Antonio Cermeno, former boxing world champion, killed in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela – Former boxing world champion Antonio Cermeno was kidnapped and killed in his native Venezuela, police said Tuesday.

Cermeno, a WBA super bantamweight and featherweight champion in the 1990s, was found shot and killed on Tuesday in a road in the central state of Miranda, said local police chief Eliseo Guzman.

Guzman said Cermeno and other relatives were kidnapped on Monday night near the La Urbina neighborhood in east Caracas. The relatives escaped when the kidnappers stopped to refuel the car, but the former boxer remained captive, Guzman said.

Cermeno, 44, retired in 2006 with a 45-7 record.