Curtis Cokes

Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox boxer Curtis Cokes (June 15, 1937 – May 29, 2020) was a boxer from Dallas, Texas, United States. Cokes was the simultaneous NYSAC, WBA, WBC and The Ring Welterweight Champion,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and he was famous for his training regimen, which he also imposed on other boxers training with him.

Pre-championship career

On March 24, 1958, Cokes began to box professionally, defeating Manuel Gonzalez, whom he would later fight for the world title, in a six-round decision. He won eleven fights in a row, including a second match with Gonzalez, before losing to Gonzalez in their third fight, on April 27, 1959. His next fight, against Garland Randall on June 18 of the same year, ended in a three-round no contest. He and Randall had an immediate rematch and on August 27, he knocked out Randall in the first round. He had an additional fourteen fights, going 11-2-1 in that span (his one draw was against Kenny Lane, a boxer who twice challenged Carlos Ortiz for world championships), before facing Luis Rodriguez, another world welterweight champion, on September 3, 1961. He beat Rodriguez by a ten-round decision, outpointed Gonzalez in their fourth fight, and lost to Rodriguez in their second fight, also by points. He went 13–4 in his next seventeen fights, and, after losing in a ten-round decision to Eddie Pace at Los Angeles, California, on August 27, 1964, he announced his retirement. However, on October 14 of that year, he announced he was returning to boxing.

Championship

After winning three fights in a row, he and Gonzalez were matched for a fifth time on August 24, 1966, this time for the WBA/WBC vacant world welterweight title, in New Orleans. Cokes outpointed Manuel Gonzalez to become world welterweight champion. On November 28, 1966, he retained the crown against Jean Josselin of France in a fifteen-round decision. Nat Fleischer was one of the judges for that fight.

On May 19, 1967, he retained the title with a tenth-round knockout of Francois Villeiman, and on October 2, he met Charlie Shipes, who was recognized as champion in California. He knocked Shipes out in eight rounds in Oakland.

On April 18, 1968, he retained his title with a fifth-round knockout of Willie Ludick, and on October 21, with a fifteen-round decision over Ramon La Cruz.

Post-championship career

Cokes lost the world welterweight title on April 18, 1969, when he was knocked out by Cuban José Nápoles in thirteen rounds in Los Angeles. On June 29, the pair had a rematch in Nápoles' adopted hometown of Mexico City, Mexico, and Nápoles repeated his victory, this time by a tenth-round knockout.

Cokes had eleven more fights before retiring, winning seven, losing three and drawing in one. His last three fights were in South Africa. He retired after a ten-round decision win against Ezra Mnzinyane on October 5, 1972.

Cokes had a record of 62 wins, 14 losses and four draws, with 30 wins by knockout.

After boxing

After retiring, Cokes became a trainer. He worked with fighters such as Quincy Taylor and Ike Ibeabuchi.

Cokes also made one film appearance in the year of his retirement. He appeared in the 1972 John Huston film Fat City alongside future Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges and Stacy Keach.<ref>Curtis Cokes @ IMDB</ref>

In 2003, Cokes was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Death

Cokes died at age 82 of heart failure on May 29, 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
80	Template:Yes2Win	62–14–4	Ezra Mzinyane	PTS	10	Oct 5, 1972	Template:Small
79	Template:Yes2Win	61–14–4	Joseph Hali	PTS	10	Sep 23, 1972	Template:Small
78	Template:No2Loss	60–14–4	Elijah Makhathini	PTS	10	Sep 9, 1972	Template:Small
77	Template:No2Loss	60–13–4	Carlos Alberto Salinas	SD	10	Dec 2, 1971	Template:Small
76	Template:No2Loss	60–12–4	Rafael Gutierrez	SD	10	May 24, 1972	Template:Small
75	Template:DrawDraw	60–11–4	Fate Davis	PTS	10	Mar 17, 1971	Template:Small
74	Template:Yes2Win	60–11–3	Billy Braggs	TKO	6 (10)	Nov 3, 1970	Template:Small
73	Template:Yes2Win	59–11–3	Harold Richardson	UD	10	Sep 29, 1970	Template:Small
72	Template:Yes2Win	58–11–3	Fate Davis	UD	10	Sep 11, 1970	Template:Small
71	Template:Yes2Win	57–11–3	Danny Perez	TKO	7 (10)	Aug 10, 1970	Template:Small
70	Template:Yes2Win	56–11–3	Roberto Pena	KO	5 (10)	Jan 27, 1970	Template:Small
69	Template:No2Loss	55–11–3	José Nápoles	RTD	10 (15)	Jun 29, 1969	Template:Small	Template:Small
68	Template:No2Loss	55–10–3	José Nápoles	RTD	13 (15)	Apr 18, 1969	Template:Small	Template:Small
67	Template:Yes2Win	55–9–3	Don Cobbs	KO	1 (10)	Feb 10, 1969	Template:Small
66	Template:Yes2Win	54–9–3	Ramon La Cruz	UD	15	Oct 21, 1968	Template:Small	Template:Small
65	Template:Yes2Win	53–9–3	Joseph Sishi	KO	5 (10)	Jul 5, 1968	Template:Small
64	Template:Yes2Win	52–9–3	Willie Ludick	TKO	3 (10)	Jun 29, 1968	Template:Small
63	Template:Yes2Win	51–9–3	Joe N'Gidi	RTD	4 (10)	Jun 15, 1968	Template:Small
62	Template:Yes2Win	50–9–3	Willie Ludick	TKO	5 (15)	Apr 16, 1968	Template:Small	Template:Small
61	Template:Yes2Win	49–9–3	Jimmy Lester	UD	10	Mar 15, 1968	Template:Small
60	Template:Yes2Win	48–9–3	Jean Josselin	UD	10	Feb 5, 1968	Template:Small
59	Template:Yes2Win	47–9–3	Charley Shipes	TKO	8 (15)	Oct 2, 1967	Template:Small	Template:Small
58	Template:Yes2Win	46–9–3	Francois Pavilla	TKO	10 (15)	May 19, 1967	Template:Small	Template:Small
57	Template:No2Loss	45–9–3	Gypsy Joe Harris	UD	10	Mar 31, 1967	Template:Small
56	Template:Yes2Win	45–8–3	Mike Cruz	KO	3 (10)	Feb 20, 1967	Template:Small
55	Template:DrawDraw	44–8–3	Francois Pavilla	PTS	10	Jan 23, 1967	Template:Small
54	Template:Yes2Win	44–8–2	Jean Josselin	UD	15	Nov 28, 1966	Template:Small	Template:Small
53	Template:Yes2Win	43–8–2	Enrique Cruz	KO	7 (10)	Sep 27, 1966	Template:Small
52	Template:Yes2Win	42–8–2	Manuel Gonzalez	UD	15	Aug 24, 1966	Template:Small	Template:Small
51	Template:Yes2Win	41–8–2	Luis Manuel Rodriguez	TKO	15 (15)	Jul 6, 1966	Template:Small
50	Template:Yes2Win	40–8–2	Billy Collins	UD	12	Dec 13, 1965	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	39–8–2	Fortunato Manca	PTS	10	Apr 23, 1965	Template:Small
48	Template:Yes2Win	38–8–2	Marshall Wells	TKO	12 (12)	Mar 15, 1965	Template:Small
47	Template:No2Loss	37–8–2	Eddie Pace	PTS	10	Aug 27, 1964	Template:Small
46	Template:Yes2Win	37–7–2	Al Andrews	PTS	10	Aug 10, 1964	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	36–7–2	Al Andrews	UD	10	Jun 9, 1964	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	35–7–2	Tony Montano	UD	10	May 12, 1964	Template:Small
43	Template:No2Loss	34–7–2	Stanley Hayward	TKO	4 (10)	May 1, 1964	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	34–6–2	Flory Olguin	TKO	5 (12)	May 30, 1963	Template:Small
41	Template:Yes2Win	33–6–2	Stan Harrington	UD	10	May 21, 1963	Template:Small
40	Template:No2Loss	32–6–2	Jose Stable	UD	10	Apr 20, 1963	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	32–5–2	Joey Parks	KO	5 (10)	Feb 25, 1963	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	31–5–2	Johnny Newman	KO	2 (10)	Feb 11, 1963	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	30–5–2	Gregorio Ceniceros	KO	2 (10)	Dec 10, 1962	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	29–5–2	Hubert Jackson	KO	1 (10)	Nov 11, 1962	Template:Small
35	Template:No2Loss	28–5–2	Manuel Alvarez	UD	10	Sep 8, 1962	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	28–4–2	Joey Limas	UD	10	Aug 22, 1962	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	27–4–2	Rudolph Bent	KO	8 (10)	May 11, 1962	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	26–4–2	Hilario Morales	TKO	5 (10)	Apr 6, 1962	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	25–4–2	Kid Rayo	SD	10	Feb 13, 1962	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	24–4–2	Carlos Macias	TKO	4 (10)	Jan 23, 1962	Template:Small
29	Template:No2Loss	23–4–2	Luis Manuel Rodríguez	UD	10	Dec 2, 1961	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	23–3–2	Manuel Gonzalez	UD	10	Sep 14, 1961	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	22–3–2	Luis Manuel Rodríguez	SD	10	Aug 3, 1961	Template:Small
26	Template:DrawDraw	21–3–2	Kenny Lane	PTS	10	Jun 8, 1961	Template:Small
25	Template:No2Loss	21–3–1	Hilario Morales	UD	10	Apr 4, 1961	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	21–2–1	Charley Tombstone Smith	UD	10	Feb 13, 1961	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	20–2–1	Joe Miceli	UD	10	Jan 16, 1961	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	19–2–1	Stefan Redl	TKO	8 (10)	Oct 24, 1960	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	18–2–1	Joe Louis Hargrove	TKO	2 (10)	Sep 13, 1960	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	17–2–1	Pete Ruiz	TKO	3 (8)	Jul 29, 1960	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	16–2–1	Lovell Jenkins	PTS	8	Mar 1, 1960	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	15–2–1	Aman Peck	TKO	5 (8)	Dec 14, 1959	Template:Small
17	Template:No2Loss	14–2–1	Frankie Davis	SD	6	Dec 2, 1959	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	14–1–1	Mel Ferguson	UD	8	Sep 14, 1959	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	13–1–1	Reggie Williams	KO	5 (6)	Aug 27, 1959	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	12–1–1	Rip Randall	KO	1 (6)	Jul 27, 1959	Template:Small
13	Template:DrawDraw	11–1–1	Rip Randall	TD	2 (6)	May 18, 1959	Template:Small
12	Template:No2Loss	11–1	Manuel Gonzalez	SD	10	Apr 27, 1959	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	11–0	Henry Watson	PTS	4	Apr 1, 1959	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	10–0	Babe McCarron	TKO	3 (8)	Jan 20, 1959	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	9–0	Ruben Flores	PTS	6	Dec 1, 1958	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	8–0	Manuel Gonzalez	SD	8	Nov 22, 1958	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	7–0	Elmo Tex Henderson	UD	6	Oct 27, 1958	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Sammy Williams	TKO	6 (6)	Jun 30, 1958	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Cecil Courtney	UD	6	May 26, 1958	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Babe Vance	UD	6	May 12, 1958	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Jimmy Leach	UD	6	Apr 28, 1958	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Gil Tapia	PTS	4	Apr 7, 1958	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Manuel Gonzalez	PTS	6	Mar 24, 1958	Template:Small

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

• NYSAC welterweight champion (147 lbs)
• WBA welterweight champion (147 lbs)
• WBC welterweight champion (147 lbs)

The Ring magazine titles

• The Ring welterweight champion (147 lbs)

Undisputed titles

• Undisputed welterweight champion

See also

• List of world welterweight boxing champions

External links

• Template:Boxrec