Fernando Montiel Martínez (born March 1, 1979) is a Mexican

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 ...

. He is a multiple-time former world champion in three weight classes, having held the WBO

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...

title from 2001 to 2002, the WBO

junior bantamweight Super flyweight, also referred to as junior bantamweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . History The first title match in this division was in 1980, when the World Boxing Council respond ...

title twice between 2002 and 2008, and the unified WBC and WBO

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

titles from 2010 to 2011.

Early life

Fernando Montiel is the youngest child of Manuel Montiel Sr., a former professional boxer and Fernando's current trainer. Fernando has four brothers that are former professional boxers: Eduardo Montiel, Alejandro Felix Montiel, Pedro Montiel and Manuel Montiel Jr. Fernando learned the sport of boxing in his father's gym located in

Los Mochis, Sinaloa Los Mochis () is a coastal city in northern Sinaloa, Mexico. It serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of Ahome. As of the 2010 census, the population was 362,613, which was 61 percent of the municipality's population. Los Mochis is the ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

alongside fellow boxer, Jorge "Travieso" Arce. Regarding his nickname, Fernando has explained that one of his father's sister could not pronounce his father's name, Manuel de Jesus, when she was of younger age, so she called her brother "Cochul." The nickname was later on passed to Fernando in diminutive form, since "Cochulito" roughly translates into "Little Cochul." The nickname has no relation to a rooster, as many have argued.

Professional career

Early years at flyweight

Montiel made his professional debut on December 6, 1996, at the age of 16. He accumulated a record of 20–0–1, which included a win over future champion

Cruz Carbajal Cruz Carbajal (born 3 May 1974) is a Mexican former professional Boxing, boxer who competed from 1992 to 2012. He is the younger brother of International Boxing Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame boxer Michael Carbajal. Professional career After making ...

, before challenging WBO

Flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...

Champion Isidro García. Montiel won the bout by seventh-round TKO to become champion at age 20. He defended the Flyweight title three times against Olympic medalist

Zoltan Lunka Zoltan Lunka (born 22 May 1970 in Miercurea Nirajului, Romania) was a professional boxing, boxer, who won a Olympic medalists in boxing, Flyweight bronze medal at the Boxing at the 1996 Summer Olympics, 1996 Summer Olympics for Germany. A year ea ...

, former champion Juan Domingo Córdoba and future champion Jose "Carita" Lopez.

Super flyweight

In his next bout, Montiel moved up to the

super flyweight Super flyweight, also referred to as junior bantamweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . History The first title match in this division was in 1980, when the World Boxing Council respond ...

division and defeated WBO Champion Pedro Alcázar, who died as a consequence of the blows suffered during their bout. He defended the super flyweight title against Roy Doliguez and also defeated former champion Ruben Sánchez León, but then lost the title to Mark Johnson by majority decision. Montiel won all three of his bouts in 2004 then regained the WBO title by knocking out champion Ivan Hernández, who had recently knocked out Johnson. Montiel defended his super flyweight title against Evert Briceno (21–2) and Pramuansak Posuwan (29–0–1). In his next bout, he moved up to the bantamweight division and challenged WBO Champion

Jhonny González Jhonny González Vera (born September 15, 1981) is a Mexican professional boxer.. Retrieved 26 September 2016. He is a three-time former world champion in two weight classes, having held the World Boxing Organization, WBO bantamweight title f ...

, but lost the bout by split decision. Montiel returned to the super flyweight division and continued defending his title by defeating

Z Gorres Zeta Celestino Oliveros Gorres (born 18 April 1982) is a Filipino former professional boxer who challenged once for the WBO super-flyweight title. Personal life Gorres has a brother named Jun Gorres who was formerly a boxer but was stabbed to ...

(26–1–1), Cecilio Santos (22–7–2), Luis Melendez (25–2–1), and former champion

Martín Castillo José Martín Castillo (born 13 January 1977) is a Mexican former professional boxer. He represented his native country of Mexico at the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is a former World Boxing Association (WBA) Super Flyweight champion. Amateur care ...

(33–2–0). On May 31, 2008, in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, Montiel defeated Luis Maldonado by third-round technical knockout to successfully defend his WBO title for the eighth time. Montiel knocked Maldonado down in rounds one and three and the bout was stopped during Montiel's follow-up barrage.

Bantamweight

WBO champion

In his next match, he moved up to the

division and defeated future champion Juan Alberto Rosas. On March 28, 2009, he defeated Diego Oscar Silva (24–1–3) by third round knock out to win the

Interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

WBO Bantamweight title. On April 25, Montiel became a three division champion after being elevated to full Bantamweight Champion. On September 12, 2009, Montiel faced fellow Mexican Alejandro Valdez (21–3–2) at the Palenque de la Feria in Tepic,

Nayarit Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...

. The bout ended via technical draw at the 3rd round. On February 13, 2010, Montiel defeated

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

prospect Ciso Morales (14–0) via KO at the 1st round, successfully defending his WBO Bantamweight title.

Unified WBC and WBO champion

On April 30, 2010, Montiel faced WBC Bantamweight Champion

Hozumi Hasegawa is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2016. He is the first Japanese boxer to win world titles in three weight classes, having held the WBC bantamweight title from 2005 to 2010; the WBC featherweight title from 2010 ...

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Montiel, who was a heavy underdog leading up to the bout, knocked out Hasegawa in the fourth round, putting an end to the Japanese fighter's 5-year title reign. With the win, Montiel unified the WBC and WBO Bantamweight titles. On October 30, 2010, Montiel successfully defended his titles against

Rafael Concepción Rafael Concepción (born 24 June 1982) is a boxer from the Republic of Panama, nicknamed ''"El Torito"''. He has a record of 13 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw. He fought A. J. ''"Bazooka"'' Banal of the Philippines for the WBA interim Super Flyweigh ...

. Montiel dropped Concepcion to the canvas twice in the second round before knocking him out in the third round.

Losing the titles to Donaire

On October 4, 2010, promoter

Bob Arum Robert Arum (born December 8, 1931) is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorn ...

announced that Fernando Montiel and

Nonito Donaire Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. (; ; born November 16, 1982) is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a ...

are on course for a February 19, 2011 bout. Before his bout with Donaire, Fernando had a 10-round non-title bout against fellow Mexican Jovanny Soto, on December 10, 2010 in

Saltillo Saltillo () is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. Mexico City, Monterrey, and Saltillo are all connected by a major railroad and highwa ...

Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...

. Montiel defeated Soto via KO in the second round. On February 19, 2011, the fight against

took place at the

Mandalay Bay Mandalay Bay is a 43-story luxury resort and casino at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by Vici Properties and The Blackstone Group and operated by MGM Resorts International. It was developed by Circus Circus ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Montiel suffered his first TKO loss in the second round.

Further setbacks

Montiel announced in the Mexican media that he would return to the ring in the

super bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanctioning organizations or ...

division, as he had difficulties making the 118 pound

limit during his fight against Donaire. He rebounded with wins over future champion Nehomar Cermeno and Alvaro Perez, then faced Victor Terrazas for the vacant WBC Silver Super Bantamweight title, but was defeated by 12 round decision in what was considered an upset. After putting together an 8 fight winning streak, during which he moved up to the Featherweight division and secured a win over former champion Cristobal Cruz, he faced

Lee Selby Lee Selby (born 14 February 1987) is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2022. He held the IBF featherweight title from 2015 to 2018, and previously the British, Commonwealth, and European featherweight titles between 2 ...

for the IBF World Featherweight Title but lost a 12 round decision. In his following fight, Montiel suffered a first round knockout loss to Jorge Lara.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montiel, Fernando 1979 births Mexican male boxers Bantamweight boxers Flyweight boxers Super-flyweight boxers Living people Boxers from Sinaloa Sportspeople from Los Mochis World Boxing Organization champions World flyweight boxing champions World super-flyweight boxing champions Super-bantamweight boxers Featherweight boxers World Boxing Council champions World bantamweight boxing champions