Ceferino Garcia
Description
Ceferino Montano Garcia was a Filipino professional boxer, born in Naval, Biliran, Philippines, who held the NYSAC world middleweight title from 1939 to 1940, winning the title by knocking out Fred Apostoli at Madison Square Garden and later lost it to Ken Overlin. Garcia is regarded as one of the most successful Filipino boxers of his era, holding the most victories ever achieved by a Filipino boxer with a professional record of 120 wins, 30 losses and 14 draws, including 76 knockout victories. He is also the only boxer from the Philippines to become world champion in the middleweight division. Garcia is commonly credited to as the first well known user of the bolo punch, which was later popularized by Cuban fighter Kid Gavilán. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1977 and the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1989.
Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Updated Jul 7, 2026.