Curtis Cokes

Curtis Cokes
Curtis Cokes 2014
Data
Birth Name	Curtis Cokes
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	American
birthday	June 15, 1937
place of birth	Corsicana , Texas
Date of death	May 29, 2020
Place of death	Dallas
style	Left-hand boom
size	1.73 meters
Combat Statistics
Struggles	80
Victories	62
Knockout victories	30th
Defeats	14th
draw	4th
No value	0

Curtis Cokes (born June 15, 1937 in Corsicana , Texas , † May 29, 2020 in Dallas , Texas) was an American boxer . He was world champion of professional welterweight boxers from 1966 to 1968.

Career

Curtis Cokes was born in Corsicana, northeast Texas in 1937. When he was four years old, his family moved to Dallas because his father was drafted into the military there. He has lived in Dallas ever since. He attended Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas and was an excellent athlete there, especially in baseball and basketball . However, his ambitions to become a professional in one of these two sports after graduating from school in 1957 were dashed because he was too small and too light for that. He therefore began at a YMCA youth club in Dallas with boxing and played a total of 22 amateur fights in 1957/58, all of which he won.

In 1958 he became a professional boxer. His manager became Doug Herr and he was trained u. a. by Robert Thomas and Robert Smith. Cokes played his first fight on March 24, 1958 in Midland . He defeated his fellow countryman Manuel González on points in the welterweight division . Curtis Cokes had an excellent physical condition as a boxer, was quick and powerful. With his stroke combination of left hook / right uppercut, he decided almost half of his victories prematurely.

At the beginning of his career he only fought in Dallas. On October 24, 1961 he defeated Stefan Redl there by technical knockout in the 8th round. Redl came from the German minority in Yugoslavia, emigrated to the United States and fought as a professional boxer in Germany for years. On April 4, 1961, Curtis Cokes played his first fight outside the United States. He lost it in Ciudad Juarez welterweight against Hilario Morales on points. On April 6, 1962, he took revenge in Dallas for this and defeated Morales through Tech. Knockout in the 5th round. On April 23, 1963, Cokes fought for the first time in Europe, defeating Fortunato Manca on points in Rome .

On March 15, 1965 Curtis Cokes won in Dallas with a technical knockout victory in the 12th round over Marshall Wells the title of Texas welterweight. That was his first title that he won as a professional boxer. On July 6, 1966, he defeated Luis Manuel Gonzalez from the United States in New Orleans in a World Cup eliminator. On August 28, 1966, he beat in New Orleans in the fight for the vacant WBA welterweight title Manuel González by technical knockout in the 15th round and thus became world champion for the first time. On November 28, 1966, Curtis Cokes' next fight took place in the Memorial Auditorium in Dallas, for the WBC and WBA welterweight titles. He defeated the French Jean Josselin after 15 rounds unanimously on points.

On May 9, 1967 Curtis Cokes defended this title in Dallas by a technical knockout win in the 10th round over François Pavilla , France, who was on the ground several times, which caused his coach to throw in the towel. Also in the next two title defenses, Cokes scored early early victories. On October 2, 1967, he defeated in Oakland Charley Shipes from the United States by Techn. KO in the 5th round. Shipes was down five times. On April 6, 1968, he defeated the South African Willie Ludick in Dallas by technical knockout in the 5th round. In his last successful title defense, Cokes had to go on October 21, 1968 in New Orleans against the Argentine Ramon La Cruz over the full distance of 15 rounds, but still won safely on points.

On April 18, 1969, Cokes defended his title in Inglewood against the Cuban exile José Nápoles , who had become a resident in Mexico. Napoles was surely one of the best welterweights to ever lace up boxing gloves. Curtis Cokes gave everything in this fight, but he could not withstand the hard hitting and the will to win of Nápoles. During the break from the 13th to the 14th round, the referee determined that Cokes was unable to defend himself and declared Nápoles the winner and thus the new WBA and WBC welterweight champion. On June 29, 1969, there was revenge in Mexico City. Both World Cup titles were at stake again. The fight went almost the same as the one at Inglewood. Again, José Nápoles turned out to be the stronger. After the 10th round, Cokes stayed on the stool in his corner of the ring and the referee then declared Nápoles the winner.

After losing the title, Curtis Cokes continued to box for three years, but could no longer build on his previous performance. In the fall of 1972 he fought three times in South Africa and won two of them. It turned out that he got problems with an eye injury and ended his boxing career as a precaution.

He remained connected to boxing and opened the Champions Boxing Gym in Dallas, where he mainly devoted himself to training young people. Together with a co-author, he wrote "The Complete Book of Boxing" in 1980, a boxing textbook. At times he also worked as a trainer for professional boxers and led a. a. Mid-1990s Quincy Taylor won the world title.

In 1972 he also played a role in the boxer film Fat City in Hollywood. In 1984 he was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and in 2003 into the International Hall of Fame.

Curtis Cokes title fights

year	place	title	Weight class	Result
1965	Dallas	from Texas	Welter	Technical knockout win in the 12th round over Marshall Wells
1966	New Orleans	World (WBA)	Welter	Technical knockout win in the 15th round over Manuel Gonzalez, USA
1966	Dallas	World (WBC + WBA)	Welter	Points victory after 15 laps over Jean Josselin, France
1967	Dallas	World (WBC + WBA)	Welter	Technical knockout win in the 10th round over François Pavilla, France
1967	Oakland	World (WBC + WBA)	Welter	Technical knockout win in the 5th round over Charley Shipes, USA
1968	Dallas	World (WBC + WBA)	Welter	Technical knockout win in the 5th round over Willie Ludick, South Africa
1968	New Orleans	World (WBC + WBA)	Welter	Points victory after 15 laps over Ramon La Cruz, Argentina
1969	Inglewood	World (WBC + WBA)	Welter	Aborted loss after the 13th round against Jose Napoles, Mexico
1969	Mexico city	World (WBC + WBA)	Welter	Surrender loss after the 10th round against Jose Napoles

Explanations

• WBC = Word Boxing Council
• WBA = World Boxing Association
• WM = World Championship

literature

• Box Sport magazine

Web links

• Curtis Cokes in the BoxRec database
• World Championship match between Curtis Cokes (white trousers) and François Pavilla in 1967