Eddie Perkins

Eddie Perkins
Data
Birth Name	Eddie Perkins
Weight class	Light welterweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	March 3, 1937
place of birth	Clarksdale
Date of death	May 10, 2012
Place of death	Chicago
style	Standard boom (left boom)
size	1.65 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	98
Victories	74
Knockout victories	21st
Defeats	20th
draw	2
No value	2

Eddie Perkins (born March 3, 1937 in Clarksdale , Mississippi , † May 10, 2012 in Chicago , Illinois ) was an American professional boxer in light, light welterweight and welterweight.

He played more than 130 boxing matches in over 20 countries and was world champion of the WBA and WBC light welterweight associations. In 2006 he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame and in 2008 into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

Amateur career

Eddie Perkins was born in Clarksdale and moved to Chicago with his family when he was one year old. The left wingman developed his passion for boxing through boxing matches with friends that he fought in backyards. As an amateur boxer, he trained in a boxing club in Chicago that was run by heavyweight legend Joe Louis . As an amateur, he won 26 of 36 fights and became the Chicago lightweight champion.

Professional career

In 1956, at the age of 19, he switched to professional life and was trained and managed by Frank Tomaso and Johnny Coulon. Until January 1960 he boxed with only moderate success and played 23 fights, including 16 wins and 7 losses. He defeated the Olympic champion Charles Adkins in 1958 by knockout in the first round. On November 28, 1959, he suffered the only premature defeat of his career in Mexico City , when he lost to the Mexican Alfredo Urbina by tKo in round 7. It was also his first fight outside of the United States.

In the ten following fights he defeated, among others, the undefeated, later double world champion Carlos Hernández and thus qualified for a world championship fight in the light welterweight division against the Italian Duilio Loi (106 wins - 2 defeats). The fight, which took place in Milan on October 21, 1961 , ended in a draw, which meant that Loi remained world champion, but a rematch was scheduled.

Perkins won this on September 14, 1962 in Milan with a unanimous point victory over 15 rounds and thus became WBA world champion. However, he lost the title in a direct rematch on December 15, 1962 on points. Duilio Loi then resigned from boxing.

On 15 June 1963 he was given another chance at the world title the WBA and also the vacant world title of the WBC in the light welterweight. He boxed in Manila against Roberto de la Cruz , who won the WBA title with a first-round K. o. had won against Raymundo Torres (47-4). Perkins won the fight unanimously on points over 15 rounds and had de la Cruz down in the first round. He then defended the two titles on January 4, 1964 in Tokyo by knockout against the Japanese Yoshinori Takahashi and on April 18, 1964 in Kingston (Jamaica) on points against George Grant.

On January 18, 1965 he was defeated in Caracas just on points to Carlos Hernández, whom he had already defeated in June 1961. He suffered another defeat seven months later against José Nápoles (40-3), which prevented another World Cup chance. Nevertheless, he continued to beat a number of internationally strong opponents, such as the ex-European champion Børge Krogh (36-3), the British champion Maurice Cullen (42-7), the Japanese champion Tetsuo Furuyama (18-1), the undefeated Commonwealth champion Clyde Gray (21-0) and ex-WBC world champion Pedro Adigue .

On September 3, 1970, he boxed in Vienna against the reigning European champion Hans Orsolics . Orsolics was the youngest title holder in the history of the European Boxing Union and had boxed its way to the top of the world rankings with a series of spectacular victories. For November 20, 1970, his fight for the world title against José Nápoles had already been negotiated, but Orsolics' management decided for questionable motives to conduct a test fight against Eddie Perkins beforehand. Perkins finally won the fight by knockout in the fourth round, with Orsolics not getting on their feet for minutes and also losing his World Cup chance against Nápoles.

On October 19, 1971, he won unanimously on points against the eventual WBA world champion Ángel Espada . On January 30, 1973 he was by winning points against the multiple world championship challenger Armando Muñíz North America champion of the NABF in the welterweight division and also won the rematch on points. However, against WBC world champion Rocky Mattioli he lost on points in August 1974.

He played his last fight on May 31, 1975 in Cologne against the Austrian Franz Csandl and lost on points.

Private life

Eddie Perkins grew up with a brother and two sisters and attended Phillips High School before starting boxing. He and his wife had two sons and a daughter.

During his 19-year professional boxing career, he came around the world and has been to countries such as Japan , Mexico , the Philippines , Venezuela , Colombia , Jamaica in the Caribbean, the island state of Trinidad and Tobago , Guyana , Ecuador , South Africa , Argentina , Brazil , Chile , Costa Rica , Puerto Rico and Australia .

He has appeared in Europe in Milan (Italy), Paris (France), London (England), Copenhagen (Denmark), Vienna (Austria) and Cologne (Germany).

After retiring from active sports, he trained junior boxers at Leo High School and worked as a manager at the Chicago Sun-Times .

death

Eddie Perkins, who suffered from dementia and diabetes mellitus in the course of his life, died on May 10, 2012 at the age of 75 in his home in Chicago.

Web links

• Eddie Perkins, BoxRec
• Eddie Perkins, IBHF
• Eddie Perkins, Find a Grave
• Eddie Perkins Dead, Huffington Post
• Eddie Perkins, 1937-2012, Chicago-Tribune