Antonio Cervantes Reyes (born December 23, 1945) is a Colombian boxing trainer and former professional boxer who competed from 1961 to 1983. He held the WBA and The Ring light welterweight title twice between 1972 and 1980.

In 2002, Cervantes was chosen for the Ring Magazine's list of 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years. Boxrec also ranked him the 50th greatest pound for pound boxer of all time.Boxrec all time p4p rankings

Personal life Cervantes, who is Afro-Colombian, was born in Palenque, also known as the first site of a slave rebellion in the Americas. Cervantes used to sell contraband cigarettes and shine shoes as a child to survive.

Professional boxing career He met boxing trainer Carmelo Prada, who helped shape his style. Cervantes only had three amateur bouts, winning two and losing one. On January 31, 1964, Cervantes entered the boxing ring as a professional for the first time, beating Juan Martínez by decision in six rounds. His first 32 bouts as a professional were in Colombia, and he won 27, lost 4 and drew one of them. Realizing his pupil needed publicity outside Colombia, Prada then moved with Cervantes to Venezuela, where, on November 25, 1968, he knocked out Orlando Ruiz in the first round for his first fight abroad. He followed that win with a ten rounds decision over Nestor Rojas in the very short time of only three days later.

On December 23 of that year, he suffered his first knockout defeat when Cruz Marcano, a fringe contender of the time, beat him in four rounds in Caracas.

He won five and lost two in 1969, splitting his fights between Colombia and Venezuela, and losing a ten-round decision to Antonio Gómez, former world champion.

He won two more in 1970, then he and Prada moved, this time to Los Angeles. In California, he began by beating Jose Rodriguez by a knockout in the first round in San Jose, and on December 17, he beat Rodolfo Gato González, a very famous Mexican boxer of the time, by knockout in round eight. After this and a 1971 win over Argentine Enrique Jana, Cervantes was ranked as a light welterweight by the WBA. On December 11 of that year, he had his first world title try, against Nicolino Locche, in Buenos Aires. Cervantes lost a 15-round decision that time, however.

Winning the light welterweight title After winning three fights in 1972, Cervantes, who had by then returned to Colombia, had another world title try: Alfonso Frazer, who had dethroned Locche of the world title, gave Cervantes a chance on October 28 at Panama City. Cervantes knocked Frazer out in round ten and became the world light welterweight champion for the first time.

Cervantes immediately became a national hero in Colombia, and many enterprises made him their spokesman in the coffee producing country, most notably Sanyo, whose name the popular champion advertised on his clothing and fight trunks.

Cervantes made nine defenses, including a TKO in round ten against Locche in their rematch after his corner stopped the fight due to a cut over his left eye, a knockout in five of Frazer, also in a rematch, a 15-round split decision win over Josue Marquez in Puerto Rico (in the first world title bout ever held at Roberto Clemente Coliseum; most of the nine thousand in attendance scored the fight for Cervantes) and a 15-round decision against future world Lightweight champion Esteban De Jesús. But on March 6, 1976, at San Juan, he lost a 15-round decision and the world title to 17-year-old Puerto Rican Wilfred Benítez, who with that became boxing's youngest champion ever.

Cervantes won five more fights in a row, including a win over Saoul Mamby, before fighting for the world title again. After Benitez had left the light welterweight belt vacant, Cervantes regained it on June 25, 1977, with a five-round knockout over Carlos Maria Gimenez, again in Venezuela. His second reign as world champion took him to such places as Thailand, Botswana and South Korea, among others. He retained the title six times, beating the likes of Adrian Marrero and Miguel Montilla (twice). By this time, there was much talk about a superfight with world Lightweight champion Roberto Durán, who was coming up in weight. Duran decided to challenge Sugar Ray Leonard instead, however, and Cervantes vs. Duran never materialized.

On August 2, 1980, Cervantes dropped his next title challenger, Aaron Pryor, to the canvas in the first round. Pryor recovered, however, and beat Cervantes by a knockout in round four. This turned out to be Cervantes' last world title fight. He fought two times more for the FECARBOX WBC title, winning both fights shortly before retiring in 1980.

However, Cervantes came out of retirement due to financial problems and went on boxing until 1983, winning four fights and dropping his last one, a ten-round decision loss to Danny Sanchez on December 9, 1983, at Miami.

Retirement In retirement, his life was almost as public as it was during his boxing career: In 1985, for example, he and a female passenger in one of the boats Cervantes owned, suffered a water accident, and the passenger almost drowned, but Cervantes was able to save her life. A movie was made about a fictional boxer called Milton Ollivera (who comes from Colombia) who goes through a majority of the things Cervantes went through throughout his life.

Cervantes was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998, and in 2000, he was declared by the Colombian Boxing Federation and National Association of Professional Boxing as Colombia's Fighter of the Century. For that award, the WBA issued him a special, commemorative belt.

Cervantes' nickname, Kid Pambelé, became almost as famous as Cervantes himself: as a matter of a fact, many fans called him only Pambelé or Pambe (the name of a song by Carlos Vives about him).

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes80LossDanny SanchezUD109 Dec 198379Win67–11–1Sergio AlvarezTKO11 (12)30 Jul 198378Win66–11–1Amancio CastroPTS1226 Mar 198377Win65–11–1Jerome ArtisPTS102 Apr 198276Win64–11–1Lennox BlackmooreKO9 (10)4 Dec 198175Loss63–11–1Aaron PryorKO4 (15)2 Aug 198074Win63–10–1Miguel Montilla TKO7 (15)29 Mar 198073Win62–10–1Kwang Min KimSD1525 Aug 197972Win61–10–1Miguel MontillaUD1518 Jan 197971Win60–10–1Norman SekgapaneTKO9 (15)26 Aug 197870Win59–10–1Tongta KiatvayupakdiKO6 (15)28 Apr 197869Win58–10–1Johnny CopelandKO3 (10)18 Mar 197868Win57–10–1Adriano MarreroUD155 Nov 197767Win56–10–1Carlos Maria GimenezRTD5 (15)25 Jun 197766Win55–10–1Adriano MarreroUD1019 Mar 197765Win54–10–1Saoul MambyUD1013 Nov 197664Win53–10–1Ariel MacielKO2 (10)16 Oct 197663Win52–10–1Beau JaynesKO1 (10)17 Jul 197662Win51–10–1Javier AyalaKO1 (10)23 May 197661Loss50–10–1Wilfred BenítezSD156 Mar 197660Win50–9–1Hector ThompsonRTD7 (15)15 Nov 197559Win49–9–1Battlehawk KazamaTKO6 (10)20 Sep 197558Win48–9–1Esteban De JesusUD1517 May 197557Win47–9–1Ray Chavez GuerreroKO2 (10)15 Mar 197556Win46–9–1Shinichi KadotaKO8 (15)26 Oct 197455Win45–9–1Victor OrtizKO2 (15)27 Jul 197454Win44–9–1Pedro AdigueKO4 (10)8 Jun 197453Win43–9–1Chang-Kil LeeKO6 (15)2 Mar 197452Win42–9–1Lion FuruyamaUD155 Dec 197351Win41–9–1Carlos Maria GimenezTKO5 (15)8 Sep 197350Win40–9–1Reinaldo MercadoTKO5 (10)20 Jul 197349Win39–9–1Alfonso FrazerTKO5 (15)19 May 197348Win38–9–1Benny HuertasKO1 (10)28 Apr 197347Win37–9–1Nicolino LoccheRTD10 (15)17 Mar 197346Win36–9–1Josue MarquezSD1515 Feb 197345Win35–9–1Alfonso FrazerKO10 (15)28 Oct 197244Win34–9–1Lupe RamirezPTS1019 Aug 197243Win33–9–1Frank MedinaKO8 (10)26 Apr 197242Win32–9–1Jose EscuderoKO1 (10)10 Mar 197241Loss31–9–1Nicolino LoccheUD1511 Dec 197140Win31–8–1Julio VeraUD1018 Oct 197139Win30–8–1Gerardo FerratUD1010 Jul 197138Win29–8–1Lupe RamirezUD1028 May 197137Win28–8–1Enrique JanaTKO8 (10)18 Feb 197136 Win27–8–1Rodolfo GonzalezTKO8 (10)17 Dec 197035Win26–8–1Jorge RodriguezKO8 (10)6 Nov 197034Win25–8–1Diego TovarKO1 (10)23 Mar 197033Win24–8–1Pedro ChirinosPTS1020 Feb 197032Loss23–8–1Antonio GómezPTS1010 Nov 196931Win23–7–1Orlando RivasKO2 (10)15 Aug 196930Loss22–7–1Francisco BolivarPTS1021 Jul 196929Win22–6–1Milton MendezPTS104 Jun 196928Win21–6–1Frank LeroyKO2 (10)15 Apr 196927Win20–6–1Jesus GonzalezTKO2 (10)9 Feb 196926Loss19–6–1Cruz MarcanoKO4 (10)20 Dec 196825Win19–5–1Orlando RuizKO1(10)25 Nov 196824Win18–5–1Jose GodoyPTS831 Aug 196823Win17–5–1Heliodoro PitaluaPTS1021 Jan 196822Win16–5–1Rafa RojasKO5 (10)5 Aug 196721Loss15–5–1Nestor RojasPTS819 Jun 196720Win15–4–1Reynaldo LopezPTS103 Jun 196719Win14–4–1Heliodoro PitaluaPTS1020 May 196718Loss13–4–1Heliodoro PitaluaPTS82 Apr 196717Loss13–3–1Victor CanoPTS83 Feb 196716Loss13–2–1Cipriano ZuluagaPTS106 Nov 196615Loss13–1–1Cipriano ZuluagaPTS1023 Sep 196614Draw13–0–1Reynaldo LopezPTS829 Jul 196613Win13–0Jose ZunigaPTS624 Jun 196612Win12–0Jose GodoyPTS624 May 196611Win11–0Jesus CardenasKO7 (8)10 May 196610Win10–0Jose GodoyPTS629 Apr 19669Win9–0Antonio YiPTS619 Mar 1966 8Win8–0Rafael DonodoKO2 (6)19 Jan 19667Win7–0Antonio YiPTS62 Oct 19656Win6–0Felix SalgadoPTS420 Jun 19645Win5–0Oscar GonzalezPTS85 May 19644Win4–0Rodolfo MarquezKO3 (6)21 Apr 19643Win3–0Rodolfo MarquezPTS620 Mar 19642Win2–0Rodolfo MarquezPTS428 Feb 19641Win1–0Juan MartinezPTS631 Jan 1964

See also List of world light-welterweight boxing champions

References

External links

Antonio Cervantes - CBZ Profile International Boxing Hall of Fame Bio