Cabrera beat Luis Ramos, 1-2 coming in, by second round knockout on March 25, 1983 in Santiago de los Caballeros to begin his professional boxing career.
[1] On January 21, 1984, Cabrera made his first fight outside Santiago de los Caballeros, when he met debuting Manuel Garcia at the Dominican city of La Vega.
[1] Over his next ten contests, Cabrera went 9-1, with 7 wins by knockout, losing only to Erskine Wade in what was Cabrera's United States debut, at Saginaw, Michigan, but also beating former world title challenger Carlos Pinango; this 9-1 run set him up for another challenge for the Dominican Republic's national featherweight title against champion, 7 wins, 11 losses and 2 draws (ties) Jose "Monito" Jimenez, who had upset Batista for the championship.
There was some controversy regarding the stoppage as Cabrera was floored by the champion but got up and tried to pick up his mouthpiece from the canvas (an action which was legal in many countries around the world on professional boxing matches but apparently not in Ireland) when referee Ed Eckert waived the bout off, giving McGuigan a knockout win.
[1] Again, Cabrera gained fans' and critics' respect, this time by lasting the twelve rounds distance against the hard punching Mexican world champion, despite taking a substantial beating.
Cabrera lost eight of his last ten fights, including bouts with Brian Mitchell (another member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Cabrera lost to him by ten rounds unanimous decision on June 4, 1988 in Johannesburg, South Africa),[1] Dingaan Thobela, Argentina's Juan Martin Coggi, Regilio Tuur, Jean-Baptiste Mendy and Jacobin Yoma.