COLOMBIAN KINGS

Eleider Alvarez, conqueror of Sergey Kovalev, isn’t the first Colombian to win a world title

1. ANTONIO CERVANTES

A veteran of 106 fights, Cervantes won the WBA superlightweight title in 1972 and made 10 defences before losing against Wilfred Benitez. He then won the belt again in ’77, accumulating another six defences, only for Aaron Pryor to burst on the scene and stop him.

2. MIGUEL LORA

Bantamweight Lora ventured to the USA in 1985 to defeat Daniel Zaragoza and claim his WBC title. He defended this belt seven times, including twice in huge fights in Colombia, before losing to Raul Perez in ’88.

3. FIDEL BASSA

Bassa won the WBA flyweight title in 1987 with a 15-round decision over Hilario Zapata, and then successfully defended it against Dave Mcauley at the Kings Hall, Belfast. He’d make six defences in total and then relinquish it to Jesus Rojas in ’89.

4. MAURICIO PASTRANA

Pastrana’s career took off in 1997 when he won a decision over Olympic silver medallist Michael Carbajal to claim the IBF light-fly title. He moved through the divisions and ended as a super-featherweight.

5. IRENE PACHECO

This native of Arboletes won the IBF flyweight belt in 1999 with a ninth-round stoppage of Luis Cox Coronado and racked up six successful defences, one of which was against Ireland’s Damien Kelly in Colombia.

6. JORGE ELIÉCER JULIO

Julio beat Eddie Cook in 1992 to grab the WBA bantamweight crown, defended it a couple of times, and then had it taken off him by Junior Jones. In ’98, he also won the WBO title at bantamweight and defended that belt twice.

7. RAFAEL PINEDA

After losing his first world title shot against Mark Breland, Miami-based Pineda went on to stop Roger Mayweather in nine rounds to win the IBF superlightweight title.

8. BEIBIS MENDOZA

Mendoza is remembered for his four fights with the great Rosendo Alvarez, the first of which ended in a disqualification and landed the Colombian the WBA light-flyweight title.

9. RICARDO TORRES

Heavy-handed Torres rose to prominence in a sevenround thriller with Miguel Cotto before winning the WBO junior-welterweight title in 2006 with a splitdecision over Mike Arnaoutis.

10. CARLOS MAUSSA

Wild and unorthodox, Maussa stunned Vivian Harris in 2005 to take the WBA super-lightweight title but then lost it to Ricky Hatton in his very first defence.