Felix Cora Jr. (born 18 February 1980) is an American professional boxer. He is a former holder of the USBA and NABF cruiserweight titles and was a contestant in the fourth season of the reality TV show '' The Contender''.

Professional career

Early boxing career

Cora made his professional boxing debut in September 2000 with a 2nd round stoppage win over Mitchell Seigrist in Houston, Texas. Over the next three years he boxed a further 14 times, winning 12 with two draws including one draw with the then unbeaten Michael Simms. By January 2004, Cora could boast an unbeaten professional record of 13-0-2.

Title fights

In June 2004, Cora once again challenged old foe Michael Simms, this time for the vacant USBA cruiserweight title in Rosemont,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Cora won the bout via a majority decision to claim the title and to go one better than the last time he faced Simms. Throughout the rest of 2004, Cora defended his belt twice more scoring wins over Jermell Barnes (UD12) and James Elizalde (TKO 6). In October 2005, Cora challenged for, and won, the NABF version of the cruiserweight title beating champion Arthur Williams after Williams corner retired him in the 8th round. He would defend the belt only once against

Darnell Wilson Darnell Wilson (born September 22, 1974) is an American boxer. He challenged once for the WBA World Cruiserweight title in 2008. He is perhaps best remembered for his brutal left-hook knockouts of Emmanuel Nwodo and David Rodriguez. Backgro ...

in March 2006 before losing it in his first career defeat to Russian

Vadim Tokarev Vadim Tokarev (born 29 February 1972) is a US-based Russian professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2008. Professional career Born in Yekaterinburg, Tokarev began his professional career in 2000 and won his first 15 fights in a row. He has a ...

in May of the same year. Cora suffered his second career defeat to unbeaten former Olympian team-mate

Matt Godfrey Matt Godfrey (born January 16, 1981) is a Wampanoag former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2012. He challenged for the WBO cruiserweight title in 2010. Amateur career Godfrey, who is a close friend of Jason Estrada since his childh ...

in his very next fight. The fight which took place in April 2007 in Connecticut was also for Cora's former NABF belt which had been vacated by Tokarev. Godfrey won the fight via a 2nd round TKO.

The Contender Series

In 2008 Cora joined the cast of the 4th series of the boxing reality show, '' The Contender'' and became a member of the blue team. On 3 December 2008 he boxed his first round contest against the gold team's Joell Godfrey and won a unanimous decision over 5 rounds. He was knocked out of the competition at the quarter final stage after meeting Canadian

Troy Ross Troy Amos-Ross (born July 17, 1975) is a Guyanese-Canadian boxer. As an amateur, he competed in the light heavyweight division at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Personal life He is the son of re ...

who stopped him in the 1st round. In the season finale he knocked out Tim Flamos in the 3rd round

Comeback

After a 15 month layoff Cora Jr. returned to the ring on 4 June 2010 to face Billy Willis in a fight made at heavyweight winning in the sixth round. He fought twice more in 2010 beating Rubin Williams on 19 August and traveling to Manchester in England on 13 November to lose an eliminator contest for the IBF cruiserweight title to Enad Licina. In his first fight of 2011 on 5 March Cora Jr fought abroad once more traveling to Poland to fight Pawel Kolodziej for the WBA International cruiserweight title only to lose on points over 12 rounds.

Professional boxing record

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Murat Gassiev Murat Georgievich Gassiev (russian: Мурат Георгиевич Гассиев; os, Гасситы Георгийы фырт Мурат; born 12 October 1993) is a Russian professional boxer from North Ossetia-Alania. He is a former unifi ...

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cora, Felix, Jr. 1980 births Living people Boxers from Texas Cruiserweight boxers People from Galveston, Texas The Contender (TV series) participants American male boxers