Antonio "El Coloso" Cermeno tribute

BoztheMadman · May 14, 2015

This is a tribute to a fighter who tragically was killed last year, Antonio Cermeno of Venezuela. He was a 2-time 2-division world champion who had a fine career and retired with a record of 45(31)-7. At 5'9 and half he was exceptionally tall for the super bantam or featherweight division, so he was known under the nickname of El Coloso, The Colossus. He bust onto the world stage from obscurity, achieving an amazing upset by beating the much more experienced and accomplished Wilfredo Vazquez sr and winning his first world title. He could do a bit of both, box and punch and with his great height and reach advantage was a nightmare opponent for most.

Born Antonio Jose Verdu Cermak on 6th March 1969 in Rio Chico, Venezuela, he started boxing professionally in 1990, aged 21. His first fights were all against subpar opponents, except for two: Jesus Flores, whom he defeated on points, and Ramon Guzman, whom he knocked out in 4 to capture the WBA Fedelatin super bantam title. However, in his next and 19th fight, he was defeated for the first time as he went to South Korea to fight the 17-0 Jae-Won Choi. Korean judges were hardly known for their neutrality, so it is not unimaginable that this loss was controversial. He then won 3 more fights agaisnt nobodies, all by knockout, before suddenly being given a shot at the WBA title against the great Puerto Rican Wilfredo Vazquez, who was making his 10th defense. The fight took place on 13 May '95 in Vazquez's hometown of Bayamon, Puerto Rico. However, despite all the odds being against him, the young Venezuelan "giant" made a big upset when he captured the title with a close but unanimous decision win. In his first defense he took on the Hawaiian-Filipino Jesus Salud, who had once himself held the same title. Cermeno outclassed Salud in front of home fans in Maracay, Venezuela to win by a lopsided decision. His next defense was against compatriot Yober Ortega and Cermeno again retained his title with a unanimous decision. For his third defense he went to MGM Grand in Las Vegas to face and defeat Eddy Saenz, by TKO 5. His next fight was also in Vegas, against former Vazquez-challenger Yuichi Kasai of Japan, whom Cermeno beat by UD. He then beat the undefeated Puerto Rican Angel Chacon by UD before rematching Kasai and this time stopped him by KO 12 in Kasai's own country. His seventh and last defense of the title came against the unheralded Jose Rojas and again the fight went to the scorecards, Cermeno winning.

After that he vacated the title, due to lack of serious competition in the division at the time, and moved up to featherweight. He won 2 tune up fights by knockout before challenging the reigning WBA champion Freddie "Lil Hagler" Norwood, on 3 April '98. Norwood, though shorter man by 3 inches, was a very good infighter and was fast on his feet. He outworked Cermeno in a fight in Bayamon and won by a unanimous decision, handing Cermeno his second professional loss. However, Norwood would soon get stripped of the title for not making the weight in a title defense, so Cermeno got a chance to fight for the vacant title on 3 October that same year. He faced the same man Norwood beat last, Genaro Rios of Nicaragua, in Caracas. After winning all 3 rounds on 2 of the scorecards, he knocked out Rios in the 4th, thus becoming a 2-division champion. For his first defense in February next year, he again took on Eddy Saenz and easily won by KO 2. He then signed to fight Norwood again, hoping for a revenge. But it wouldn't happen, despite a good showing in a very close fight, because Norwood won by split decision, in a fight that again took place in Puerto Rico. After that Cermeno moved back down to super bantamweight and in his next fight he again beat Yober Ortega to capture the vacant interim WBA title. However, he had problems making the weight and decided to return to 126. In 2001 he surprisingly lost by majority decision to Armando Cordoba in Panama, in a fight for the WBA Fedebol title. He then moved up to super featherweight and in May 2002 he won the WBA Fedelatin title by TKO 10 against Shamir Reyes. However, next year he lost again on points to Joe Morales. He continued fighting at 130 for a few more years, until finally retiring in 2006, after getting stopped by Santos Benavides after 4 rounds.

On 25 February 2014, Cermeno was kidnapped and then killed after he tried to escape. His wife and some relatives had already escaped but Cermeno was unable to and he was later found shot. It was a tragic ending to the story of Coloso, who had risen up from nowhere to take the biggest prize in boxing. Being a Venezuelan, he was never priviliged in the world of boxing that was always more generous to Mexicans and Americans, so he had to rely on himself to achieve something. He was only 44, only 9 days shy of his 45th birthday. Rest in peace Coloso!

selij · May 15, 2015