Unheralded Lorenzo Parra sprang from obscurity in his native Venezuela to upset well-regarded WBA flyweight titlist Eric Morel in 2003. He went on to make five successful defenses, all in his opponent's home country during a three-year title reign.

Parra, who was one of seven children, was born on August 19, 1978, in Machiques, in the northwest of Venezuela. His parents both worked to help provide for the family, his father worked in construction, while his mother was a teacher.

"My upbringing was very humble, we were closer to the poverty level," Parra told The Ring through Mauricio Gonzalez. "We were a hardworking family; we were all athletes. I'm very proud of that. In the town I was raised everyone knew us because we were all boxers, soccer players, basketball, baseball players.

"My father and mother gave us education and taught us respect. Boxing definitely helped but it was our family unit really kept us grounded. They always told us, 'We've got to be decent, good people and educated.' But I'd be remiss to say boxing didn't help."

Several members of Parra's family boxed, while others played soccer professionally. However, Parra followed his elder sibling Alexis into prize fighting after initially playing soccer.

"My older brother passed away December 31, 1988, he was preparing for a fight against Fabrizio Cappai, in Italy, he was supposed to fight on February 16, 1989," Parra recalled. "That's what got me really interested in boxing because when I went to my brother's funeral, I promised him, I was going to be a world champion."

Parra initially boxed began boxing as a 9-year-old with his uncle Jairo Muñoz and Pedro Gamarro. He went on to thrive as an amateur. He won eight national titles and represented his country internationally.

After going a highly impressive 268-10 as an amateur, he turned professional at 20, with a third-round stoppage over Andres Molina in March 1999.

Over the next four-and-a-half-years, Parra worked his way up through the ranks in his native Venezuela, remaining unbeaten through 22 fights, all the while improving his world ratings and adding various regional sanctioning body titles to his collection.

"Lencho" became the WBA flyweight mandatory challenger to the long-time division No. 1 Eric Morel. The two were matched in Morel's ancestral home of Puerto Rico as the headline fight on Top Rank's "Latin Fury" show in December 2003. However, Parra's manager didn't want him to take the fight and the fighter had to convince his paymaster by saying he would forfeit his $19,000 purse to him if he lost, such was his confidence.

"I started to walk Morel down and pushed him back. In the third round I knocked him down," said Parra. "The first six rounds I went out to look for the fight. After the sixth round I knew I had already accumulated a lot of rounds and points.

"It's every boxers dream, every boxer wants to complete that dream and thank God, I was given the opportunity to be champion. Apart from that, I had promised my brother that passed away that I was going to be world champ, so it was two goals in one.

"I was well received in Venezuela. It was unbelievable, great honors, people on the streets. I met Hugo Chavez, who was President at that time."

Parra went on to notch impressive roads wins over the respected Takefumi Sakata (MD 12/ MD 12) both in Japan, those wins bookended successful defenses against former WBC 108-pound titleholder Yo Sam Choi (UD 12) in South Korea and Trash Nakanuma (UD 12) in Japan. He was then lined up to face the golden boy of French boxing, Brahim Asloum, who had won gold at the 2000 Olympics and was unbeaten in 19 fights, since turning professional.

"They were all beautiful moments," he said of his championship tenure, of which he earned $160,000 for one of his defenses before adding. "The one I remember the most is France because on that event there was four Venezuelan's who fought. There was [Edwin] Valero, [Nelson] Linares and [Jose] "Cheo" Rojas.

"I found it strange, on a layover to get to France, my manager sat me and my wife down and said, 'We're going to lose this fight but we're going to have a better and bigger fight after this.' I found out he had bet against me, that helped motivate me even more. Without a doubt it was my best fight."

Unfortunately, afterwards while playing soccer, Parra injured his meniscus and cruciate ligament in his knee, which required surgery and meant he wasn't able to capitalize on the momentum and didn't box for 15-months. When he did return, things were far from ideal.

"I don't speak English, and the contract was in English [to face Takefumi Sakata] and I didn't know that it was 20 days from the fight, had I known that I would never have taken the fight because I was way overweight," he admitted. "Usually preparation is two, three months, that would have been fine. I got [to Japan] and was at least 8-pounds over. I didn't take care of myself and couldn't get the weight off."

Parra paid the price missing weight by 4¾-pounds and lost his title on the scales and unbeaten record in three-rounds.

When he returned in his native Venezuela he was fighting up at bantamweight and junior featherweight, much above his natural weight class and while he was still good enough to pose problems, he never won another world title coming up short against WBA 122-pound titlist Celestino Caballero (TKO 11).

"It was a tough fight for both of us," said Parra, who was level on one scorecard and behind by a single point on another at the end of 11-rounds. "I believe some things went wrong in that fight, the doctor stopped the fight, I don't know why. I was a little bit swollen, they said I had broken my jaw and that was not the case. I think the doctor was paid off, the fight shouldn't have been stopped."

He drew with Jorge Arce (D 10) in a WBO 122-pound title eliminator but lost Anselmo Moreno (RTD 8) in a WBA 118-pound title shot. He was stopped by Arce in five-rounds in their rematch and retired for 4-years.

"I fought them when I was basically retired," he said. "I feel like if I had fought them in my prime, I don't think those guys beat me at all."

That wasn't the end of Parra, he came back even higher in weight and fought as a journeyman on the European circuit, losing his last 14 fights.

"I returned just for pure passion but went back to a weight class that wasn't mine," admitted Parra, who retired with a record of (32-18-2, 19 knockouts) in 2019. "I didn't train the same, I didn't have the same willingness to train."

Parra, now 46, is married and has four children and lives in Barcelona, Spain, where he runs a gym called, 'Barcelona Boxing'

He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he fought in 10 key categories.

Eric Morel: "Morel had the best jab, he was very fast and quick."

Morel: "Unbelievably intelligent, fast, had good defense, good movement, overall he was tough."

Morel: "He was a stylist, he really worked you with his legs and hands but I was quicker."

Morel: "Very precise and a lot of velocity with his hands."

Morel: "Great fight, but I knew how to engage him. Another fighter that gave me a tough fight was Nakanuma, he put a lot of pressure on me, with a lot of movement, good hip movement. He made me think a lot to win that fight."

Takefumi Sakata: "Sakata and Nakanuma were both very, very strong, with my boxing I thought I'd get them. They were both very tough but I'm going to have to give it to Sakata."

Sakata: "I fractured his jaw and couldn't knock him out."

Sakata: "The hardest hitter was Sakata. When I fought Arce, I was already on the downward trend, that's why I say Sakata, I felt his hands the most. Nakanuma was a surprise, in the last seconds fo the fight he got me with a shot that if it was a couple of seconds before would have KO'd me."

Morel: "His ability, his intelligence, velocity, it was a very tough fight."

Morel: "I didn't put [Celestino Caballero, Jorge Arce or Anselmo Moreno] on there because I fought them after my prime. For me, Morel was the best fighter I fought. It was a tough fight and if I'm not mistaken, he had five defenses and he was undefeated and at that time he was the best fighter [at flyweight] around."

Mauricio Gonzalez helped translate this feature. The Ring appreciated his assistance.