Realizing his pupil needed publicity outside Colombia, Prada then moved with Cervantes to Venezuela, where, on November 25, 1968, he knocked out Orlando Ruiz in the first round for his first fight abroad.
On December 23 of that year, he suffered his first knockout defeat when Cruz Marcano, a fringe contender of the time, beat him in four rounds in Caracas.
[3] Cervantes immediately became a national hero in Colombia, and many enterprises made him their spokesman in the coffee producing country, most notably Sanyo, whose name the popular champion advertised on his clothing and fight trunks.
Cervantes made nine defenses, including a TKO in round ten against Locche in their rematch after his corner stopped the fight due to a cut over his left eye, a knockout in five of Frazer, also in a rematch, a 15-round split decision win over Josue Marquez in Puerto Rico (in the first world title bout ever held at Roberto Clemente Coliseum; most of the nine thousand in attendance scored the fight for Cervantes[4]) and a 15-round decision against future world Lightweight champion Esteban De Jesús.
But on March 6, 1976, at San Juan, he lost a 15-round decision and the world title to 17-year-old Puerto Rican Wilfred Benítez, who with that became boxing's youngest champion ever.
After Benitez had left the light welterweight belt vacant, Cervantes regained it on June 25, 1977, with a five-round knockout over Carlos Maria Gimenez, again in Venezuela.
However, Cervantes came out of retirement due to financial problems and went on boxing until 1983, winning four fights and dropping his last one, a ten-round decision loss to Danny Sanchez on December 9, 1983, at Miami.
A movie has been made about a fictional boxer called Milton Ollivera (who comes from Colombia) who goes through a majority of the things Cervantes went through throughout his life.