Juan Meza

Juan Meza (born March 18, 1956), also known for his nickname Kid Meza, is a former boxer who was world Super Bantamweight champion. Meza was born in Mexicali, Mexico.

Mesa was born Jesus Fernández. Prior to beginning his career, and for undisclosed reasons, he changed his name officially to Juan Meza.

Meza was a popular fighter among Latin Americans, specially those of Mexican descent who lived in North America. His trainer was the well known boxing personality, Jimmy Montoya.

Juan Meza debuted on September 23, 1977, knocking out Elias Rodriguez in three rounds at Tucson.

He lost for the first time on his second bout, being beaten on points after four rounds by Valentin Holguin on October 13 in Los Angeles. Six days later, he knocked out Davey White in Las Vegas. Eight days later, he had a rematch with Holguin, over the extremely rare five rounds schedule distance. He avenged his first loss by outpointing Holguin.

On November 3, he scored his first knockout in the first round, defeating Horacio Pintado in Los Angeles. But, in his next fight, on November 18, he lost by a four-round decision to Carlos Ortiz, in San Diego.

Meza began rising in boxing's ranks when he knocked Ortiz out in the first round on December 16, also at San Diego. He won 29 of his next 31 bouts, earning fame, particularly in the West Coast of the United States, as aforementioned. Among those thirty one bouts, there were many highlights, including:

On March 27 of that year, Meza got his first world championship try, when he faced Gómez in Atlantic City, for the WBC world Super Bantamweight title. Meza lost to Gómez by a sixth-round knockout.

After losing to Gómez, Mesa took off one year from boxing. During this time, Gómez left the championship vacant; to challenge for the WBC's world Featherweight championship, and Jaime Garza won it by knocking out Bobby Berna for the vacant championship.

Meanwhile, Meza returned to boxing on April 26, 1983, knocking out Roberto Castillo in four rounds at Las Vegas.

...
Wikipedia