Saúl "La Cobra" Montana (born November 23, 1970) is a Mexican 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 ...

. Montana is the former IBA, NABA, WBC Mundo Hispano, WBC Continental Americas Champion at Cruiserweight, NBA, and Mexican National Champion at Heavyweight. He also challenged once for the

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 ...

cruiserweight title in 2000.

Professional career

Montana turned pro in 1988 and won the Mexican Light heavyweight title by knocking out an undefeated Isaias Lucero(21-0).

WBA Light Heavyweight Champion

In November 1993, Saul lost a shot at WBA Light heavyweight Champion,

Virgil Hill Virgil Eugene Hill (born January 18, 1964) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2007, and in 2015. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBA light heavyweight title twice, from 1987 to 1997; the IBF a ...

in 1993. The fight was close until it was stopped.

Move to Cruiserweight

Montana moved to cruiserweight and lost to former Olympian

Torsten May Torsten May (born September 10, 1969 in Glauchau, Saxony) is a former German boxer, who won the Light Heavyweight Gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He challenged once for the IBF cruiserweight championship in 2006. Amateur career ...

in 1995 and

Uriah Grant Uriah or Uriyah () is a Hebrew given name. It may refer to: People In the Bible *Uriah the Hittite, a soldier in King David's army in the Books of Samuel *Uriah, a priest under Ahaz in the Books of Kings * Uriah (prophet), a prophet murdered by ...

in 1996.

IBF Cruiserweight Championship

Montana then beat Kenny Keene and then Grant in a rematch, setting up a shot at

Vassiliy Jirov Vassiliy Valeryevich Jirov (russian: Васи́лий Вале́рьевич Жи́ров; born 4 April 1974), sometimes known as Vasily Zhirov, is a Kazakhstani former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2009, and held the Internationa ...

for his

Cruiserweight title. Montana lost via TKO and moved up to heavyweight in 2001.

Move to Heavyweight

He had success at Heavyweight, upsetting the undefeated China Smith for the NBA World heavyweight title and then defending that title by winning their rematch. On September 11, 2010, he lost a twelve-round decision to

Johnathon Banks Johnathon Banks is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2014. He held the IBO cruiserweight title from 2008 to 2009 and challenged once for the IBF cruiserweight title in 2009. He currently works as a boxing traine ...

for Johnathon's NABF Heavyweight title. During his boxing career Montana has fought many famous fighters like

(twice),

David Tua Faumuina To'aletai Mafaufau David Tua (born 21 November 1972), best known as David Tua, is a Samoan-New Zealand former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. A highly ranked heavyweight contender for most of his career, Tua was kno ...

Dennis Bakhtov Denis Bakhtov (born December 7, 1979 in Kazakhstan) is a Russian professional boxer. Professional career On October 11 2014 Bakhtov fought future world champion Anthony Joshua, losing by technical knockout in the second round. In 2015 Bakh ...

Tye Fields Walter Tyeson "Tye" Fields (born February 8, 1975) is an American former professional boxer who held the USBA heavyweight title. Boxing career Tye Fields grew up in Beaverton, Oregon. Fields played college basketball and was a starter at forw ...

Sinan Şamil Sam Sinan Şamil Sam (23 June 1974 – 30 October 2015) was a Turkish heavyweight professional boxer( Azerbaijani origin). As a professional boxer, Sam won the EBU,WBC international and WBC Mediterranean titles in the heavyweight division. Accordi ...

Grigory Drozd Grigory Anatolyevich Drozd (russian: Григорий Анатольевич Дрозд; born 26 August 26, 1979) is a Russian former professional boxer. He is the former WBC cruiserweight champion, having lost the title when he was unable to ...

, and

James Toney James Nathaniel Toney (born August 24, 1968) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF and lineal middleweight titles from 1991 to 1 ...

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montana, Saul 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Acapulco Boxers from Guerrero Mexican male boxers Light-heavyweight boxers Cruiserweight boxers Heavyweight boxers