Professional Boxing Career
Manuel Medina began his professional boxing career on September 9, 1985, beating Daniel Flores by a four round decision in Mexicali, Mexico. Medina was only fourteen years old when his first professional fight took place.
Medina won one more fight, then lost two bouts in a row: on December 5, he lost a four round decision to Gerardo Martinez in his first fight abroad, held in San Jose, California, United States. On January 16, 1986, he suffered his first knockout defeat, being stopped because of a cut by Alex Madrid in San Diego.
After losing to Madrid, Medina had a streak of twenty seven wins in a row. That streak was stopped by Juan C. Salazar, who outpointed Medina over ten rounds on July 10, 1989, in Tijuana. After two more victories, however, Medina contended for his first championship belt, the regional WBA "International" super featherweight title, which he won by a seventh round disqualification victory against Edgar Castro, on December 11 of that same year, in Inglewood. Medina retained that title twice, then defeated Tyrone Jackson on May 21, 1990, also at Inglewood by a twelve round decision. In his next fight on 5 July, he outpointed former world featherweight champion and Barry McGuigan conqueror, Steve Cruz over ten rounds.
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