Amaya represented Panama at the
1963 Pan American Games boxing competition in
Brazil. His manager was
Carlos Eleta. Amaya debuted as a professional on 18 August 1963, when he defeated Herbert Locke by a third-round knockout at the Gimnasio Neco de la Guardia in
Panama City. in a rematch between him and Bell. On 9 August 1963, Amaya suffered the first blemish on his professional record, when held to a ten-rounds draw (tie) by another Panamanian prospect of the time, the hard-hitting Carlos Rios, who had a record of ten wins and two losses with all ten wins by knockout, in a fight that was held at the Gimnasio Nacional in Panama City, as the main event of the day's boxing show there. Amaya won his next contest after meeting Rios, and then, in November 1964 traveled to
Venezuela for his first fight abroad, which was held on 16 November 1964, against Cesar Castillo, a prospect with 5 wins and 2 losses, in
Maracaibo. Amaya tasted defeat as a professional for the first time, being deemed a loser by decision after ten rounds of fighting. Amaya had better luck in his next fight, as he contested Carlos Rios in a rematch, this time for the Panamanian Featherweight title, on 20 December 1964, at the Estadio Olimpico ("Olympic Stadium") in Panama City. Amaya won the title when he scored a rare (for him) knockout win, winning in the fifth round. Amaya followed the draw with Caňete by winning nine bouts in a row. Included among these was a win over world ranked Rafiu King, his Asian debut with a fight in the
Philippines, his first contest to take place in
Mexico and various defenses of his national Featherweight championship. During his second contest in Mexico, Amaya drew on 17 December 1966 with Mario Diaz, who had won 41, lost 9 and drawn 1 of his fifty one bouts, at
Toreo de Cuatro Caminos bullring in Mexico City, before embarking on another three-fight win streak. This included two wins over the world-ranked Puerto Rican,
Frankie Narvaez, one time at the
Madison Square Garden in
New York, New York, constituting Amaya's debut as a professional boxer in the
United States on 20 August 1968 Amaya lost a very close, split decision.
Second world title fight Amaya won four more fights, all on points, including one over Raimundo Dias on 20 October 1969 at the Madison Square Garden in New York, before the long- awaited for rematch with Kobayashi was set. On 23 August 1970, at
Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, their rematch took place, once again, for the WBA"s world Junior Lightweight title. In an extremely close affair, Kobayashi was again deemed winner, this time by a unanimous decision, with the scoring of 72–71 by referee Nick Pope, 73–71 by judge Takeo Ugo and 72–69 by judge Yusaku Yoshida. Notably, two of the scorers in this match were Japanese like the champion, giving rise to more rumors that Amaya had been, once again, robbed of a world championship. However the United States referee Nick Pope and the Associated Press scored the bout in favour of Kobayashi.
Moving on Amaya kept busy with matches against important rivals after the Kobayashi defeats. Right after the Kobayashi rematch, Amaya met Nigerian contender
Ray Adigun on 18 October 1970 at the
Gimnasio Nuevo Panama (now known as "Roberto Duran Arena", named after legendary boxer
Roberto Duran). The Adigun fight was a rarity in Amaya's career, as the two contenders boxed until the sixth-round, with Amaya deemed a winner by technical knockout. This was the main event of a show in which Duran himself participated, with Duran knocking out Ignacio Castaneda in the third round. That win was followed by a trip to
Costa Rica, where Amaya faced world-ranked
Isaac Marin on 12 November 1970, pulling a ten-rounds decision vixtory at the
Gimnasio Nacional Eddy Cortes in
San Jose. Amaya more or less took on the shape of a
boxing journeyman career-wise after the loss to Carmona, winning six, losing four and drawing one of his next eleven fights. But those fights included one against William Martinez on 10 October 1971 at Costa Rica where Amaya was stopped in round three with a broken jaw, one against Rocky Orengo at the
Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 4 October 1973, with Amaya winning by ten-rounds decision, one against future Roberto Duran world title challenger
Alvaro Rojas in Costa Rica, in which Amaya beat the hometown favorite by a close but unanimous (98–93–98–97 and 98–94) ten-rounds decision on 18 October 1973, and a November 12, 1973 bout against future WBC world Junior Lightweight champion
Alfredo Escalera at the Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, which he lost by ten-rounds unanimous decision. Despite being more or less of a journeyman at this point in his career, one more world title try remained in Amaya's future.
Third world championship fight History repeated itself when Amaya returned to
Japan to again challenge for a world title, this time the WBC world Junior Lightweight (Super Featherweight) title against world champion
Kuniaki Shibata, on 27 June 1974. Shibata and Amaya fought a very close contest, with Shibata retaining the title with a very close (73–70, 72–71, 70–70) majority decision, giving rise to more concerns that Amaya was, once again, robbed of a world championship by judges in Japan.
Rest of career Amaya's descent into journeyman status accelerated after his third failed attempt at a world title, losing ten of his last seventeen contests, with four wins and three draws. Among those he faced were
Miguel Montilla (a ten-rounds unanimous decision loss at
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on 17 February 1975) and
Alberto Herrera (ten-rounds decision on 28 November 1975 at
Guayaquil, Ecuador) as well as to
Alexis Arguello world title challenger, fellow Panamanian
Diego Alcala. The last professional boxing victory recorded by Amaya was against prospect José Salazar, who had won seven of his nine fights with a loss and a draw, to successfully defend his Panamanian national Junior Lightweight title, on 29 April 1978 in Colon. His last fight was against future WBC world Junior Welterweight title challenger,
Argentina's
Juan José Gimenez in a bout Amaya lost by a sixth-round technical knockout on 9 June. 1978 in
Milan, Italy. == Professional boxing record ==