Ernesto España (born November 7, 1954) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n former professional boxer who held 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 ...

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

championship in 1979 and 1980.

Career

España became a professional boxer in 1975 and won all of his bouts except one when he fought

Claude Noel Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etch ...

on June 16, 1979, for the vacant WBA lightweight title that had been given up by

Roberto Durán Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, as w ...

. España knocked out Noel in the thirteenth round to win the title. He defended it once, recuperating from a knockdown in round seven before knocking out Johnny Lira in round nine of a fight which has been showcased on

ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%). The channel was originally la ...

, before losing the title to

Hilmer Kenty James Kenty, also known as Hilmer Kenty (born July 30, 1955 in Austin, Texas) is the former WBA lightweight (135 lb) champion of the world. He was selected a member of the All-American AAU boxing team for 1973, and was named the top lightweight am ...

by knockout in round nine in March 1980. In a rematch in September, Kenty knocked España out again, this time in the fourth round. In 1981, he beat future champion

Arturo Frias Arturo Frias (born October 27, 1955) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1975 to 1985. He held the WBA lightweight title from 1981 to 1982. Boxing career Frias began his professional boxing career on February 7, 1975, one ...

. When Frias won the WBA lightweight title, España challenged him but Frias avenged his only loss and won a technical decision over España in 1982. España's next fight was another challenge for the WBA lightweight title, but this time

Ray Mancini Ray Mancini (born Raymond Michael Mancino; March 4, 1961), best known as "Boom Boom" Mancini, is an American former professional boxer who competed professionally from 1979 to 1992 and who has since worked as an actor and sports commentator. H ...

knocked him out in six rounds in July 1982. España never challenged for a world title again and retired in 1988. His brother

Crisanto España Crisanto España (born October 25, 1964 in Venezuela) is a former boxer who was the WBA welterweight champion of the world. España fought out of Belfast, Northern Ireland and turned pro in 1984 after accumulating a 54-10 amateur record. Españ ...

won the WBA world

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

title in the early 1990s, when he beat

Meldrick Taylor Meldrick Taylor (born October 19, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2002. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the IBF junior welterweight title from 1988 to 1990, and the WBA welterweight title ...

and lost it in his third defense to

Ike Quartey Isufu "Ike" Quartey (born 27 November 1969) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2006. He held the WBA welterweight title from 1994 to 1998, and challenged once for IBF junior-middleweight title in 2000. Early year ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Espana, Ernesto 1954 births Living people World boxing champions Lightweight boxers World Boxing Association champions Venezuelan male boxers Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico