Jorge Castro, the former WBA middleweight champion, died aged 59 on Wednesday, October 14, after collapsing at the Morón Bingo Hall in Argentina.

Born in Caleta Olivia, Santa Cruz, in 1967, Castro was one of Argentina’s finest boxers and fought prolifically throughout a 20-year career that ended in 2007. The pinnacle of his 130-11-3 (90 KOs) career came in 1994, when he claimed the WBA middleweight title with victory over Reggie Johnson.

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That impressive form continued and, in his second defense and most famous fight, he stopped John David Jackson in a rip-roaring roller coaster of a contest that was widely regarded as the best of the year.

Castro successfully defended his belt twice more, including another victory over Johnson, before losing the title at the end of 1995 when he was outpointed by Shinji Takehara.

In 1997, the Argentine split two bouts with the great Roberto Duran at super middleweight before a reasonably successful campaign at cruiserweight saw him twice challenge unsuccessfully for world titles at the start of the following decade.

In recent years, Castro was known in the Buenos Aires area for his charitable work in soup kitchens and community centers.

According to a police report, Castro, who suffered from diabetes, received medical attention after collapsing but died at the bingo hall, where he had been accompanied by his daughter and her mother. A heart attack was subsequently determined to be the cause of death.

“He went to the bathroom and when he came back he said, ‘My chest hurts a little.’

“I told him, ‘That’s because you smoke like a savage.’

“He told me, ‘It hurts a lot, daughter.’

“That’s when we called the authorities at the place and it was like that, so fast, just like I’m telling it.

Castro, who had been married six times, is survived by his partner, Noeila Vigliarolo, his 15 children and 14 grandchildren.