Wilfredo Rivera

After gaining a ranking among the WBC's top ten Welterweights, Rivera proceeded to beat 9-3 Carlos Cartagena by knockout on July 22, 1994 in Trujillo Alto, 56-24-5 former world title challenger Rod Sequenan by knockout on September 12, 1994 at the Great Western Forum, 16-5-2 Ronald Rangel by unanimous decision at the Taj Majal Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City on January 25, 1995, an April 18 victory over fringe contender, Cassius Clay Horne, 29-8-2 before their bout at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas-a knockout victory-, a win over veteran trial horse Manuel Hernandez, 18-15-2, on a technical knockout July 15 at the Caesar's Tahoe in Stateline and one over 22-16 Steve Larrimore on November 18 at the Taj Majal Hotel and Casino.

Rivera retired a winner after defeating Darien Ford (10-11 coming in) by unanimous decision at Allentown, Pennsylvania on July 10, 2005.

Rivera had five bouts after the Vargas loss, going 3-2 with one knockout win in those five bouts, which included a technical knockout loss to 20-4 Alfredo Cuevas on July 19, 2002 for the vacant United States Boxing Organization's Junior Middleweight title in a bout held at Chicago, Illinois.

The Rivera-Vargas bout took place on May 5, 2001 at the Don Haskins Convention Center in El Paso, Texas. Rivera almost caused an upset when he dropped the heavily favored Vargas in round two of their bout, but Vargas rose from the canvas to win by sixth-round knockout in a fight broadcast on HBO Boxing After Dark.

Mosley went on to conquer the WBC world Welterweight title in the summer of 2000 by outpointing De La Hoya, who had beaten Derrell Coley and had the WBC reinstate him as world welterweight champion after Trinidad, Jr. vacated it to move on to the Junior Middleweight division.

Rivera took off some time after the action-packed loss at the hands of Mosley, returning ten months after with a win on July 21, 2000, against 16-15 Gerald Coleman by technical knockout at the Harrah's hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada, a victory that he followed with one over the veteran Rob Bleakley, who, with a record of 77 wins, 29 losses and one draw was making his 108th bout against Rivera when they met on January 7, 2001 at Nashville, Tennessee. Rivera outpointed Bleakley over ten rounds, setting up a ten-round bout against former IBF world Junior Middleweight champion "Ferocious Fernando Vargas".

On April 21, 1999, Rivera faced future North American Boxing Federation Junior Middleweight (Super Welterweight) champion, Mexican prospect, 13-0 Angel Hernandez at Rosemont, Illinois, beating Hernandez on points. On July 16, 1999, Rivera fought a mismatch against 14-34-1 triailhorse Jimmy Morgan, who was stopped by the Puerto Rican at the Radisson Hotel, in Evansville, Indiana.

Then Rivera faced Shane Mosley, the former IBF world lightweight champion who had moved to the Welterweight division. A world title chance was at stake when Mosley and Rivera matched punches at the Pechanga Entertainment Center in Temecula, California on September 25, 1999 (Oscar De La Hoya had lost his title to another Puerto Rican, Felix Trinidad, Jr. at their bout one week before). Mosley-Rivera was also televised by HBO Boxing. In a bruising affair, Rivera won three of the first nine rounds on HBO's unofficial judge Harold Lederman's card before being overcome by Mosley in round 10 by knockout.

Their bout was held on December 6, 1997 at the Caesars Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey and broadcast live on HBO Pay Per View. Once again, little chance was given to Rivera by the boxing press and fans alike; he did, however, trade blows evenly with De La Hoya for a good portion of the bout, falling in round four but getting up and battling it out until round eight, when the bout was stopped due to a cut (which had been caused by a De La Hoya punch) bleeding too profusely for Rivera to continue, therefore Rivera lost the fight by an eighth-round technical knockout. De La Hoya was winning the bout by a substantial number of points on the judges' scorecards when the fight was stopped.

Rivera's first world championship fight was held on April 12, 1996, at the Atlantis Casino, Cupecoy Bay, in the island of St. Maarten, in front of an exclusive crowd of 1,000 casino guests. The fight was televised to Puerto Rico and the United States on HBO Boxing. Commentators Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and George Foreman did not expect a Rivera victory. After twelve rounds, however, Rivera had impressed the HBO team enough to have HBO's unofficial judge, Harold Lederman, score the bout for Rivera, 115-113. Whitaker, however, was given a very controversial 12 round split decision win, with judges Tamotsu Tomihara (116-111) and George St. Aude (115-113) scoring for the champion and judge Barbara Perez scoring for Rivera, 115-112.

Next was Delfino Martin, a 13 win, 17 losses trail horse who fought Rivera on Saturday, February 13, 1993 as part of the undercard in which Molina successfully defended his IBF world Junior Lightweight title by outpointing Francisco Segura over 12 rounds at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan. Rivera defeated Martin by unanimous decision.

Rivera then entered a Great Western Forum annual competition that was held for many years in Inglewood, California in which winners in each boxing division were promised a world ranking among the top ten in their category by one of the four major sanctioning bodies and, possibly, a world title shot, Rivera competing in the 1993 edition of the tournament's Welterweight championship. On April 26, 1993, Rivera won in the tournament's quarterfinals by knocking out Argentina's Ariel Chaves to advance to the semifinals, held on June 28, when he faced former WBC Junior Welterweight world champion Lonnie Smith, an American whom Rivera outpointed in order to reach the tournament's Welterweight division's final, fought against Stephan Johnson on August 9. He beat Johnson by 10 round unanimous decision to become the Great Western Forum's boxing tournament's 1993 edition's Welterweight champion.

Rivera won his next two bouts, both at the Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum, before facing future IBF world Lightweight champion Leavander Johnson, 3-0 before their bout, on September 12, 1989, in a battle of undefeated prospects at the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The two remained undefeated after fighting to a draw (tie).

Rivera was a member of the Puerto Rican men's boxing team that participated at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He was, however, not allowed to participate himself, the Puerto Rican Boxing Federation choosing Hector Arroyo instead to fight at Rivera's weight during those Olympic Games. Rivera wound up his amateur boxing career with a record of 51 wins and 6 losses.

Rivera debuted as a professional boxer on May 2, 1988, beating the also debuting Jose Centeno by knockout in San Juan. He then defeated Agustin Silva and Luis Rivera (no relation), the latter as part of an undercard headed by the fight between John John Molina and Juan Laporte at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan on April 29, 1989.

Wilfredo Rivera (born May 4, 1969) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who fought three times for world titles, losing to Pernell Whitaker twice and to Oscar De La Hoya.

On March 22, 1997, Rivera was matched with the legendary but shopworn former WBA world Lightweight champion Livingstone Bramble at El Condado, San Juan. Rivera dominated this bout, scoring a third-round knockout win over his experienced foe, who had beaten International Boxing Hall of Fame member Ray Mancini twice and who sported a 38-19-2 record into this fight.

Following the fight with De La Hoya, Rivera crossed gloves with come-backing future International Boxing Hall of Fame member, former WBC world Welterweight champion, 31-3-3, 19 knockout wins rival Carlos Palomino, by then a Hollywood actor who had recently been a boxing commissioner for the California State Athletic Commission and who was undefeated in four bouts, including a first-round knockout over former world champion Rene Arredondo, during his late 1990s boxing comeback. Rivera-Palomino was held at the historic Olympic Auditorium at Los Angeles, California, and Rivera convinced the Mexican legend to re-retire, beating him by ten round unanimous decision.

On April 19, 1997, Rivera faced Alex Lubo, a 10-1 contender who hoped to upset Rivera and enter the Welterweight top 10 rankings himself. Rivera halted Lubo, winning by technical knockout to continue having a spot among the WBC's top ten Welterweight championship contenders, and followed that win with a knockout victory against 24-15 -2 journeyman Benjie Marquez on July 25, also at San Juan. On September 12, Rivera faced Mark Hammon, a veteran journeyman with a record of 38 wins and 12 losses. If Rivera could get past Hammon, a fight with WBC world Welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya would be signed. With such an opportunity lurking on the horizon, Rivera made his Caesars Palace hotel debut in Las Vegas, dispatching Hammon by knockout.

By this point of his career, Rivera's record was 23-0-1 with 14 knockout wins; he was a highly regarded contender for the WBC world Welterweight title held by Pernell Whitaker, and the local press in Puerto Rico widely speculated about the outcome of a bout between the two.

After two wins over lower opposition rivals Luis De Jesus (3-7) and Jose Luis De Jesus (1-1, the latter two not the same boxer), Rivera fought a string of hard opponents, including 11-1 Francisco Martinez, a knockout victory for Rivera on June 21, 1991 at Tamiami, Florida; Valentin Ocasio, who was 2-5 but who had lasted the six rounds distance against Felix Trinidad earlier and whom Rivera knocked out on October 30, 1991 in San Juan; 27-12 Idelmar Paisan, a unanimous decision win for Rivera on November 27 at San Juan; fellow Trinidad victim, 17-15 Darren McGrew, knocked out by Rivera on March 12, 1992 in San Juan; and 21-12-3 Amancio Castro, defeated by Rivera on June 13, 1992 at Miami by technical knockout.