Ringside Report Looks Back at Fermin Chirino
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By Daniel Sisneros
Venezuela’s Fermin Chirino made his professional debut on June 4, 1981 with a 4 round draw against Pedro Zapata. He then ran off 4 straight wins against lower level local opposition, but he was building his record and was unbeaten at 4-0-1 after 5 bouts.
He faced fellow unbeaten Venezuelan Armando Rodriguez (4-0, 4 ko) and lost a decision in his first real “test”. But he “passed” that test with a solid performance and began to earn respect from locals.
He scored a 3rd round stoppage over Edgar Rodriguez, and then got a shot at the Venezuelan Middleweight Title against Basante Blanco (7-1, 5 ko). Chirino was stopped in round 8.
3 fights later… he returned the favor and stopped Blanco in round 5 to win the Venezuela Middleweight Championship and really began to get noticed as a solid pro boxer. After winning the Venezuelan Title, he fought once more in his home country scoring a 2nd round knockout. He would never again fight for a title, but would go on to face some world class boxers. He would also fight just once more in his home country of Venezuela.
1988 started out with a call to fight in England against an up and coming prospect named Nigel “The Dark Destroyer” Benn (12-0, 12 ko). Chirino was stopped in the 2nd round, and probably had no idea (well, maybe some idea) that he had just faced a man who would become a legendary World Champion.
Chirino was improving as he stepped up in class, and now made his United States Debut. It was Dec. 13, 1988 and he made a grand entrance to the U.S. Boxing fans with a 3rd round TKO over undefeated and favored Pedro Rivera (11-0-1, 5 ko).
He stepped up again as he faced former USBA Middleweight Champion Lindell Holmes (39-5, 35 ko’s). Chirino performed well, but lost a unanimous 10 round decision to Holmes. Both men gained from the experience. Chirino showed well against a world class opponent, and Lindell Holmes defeated Frank Tate for the IBF World Title in his next fight!
Two fights later, Fermin displayed his talents with a great performance against world ranked former IBF Jr. Middleweight Champion Matthew Hilton. The Judges saw it differently as one Judge had Chirino winning clearly 98-92, one Judge saw is close for Hilton 96-94, and the deciding Judge had it even at 95-95 for a 3 way split draw. Even though Chirino didn’t get the win, it was a huge performance for the Venezuelan middleweight.
Chirino would go on to face the best including: Steve Collins, Tony Thornton, Mike Mccallum, Derrick Rolon, Charles Brewer, and Sven Ottke to name a few.
Fermin Chirino ended his nearly 20 year pro boxing career with a final record of 13 wins, 25 losses, 2 draws, winnin 9 of the 13 by knockout. He never fought for a World Title, but proudly held the Venezuelan National Title, and tested some of the best boxers in the world.
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