Hilario Zapata

Hilario Zapata (born August 19, 1958) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1993. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC light flyweight title twice between 1980 and 1983 and the WBA flyweight title from 1985 to 1987.

Professional career

Zapata began his professional boxing career in 1977, beating Victor Lopez by a knockout in the second round. He had 2 wins in '77.

He had a fast ascent to the top, starting in 1978. By his fifth bout, on July 1, he was meeting former world Flyweight champion Juan Guzmán in Panama City, beating Guzman by a decision in ten. His next fight, against Yong-Hwang Kim, in South Korea, was his first fight abroad; he gave himself a twentieth birthday present by beating Kim by a 10-round decision on August 19. Then, he met former world Flyweight champion Alfonso Lopez, for the vacant Latin American Jr. Flyweight belt. Zapata suffered his first loss in the fight against Lopez, when he was beaten by a decision in 12.

He started 1979 with a fight against Ramon Perez in Puerto Rico, winning by a knockout in nine. He had three more wins in 1979, including one over the two time world Flyweight champion Freddie Castillo, and by the end of that year he was ranked number one in the world among Jr. Flyweight challengers by the WBC.

Zapata went to Japan in March 1980, and on the 24th day of that month he beat defending world champion Shigeo Nakajima to become world Jr. Flyweight champion. He defended his title against Chi-Bok Kim, winning a 15-round unanimous decision in South Korea, against Hector Rey Melendez in Venezuela, winning also by a 15-round decision, against Nakajima in a Tokyo rematch, winning by knockout in 11, and against Reynaldo Becerra in Venezuela. He closed out 1980 win a 15-round decision win over Becerra.

In 1981, he and future world Flyweight champion Joey Olivo fought what was the only Jr. Flyweight title bout ever broadcast on American national TV live until Michael Carbajal came along nine years later.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Zapata beat Olivo by a knockout in round 13 to retain his belt, and then, he went to San Francisco to retain the crown once again, with a 15-round decision over Rudy Crawford. On August 15, and back home in Panama City, he beat Mexican German Torres by a decision in 15 to retain his belt, and then he faced former world Jr. Flyweight champion Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh, retaining the belt by a knockout in 10.

In his next fight, on February 6, 1982, Zapata lost the world title by knockout in two at the hands of Amado Panterita Ursua, but Ursua in turn would lose it to Tadashi Tomori. On July 20, Zapata regained the world title by beating Tomori on a 15-round decision in Japan. Then, he beat future world champion and Zapata-conqueror Jung-Koo Chang by a decision in 15 in Chonju, and he closed out the year with a rematch against Tomori in Tokyo, knocking Tomori out in eight rounds.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On March 26, 1983, Zapata and Chang met again in South Korea, and this time, Chang became world champion by knocking Zapata out in the third round. Then, on November 9 at Las Vegas, on the Marvin Hagler vs. Roberto Durán's undercard's week, Zapata was beaten by a knockout in 10 by Harold Petty.

His career seemingly over, he quickly recovered from those back to back losses and began winning again, but this time as a Flyweight. By the end of 1984, he was ranked number one by the WBA among Flyweights, and on December 8 of that year, he challenged world Flyweight champion Santos Laciar of Argentina at Buenos Aires' legendary Luna Park. Zapata lost a 15-round decision that night, but in 1986, after Laciar had vacated the crown, the WBA gave him a second chance, and he beat Alonzo Gonzalez to win the WBA world Flyweight championship. He then beat Javier Lucas to retain the belt. He retained the title also against Shuichi Hozumi, Dodie Penalosa, Alberto Castro and Claudemir Calvalho, all by decision, before losing it to Fidel Bassa of Colombia, also by a decision.

In 1993, he tried to become a world champion once again, but was knocked out in the first round by the WBC world Jr. Bantamweight champion Sung-Kil Moon. A win against Moon would have made Zapata a member of the exclusive group of world boxing champions in three different weight categories or more.

It can also be added that Zapata's first pair of boxing gloves, when he was 12, came as a present from Duran himself.

Panamanian newspaper El Panama America declared on one of their editorials that Zapata, according to their opinion, should be inducted to the International Boxing Hall Of Fame soon. Zapata eventually was voted into the Hall of Fame, in December 2015, and was inducted during June 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Zapata had a record of 43 wins and 10 losses, with 1 draw, and 14 wins by knockout.

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
54	Template:No2Loss	43–10–1	Moon Sung-kil	TKO	1 (12), Template:Small	Feb 27, 1993	Template:Small	Template:Small
53	Template:Yes2Win	43–9–1	Noel Cogollo	UD	12	Nov 28, 1992	Template:Small	Template:Small
52	Template:Yes2Win	42–9–1	Eduardo Lopez	UD	10	Oct 31, 1992	Template:Small
51	Template:No2Loss	41–9–1	David Merchant	TD	7 (12)	Sep 19, 1992	Template:Small	Template:Small
50	Template:Yes2Win	41–8–1	Guillermo Salcedo	TKO	7 (10)	Aug 15, 1992	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	40–8–1	Juan Rios	UD	10	Aug 1, 1992	Template:Small
48	Template:Yes2Win	39–8–1	Emilio Diaz	KO	2 (10), Template:Small	Feb 21, 1991	Template:Small
47	Template:Yes2Win	38–8–1	Genaro Manjarres	UD	10	Oct 26, 1990	Template:Small
46	Template:Yes2Win	37–8–1	Orlando Legal	KO	6 (10), Template:Small	Sep 13, 1990	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	36–8–1	Agustin Garcia	UD	10	Aug 30, 1990	Template:Small
44	Template:No2Loss	35–8–1	Pedro Romero	SD	10	Apr 22, 1989	Template:Small
43	Template:No2Loss	35–7–1	Julio Gudino	UD	10	Dec 3, 1988	Template:Small
42	Template:DrawDraw	35–6–1	Fidel Bassa	SD	15	Aug 15, 1987	Template:Small	Template:Small
41	Template:No2Loss	35–6	Fidel Bassa	UD	15	Feb 13, 1987	Template:Small	Template:Small
40	Template:Yes2Win	35–5	Claudemir Carvalho Dias	UD	15	Dec 7, 1986	Template:Small	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	34–5	Alberto Castro	SD	15	Sep 13, 1986	Template:Small	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	33–5	Dodie Boy Peñalosa	UD	15	Jul 5, 1986	Template:Small	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	32–5	Shuichi Hozumi	UD	15	Apr 7, 1986	Template:Small	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	31–5	Javier Lucas	UD	15	Jan 31, 1986	Template:Small	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	30–5	Alonzo Gonzalez	UD	15	Oct 5, 1985	Template:Small	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	29–5	Alonzo Gonzalez	PTS	10	Mar 29, 1985	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	28–5	Ramon E. Espinal	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	Feb 2, 1985	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	27–5	Rafael Cabrera	UD	10	Dec 28, 1984	Template:Small
31	Template:No2Loss	26–5	Santos Laciar	UD	15	Dec 8, 1984	Template:Small	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	26–4	Alberto Castro	PTS	10	Oct 10, 1984	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	25–4	Alex Miranda	TKO	9 (10)	Sep 1, 1984	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	24–4	Ramon Nery	UD	10	Jul 14, 1984	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	23–4	Juan Polo Pérez	UD	10	Jun 23, 1984	Template:Small
26	Template:No2Loss	22–4	Harold Petty	TKO	10 (12), Template:Small	Nov 9, 1983	Template:Small	Template:Small
25	Template:No2Loss	22–3	Chang Jung-koo	TKO	3 (15), Template:Small	Mar 26, 1983	Template:Small	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	22–2	Tadashi Tomori	TKO	8 (15), Template:Small	Nov 30, 1982	Template:Small	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	21–2	Chang Jung-koo	SD	15	Sep 18, 1982	Template:Small	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	20–2	Tadashi Tomori	SD	15	Jul 20, 1982	Template:Small	Template:Small
21	Template:No2Loss	19–2	Amado Ursua	KO	2 (15), Template:Small	Feb 6, 1982	Template:Small	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	19–1	Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh	TKO	10 (15), Template:Small	Nov 5, 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	18–1	Germán Torres	UD	15	Aug 15, 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	17–1	Rudy Crawford	UD	15	Apr 24, 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	16–1	Joey Olivo	RTD	13 (15)	Feb 8, 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	15–1	Reinaldo Jose Becerra	MD	15	Dec 1, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	14–1	Shigeo Nakajima	TKO	11 (15), Template:Small	Sep 17, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	13–1	Hector Melendez	UD	15	Aug 4, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	12–1	Chi Bok Kim	UD	15	Jun 7, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	11–1	Shigeo Nakajima	UD	15	Mar 24, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	10–1	Jose Ricard	TKO	7 (10), Template:Small	Oct 6, 1979	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	9–1	Freddy Castillo	UD	12	Jun 23, 1979	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	8–1	Nestor Obregon	UD	10	Apr 7, 1979	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	7–1	Ramon L. Perez	TKO	9 (10)	Jan 14, 1979	Template:Small
7	Template:No2Loss	6–1	Alfonso López	SD	12	Nov 1, 1978	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Young Hwan Kim	PTS	10	Aug 19, 1978	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Juan Guzman	UD	10	Jul 2, 1978	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Alfredo Thomas	TKO	3 (8)	Apr 15, 1978	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Humberto Mayorga	PTS	6	Mar 4, 1978	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Cesar Becerra	TKO	3 (4), Template:Small	Nov 26, 1977	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Victor Lopez	TKO	2 (4), Template:Small	Oct 28, 1977	Template:Small

See also

• List of southpaw stance boxers
• List of world light-flyweight boxing champions
• List of world flyweight boxing champions

External links

• Template:Boxrec