Why is Luis Estaba NOT in the IBHOF?

Antonio, Estaba is a bit of a conundrum for me. He turned pro at an advanced age (about 29) and was knocking about for several years - about 8 years - before the WBC created the jr. flyweight division. Estaba wasn't the first champ. That 'honor' belongs to Franco Udella, who won the vacant title on a DQ. To tell you how much he thought of it, he went on defending his more lucrative European flyweight title and didn't bother with the 108 lb title. I think it was about a year later they tried again with the Estaba-Lovera fight. We all know about Lovera now, despite the WBC trying to hide it, but Estaba too, was really just a failed/struggling contender who never made the grade. Fly weight was not a division that required splintering into 108 and then 105 because there was such little interest there to begin with. However, our friends with the sanctioning bodies saw a cash cow to be milked in the Orient with these watered down divisions and they were going full throttle for those sanctioning fees. Estaba did OK from a successful defense standpoint, but one only has to look at his challengers to see what kind of ordinary opposition he was up against. I'll give him his props for being a long-running champ, but that is a bit like saying as an adult, I'm champ of the playground. Again, not to knock him, but a bit of a conundrum.

 

Never heard of him.

 

Let's look at his title fights:

vs. Rafael Lovera: As established, this was a guy making his pro debut. I think there was some coverup here, but I don't know if it was on Lovera's part or the WBC's.

vs. Takenobu Shimabukuro: Before fighting Estaba, he was losing fights to Jiro Takada (probably didn't win a round in either of his two world title challenges), Chikara Igarashi (shut out in a challenge vs. Chan-hee Park), and Juanito Herrera (KO'd in one by Alfonso Lopez). These guys were all scorched when they fought at world level, and Shimabukuro ranked decisively beneath them.

vs. Leo Palacios: Mexican fighter whose record looks to be incomplete. Only interesting fight on his record is a loss vs. Pablito Jimenez, a fighter who actually accomplished some things against world level flyweights in that era (and himself went 1-1 against Estaba).

vs. Juan Alvarez: Another guy from Mexico, got beaten by a lot of the better Mexican flyweights at that time, but did get a DQ win over a sliding Zamora. This was all later in his career. At the time of this fight, his best recorded win was Pedro Flores (not a standout talent, but did end up retiring Yoko Gushiken six years later).

vs. Franco Udella: Successful Euro-level fighter, mentioned by scartissue already. Had lost a flyweight title challenge vs. Betulio Gonzalez and was bandied about as a possible opponent for a Canto MSG fight (bring out the Italians, I guess). Solid defense.

vs. Rodolfo Rodriguez: Typical Argentino record, with a lot of fights and a lot of draws, and it's hard to make heads or tails of it. Only notable win was knocking out Reyes Arnal (later lost a world title challenge to Canto via SD).

vs. Valentin Martinez: One of the better flyweights at the Mexican level in this era. Lost his first shot at this title to Udella on a chintzy DQ. Solid defense.

vs. Rafael Pedroza: Eusebio's cousin. Hadn't done much at the time of this fight but later won a world title. That's really the only impressive paper win on his record. He and Udella are the first of these guys where you can actually find their fights on Youtube.

vs. Ricardo Estupinan: Replacement for Juan Alvarez. Not even the best fighter ever to get KO'd in one round by Prudencio Cardona.

vs. Juan Alvarez again: I guess their first fight was a real barnburner. Between these two fights he'd been beaten by the two best domestic-level flyweights of the era (Alberto Morales and the aforementioned V. Martinez). The Morales loss was his last recorded fight before this challenge.

vs. Orlando Hernandez: Costa Rican fighter who defeated Estupinan but later lost to Pedroza, to illustrate where he fits in the pantheon of Estaba challengers. Or, put another way, he'd already been knocked out by Estaba two years back, and when he fought Guty Espadas he was smoked in one round.

vs. Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh: Swarming Thai southpaw who (I think) was the shortest world champion before Matlala. Went on to win this belt.

vs. Freddy Castillo: One of the many strong fighters from the Mexican state of Merida in this era. Was able to beat the likes of Gabriel Bernal and Antonio Avelar, but lost to some of the better fighters he faced too. Actually knocked out Estaba here and later picked up a second world title years later. Fights vs. Eleoncio Mercedes and Sot Chitalada both on Youtube.

vs. Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh again: Defeated Castillo to win the belt in Bangkok. Here he returned to Venezuela and knocked out a nearly 40-year-old Estaba, who then had to retire because of a national law preventing 40-year-olds from boxing professionally. Can't imagine that one was invoked often.

Long story short: This was just from a superficial look at Boxrec, so maybe there was more to some of these stories, but as scartissue said in his excellent summary Estaba's challengers mostly appear to have been flyweights who weren't beating down any doors at the time. On top of this, all but one of these fights took place in Venezuela, and the custom appears to have been two Venezuelan judges and a ref from a neutral country, or sometimes just a Venezuelan ref too. If I were to question the HOF exclusion of a '70s flyweight from Venezuela, I'd go for Betulio Gonzalez before Estaba. But the man certainly had an fascinating career.

 

Well-detailed, my man.