Rafael Lovera Montiel (born October 17, 1952) is a former professional boxer from
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
. Lovera fought for the
WBC's vacant world Junior Flyweight title, losing to
Luis Estaba
Luis Alberto Estaba (born August 13, 1938) is a former boxer from Venezuela, who was born in Macuro, South American point of entry for Cristopher Columbus. He was nicknamed ''Lumumba'', because of his resemblance to Congolese leader Patrice Lu ...
. Lovera is from
Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay but he resides in
Lambaré
Lambaré () is a city in Central Department, Paraguay, part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area. With a population of approximately 140,000 inhabitants, it is the sixth-most populous city in the country.
Toponymy
The name of the town derive ...
.
Boxing career
Lovera has the distinction of having fought for a world title in his only professional boxing match. Midway through 1975, the WBC desired its world Junior Flyweight champion, Italy's
Franco Udella
Franco Udella (born 25 February 1947 in Cagliari) is an Italian former world boxing champion.
Amateur career
Olympic games results
1968 (as a Light flyweight)
*Lost to Alberto Morales (Mexico) 0-5
1972 (as a flyweight)
*1st round bye
*Defe ...
, to defend the title against Lovera. Udella refused and was stripped of the championship. Lovera then faced 28 wins, 7 losses and 2 draws (ties) with 20 knockouts veteran Luis Estaba for the vacant championship in
Caracas, Venezuela
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
, September 13, 1975. Apparently, WBC officials were unaware that Lovera had no professional boxing fighting experience. This was revealed to them after the bout took place.
Estaba won the world title when he stopped the debuting contender in the fourth round. Lovera retired immediately afterwards, and he never returned to the professional boxing rings.
He stands as one of the few boxers from Paraguay ever to challenge for a major professional boxing world title, as well as one of the very few to do so in his first professional fight and to have challenged for a major world championship without ever actually winning a contest. His record was 0 wins and 1 loss in only 1 professional boxing bout.
See also
*
Pete Rademacher
Thomas Peter Rademacher (November 20, 1928 – June 4, 2020) was an American heavyweight boxer. A gold medalist at the 1956 Olympics, he became the only person to challenge for the world heavyweight championship in his first professional bo ...
-who challenged for the world heavyweight title in his first professional match
*
Joves De La Puz
*
Joko Arter
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovera, Rafael
1952 births
Light-flyweight boxers
Living people
Paraguayan male boxers