Danilo Cabrera
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Danilo Cabrera (born September 23, 1961) is a former professional boxer from the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
. Known in professional boxing circles as "Cuero Duro" ("Hard Leather"), he fought for world championships three times, losing to International Boxing Hall of Fame members Barry McGuigan,
Azumah Nelson Azumah Nelson (born 19 July 1958) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC featherweight title from 1984 to 1987 and the WBC super-featherweight title twice ...
and
Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to: *Julio (given name) *Julio (surname) *Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 compilation albu ...
, respectively.


Professional boxing career

Cabrera beat Luis Ramos, 1-2 coming in, by second round knockout on March 25, 1983 in Santiago de los Caballeros to begin his professional boxing career. He beat Ramos again by fifth round knockout in an immediate rematch, only three weeks later. Cabrera scored nine straight knockout victories before facing
Emilio Hernandez Emilio may refer to: * Emilio Navaira, a Mexican-American singer often called "Emilio" * Emilio Piazza Memorial School, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State * Emilio (given name) * ''Emilio'' (film), a 2008 film by Kim Jorgensen See also * Emílio (dis ...
, a Venezuelan boxer who, with a record of 5 wins and 10 losses, had challenged Carlos Zárate for the Mexican's
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 ...
's world Bantamweight title during 1978. On November 16, 1983 at Santiago de los Caballeros, Cabrera and Hernandez headlined a boxing program that also featured future world champion
Cesar Polanco Cesar Polanco (born November 29, 1967 in The Dominican Republic) is a retired Dominican boxer. Professional career After turning professional in 1983 he had compiled a record of 15-1-1 in 3 years before travelling to Indonesia in 1986 to face ...
; Cabrera winning by seventh round knockout to increase his knockout win streak to ten in a row. Manuel Batista, a fellow Dominican with an 11-0 record, became the first person not to lose by knockout as a professional boxer against Cabrera, battling him for ten rounds but losing a points decision to Cabrera on December 7 at Santiago de los Caballeros. On January 21, 1984, Cabrera made his first fight outside Santiago de los Caballeros, when he met debuting Manuel Garcia at the Dominican city of La Vega. Cabrera won this bout by first round knockout. On March 12, 1984, Cabrera became the Dominican Republic's national featherweight champion by defeating the debuting Jose de Jesus Acosta by second round knockout to lift the vacant national championship in Santiago de los Caballeros. By this point of his career, Cabrera was 13-0, with 12 wins by way of knockout. But in a rematch with Manuel Batista, by now 14-1 himself, Cabrera lost his undefeated status and the Dominican Republic's national featherweight title when knocked out in the third round by Batista at Santiago de los Caballeros on May 31, 1984. Over his next ten contests, Cabrera went 9-1, with 7 wins by knockout, losing only to Erskine Wade in what was Cabrera's
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debut, at
Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...
, but also beating former world title challenger Carlos Pinango; this 9-1 run set him up for another challenge for the Dominican Republic's national featherweight title against champion, 7 wins, 11 losses and 2 draws (ties) Jose "Monito" Jimenez, who had upset Batista for the championship. On November 25, 1985, Cabrera regained the title by outpointing Jimenez over 12 rounds at Santiago de los Caballeros.


First world title fight

Cabrera was then one of the top ten challengers in the world in the featherweight division by the
World Boxing Association 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 thus was allowed to challenge the WBA's world champion Barry McGuigan in a fifteen round contest which was held at The Royal Dublin Society in
Dublin, Ireland Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...
on Saturday, February 15, 1986 . Cabrera impressed boxing critics and fans when he opened a cut under the champion's left eye and fought stubbornly before being stopped in round fourteen, with McGuigan retaining the world title by a fourteenth round technical knockout. There was some controversy regarding the stoppage as Cabrera was floored by the champion but got up and tried to pick up his mouthpiece from the canvas (an action which was legal in many countries around the world on professional boxing matches but apparently not in Ireland) when referee Ed Eckert waived the bout off, giving McGuigan a knockout win. McGuigan was comfortably ahead on points by the time the fight was stopped.


Second world title fight

Due in part to the controversy surrounding his defeat at the hands of McGuigan, Cabrera was immediately given another try at a world featherweight championship, this time 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 ...
, which sanctioned a fight between Cabrera and WBC world champion,
Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
's Azumah Nelson on Sunday, June 22, 1986 at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in
San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...
. Despite this being a truly international world title fight as it featured boxers from two different countries in a third, neutral one (
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
), Cabrera was considered to have a bit of home advantage in this fight because of the large amount of Dominican Republic nationals that had adopted Puerto Rico as their second home country, whom local promoters and fight organizers hoped would come to the bout to cheer their countryman on. Again, Cabrera fought stubbornly, gaining the respect of boxing fans and critics alike; he was, however, deeply behind on the scorecards when Nelson retained the world title by knocking him out in round ten of a scheduled twelve rounds contest. Cabrera returned to the winning column, with three victories in a row, including a defense of his Dominican Republic's featherweight title (a third round knockout of 1 win, 5 losses challenger Antonio Rodriguez on Monday, September 29, 1986 at
Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...
) before he went up in weight to the super-featherweight division and challenged the 7 wins, 3 losses national champion Roberto Nunez for the Dominican Republic's national super-featherweight title. On February 16, 1987, Cabrera became a two division national champion by knocking out Nunez in six rounds at Santiago de los Caballeros, but he lost the title in his first defense, a rematch fight with the by then 8 wins, 12 losses and 2 ties Jose Jimenez, being outpointed by Jimenez over twelve rounds at Santiago de los Caballeros on May 11, 1987.


Third world title fight

Despite that loss, after a win over unheralded Rafael Arias (0-4 coming in, a fifth round knockout win on June 8 at Santiago de los Caballeros) Cabrera was given a third world championship fight, his second fight sanctioned by the World Boxing Council, against the 55-0, WBC world super featherweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. on August 21, 1987 at
Jorge Hank Rhon Jorge Hank Rhon (born January 28, 1956) is a Mexican businessman and owner of Mexico's largest sports betting company, ''Grupo Caliente''. He served from December 2004 to February 2007 as the president of the municipality of Tijuana. He is th ...
's property, the Hipodromo de Agua Caliente
horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
race tracks in
Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
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. Again, Cabrera gained fans' and critics' respect, this time by lasting the twelve rounds distance against the hard punching Mexican world champion, despite taking a substantial beating. He lost the fight by unanimous decision, with two scores of 120-102 and one of 120-105 all against him. Cabrera did not win a single round on any of the three judges' scorecards.


Rest of career

Cabrera lost eight of his last ten fights, including bouts with Brian Mitchell (another member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Cabrera lost to him by ten rounds unanimous decision on June 4, 1988 in Johannesburg, South Africa), Dingaan Thobela,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
's
Juan Martin Coggi Juan Martin Coggi (born 19 December 1961) is a former boxer from Argentina. A native of Santa Fe Province (he lived as a child until a few years Brandsen, Buenos Aires Province), which was also the birthplace of Carlos Monzón, Coggi was a three ...
,
Regilio Tuur Regilio Benito Tuur (born 12 August 1967) is a former Dutch boxer who was World Boxing Organization's super featherweight champion. Prior to turning professional and winning the world title, Tuur knocked out reigning world champion Kelcie Ban ...
,
Jean-Baptiste Mendy Jean-Baptiste Mendy (16 March 1963 – 31 August 2020) was a Senegal-born French professional boxer who competed from 1983 to 2000. He was a two-time lightweight world champion, having held the WBC title from 1996 to 1997 and the WBA title from ...
and
Jacobin Yoma Jacobin Yoma (born 6 October 1966) is a French Guianan former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 1999, and held the European super-featherweight title from 1993 to 1995. He was nicknamed ''l'Ouragan de Cayenne'' (The Cayenne Hurricane) ...
. He retired after losing to Yoma by sixth round knockout on October 30, 1992 in
Cayenne, French Guiana Cayenne (; ; gcr, Kayenn) is the capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's mott ...
.


Professional boxing record

Cabrera had a professional boxing record of 31 wins and 14 losses in 45 professional boxing fights, with 25 wins and 9 losses by knockout.


See also

* List of Dominicans


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabrera, Danilo 1961 births Living people Dominican Republic male boxers Featherweight boxers Super-featherweight boxers Sportspeople from Santiago de los Caballeros