Johnny Montantes, alias Jumpin' Johnny, (born June 10, 1969 and died September 28, 1997) was a lightweight

Lightweight

Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....

 professional boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 from Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Personal life

Montantes was from Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

. He named his son "Marciano" in honor of heavyweight

Heavyweight

Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

 great Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano , born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was an American boxer and the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956. Marciano is the only champion to hold the heavyweight title and go undefeated throughout his career. Marciano defended his title six times...

.

Professional career

Montantes' career began in 1990 with a win against Norberto Riviera followed by a loss to Jose Vilarino. There was initially no hint of the success to come. However, following the loss to Vilarino, Montantes put together a string of 22 straight wins against ever-improving competition. His last two fights were losses to well-known fighters Acelino Freitas

Acelino Freitas

Acelino "Popó" Freitas is a Brazilian boxer and a former world junior lightweight and lightweight champion. Freitas is also a state legislator for the state of Bahia . His style of fighting in the ring has garnered him a reputation for being more of a brawler than a boxer. His nickname, Popó, was...

 and James Crayton

James Crayton

James Edward Crayton, alias Too Sweet, is a middleweight professional boxer from Nevada.-Personal life:Crayton is a native and a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada.-Early career:...

. His final record was 28 wins (22 by knockout

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

) and 4 losses.

Death

On the night of September 26, 1997, Montantes was fighting James Crayton in Las Vegas, Nevada. Knocked out violently in the fifth round, Montantes suffered a brain injury and never regained consciousness. Doctors removed him from life support two days later.