Former Panamanian world champion Antonio "Buchi" Amaya, 79
By Gabriel F. Cordero
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 29 Jan 2025
Former Panamanian world champion Antonio "Buchi" Amaya, known as the "Champion Without a Crown," passed away at the age of 79.
He had a professional record of 40 wins (10K0s), 22 losses and 7 draws, being a boxer with a very technical and stylistic style.
Amaya managed to fight in Venezuela, Argentina, the Philippines, Mexico, the United States, Puerto Rico, Japan, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Ecuador, France, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, South Africa, Spain and Italy. He was the Panamanian who fought in the largest number of countries.
He faced well-known fighters such as Julio Ruiz, Baby Luis, Luis Patiño, Freddie Rengifo, Frankie Narvaez, Sugar Ramos, Chango Carmona, Ramiro Bolaños, Alvaro Rojas, Alfredo Escalera, Ould Makloufi, Kuniaki Shibata, Vilomar Fernandez, Nkosana Mgxaji, Diego Alcala and Juan Jose Gimenez among others.
He had great fights against the Japanese Hiroshi Kobayashi, Kuniaki Shibata and the Cuban Mexican Ultiminio "Sugar" Ramos whom he defeated in a historic night in January 1971 in the historic Plaza de Toros Monumental in Monterrey, Mexico.
On April 6, 1969 and August 23, 1970 he held unforgettable fights for the super featherweight world championship with the Japanese champion Hiroshi Kobayashi. In one he lost by split decision and in the other by unanimous decision. The boxing world considered that on both occasions Amaya should have been favored by the judges' decisions at the Kokigan and Korakuen Hall, two sacred temples of Japanese boxing.
On June 27, 1974, he lost by a close majority decision for the WBC super featherweight world championship against the remembered Japanese champion Kuniaki Shibata.
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