Editing Esteban de Jesús (section)

== Professional career ==
{{main|Roberto Durán vs. Esteban de Jesús|Roberto Durán vs. Esteban de Jesús II|Roberto Durán vs. Esteban de Jesús III}}
De Jesús debuted as a professional in 1969, he won his first twenty fights, thirteen by knockout. He then stepped up in class, for the first time, when he boxed future world title challenger [[Josue Marquez]] in 1971, beating him in a twelve-round decision to claim the Puerto Rican national Lightweight championship.. His next fight was a fourth-round knockout victory over Victor Ortíz. After that, there was a rematch with Marquez, who was beaten again, also over twelve rounds, to retain the Puerto Rican Lightweight title.

Next came his first international fight, in [[Caracas]], [[Venezuela]], against the future four-time world title challenger Leonel Hernandez. De Jesús won the ten round fight by unanimous decision in what was the start of a four fight tour of Venezuela. That Venezuelan campaign ended with a ten-round decision loss against former world champion [[Antonio Gómez (boxer)|Antonio Gomez]] in Caracas.

1972 was a pivotal year in de Jesús' career. He won six fights in a row, including a twelve-round knockout win in a third fight with Marquez to again retain the Puerto Rican Lightweight title, and a ten-round decision over Doug McClendon. Despite all the wins, he was virtually unknown to most boxing fans. That changed quickly in his last fight of 1972 against the undefeated new world's [[Lightweight]] champion [[Roberto Durán]] at the [[Madison Square Garden]] arena. In a televised bout that marked the beginning of the "Durán - de Jesús trilogy", de Jesús dropped Durán in round one and went on to inflict Durán's first defeat in a ten-round decision.<ref name="fightland">{{Cite web|url=http://fightland.vice.com/blog/the-cautionary-tale-of-boxer-esteban-de-jesus|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151205074931/http://fightland.vice.com/blog/the-cautionary-tale-of-boxer-esteban-de-jesus|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 5, 2015|title=The Cautionary Tale of Boxer Esteban De Jesús}}</ref><ref name="Duran rivalry">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thefightcity.com/the-duran-vs-de-jesus-rivalry-part-1-roberto-duran-esteban-de-jesus-ken-buchanan-sugar-ray-robinson-muhammad-ali-joe-louis-rivalries/|title=Duran vs De Jesus: A Legendary Rivalry In Three Chapters|date=October 9, 2018|website=The Fight City}}</ref>

In 1973, he was rewarded for his efforts, receiving a chance to challenge [[Ray Lampkin]] for the [[North American Boxing Federation]] [[lightweight]] belt. He won the vacant title by beating Lampkin in a twelve-round decision. He went on to beat Johnny Gant and Raul Montoya in ten-round decisions and beat Lampkin by decision in a rematch in New York. He finished 1973 with a first-round knockout win over fringe contender [[Al Foster]].

He began 1974 by knocking out former world Jr. [[Welterweight]] champion [[Alfonso Frazer|Alfonso "Peppermint" Frazer]] in ten rounds in [[San Juan, Puerto Rico]], after which he traveled to [[Panama City]] to receive his first world title shot and, at the same time, face Durán in the second fight of their trilogy. He once again dropped Durán in round one, but this time Durán rebounded and dominated the bout, retaining the title in an eleventh-round knockout. He recovered from that defeat with two more wins before the end of the year.

In 1975, he went up in weight briefly, and after beating Jesse Lara by a knockout in three, he returned to Panama City to challenge [[Colombia]]'s [[Antonio Cervantes]] for the world's Jr. Welterweight title, losing in a fifteen-round decision. He beat Rudy Barros by knockout in round five to end that year, and started 1976 by beating Valentin Ramos by knockout in round two.

Next came his third world title try when the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]]'s world Lightweight champion [[Guts Ishimatsu|Ishimatsu Suzuki]] of Japan traveled to [[Puerto Rico]] to defend his title against de Jesús. The third time proved to be the charm for de Jesús, who won the world title by beating Suzuki in a fifteen-round decision. He retained the title against Hector Medina with a knockout in round seven.

De Jesús admitted publicly to using drugs during his boxing career.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/13/obituaries/esteban-de-jesus-is-dead-at-37-former-lightweight-champion.html|title=Esteban de Jesus Is Dead at 37; Former Lightweight Champion|first=Thomas|last=Rogers|newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 13, 1989}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-13-sp-2789-story.html|title=Ex-Boxing Champion Esteban DeJesus, Drug Addict Who Had AIDS, Dies at 37|date=May 13, 1989|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> He began using cocaine and heroin early in his boxing career with an older brother, Enrique.<ref name="auto"/>

In 1977, he retained the title against Buzzsaw Yamabe by knockout in round six and against Vicente Mijares Saldivar by knockout in round eleven.

1978 began with the third and final chapter of his trilogy with Durán. In a title unification bout in [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]], which displayed Durán at the peak of his power, Durán systematically broke down de Jesús resulting in a twelfth-round knockout.

De Jesús rebounded with three wins before the end of that year, including one over former world title challenger [[Edwin Viruet]].

In 1979, he had two more wins, including one over Jimmy Blevins. After beating [[José Vallejo (boxer)|José Vallejo]] by a knockout in round seven in San Juan to start 1980, he traveled to [[Bloomington, Minnesota]], to challenge [[Saoul Mamby]] for Mamby's WBC world Jr. Welterweight title, in the major supporting event of the [[Larry Holmes]]-[[Scott Le Doux]] world heavyweight championship bout's [[undercard]]. In what turned out to be his last fight, he was beaten by a knockout in thirteen rounds.

His record was 57 wins and 5 losses, with 32 wins by knockout.