Jose Severino: Brazilian WBA Flyweight Title Challenger
Brazilian boxer Jose Severino fought professionally from 1963 to 1970 and challenged Hiroyuki Ebihara for the vacant WBA flyweight title in 1969.
BoxerList’s record lists 35 professional bouts for Severino: 27 wins, 4 losses, and 4 draws. It gives his debut as November 4, 1963, and his final listed bout as a points win over Enilson Gomes in São Paulo on December 9, 1970.
Severino’s best-documented international opportunity came on March 30, 1969, when he met Japan’s Ebihara in Sapporo for the vacant WBA flyweight championship. The BoxRec list of WBA flyweight title fights records a 15-round unanimous decision for Ebihara. BoxRec’s Severino page also lists the bout among his career results.
That title fight is a clear milestone in the Brazilian boxer’s record, while the available bout database documents a career that continued into 1970.
A career built in Brazilian venues
Severino’s early record was concentrated in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. He faced Heleno Ferreira in his debut and again in several later contests, recording both wins and draws across their meetings. Other early opponents included Walter Villanueva, Jorge Pereira and Ubaldo Duarte.
His results before the world-title challenge included a run of victories in 1967 and 1968. He defeated Eugenio Hurtado twice, stopped Julio Cofre, Alfonso Valiente and Mario De Leon, and earned decisions over Nelson Alarcon and Jupiter Mansilla. Several of those appearances took place at São Paulo’s Ibirapuera gymnasium.
International assignments
The Ebihara fight was not his only appearance abroad. Severino met Alarcon at Luna Park in Buenos Aires in December 1966, then faced Eduardo Mojica in Managua in May 1969 after the Sapporo title challenge. Those trips place his career within a wider international schedule, while his final listed victory brought him back to São Paulo.
Sources
Tags
Boxing, Boxing History
