On July 7, 1980, a 28-year-old Esteban de Jesús (58-4, 33 KOs) got a shot at the super-lightweight WBC title held by Saoul Mamby.
Jesús came in to the fight on a 6-fight win streak with a 53% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 1 month and 27 days.
Esteban de Jesús was defending his super-lightweight titles and, fighting for the super-lightweight WBC titles against Saoul Mamby and lost via TKO in the 13th round, and adds a loss to his record at 58-5.
On January 21, 1978, the 26-year-old WBC lightweight champion, Esteban de Jesús (52-3, 30 KOs), and the 26-year-old WBA and The Ring lightweight champion Roberto Durán (62-1, 51 KOs) faced each other for the undisputed world championpionship.
Jesús came in to the fight on a 7-fight win streak with a 54% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 4 months and 11 days. Durán was on a 31-fight win streak with a 81% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 4 months and 4 days.
In the rematch, Roberto Durán stopped Esteban de Jesús via TKO in the 12th round and unified the WBC, WBA, and The Ring lightweight titles. Durán improves his record to 63-1 (52 KOs), while Jesús adds a loss to his record at 52-4.
On May 17, 1975, a 23-year-old Esteban de Jesús (45-2, 25 KOs) got a shot at the super-lightweight WBA and The Ring title held by 29-year-old Colombian boxer Antonio Cervantes (47-9-1, 25 KOs).
Jesús came in to the fight on a 3-fight win streak with a 53% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 2 months and 2 days. Cervantes was on a 16-fight win streak with a 43% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 2 months and 2 days.
Antonio Cervantes defeated Esteban De Jesus via unanimous decision and successfully defended his WBA and The Ring super-lightweight titles. Cervantes improves his record to 48-9-1, while Jesús adds a loss to his record at 45-3.
On March 16, 1974, Esteban de Jesús and Roberto Durán met again in a rematch.
Jesús came in to the fight on a 16-fight win streak with a 53% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 2 months and 9 days. Durán was on a 10-fight win streak with a 83% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 1 month.
In the rematch, Roberto Durán stopped Esteban de Jesús via KO in the 11th round of the 15-round world-title fight, and successfully defended his WBA and The Ring lightweight titles. Durán improves his record to 42-1 (36 KOs), while Jesús adds a loss to his record at 42-2.
On December 10, 1971, a 20-year-old Esteban de Jesús (26-0, 18 KOs) and Antonio Gomez met in the ring.
Jesús came in to the fight on a 26-fight win streak with a 69% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 1 month and 10 days.
Esteban de Jesús lost to Antonio Gomez via unanimous decision in the 10-round fight, and adds a loss to his record at 26-1.