Antonio Rivera

José Antonio Rivera (December 5, 1963 in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico– April 4, 2005) was a Puerto Rican boxer. He was much better known as El Gallo Rivera or Tonito Rivera, and was a prominent boxer during the decade of the 1980s.

José Antonio Rivera began his professional boxing career on February 26, 1981, after a long and successful amateur boxing career, knocking out Humberto Maldonado in the first round at Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. He posted two more wins in a row, one by knockout, then lost for the first time as a professional, beaten by Herminio Adorno by a decision in five rounds on May 22. Rivera avenged that loss with a first-round knockout of Adorno on July 9, in Trujillo Alto.

Rivera won five of his next six bouts before fighting abroad for the first time, losing by a ten-round decision to Enrique Sanchez by a ten-round decision at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on October 15, 1982. About one year and a half later, Sanchez lost to Alberto Davila for the WBC world Bantamweight title.

On February 12, 1983, Rivera fought for his first championship, the regional, Puerto Rican Super Bantamweight title. He conquered the belt by beating Orlando Perez by a twelve-round decision in Canovanas.

Rivera won his next four fights, including a seventh-round knockout victory over Manuel Santos as part of the Wilfredo Gómez-Eladio Santana fight's undercard at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum on December 14 of that year, and his Madison Square Garden debut, a win over Vincent Christian by a fifth-round knockout on July 26, 1984, at the Garden's Felt Forum Arena.

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