Abel Evaristo Cestac (25 August 1918 – 16 January 1995) was a boxer from Argentina. Cestac was an amateur boxer when he was discovered by

Luis Angel Firpo Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

in July 1940. According to Firpo, he came across Cestac fighting a steer because he could not find any men his equal in strength. Firpo predicted that Cestac would be world heavyweight champion within three years.

Jack Dempsey William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983), nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. ...

and

Luis Ángel Firpo Luis Ángel Firpo (October 11, 1894 – August 7, 1960) was an Argentine boxer. Born in Junín, Argentina, he was nicknamed ''The Wild Bull of the Pampas''. Boxing career In 1917, Firpo began his professional boxing career by beating Frank Hag ...

agreed to jointly manage Cestac. When he came to New York in July 1945, the journalist

Horacio Estol Horacio Estol was an Argentinian journalist and writer based in New York. From there he wrote the columns for which he was famous, writing for publications such as the '' Clarín'' newspaper or ''Autoclub'', the journal of the Automóvil Club Argent ...

acted as his representative. On 27 July 1945 he fought John Thomas at

Madison Square Gardens Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

, losing on the split decision after ten rounds. Despite the initial setback, he went on to win 39 professional fights, with 14 losses and three draws. Abel Cestac became the South American heavyweight champion. In March 1951 he came to

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

to fight

Archie Moore Archie Moore (born Archibald Lee Wright; December 13, 1913 – December 9, 1998) was an American professional boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time (December 1952 – May 1962). He had one of the longest ...

, who was forty pounds lighter. However, Moore defeated him in ten rounds on a unanimous decision. In June 1951, Moore came to Buenos Aires for a return match, again defeating Cestac, who retired in the tenth round. Cestac fought twice more, being defeated by

Arturo Godoy Arturo Godoy (October 10, 1912 – 1986) was a Chilean professional boxer, also nicknamed "Arturito". Biography He was born in Iquique on October 10, 1912. He was South American Heavyweight Champion and had an extensive and successful career in A ...

in August 1951 and by Cesar Brion in November 1951. After this he retired from the ring.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cestac, Abel 1918 births Heavyweight boxers 1995 deaths Argentine male boxers