Rafael Lovera Montiel (October 17, 1952 – August 21, 2023) was a former professional boxer from
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
. Lovera fought for the
WBC's vacant world Junior Flyweight title, losing to
Luis Estaba
Luis Alberto Estaba (August 13, 1938 – February 16, 2025) was a Venezuelan boxer. Born in Güiria, he was nicknamed ''Lumumba'', most commonly said to be because of his resemblance to Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba.
Biography
A late starter ...
. Lovera was from
Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay but he resided in
Lambaré
Lambaré () is a city in Central Department, Paraguay, part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area. With a population of approximately 140,000 inhabitants, it is the sixth-most populous city in the country.
Toponymy
The name of the town de ...
during the final years of his life.
Boxing career
Lovera had the distinction of having fought for a world title in his only professional boxing match. Midway through 1975, the WBC desired its world Junior Flyweight champion, Italy's
Franco Udella, to defend the title against Lovera. Udella refused and was stripped of the championship. Lovera then faced 28 wins, 7 losses and 2 draws (ties) with 20 knockouts veteran Luis Estaba for the vacant championship in
Caracas, Venezuela
Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
, September 13, 1975. Apparently, WBC officials were unaware that Lovera had no professional boxing fighting experience. This was revealed to them after the bout took place.
Estaba won the world title when he stopped the debuting contender in the fourth round. Lovera retired immediately afterwards, and he never returned to the professional boxing rings.
He stands as the first Paraguayan to challenge for a professional world boxing championship as well as one of the few boxers from Paraguay ever to challenge for a major professional boxing world title, and as one of the very few to do so in his first professional fight and to have challenged for a major world championship without ever actually winning a contest. His record was 0 wins and 1 loss in only 1 professional boxing bout.
Death
It was announced that Lovera died of a heart attack, on August 21, 2023.
See also
*
List of Paraguayans
The following is a list of people from Paraguay.
__NOTOC__
A
*Lourdes Arévalos (born 1984), beauty queen and model
B
*Cecilio Báez (1862-1941), politician, writer and president
*Agustín Barboza (1913-1998), singer and composer
*Agustín Bar ...
*
Pete Rademacher
Thomas Peter Rademacher (November 20, 1928 – June 4, 2020) was an American heavyweight boxer. As an amateur, he was a gold medalist at the 1956 Olympics. Rademacher became the only person to challenge for the world heavyweight championsh ...
-who challenged for the world heavyweight title in his first professional match
*
Joves De La Puz
*
Joko Arter
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovera, Rafael
1952 births
2023 deaths
Light-flyweight boxers
Paraguayan male boxers
People from Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay
Sportspeople from Central Department