Ángel Espada

Ángel Luis "Cholo" Espada Mangual (born February 2, 1948) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer. He was the WBA's world Welterweight champion in 1975-76.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A music lover, Espada also organized, during the late 1970s, a salsa orchestra.

Biography

Early career

Espada began his professional boxing career on March 11, 1967, with a defeat at the hands of future Antonio Cervantes world title challenger Josue Marquez, on a six-round decision, at San Juan. His next two fights were declared draws (ties). Both were against Luis Vinales.

After another defeat and a draw (both against Chris Fernandez), Espada got his first win. On April 1, 1968, he knocked out Linfer Contreras in the first round in San Juan. After one more win, he fought outside Puerto Rico for the first time, losing on points after six rounds to future Roberto Durán world title challenger Jimmy Robertson, on September 27, 1969, at Los Angeles, California.

His next fight would be against Bobby Joe Hughes, April 9, 1969 in San Juan. Hughes was disqualified for using illegal tactics during the fight, and this victory marked the beginning of a fifteen fight winning streak for Espada. On November 7 of 1970, the streak was stopped by Matt Donovan, who beat him on points over ten rounds. Shortly after, Espada would beat former Emile Griffith world title challenger Manuel Gonzalez and lose to former world champion Eddie Perkins, both times, on points after ten rounds.

Between 1972 and 1975, Espada posted twelve wins in a row, including a victory over perennial world title challenger Armando Muniz, and a win in Panama. He was beaten by Luis Acosta in Caracas by decision in ten rounds to stop that winning streak, but he avenged the defeat against Acosta with a ten-round win over him in a rematch held in San Juan.

Champion

Espada became a world champion in a situation that could be described by some as bizarre: the undisputed world Welterweight champion of the era, José Nápoles, was to fight Carlos Monzón for the world's Middleweight title. The WBC kept recognizing Nápoles as their world Welterweight champion, but the WBA, feeling that Espada deserved a chance at Nápoles' crown, decided to strip Nápoles of the world championship because Nápoles went ahead as planned and fought Monzon. Thus, on June 28, 1975, Espada became the WBA's world Welterweight champion, and Puerto Rico's fourth world boxing champion in history, by outpointing the well known Canadian, Clyde Gray, over fifteen rounds in San Juan. Coincidentally, Espada won his world title the same week that Alfredo Escalera won the WBC world Junior Lightweight championship at a fight that took place in Japan; this was the first time two Puerto Ricans became world champions the same week and as a consequence, Puerto Rico, a country that had only produced three world boxing champions in its history, almost doubled their number of champions in one week with Espada and Escalera's victories.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (In Spanish)

He retained the title with a fifteen-round decision over Johnny Gant, and won a non-title fight with an eighth-round knockout over Alfonzo Hayman.

On July 17, 1976, Espada fought what would have been the start of a Mexican boxing tour. Espada, looking forward to meeting Miguel Campanino, was instead faced with a boxer who had a record of 16-5 and who was named José Cuevas. Cuevas lifted the WBA world Welterweight title away from Espada with a second-round knockout.<ref>"Cuevas Scores KO in 2nd, Wins Welter Crown", Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1976, p. III-4</ref> They would fight again twice more, with Cuevas retaining the title by ten and eleven-round knockouts.

Retirement from the Ring

Towards the end of his career, Espada, realizing his best days as a boxer had probably passed him by, announced on the Vea magazine that he was putting together a salsa orchestra. The "Cholo Espada orchestra" had some success in Puerto Rico, appearing on television shows constantly during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Espada lost his last important fight, against Thomas Hearns, by a knockout in round four at the Joe Louis Arena, in Detroit, on March 2 of 1980. He then retired for a short period of time. Espada wanted to retire as a winner, however, and, after one year of inactivity, he made a one fight comeback, knocking out Julio Alfonso in four rounds, on December 10, 1981, in San Juan.

After retiring from boxing, Espada became a boxing trainer, and he has remained in that position ever since. Espada had a record of 44 wins, 11 losses and 3 draws, with 27 wins by knockout.

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
59	Template:Yes2Win	44–11–4	Julio Alfonso	KO	4 (?)	Dec 10, 1981	Template:Small
58	Template:No2Loss	43–11–4	Thomas Hearns	TKO	4 (12)	Mar 2, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
57	Template:No2Loss	43–10–4	Pipino Cuevas	TKO	10 (15)	Dec 8, 1979	Template:Small	Template:Small
56	Template:Yes2Win	43–9–4	Fitzroy Edward	KO	5 (?)	Jun 16, 1979	Template:Small
55	Template:Yes2Win	42–9–4	Sam Hailstock	KO	9 (10)	Feb 18, 1979	Template:Small
54	Template:Yes2Win	41–9–4	Kevin Moefield	KO	4 (10)	Oct 28, 1978	Template:Small
53	Template:Yes2Win	40–9–4	Nikita Tarhocker	KO	2 (10)	Sep 9, 1978	Template:Small
52	Template:No2Loss	39–9–4	Pipino Cuevas	RTD	11 (15)	Nov 19, 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
51	Template:Yes2Win	39–8–4	Ray Hammond	UD	10	Aug 27, 1977	Template:Small
50	Template:Yes2Win	38–8–4	John Morgan	KO	2 (?)	May 21, 1977	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	37–8–4	Augustin Estrada	KO	4 (?)	Sep 10, 1976	Template:Small
48	Template:No2Loss	36–8–4	Pipino Cuevas	TKO	2 (15)	Jul 17, 1976	Template:Small	Template:Small
47	Template:Yes2Win	36–7–4	Alfonso Hayman	TKO	8 (10)	Apr 27, 1976	Template:Small
46	Template:Yes2Win	35–7–4	Johnny Gant	UD	15	Oct 11, 1975	Template:Small	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	34–7–4	Clyde Gray	UD	15	Jun 28, 1975	Template:Small	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	33–7–4	Luis Acosta	PTS	10	Apr 12, 1975	Template:Small
43	Template:No2Loss	32–7–4	Luis Acosta	PTS	10	Mar 15, 1975	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	32–6–4	Hector Rivas	KO	2 (?)	Nov 15, 1974	Template:Small
41	Template:Yes2Win	31–6–4	Armando Muñíz	PTS	10	Jul 29, 1974	Template:Small
40	Template:Yes2Win	30–6–4	Dave Oropeza	KO	4 (10)	May 10, 1974	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	29–6–4	Alvin Anderson	KO	2 (10)	Apr 15, 1974	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	28–6–4	Mario Saurennann	PTS	10	Nov 19, 1973	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	27–6–4	Prince Jimmy Hamm	KO	1 (12)	Sep 8, 1973	Template:Small	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	26–6–4	Al Cook	TKO	3 (10)	Jul 14, 1973	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	25–6–4	Jack Tillman	UD	10	May 29, 1973	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	24–6–4	Roscoe Bell	PTS	10	Feb 15, 1973	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	23–6–4	Roscoe Bell	KO	2 (10)	Jan 16, 1973	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	22–6–4	Felipe Cariaco	KO	9 (10)	Dec 12, 1972	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	21–6–4	Alfonso Aguirre	TKO	3 (10)	Oct 24, 1972	Template:Small
30	Template:No2Loss	20–6–4	Dario Hidalgo	SD	10	Jun 12, 1972	Template:Small
29	Template:No2Loss	20–5–4	Eddie Perkins	UD	10	Oct 19, 1971	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	20–4–4	Manuel Gonzalez	PTS	10	Aug 28, 1971	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	19–4–4	Dino Del Cid	KO	3 (?)	Jul 10, 1971	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	18–4–4	Edmundo Leite	MD	10	Apr 12, 1971	Template:Small
25	Template:No2Loss	17–4–4	Matt Donovan	MD	10	Nov 7, 1970	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	17–3–4	Jose Gabino	KO	3 (10)	Oct 10, 1970	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	16–3–4	Julio Cruz	KO	2 (?)	Aug 5, 1970	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	15–3–4	Frankie Lewis	KO	6 (?)	May 10, 1970	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	14–3–4	Juan Ramos	KO	5 (?)	Mar 28, 1970	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	13–3–4	Raul Rodriguez	KO	2 (10)	Mar 21, 1970	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	12–3–4	Frankie Lewis	PTS	10	Feb 27, 1970	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	11–3–4	Frank Steele	PTS	10	Feb 7, 1970	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	10–3–4	Fate Davis	PTS	10	Dec 12, 1969	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	9–3–4	Jerry Graci	PTS	10	Nov 2, 1969	Template:Small	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	8–3–4	Roland Pryor	PTS	10	Nov 1, 1969	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	7–3–4	Claude Soumel	PTS	8	Sep 27, 1969	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	6–3–4	Ingemar Jones	KO	4 (?)	Aug 2, 1969	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	5–3–4	Roscoe Bell	KO	2 (8)	Jul 21, 1969	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	4–3–4	Enrique Paz	TKO	5 (8)	Jun 7, 1969	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	3–3–4	Bobby Joe Hughes	DQ	6 (?)	Apr 19, 1969	Template:Small
9	Template:No2Loss	2–3–4	Jimmy Robertson	PTS	6	Sep 27, 1968	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	2–2–4	Embijao Carrion	KO	3 (?)	Apr 15, 1968	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	1–2–4	Linfer Contreras	KO	1 (6)	Apr 1, 1968	Template:Small
6	Template:DrawDraw	0–2–4	Chris Fernandez	PTS	6	Jan 10, 1968	Template:Small
5	Template:No2Loss	0–2–3	Chris Fernandez	PTS	6	Jul 10, 1967	Template:Small
4	Template:DrawDraw	0–1–3	Luis Vinales	PTS	6	Jun 4, 1967	Template:Small
3	Template:DrawDraw	0–1–2	Luis Vinales	PTS	6	Apr 8, 1967	Template:Small
2	Template:No2Loss	0–1–1	Josue Marquez	PTS	6	Feb 11, 1967	Template:Small
1	Template:DrawDraw	0–0–1	Andres Matta	PTS	6	Aug 20, 1966	Template:Small

See also

• List of world welterweight boxing champions
• List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions
• Sports in Puerto Rico
• Afro–Puerto Ricans

External links

• Template:Boxrec

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