Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
nian who was a professional boxer and fought many top-flight boxers and several champions during the 1970s and 1980s. Luján is the former Lineal and WBA Bantamweight world champion. He was managed by Aurelio Cortez.
Professional boxing career
Luján was born in Colon, and began his professional boxing career by knocking out one Baby San Blas III in one round on June 16, 1973, at Gimnasio Nuevo Panama (now
Roberto Durán Arena
Roberto Durán Arena, originally known as Gimnasio Nuevo Panama, is an indoor sporting arena located in Panama City, Panama. The capacity of the arena is 8,417 spectators and opened in 1970. It hosts indoor sporting events such as basketball, ...
).
Luján proceeded with another first-round knockout, this one of a fighter named Tranquita Brown. He ran a record of 4-0 with 2
knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...
s and then met future
Guty Espadas
Guty Espadas (born December 20, 1954) is a Mexican former professional boxer who won the WBA flyweight title. He is also the father of former World Champion Guty Espadas Jr.
Early life
He was born to Hernan Espadas Cruz and Isabel Cruz Espadas. ...
world title challenger Alex Santana, 0-1 at the time. He defeated Santana on January 19, 1974 by a second-round knockout at Gimnasio Neco de la Guardia in Panama City.
Luján then met Socrates Batoto, a boxer who had fought in seven countries and had challenged Betulio Gonzalez for his WBC world Flyweight title and who would later challenge
Alfonso Zamora
Alfonso Zamora Quiroz (born 9 February 1954) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 1980. He was the Lineal championship, Lineal and World Boxing Association, WBA bantamweight champion, and made five title defenses. As ...
for his Lineal and WBA world Bantamweight title. Batoto was 15-3 with 6 knockouts. Luján knocked Batoto out in round six on July 20, 1974 at the Nuevo Panama gym.
Jorge Luján obtained three more wins, including one over 10-2-2 prospect John Cajina, before going against Reyes Arnal, who was 5-1-2 and who'd later on lose a close, 15 round split decision to Miguel Canto in a challenge for the Hall of Famer's WBC world Flyweight title. On June 21, 1975, Luján scored a fifth-round technical knockout win over Arnal.
Luján kept winning, beating his five next opponents, including 18-3-1 Juanito Herrera (not the Juan Herrera who won the WBA world Flyweight title), before meeting Gilberto Illueca, who ten months before had lost to Zamora in a world title try. Luján and Illueca, 25-4, fought on May 14, 1977, with Luján losing his condition as an undefeated boxer by a close, ten round majority decision, the two judges who voted against Luján deeming him loser by only one point each.
On July 30, 1977, Luján boxed trial-horse Jaime Ricardo, 7-5-1 before their bout, and dispatched him with a seventh-round technical knockout victory. Now 16-1, Luján then had his first professional bout to be held abroad, when he traveled to
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
Coliseo El Pueblo
Coliseo El Pueblo (English: ''Coliseum of the People'') is an indoor sporting arena located in Cali, Colombia. Opened in 1971 for the 1971 Pan American Games, the capacity of the arena was, before it became a 12,000-capacity all-seater, 18,000.
...
in
Cali
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...
, on September 2, 1977. Luján suffered his second defeat in three fights when deemed points loser after ten rounds with Cervantes.
World championship
Despite having lost his previous bout to Cervantes, Luján received a world title try in his next bout, facing the hard-hitting and popular champion, Zamora, 29-1 with all 29 wins by knockout coming in. Despite being recognized as Lineal and WBA Bantamweight world champion, Zamora had also lost his last fight, a non-title affair to WBC world champion Carlos Zarate. On November 19, 1977, in what also constituted Luján's debut in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, Luján built a six-point lead in one judge's scorecard and four point leads in the other two scorecards before becoming world champion by knocking Zamora out in round ten.
Title defenses
Luján was a busy champion, defending his title with success five times in the next three years, including an eleventh-round knockout of
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
San Antonio, Texas
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, subdivision_ ...
after Luján had been dropped in round one on Luján's birthday of March 18, 1978; a fifteen-round decision win over future world champion Alberto Davila at the Superdome,
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
on April 2, 1980.
On August 29, 1980, Luján faced Puerto Rican challenger, undefeated Julian Solís, 20-0 at the time of their bout. Luján and Solís had a closely contested bout at the Miami Beach Convention Center in
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which ...
, but Luján lost his world championship to the Puerto Rican by a split fifteen-round decision. Puerto Rican judge Waldemar Schmidt gave Solís the fight by 144-142, and Panamanian judge Medardo Villalobos saw Luján win by 148-144. This left American judge (and also the fight's referee) Jimmy Rondeau, who scored it for Solís, 144-143.
Further championship attempts
Luján quickly went about trying to regain his title or becoming a champion in another weight division. After Solís lost his title to Jeff Chandler, Luján challenged the new champion on January 31, 1981 at the Franklyn Plaza Hotel in the new champion's hometown of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
. Luján and Chandler fought fifteen rounds, but Chandler won by a unanimous decision to retain the championship.
On August 15, 1981, Luján faced old nemesis Roberto Rubaldino, this time in a 10-round non-title affair. Rubaldino beat Luján by a ten-round majority decision at the Sam Houston Coliseum in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
.
Once again, despite coming off defeat-in this case, three losses in a row-the World Boxing Association gave Luján a chance at becoming a world champion for the second time when he was matched with
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
's Sergio Palma for the latter's WBA recognized world Super Bantamweight title; on January 15, 1982, Palma and Luján boxed at Estadio Chateau Carreras in Cordoba, Argentina, and Palma won by a unanimous decision to retain the crown with scores of 143-139 by Stuart Winston, 145-141 by Carol Polis and 144-140 by Roberto Ramirez Sr.
Luján took off eight months before his next fight, when he was outpointed by WBC world Bantamweight champion Lupe Pintor, 48-5-1, in ten rounds at the
Olympic Auditorium
The Grand Olympic Auditorium is a former sports venue in southern Downtown Los Angeles, California. The venue was built in 1924 at 1801 South Grand Avenue, now just south of the Santa Monica Freeway. The grand opening of the Olympic Auditorium ...
at
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, on September 23, 1982. This was not a title fight; it was a preparation bout for Pintor who would later challenge Wilfredo Gómez for Gomez's WBC world Super Bantamweight championship, the Pintor-Luján bout held at the Super-Bantamweight division's weight; the winner of the bout to get a title chance at Gomez.
The Pintor fight marked Luján's fifth loss in a row. Luján started to regroup by boxing Javier Guido on November 13 at Panama City. This was a mismatch as Guido only had one victory in seven bouts. Luján won this bout by an eighth-round knockout.
A more adequate opponent was Francisco Fernandez, reported to have a record of 10-3 when he and Luján squared off on December 18 at Panama City. Luján won this bout by ten rounds points decision, after recovering from an eighth round knockdown. Then, on May 14, 1983, Luján met
Mario Miranda
Mário João Carlos do Rosário de Brito Miranda (2 May 1926 – 11 December 2011), popularly known as Mario Miranda or Mario de Miranda, was an Indian cartoonist and painter based in Loutolim in the Indian state of Goa.
Miranda had been a ...
, who had just come off an unsuccessful bid for the vacant WBC world Featherweight championship versus Juan Laporte. Luján-Miranda was held at the Nuevo Panama Gym in Panama City and Luján earned a spot among the WBA's top ten Featherweights by outpointing the Colombian over ten rounds.
Another huge mismatch took place on November 26 of 1983 at the Nuevo Panama Gym when Luján, now fighting at Junior Lightweight, took on one Wilson Peraza, who was making his professional boxing debut versus the former world champion.
Luján managed to post a ten-round unanimous decision win.
Luján faced a more experienced rival on June 30, 1984, when he fought
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
's former WBA world Super Bantamweight champion, Ricardo Cardona, who was 26-9-1 coming in. This bout was to determine WBA world Featherweight champion
Eusebio Pedroza
Eusebio Pedroza (March 2, 1956 – March 1, 2019) was a Panamanian boxer who held the WBA and lineal featherweight championship from 1978 to 1985, having defended the title against 18 different contenders, more than any other boxer in featherwe ...
's next opponent, and Luján won by scoring a tenth-round knockout over the Colombian.
Luján's challenge of Pedroza was a major sporting event in Panama; world title fights between two Panamanians being so few in boxing history (Pedroza- Hector Carrasquilla was, in fact, the first boxing bout in history to pit two Panamanians for a world title). The bout was fought on February 2, 1985 at the Nuevo Panama Gym. The legendary Pedroza, later on inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, was 37-3-1 and making the 19th defense of his world title. Luján won a few rounds on each judge's scorecards, but he was dropped in round fourteen and defeated by a unanimous decision, the three judges giving the fight to the champion by scores of 148-139, 147-140 and 146-141.
Last bout
Luján took off ten months after the Pedroza loss, and returned on December 14, 1985, to face local prospect Jose Marmolejo, who was 11-2 in 13 previous bouts. This fight was for the WBA Fedelatin Featherweight title and it was also held at the Nuevo Panama Gym. Luján was dropped in rounds six and ten and lost a unanimous twelve-round decision, prompting him to retire. Unlike many other famous boxers, Luján never attempted a comeback to professional boxing once retired; he had a record of 27 wins and 9 losses, with 16 wins by knockout; he was never knocked out himself.
See also
*
List of bantamweight boxing champions
This is a list of world bantamweight boxing champions, as recognized by the four major sanctioning organizations in boxing:
* The World Boxing Association (WBA), established in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA). The WBA often recognize ...
*
List of WBA world champions
This is a list of WBA world champions, showing every world champion certified by the World Boxing Association (WBA). The list also includes champions certified by the National Boxing Association (NBA), the predecessor to the WBA.
Boxers who won ...