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Revision as of 17:38, 16 April 2005 by Ibeb1 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Luis Manuel Rodriguez (b. 1937, d. 1996) was a smooth boxing Cuban former world welterweight boxing champion. Known as "El Feo", Rodriguez began his career in pre-Castro Havana. In Cuba, Rodriguez twice defeated the ill-fated future welterweight champion Benny Kid Paret.
After, the Cuban Revolution, Rodriguez campaigned in the United States. Fighting out of Miami, Rodriguez decisioned top welterweights Virgil Aikins, Isaac Logart and Garnet "Sugar" Hart. He was unbeaten in 36 fights before losing a split decision to Emile Griffith in a 1960 non-title fight.
Rodriguez was unfortunate to have fought during the same time that Emile Griffith campaigned as a welterweight. The two fought four times and each fight was so close that the decision could have gone either way. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, the decision went to Griffith in three of their four bouts.
Rodriguez's sweetest victory came in 1963 when he defeated Griffith to win the welterweight title by scoring a unanimous decision (9-5, 8-5 and 8-6 on points). His reign, however, would be short lived. Six months later, Griffithregained the crown via split decision (8-7, 9-6 and 5-10 in rounds). In their fourth and final encounter, Griffith again retained the crown by split decision (69-67, 70-68 and 70-71).
Rodriguez was known as a master boxer, quick counterpuncher and an elusive target. Although he was considered a weak puncher, Rodriguez scored some suprising KO's when he set himself to punch. He was trained by Angelo Dundee and worked out of Miami's 5th Street Gym. There he met the young Cassius Clay, who was said to have incorporated many of Rodriguez's moves into his own repertoire.
When Griffith relinquished his crown and moved up to the middleweight division, Rodriguez competed in the elimination series of bouts to determine Griffith's successor to the throne. By this time Rodriuez was having trouble making the 147 lb weight limit, and he was TKO'ed by the eventual tournamemt winner, Curtis Cokes, in the 15th and final round, after running out of gas in the fight.
Rodrigues then moved up to the middleweight and beat many of the top fighters in that division. Among the outstanding 160-pounders he defeated were George Benton, Hurricane Carter (twice), and Bennie Briscoe (twice). He was rewarded with a title match against the then reigning middleweight titleholder, Nino Benvenuti in Rome in 1969. In an interesting tactical fight, Rodriguez opened a severe cut over the bridge of the chanpions nose, and appeared to be coming on to win the fight. In the 11th round, however, Benvenuti caught Rodriguez with a picture book perfect left hook that knocked the Cuban fighter out. Rodriguez continued to fight after the Benvenuti match, but retired in 1972, after dropping two fights in a row.
In his career Rodriguez engaged in 121 bouts. He won 107 (49 KOS), lost 13 and fought 1 No Contest. He was Inducted into the IBHOF in 1997.
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