Luis Rodríguez

This article is about the boxer Luis Rodríguez. For other people, see Luis Rodriguez .

Luis Rodríguez
Data
Birth Name	Luis Manuel Rodríguez
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	Cuban
birthday	June 17, 1937
place of birth	Camaguey
Date of death	July 9, 1996
Place of death	Miami
style	Left delivery
size	1.75 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	121
Victories	107
Knockout victories	49
Defeats	13
No value	1

Luis Manuel Rodríguez (born June 17, 1937 in Camagüey , Cuba , † July 9, 1996 in Miami ) was a Cuban boxer.

career

Rodríguez turned professional in Cuba in 1956, where he twice beat Benny "Kid" Paret . From 1959 he lived in Miami and trained with Angelo Dundee , whose protégé Muhammad Ali later tried to copy his style of counter-boxing.

In December 1960 he was defeated for the first time just on points Emile Griffith . In total, he would meet Griffith four times in his career. A few months later he also lost on points against eventual world champion Curtis Cokes .

On March 21, 1963 he succeeded in the fight for the united welterweight world title a point victory over Griffith, but it remained his only success against him, in the direct rematch he had to give the title back to him. He could not use another title chance in the fourth and last encounter with Griffith on June 12, 1964.

He beat middleweight Rubin Carter twice in 1965. He also defeated Bennie Briscoe , another well-known and powerful middleweight boxer, twice in 1967. George Benton , Holley Mimms , Tom Bethea and Bobby Cassidy were other notable opponents.

In 1969 he got one last chance at the World Championship when he was allowed to box in Italy against defending champion Nino Benvenuti for the united middleweight title. He countered the counter boxer skillfully at first until he was knocked out with a single left hook.

Rodriguez ended his career in 1972.

The " Ring Magazine " rated him the third best Cuban professional boxer of all time (after Kid Chocolate and Kid Gavilán ) and the best pure technician. In 1997 Rodríguez was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

Web links

• Luis Rodríguez in the BoxRec database
• Obituary in The Independent, July 15, 1996
• Obituary in The New York Times, July 10, 1996