BoxRec

Sadly the great Jose Napoles has passed away today. He was 79 and had been struggling with his health for years.

One of the greatest boxers of all-time.

RIP Jose Napoles.

I bought my first boxing magazine as a kid, in the summer of 1975. Jose was at the tail end of his career at that time. He had just survived two tough bouts with Armando Muniz, and was preparing to defend against John H. Stracey. From the way the magazines wrote about Napoles, I remember thinking the guy must have been great.

R.I.P, champ!

One of the top 10 welterweights and top 100 greatest pound per pound fighters of all time was Jose "Mantequilla" Napoles. The two-time Welterweight Champion of the World.

RIP Champ and one of the greatest welterweight champions of all-time

He fought the best in his own era with a great smooth and slick style along with his punching power. He was the last surviving inaugural member of the 1990 International Boxing Hall of Fame to passed on and outliving legends like Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, Bob Foster, Henry Armstrong, Carlos Monzon, Emile Griffith, Willie Pepp and Archie Moore just to name several who were inducted when they were alive or post humorously.

RIP 1990 IBHOF members

scorpio83 wrote: ↑17 Aug 2019, 06:09 RIP Champ and one of the greatest welterweight champions of all-time

He fought the best in his own era with a great smooth and slick style along with his punching power. He was the last surviving inaugural member of the 1990 International Boxing Hall of Fame to passed on and outliving legends like Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, Bob Foster, Henry Armstrong, Carlos Monzon, Emile Griffith, Willie Pepp and Archie Moore just to name several who were inducted when they were alive or post humorously.

RIP 1990 IBHOF members

Yes, indeed. Thinking about it, he is the last living member of the inaugural International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota in 1990.

He was also the first Latin fighter in boxing history to win The Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year Award in 1969.

...an amazing career that spanned three decades and a million smooth combinations before it ended on a shocking December night in Mexico in 1975 at the hands of John H. Stracey.
Born in Cuba in 1940, Napoles turned pro in Havana as a teenager but found his career rudely and permanently interrupted by Fidel Castro until Mexico offered him a tortuous boxing lifeline in 1962. It took him 60 wins to dethrone Curtis Cokes at the legendary "Forum" in Los Angeles in 1969 when he was a year away from his 30th birthday but the journey was only really beginning as he retained against a slew of formidable challengers and also racked up countless non-title wins and even an ambitious shot at Carlos Monzon for the world middleweight title. He established himself as one of the greatest fighters of the 1970s - quick, accurate, patient, hard-hitting and with great reflexes. He proved brilliant in rematches against the likes of Cokes, Alfredo Urbina, Armando Muniz and Billy Backus, who took away his world title on cuts in 1970 but was overwhelmed in eight rounds a few months later, even though Napoles was cut again.
Those cuts came back to haunt him near the end of his career but those close to him will tell you he sold out to alcohol years earlier. Nevertheless, he won 15 world title fights and that's more than Marvin Hagler and one less than Roberto Duran by way of context.

I'm getting tired of the obits of all my favorite sports figures.....but at my age, I suppose I have to get used to it.

BoxBuzz wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 15:29 I'm getting tired of the obits of all my favorite sports figures.....but at my age, I suppose I have to get used to it.

Was the great Mantequilla a favorite of yours?

A pleasure to watch, and that move up to middleweight to challenge a monster like Monzon was a daredevil stunt the likes of which we rarely see nowadays.

overhand_right wrote: ↑ A pleasure to watch, and that move up to middleweight to challenge a monster like Monzon was a daredevil stunt the likes of which we rarely see nowadays.

King Carlos was too much and too big for Mantequilla.

elmersalsa wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 17:00

BoxBuzz wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 15:29 I'm getting tired of the obits of all my favorite sports figures.....but at my age, I suppose I have to get used to it.

Was the great Mantequilla a favorite of yours?

He was