Cecilio "Uco" Lastra (born August 12, 1951, in Santander,

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

) is a former Spanish professional boxer. He fought 54 times between 1975 and 1982; winning 39 (24 by

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 striking, ...

), losing 13 and drawing 2. The highlight of Lastra's career came in 1977 when he won the WBA world featherweight title against Rafael Ortega. During his career he also became the Spanish champion and twice challenged for the EBU title.

Professional career

Lastra made his professional debut at the age of 24, with a six round points victory against Juan Barros in December 1975. As with the majority of his early fights, the bout took place in his hometown of Santander. Lastra won the first twelve fights of his career, including six first round

s, before losing for the first time, in September 1976, against Carlos Hernandez. Following this defeat, Lastra won eight successive fights in Santander, before beating Isidoro Cabeza for the Spanish featherweight title. He suffered his first knockout defeat in August 1977, losing in the eleventh round against Roberto Castanon in his first title defence. In December 1977 Lastra challenged Rafael Ortega for the WBA featherweight title in front of an estimated crowd of 6,300 in Santander. Ortega, a

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

nian who had won the title earlier in the year, was knocked down in the second round after a left jab to the nose. The champion rose from the canvas at the count of eight and lasted the full fifteen rounds. At the end of the contest the scorecards revealed a

split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split de ...

in Lastra's favour. For the first defence of his title Lastra travelled to

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

to fight

Eusebio Pedroza Eusebio Pedroza (March 2, 1956 – March 1, 2019) was a Panamanian boxer who held the World Boxing Association, WBA and lineal featherweight championship from 1978 to 1985, having defended the title against 18 different contenders, more than any ...

in April 1978. The 22-year-old challenger knocked Lastra down three times en route to a thirteenth-round

technical 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 striking, a ...

victory. Although Lastra never fought for a world title again, he twice challenged Roberto Castanon for the EBU title; losing their second fight on points and their third by a fourth round technical knockout, to go 0-3 versus Castanon. After four losses in a row, including two Spanish title fights, Lastra fought for a final time in July 1982, losing in the fifth round against Amalio Galan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lastra, Cecilio Living people 1951 births Sportspeople from Santander, Spain Boxers from Cantabria Featherweight boxers World Boxing Association champions Spanish male boxers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Tetuán Walk of Fame