José Cuevas (boxer)

José Isidro "Pipino" Cuevas González (born December 27, 1957) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1971 to 1989. He held the WBA welterweight title from 1976 to 1980.

Cuevas was inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Template:Main Cuevas turned professional at age 14; he won only seven of his first twelve bouts but eventually put together an eight bout winning streak before losing to Andy Price. On 17 July 1976, he received a shot at the WBA welterweight title against champion Ángel Espada. Cuevas pulled off an upset victory by knocking Espada to the canvas three times in the second round. At age 18, he was the youngest welterweight champion in history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In his first defense, he traveled to Japan and defeated hometown fighter Shoji Tsujimoto by knockout.

One of the greatest wins of his career was against Argentinian Miguel Angel Campanino, who boasted an impressive record (84-4-4), including a thirty-two fight winning streak. Once again, Pipino disposed of his challenger before the end of the second round.

On 8 June 1977, he faced veteran Clyde Gray of Canada who had only been stopped twice in his entire career which included fifty-eight wins. Yet again, Cuevas pulled off another second round knock out. A few months later, Cuevas returned to the ring for a rematch against Espada. This time Cuevas defeated Espada in the eleventh round after he sustained a broken jaw. On 4 March 1978, he disposed of Harold Weston in the ninth round after Weston also sustained a broken jaw like Cuevas' previous challenger. Cuevas then defeated former champion Billy Backus in one round. On 9 September 1978, he defeated hometown favorite Pete Ranzany (40-2-1) in Sacramento, California via a second-round knockout. He defeated Scott Clark (28-1-0) in another second-round knockout. Cuevas next title defense went the distance in a unanimous decision win against the durable Randy Shields (33-5-1). On 8 December 1979, he faced Espada for a third time, stopping him in the tenth round. Cuevas then defeated South African national champion Harold Volbrecht by fifth-round knockout.

Cuevas finally lost his title in 1980 to the undefeated and up-and-coming hometown hero Thomas Hearns in Detroit. The much taller and lankier Hearns was able to use his reach to his advantage as he kept Cuevas at a distance and knocked him out in the second round. Cuevas' talent began to decline after that loss; the most notable opponent he faced was Roberto Durán, who stopped him in the fourth round in the spring of 1983. He also lost to former world title challenger Jun Sok-Hwang and future or former world champions Jorge Vaca and Lupe Aquino before finally retiring in 1989.

Pipino Cuevas fought during a period when an unusual number of accomplished welterweights were active: Sugar Ray Leonard, Wilfred Benítez, Carlos Palomino, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Durán, although his reign had nearly come to an end as Leonard, Benítez, Hearns, and Durán emerged as welterweight champions. Cuevas successfully defended his welterweight title eleven times against ten different boxers over a four-year span. During his reign as champion, Cuevas fought the best opposition available to him. In total, the opponents he faced throughout his career had a combined record of 505-70-29.<ref>Remembering the Career of Pipino Cuevas Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>HBO: Boxing: Features: Best Of: THE BEST WELTERWEIGHT PUNCHERS EVER</ref> In 2003, The Ring listed Cuevas as number thirty-one on their list of the 100 greatest punchers of all time. In 2002, Cuevas became a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Retirement

Cuevas is the owner of a restaurant and a security company in Mexico City. At one point of his career, he was also the owner of a famous sports and luxury car collection, and he was one of the first boxers to sport a golden tooth. Most people probably know him for his nickname Pipino, which is far more used to refer to him than Jose by fight commentators and magazine writers.

He ran into trouble with the law in 2001 when he was accused of racketeering in Mexico, in connection with a Mexican mayor. But he was declared innocent in 2002.

His record as a boxer was of 35 wins and 15 losses, with 31 wins by knockout.

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
50	Template:No2Loss	35–15	Lupe Aquino	KO	2 (10)	25 Sep 1989	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	35–14	Martín Martínez	KO	1 (10)	31 Jul 1989	Template:Small
48	Template:Yes2Win	34–14	Francisco Carballo	KO	4 (10)	29 May 1989	Template:Small
47	Template:Yes2Win	33–14	Daniel Valenzuela	KO	6 (10)	25 Jul 1987	Template:Small
46	Template:No2Loss	32–14	Jorge Vaca	KO	2 (10)	19 Dec 1986	Template:Small
45	Template:No2Loss	32–13	Lorenzo Luis García	MD	10	4 Oct 1986	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	32–12	Luis Mateo	TKO	3 (10)	25 Jul 1986	Template:Small
43	Template:No2Loss	31–12	Steve Little	MD	10	3 Mar 1986	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	31–11	Felipe Vaca	UD	4	25 Feb 1986	Template:Small
41	Template:No2Loss	30–11	Herman Montes	KO	3 (10)	7 Mar 1985	Template:Small
40	Template:No2Loss	30–10	Jun-Suk Hwang	MD	10	12 Jul 1984	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	30–9	Mauricio Bravo	TKO	1 (10)	1 Mar 1984	Template:Small
38	Template:No2Loss	29–9	Roberto Durán	TKO	4 (12)	29 Jan 1983	Template:Small
37	Template:No2Loss	29–8	Roger Stafford	UD	10	7 Nov 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	29–7	Jørgen Hansen	TKO	1 (10)	25 Jun 1981	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	28–7	Bernardo Prada	KO	2 (10)	7 Feb 1981	Template:Small
34	Template:No2Loss	27–7	Thomas Hearns	TKO	2 (15)	2 Aug 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	27–6	Harold Volbrecht	KO	5 (15)	6 Apr 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	26–6	Ángel Espada	TKO	10 (15)	8 Dec 1979	Template:Small	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	25–6	Randy Shields	UD	15	30 Jul 1979	Template:Small	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	24–6	Scott Clark	TKO	2 (15)	29 Jan 1979	Template:Small	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	23–6	Pete Ranzany	TKO	2 (15)	9 Sep 1978	Template:Small	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	22–6	Billy Backus	TKO	2 (15)	20 May 1978	Template:Small	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	21–6	Harold Weston	TKO	9 (15)	4 Mar 1978	Template:Small	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	20–6	Ángel Espada	TKO	12 (15)	19 Nov 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	19–6	Clyde Gray	KO	2 (15)	6 Aug 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	18–6	Miguel Ángel Campanino	KO	2 (15)	12 Mar 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	17–6	Shoji Tsujimoto	KO	6 (15)	27 Oct 1976	Template:Small	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	16–6	Ángel Espada	TKO	2 (15)	17 Jul 1976	Template:Small	Template:Small
21	Template:No2Loss	15–6	Andy Price	UD	10	2 Jun 1976	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	15–5	Rafael Piamonte	KO	1 (10)	3 Apr 1976	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	14–5	José Palacios	KO	10 (12)	27 Sep 1975	Template:Small	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	13–5	Carlos Obregón	UD	10	12 Jul 1975	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	12–5	Rubén Vázquez Zamora	UD	10	25 Jan 1975	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	11–5	Sammy García	KO	3 (10)	26 Oct 1974	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	10–5	José Luis Pena	KO	1 (10)	21 Aug 1974	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	9–5	Sugar Sanders	TKO	1 (10)	12 Jun 1974	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	8–5	Salvador Ruvalcaba	KO	1 (10)	11 May 1974	Template:Small
12	Template:No2Loss	7–5	Eleazar Delgado	MD	10	24 Nov 1973	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	7–4	Octavio Amparan	TKO	7 (10)	6 Oct 1973	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	6–4	José Figueroa	TKO	3 (10)	4 Aug 1973	Template:Small
9	Template:No2Loss	5–4	Memo Cruz	UD	10	13 May 1973	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	5–3	Sergio Alejo	KO	4 (8)	1 Mar 1973	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	4–3	Raúl Martínez	KO	1 (8)	7 Dec 1972	Template:Small
6	Template:No2Loss	3–3	Juan Pablo Oropeza	MD	8	19 Aug 1972	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	3–2	Pancho Benítez	TKO	2 (8)	22 Jun 1972	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	2–2	Rielero Rodríguez	TKO	2 (6)	24 May 1972	Template:Small
3	Template:No2Loss	1–2	Mario Roman	MD	6	4 Mar 1972	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	1–1	José Arias	TKO	4 (6)	1 Jan 1972	Template:Small
1	Template:No2Loss	0–1	Alfredo Castro	KO	2 (4)	14 Nov 1971	Template:Small

See also

• List of Mexican boxing world champions
• List of world welterweight boxing champions

External links

• Template:Boxrec