Aurelio Herrera
Name: Aurelio Herrera
Hometown: Bakersfield, California, USA
Birthplace: San Jose, California, USA
Died: 1927-04-12 (Age:50)
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 164cm
Reach: 168cm
Pro Boxer: Record
Although reported by some obituaries to have been born in Mexico, the April 15, 1916 Tacoma Daily News (Tacoma, WA, USA), and other newspapers of the day, reported that Aurelio Herrera was in fact born in San Jose, California, but raised in Bakersfield:
- "He grew up via the boot-black stand to one of the best card dealers that wild little town ever knew. And Bakersfield was a wild, wild place, indeed, in those days. Herrera worked for another Mexican, Frank M. Carillo, who owned a gambling place. Carillo, though a Mexican, was rich. He was elected sheriff of Kern county, and won fame by capturing the famous bandits, Sonntag and Evans. Herrera dealt the Klondike game, faro bank, blackjack, coon can and a heavy fist around Carillo's gambling house. Aurelio scored 20 clean knockouts in his first 23 battles. Then came Terry McGovern.... Herrera went to Montana, were he was again a terror.... The old warrior is still living on a little ranch near Bakersfield. He raises sheep and is said to be prosperous."
Reportedly, Herrera never stopped smoking cigarettes until he climbed into the ring. He was also said to have been a heavy drinker. (He was arrested Sept. 8, 1920 in Bakersfield, California, for possession of liquor; this was during the Prohibition period of the United States.)
Herrera died in San Francisco after a two-week illness. It is a coincidence that Herrera's death followed by a few days that of Young Corbett, whom he had fought on several occasions.