Celestino Caballero (born June 21, 1976) is a

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

nian former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1998 to 2014. He held world championships in two

weight classes Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports, especially combat sports (such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and wrestling). Altern ...

, including the unified

WBA (Super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

and

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

super bantamweight titles between 2006 and 2010, and the

WBA (Regular) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...

title from 2011 to 2012.

Professional career

Caballero began boxing professionally in 1998. During the majority of his early career, Caballero won a number of minor regional championships: the Panamanian, WBA Fedecentro, WBA Fedelatin, WBO Latino, and NABA Super Bantamweight titles. He had won the first four of his titles and had a record of 17-0 before losing by a third-round knockout to José Rojas on May 16, 2003. Seven months later, Caballero won the vacant NABA title by defeating Giovanni Andrade. The fight, which was held in

Coconut Creek, Florida Coconut Creek is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. Situated north of Miami, it had a population of 57,833 in 2020. It is part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city seceded from ...

, was Caballero's first one outside of Panama. In his next fight, back in Panama, Caballero was knocked down in the tenth round and lost the title by unanimous decision to

Ricardo Cordoba Ricardo Alberto Córdoba Mosque, more commonly known as Ricardo Cordoba, (born 11 October 1983 in Santa Marta, Panama) is a Panamanian professional boxer who fights in the super bantamweight division. Professional career Cordoba turned profess ...

on May 25, 2004. On February 17, 2005, Caballero fought the then unbeaten and would-be world champion

Daniel Ponce de León Daniel Ponce de León (born July 27, 1980) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He was a world champion two weight classes, having held the WBO super bantamweight title from 2005 and 2008, and the WBC featherw ...

in Hollywood,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Caballero, who was a heavy underdog, won the bout by unanimous decision. On October 15, 2005, Caballero defeated Yober Ortega by unanimous decision for the WBA Super Bantamweight

interim championship An interim championship is an alternate title that is awarded by the sanctioning bodies of professional boxing, and in other combat sports such as kickboxing, professional wrestling, and mixed martial arts. Occasionally, the champion of a particul ...

. He defended the title on February 4, 2006 against Roberto Bonilla. After knocking down Bonilla in the third and fifth rounds, Caballero won via TKO in the seventh.

WBA super bantamweight champion

Caballero fought against WBA world Super Bantamweight champion

Somsak Sithchatchawal Somsak Sithchatchawal ( th, สมศักดิ์ ศิษย์ชัชวาลย์; born July 17, 1977) is a Thai former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2010. He held the WBA super-bantamweight title in 2006. In March 2006 ...

in Sithchatchawal's native country of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

on October 4, 2006 in order to win the real WBA title. He won by TKO by knocking Sithchatchawal down three times in the third round—causing the referee to stop the bout. Caballero has defended the title five times with the last one being that he knocked out Elvis Meija in one round. On November 21, 2008, Caballero knocked out the unbeaten IBF Super Bantamweight champion Steve Molitor in the 4th round at the Casino Rama,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. With the victory, he added the IBF title with his WBA crown. Caballero won his first defense on both titles with a split decision win over Jeffery Mathebula on April 30, 2009. He defended the titles for second time on August 29 in the same year against Francisco Leal who conceded in the 8th round. Caballero was stripped of his IBF title on February 5, 2010 for failing to have a defense against Takalani Ndlovu, his mandatory challenger in that sanctioning body, in a timely manner. On April 10, 2010, Caballero defeated

Daud Yordan Daud "Cino" Yordan (born 10 June 1987) is an Indonesian professional boxer and former IBO Featherweight and Lightweight Champion. Early life and family Yordan was born in Ketapang, West Borneo, Indonesia on 10 June 1987. He is the fifth child o ...

. After that fight Celestino expressed his high interest in fighting Cuban Gold Medalist

Yuriorkis Gamboa Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano (born 23 December 1981) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBA and IBF titles between 2009 and 2011, as well as the WBA interim championship in both t ...

but that fight failed to come off being unsuccessful in securing a fight at Featherweight. Celestino was able to schedule a fight with Junior Lightweight Jason Litzau at the

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena (originally known as the MGM Grand Garden Special Events Center) is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena located within the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Sporting events From its opening on December 18, 1993 ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

on the opening bout of the HBO Televised undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Michael Katsidis on November 27. Cabellero subsequently, lost that fight via unanimous decision. Celestino Caballero has dropped from Junior Lightweight to Featherweight division for a career-high against Jonathan Victor Barros, champion in property of the WBA version of this division, which fight is dated for June 18, 2011 and to take place at Mendoza, Argentina. The WBC final Featherweight eliminator ordered by the

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

between Caballero and the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n Viorel Simion (16-0, 7KOs), with the winner landing a shot at current champion

, should have taken place on a date in spring 2013.Per Ake Persson
Caballero-Simion WBC Eliminator Heads To March
January 3, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2013. The fight did not happen, however.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caballero, Celestino 1976 births Living people World Boxing Association champions International Boxing Federation champions Panamanian male boxers World super-bantamweight boxing champions Super-featherweight boxers World featherweight boxing champions Panamanian drug traffickers