Thomas Americo

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Thomas Americo (born December 24, 1958 in Bobonaro , Portuguese Timor , † September 7, 1999 in Dili , East Timor ) was a super lightweight boxer from East Timor. Since East Timor was occupied by Indonesia at the time, Americo is considered to be the first boxer in Indonesia (and thus also East Timor) to ever fight for the belt of a world boxing champion.

Career

As a child, Americo was torn from his family by the Indonesian occupation forces and deported to Indonesia. A fate that he shared with about 4,000 other East Timorese children.

Americo had his first professional fight on April 19, 1980 against the Australian Eddie Buttons, an experienced boxer, at the end of his career. Buttons lost to Americo on points in the tenth round and took this as an opportunity to declare the end of his career. On 15 August, Americo took the victory against the South Korean Sang Mo Koo by knockout the champion of the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF).

This gave Americo the right to fight for the World Boxing Council World Super Light Title. Here he was defeated by the American Saoul Mamby on August 29, 1981. Jakarta was the first to host a boxing world championship in Indonesia. After 15 rounds, two referees declared Mamby the winner while the third saw a tie. Also the following fight against the South Korean Sang Hyun Kim on December 20, 1981 Americo lost on points and with it the OPBF championship. By 1995 there were eleven more professional fights with six wins for Americo, two of them by knockout, plus four defeats and one draw.

After the independence referendum in East Timor on August 30, 1999 , there was a final wave of violence by Indonesian security forces, in which around 1,500 to 2,000 people were killed. Americo was pulled out of his car and shot dead by pro-Indonesian militiamen in Dili on September 7th .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b BoxRec: Thomas Americo , accessed on July 31, 2020.
  2. ↑ BBC: The girl who was 'stolen' by a soldier , March 26, 2017 , accessed July 31, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b [1]
personal data
SURNAME Americo, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION East Timorese-Indonesian boxer
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Bobonaro , Portuguese Timor
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1999
Place of death Dili , East Timor