Héctor Meléndez Took Zapata the Distance in a World-Title
Héctor “Ray” Meléndez challenged Hilario Zapata for the WBC light flyweight championship in Caracas on August 4, 1980. The Dominican contender completed fifteen rounds before Zapata retained his title by unanimous decision.
Career highlights
Meléndez boxed professionally from 1974 to 1981. His career began with a draw against Luis Reyes Arnal in Venezuela, and their later meetings included both a victory and another draw for Meléndez.
He also met South Korea’s Sung-Jun Kim several times. Their March 1979 contest ended in a draw, while Kim won their October meeting by unanimous decision. Meléndez later defeated Kim on points in Santo Domingo in May 1981.
The final professional chapter
The Zapata challenge came between those meetings with Kim. Meléndez’s last recorded contests were points defeats against Oscar Bolívar in Caracas and Martín Vargas in Santiago, Chile, in 1981. His professional record finished at fourteen wins, five losses and four draws across twenty-three bouts.
His record also contains a technical knockout victory over Lupe Madera at Caracas’s Nuevo Circo in April 1977. Before challenging Zapata, he won three successive contests in Caracas in 1980, defeating Luis Fernando González, Luis Sierra and Ricardo López. Those results provided the immediate competitive preparation for his fifteen-round championship test, before his later return to face Kim in the Dominican Republic.
Sources
- BoxerList: Meléndez’s professional record and international opponents
- BoxRec: Zapata–Meléndez championship result
