Rafael Ortega (born September 25, 1950, in
Panama) is a former professional
boxer Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
*Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
* Boxer snipe ee ...
. The highlight of his career came in 1977, when he won the
WBA World featherweight title.
Professional career
Ortega began his professional career on January 24, 1970, in
Colon City, Panama against Roberto Javier. The fight went the four round distance and Ortega was announced as the winner by unanimous decision. Ortega would fight for the first time outside of Panama on February 16, 1972, as he travelled to
New York City,
United States to face Fernando Jimenez. Ortega arrived in New York with an unbeaten record after 9 fights (including 4 draws) and further added to his wins with an eight-round decision victory. He went on to win two more bouts in New York and would also fight in
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
during his early career.
On December 15, 1973, Ortega challenged for his first title. The champion was
Rigoberto Riasco
Rigoberto Riasco (11 January 1953 – 29 August 2022) also known as "Little Poison", was a Panamanian professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 1982. He was the Lineal and WBC Super bantamweight champion in 1976. Riasco defeated such men ...
, who held the Panamanian featherweight title. Riasco retained his title with a twelve-round unanimous decision and would later go on to win the
WBC
WBC may stand for:
Business
*Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS
*Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company
*Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...
super bantamweight title. Over his next 7 fights Ortega compiled a record of 5 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw while fighting in
Mexico,
Venezuela and
South Africa as well as Panama.
On January 15, 1977, Ortega fought Francisco Coronado for the vacant WBA featherweight title. After fifteen rounds the scorecards were revealed as: 146–143, 146-143 and 144-143—all in favour of Ortega who took the title by unanimous decision. For his first title defence Ortega travelled to
Okinawa,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
to face Flipper Uehara in his hometown. Ortega retained his title with another unanimous decision and in the process knocked Uehara down in the first and fourth rounds with left uppercuts.
For the next defence of his title Ortega travelled to
Cantabria,
Spain, which was the hometown of the challenger
Cecilio Lastra
Cecilio Lastra (born August 12, 1951 in Santander, Cantabria) is a former Spanish 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 w ...
. An estimated crowd of 6,300 saw Lastra knockdown Ortega in the third round with a solid left jab and win the title via split decision after dominating the fight.
Ortega did not return to boxing until 1984 when he won a unanimous decision over Ernesto Arce. This was to be his last victory as, in his final fight, he lost to Virgilio Barrera by technical knockout on April 14, 1984.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortega, Rafael
Featherweight boxers
World Boxing Association champions
Living people
1950 births
Panamanian male boxers