Cecilio Lastra (born August 12, 1951 in
Santander
Santander may refer to:
Places
* Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain
* Santander Department, a department of Colombia
* Santander State, former state of Colombia
* Santander de Quilichao, a m ...
,
Cantabria
Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...
) is a former
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
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.
Professional career
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
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 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. For the first defence of his title Lastra travelled to
Panama City
Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
to fight
Eusebio Pedroza
Eusebio Pedroza (March 2, 1956 – March 1, 2019) 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 featherwe ...
in April 1978. The 22-year-old challenger knocked Lastra down three times en route to a thirteenth-round
technical knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...
victory.
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.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lastra, Cecilio
Living people
1951 births
Sportspeople from Santander, Spain
Boxers from Cantabria
Featherweight boxers
World Boxing Association champions
Spanish male boxers