez again gave a strong effort but came up short, losing the contest by a fifteen rounds unanimous decision, with scores of 145-141, 146-141 and 147-141, all against him. [4]

Second fight with Alexis Arguello

The usually durable Fernandez then faced Mexican boxer Rodolfo González, losing by second round knockout. [4] The fight with the undefeated Gonzalez (16-0-1) was held at the Forum in Inglewood, California on March 16, 1981.

Fernandez took the rest of 1981 off, then went up in division to the Junior Welterweight one, debuting there in 1982 with three wins in a row over mostly obscure opposition as the three fighters he faced that year had a combined record of 14-8.

Things away from Fernandez took place that made a second fight with Arguello a viable one: Arguello had lost to Aaron Pryor on November 12 of 1982, [8] but that fight was tainted by a controversy afterwards concerning a bottle given to Pryor between rounds that energized him after he was in trouble during parts of the fight. [9] An investigation was launched by the WBA as to the contents of that bottle. Meanwhile, Arguello remained a viable contender for Pryor's belt, and so a series of fights were programmed for him while the WBA investigation took place. One of those was a rematch with Fernandez, which took place on Saturday, February 26, 1983 at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. [4] Arguello had 72 wins and 6 losses by this time. Fernandez was floored in round four and lost by unanimous decision, with a decisive disadvantage on the scorecards, as he was deemed a loser by scores of 98-92 twice and of 100-91. Arguello-Fernandez II was televised nationwide in the United States and to Puerto Rico.

Rest of career

On his next fight, October 25 of 1983, Fernandez scored a rare knockout victory, in the second round, over former WBC world Junior Welterweight championship challenger, [4] the 50 wins, 7 losses and 3 draws (34 wins by knockout), Monroe Brooks, at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California, [4] sending Brooks into retirement. This contest had been scheduled for ten rounds. [4]

Victories over Angel Cruz and prospect (24-3-4) Billy Parks followed but on Friday, June 28, 1985, Fernandez lost to 13-1 prospect Ricky Young, at the Felt Forum, in what constituted Fernandez's last contest as a professional boxer. [4]

Fernandez retired with a record of 30 wins, 11 losses and 2 draws (ties) in 43 professional boxing contests, with 9 wins and 3 losses by knockout. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexis Argüello</span> Nicaraguan boxer

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, both times in famous fights against Aaron Pryor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin Rosario</span> Puerto Rican boxer

Edwin "Chapo" Rosario Rivera was a Puerto Rican professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 1997. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC lightweight title from 1983 to 1984, the WBA lightweight title twice between 1986 and 1990, and the WBA super lightweight title from 1991 to 1992. Known for his exceptional boxing skills, dynamite right hand and rock solid chin Rosario's final record stands at 47-6

Alfredo "El Salsero" Escalera is a Puerto Rican who was a world champion boxer. A native of Carolina, his nickname was "Salsero" because he was a fan of Salsa music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boxing in the 1980s</span>

Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport. Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continuous corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continuous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter, the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad, and major rule changes. In 1986, Mike Tyson emerged as a fresh new face in the heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime. In addition, the IBF and WBO began operating.

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.

Aaron Pryor was an American professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 1990. He was a two-time light welterweight world champion, having held the WBA title from 1980 to 1983, and the IBF title from 1984 to 1985. Additionally, he held the Ring magazine title from 1980 to 1983, and the lineal title from 1983 to 1986.

Walter Seeley was a professional American Super Featherweight boxer from Sayville, Long Island, New York, born in the June 11, 1941 on Lower East Side of Manhattan. Seeley turned pro on October 29, 1963 by fighting a four round draw with Mike Rosario at Sunnyside Garden Arena in Sunnyside, Queens.

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.

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 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.

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.

Anthony Perez was an American boxing referee and judge of Puerto Rican descent. During his career, he refereed many major boxing fights and participated in a number of boxing related documentaries.

Joey Olivo is an American former professional boxer of Mexican descent who competed from 1976 to 1989. He held the WBA world light flyweight title in 1985 and challenged for the WBC world light flyweight title in 1981. At regional level he held the WBC-NABF light flyweight title in 1983; the IBF-USBA flyweight title in 1984; and the WBC-NABF flyweight title in 1988.

Roberto Elizondo is an American former professional boxer of Mexican descent. Elizondo competed in the sport of professional boxing from 1977 to 1987, and he fought for the World Boxing Council's world Lightweight title twice, both times challenging unsuccessfully. Elizondo, from Corpus Christi, Texas, is a member of the Corpus Christi Boxing Hall of Fame.

The Ray Mancini vs. Bobby Chacon, or, alternatively, Bobby Chacon vs. Ray Mancini fight was a boxing contest which was held on January 14, 1984, in Reno, Nevada. It was for Mancini's WBA's world Lightweight title. Mancini won the fight, to retain his title, by a third-round technical knockout. Because of its location this fight was promotionally nicknamed as "the biggest little fight in the world". In the United States, the fight was televised on HBO World Championship Boxing, while in Puerto Rico, it was shown live on channel 2.

The Marvin Hagler vs. Roberto Duran contest was a professional boxing fight which took place on November 10, 1983, at the Caesar's Palace hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was for Hagler's universally recognized IBF, WBA and WBC world Middleweight title. Having knocked out Davey Moore in eight rounds on the previous June 16th to win his third divisional world championship, the WBA world Junior Middleweight one, Duran, a Panamanian, was attempting to become the first four division world champion in boxing history. Hagler, meanwhile, had beaten Alan Minter by third round technical knockout in September of 1980 to win the undisputed world Middleweight title, and, after proposed "super-fight" title defenses against Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns failed to take place, was making the eighth defense of that championship, his seven previous defenses all ending in knockout wins for the American champion.

Ramon Antonio Nery is a Dominican former professional boxer, who was once ranked in the top ten in the world among Flyweight boxers by the World Boxing Association, and who once fought for the WBA's world Flyweight championship. At a regional level, Nery was the Dominican Republic's national Flyweight champion. Nery was born with deafness, and his boxing nickname was "sordito", which means "(little) deaf (person)" in Spanish. Nery's condition meant he had to have special lights installed on the ring's corners when he fought; that way he could tell when a round began or finished.

Larry Hazzard Sr. is a former amateur boxer, boxing referee, athletic control board commissioner, teacher and actor. He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, being inducted during 2010. Hazzard has served as Commissioner of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board since 2014, his second stint as commissioner after serving from 1985 to 2007.

The Michael Dokes vs. Mike Weaver or, alternately, Mike Weaver vs. Michael Dokes, boxing fights were a pair of fights that occurred in 1982 and 1983 and were for the World Boxing Association's world Heavyweight title. Both fights were considered controversial due to a separate set of situations. They are both among the most widely spoken about heavyweight boxing contests of the 1980s.

Miguel Montilla is a former professional boxer in the Junior Welterweight or Super Lightweight division who fought three times unsuccessfully for world championships. A hard hitter with good boxing skills, Montilla was popular in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the United States, all countries where he fought several times. He also fought in Panama, the United States Virgin Islands and Colombia

References

  1. ↑ "Vilomar Fernandez boxer". www.fightsrec.com. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Alexis Arguello vs Vilomar Fernandez Fan scorecards | EYE ON THE RING". www.eyeonthering.com. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Vilomar Fernandez - BoxRec". boxrec.com.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 "BoxRec: Login". boxrec.com.
  5. ↑ "BoxRec: Event". boxrec.com.
  6. ↑ McGuigan, Barry (March 20, 2020). "Roberto Duran was so good I named my dog after him". mirror.
  7. ↑ "Roberto Duran KOs Vilomar Fernandez This Day January 29, 1977 and Retains Title". Boxing Hall of Fame. January 28, 2018. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Alexis Arguello vs. Aaron Pryor: 'The greatest fight' 40 years later". MSN.
  9. ↑ Fernandez, Bernard (November 12, 2020). "Aaron Pryor-Alexis Arguello 1 was the top fight of the 1980s, and one of the best ever".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.