This article brings to your attention some of the best, favorite, and famous Latino and Spanish fights.
This writer's favorite boxer of all time was Puerto Rico's Carlos Ortiz, 61-7-1 with 30 stoppages, who held the WBA and WBC lightweight world titles and moved to New York. I met him several times, including at the IBHOF induction.
At Ali's Deer Lake Camp and Hotel in Harrisburg, PA. I met my number 2 favorite cub from Cuba 'The Cuban Hawk' Gavilan, 108-30-5 with 28 stoppages, who holds the NBA world welterweight title.
He was writing about Blinky Palmero, Johnny Saxon's boss who robbed him and Fidel Castro from Cuba who robbed him of his property in Cuba.
I asked if he had a copy of his record and he said he didn't and I gave him a copy of the Ring Encyclopedia. He became famous for his 'bolo punch' for cutting sugar cane in Cuba.
My number 3 was welterweight champion Luis 'El Fio' Manuel Rodriguez, 107-13 and 49 knockouts from Cuba. All were admitted to the IBHOF.
When Cuban boxers left the island of Cuba, they often came to Florida. Others went to Mexico like world welterweight champion Jose 'Mantequilla' Napoles, 81-7 with 54 stops, while Spain liked WBC Featherweight champion Jose 'Pocket Cassius Clay' Legra, 129-11-4 with stops 49.
Number 9 on the list of the most successful boxers is Kid Azteca from Mexico, 193-49-11, who stopped 114 times. Puerto Rico's Cocoa Kid, 179-58-11 with 48 stops, ends in New Haven, CT.
Luis Romero, 158-19-6 with 78 shutouts, was born in Morocco and deported from Spain. Another from Spain was Fred Galiana, 156-22-13, with 90 stops.
Angel Robinson Garcia from Cuba, 138-80-21 stopped 55 times, came to the US and lived in several European countries. Spain's Luis Folledo, 129-6-1 and 50 stops, was also a bullfighter before boxing.
Panama's Roberto 'Hands of Stone' Duran, 103-16 with 70 stops, holds four divisional world titles. I met him at 'Smokin' Joe Frazier's gym, and he didn't speak English, but he could jump rope.
I met Alexis 'Thin Man' Arguello from Nicaragua, 77-8 with 62 stops, a three-division world champion. He was a real class act.
Middleweight World Champion Carlos Monzon, 87-3-9, with 59 fights, and my all-time favorite Flyweight and 1948 Olympic Gold Flyweight World Champion, Pascual Perez, 84-7 -1, with 57 stops, were from Argentina.
The three-division world champion from Puerto Rico was Felix 'Tito' Trinidad, 42-3, with 35 stops. The three-division world champion from Puerto Rico was Wilfredo 'Bazooka' Gomez, 44-3-1, with 42 stops.
Finally, another born in The Bronx, New York, who moved to Puerto Rico, was the three-division world champion Wilfred Benitez, 53-8-1 and 31 stops.
These are some of the many Latino and Spanish heroes. Can you add more?
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