Niño Valdés

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Niño Valdés boxer
Data
Birth Name Giraldo Valdés
Weight class Heavyweight
nationality Cuban
birthday December 5, 1924
place of birth Havana
Date of death June 3, 2001
Place of death new York
style Left delivery
size 1.90 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles 70
Victories 48
Knockout victories 36
Defeats 19th
draw 2
No value 1

Giraldo Valdés Ponciano (born December 5, 1924 in Havana , Cuba ; † June 3, 2001 in New York ), called el Niño (German: the child , in the USA mostly written Nino Valdes ) was a Cuban professional boxer.

World ranking boxer

Valdés was a heavyweight boxer and weighed in his active time (1941 to 1959) between 90 and 97 kg with a height of 1.90 m. As a professional boxer , he played 70 fights, of which he won 48 (36 KOs) and twice achieved a draw. Nino Valdés boxed many well-known heavyweights who were in the world and European rankings, but never for a recognized world championship.

In 1955 he boxed against Archie Moore for the Nevada World Heavyweight Title created especially for this fight , after winning eleven fights in a row and defeating Ezzard Charles , Heinz Neuhaus , Karel Sys and Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson , among others . Former heavyweight world champion James Braddock was referee in this dispute, which Archie Moore was able to decide in his favor: The fight went over a distance of 15 rounds; Moore won eight of them, Valdés five.

"Journeyman"

Valdés competed in the second half of the 1950s as a - albeit high-class - "journeyman" and touchstone who boxed everyone and everywhere. He was defeated by the top people of the world rankings at the time Eddie Make (once on points, once by TKO in the eighth round) and the later challenger of the 1967 world champion Muhammad Ali , Zora Folley (on points). Alex Miteff and Alonzo Johnson were also later opponents of Cassius Clay and, when they fought against Valdés and won after rounds, were also counted among the extended world elite. The fight with Miteff was a 2: 1 judgment. 1959 defeated Sonny Liston "El Niño" Valdés by knockout in the third round. That Valdés was still a great man, albeit beyond the zenith of his skills, was shown in his last fight against Brian London , which Valdés won through TKO in the seventh round in London . London had come to the eleventh round in his previous fight for the world championship against reigning title holder Floyd Patterson before he was knocked out. In 1966 Brian London fought again for the title, but against Muhammad Ali.

Life after the boxer career

"El Niño" Valdés was very popular in his homeland of Cuba and known to a very broad section of the population, so that he also advertised food and had achieved a higher standard of living. He planned to found a boxing school, but when Fidel Castro came to power , Valdés could no longer put this idea into practice and decided to immigrate to the USA , where, being expropriated in Cuba and being largely unknown and unskilled in the USA, he worked as a doorman. He died in 2001 at the age of 76 impoverished.

Boxing historical evaluation and relevance

At a time when there was only one title holder in each weight class and other titles were rare, it is difficult to compare Valdés with today's successful boxers. But a measure of value could be the fact that Valdés defeated ex-world champion Ezzard Charles on points ten months before he boxed for the title for the first time against Rocky Marciano and lost controversially, so that a rematch had to take place.

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personal data
SURNAME Valdés, Niño
ALTERNATIVE NAMES el Niño; Valdés, Giraldo; Valdés Ponciano, Giraldo (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION cuban boxer
DATE OF BIRTH December 5, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Havana , Cuba
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 2001
Place of death new York