Rodrigo Valdez

Rodrigo Valdez (February 22, 1946 – March 15, 2017) was a Colombian professional boxer who competed from 1963 to 1980. He was a two time middleweight champion, having held the WBC title from 1974 to 1976 and the undisputed WBA, WBC, and The Ring titles from 1977 to 1978. His rivalry with Carlos Monzón has long been considered among the most legendary boxing rivalries. Valdez was trained by International Boxing Hall of Fame coach Gil Clancy. Many people consider him, Antonio Cervantes and Miguel "Happy" Lora to be the three greatest boxers ever to come from that country. He is 29th on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

Professional boxing career

Born in Bolívar, Colombia, Rodrigo Valdez began his professional boxing career with a win over Orlando Pineda in a four-round decision on October 25, 1963, at Cartagena. He won his next eight bouts, but on October 2, 1965, he lost his undefeated record, beaten by knockout in six by Rudy Escobar.

After that defeat, he went on another undefeated streak of fifteen fights, of which he won thirteen and tied two. However, on his first fight abroad, February 16, 1969, in Ecuador, he lost a ten-round decision to Daniel Guanin. After one more fight in Cartagena, he moved to the United States. Trying to gain more recognition, he campaigned, from 1969 to 1970, in the states of New York, Nevada and California, winning seven fights and losing two. Then, he returned to South America for four more fights in his homeland, winning all.

Hepatitis

In his next match, held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, with Bobby Cassidy on August 9, 1971, Valdez won by knockout in round six, because the fight doctor deemed Cassidy not fit to continue from a cut around his eye which had been ruled as produced by a Valdez punch. At the time, nobody knew that Cassidy had hepatitis A. As a consequence of this, Valdez also became affected by the disease. Given a quarantine, he refused to quit boxing periodically and continued training during his time of illness. Separated from most of the world, he was fit enough to win two more fights within three months of his initial diagnosis of hepatitis.

Valdez had nineteen wins in a row when he met Philadelphia legend Bennie Briscoe for the NABF middleweight title, in Nouméa, New Caledonia, on September 1, 1973, beating Briscoe in a 12-round decision to capture the regional championship and becoming a world-ranked middleweight contender. After this win, Valdez claimed for a world title shot at Monzon.

World title

He won two more fights, and the WBC made him its number one contender at Monzon's title. But Monzon did not feel like fighting the Colombian at that moment, so the WBC stripped Monzon of the world title (Monzon retained the WBA title) and made Valdez and Briscoe rematch, this time with the WBC world middleweight title on the line. On May 25, 1974, at Monte Carlo, Valdez became a world champion for the first time, by knocking Briscoe out in seven rounds. Valdez subsequently retained his title against Rudy Valdez, Gratien Tonna, and Max Cohen, until Monzon finally agreed to meet him.

One week before the long-awaited match-up, on June 19, 1976, Valdez's brother was murdered during a barroom fight in Colombia. Already in Monte Carlo for the fight, Valdez wanted to pull out of it to join his family in mourning. But he was contractually bound to fight Monzon, so he had to stay in Europe, and on June 26, Valdez, who to many observers seemed rather uninterested, lost in the unification bout to Monzon in a 15-round unanimous decision.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Valdez won two more fights after returning to Colombia.

The WBA and WBC, recognizing that Valdez probably wasn't in the best of moods to fight during his first confrontation with Monzon, ordered a second fight between the rivals, and so they fought again, on July 30, 1977, once again at Monte Carlo. This time around, Valdez knocked down Monzon in the second round, becoming the only man to send the Argentine to the floor in Monzon's long career. Valdez was leading after seven rounds, but Monzon mounted a late rally that allowed him to keep the title by a close decision.

Monzon's retirement

Monzon announced his retirement from boxing afterwards, and so Valdez and Briscoe were matched once again, on November 5, 1977, for the vacant undisputed world middleweight championship, in Campione d'Italia, which belonged back then not to Italy, but actually to Switzerland. Valdez recovered the world middleweight championship, with a 15-round decision over Briscoe. This time around, however, he would lose his title on his first defense, on April 22, 1978, by points in 15 rounds to another Argentine, Hugo Corro, in San Remo, Italy.

On November 11 of that same year, they had a rematch, at Buenos Aires' Luna Park Stadium, and Corro repeated his 15-round victory to retain the world title.

Retirement

Valdez fought only twice more, winning both fights by knockout. After beating Gilberto Amonte on November 28, 1980, in the first round, he retired from boxing for good.

Valdez had a record of 63 wins, eight losses and two draws as a professional boxer, with 42 wins by knockout.

Death

According to Colombian sources, Valdez died of a massive heart attack on March 14, 2017.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cartagena mayor Manuel Duque confirmed the two time former world champion's death, calling him "one of the greatest Colombian sportsmen of all time".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
73	Template:Yes2Win	Template:Nowrap	Gilberto Almonte	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	Nov 28, 1980	Template:Small
72	Template:Yes2Win	62–8–2	Charles Hayward	TKO	7 (10), Template:Small	May 14, 1980	Template:Small
71	Template:No2Loss	61–8–2	Hugo Corro	UD	15	Nov 11, 1978	Template:Small	Template:Small
70	Template:Yes2Win	61–7–2	Mayfield Pennington	TKO	7 (10), Template:Small	Sep 30, 1978	Template:Small
69	Template:No2Loss	60–7–2	Hugo Corro	UD	15	Apr 22, 1978	Template:Small	Template:Small
68	Template:Yes2Win	60–6–2	Bennie Briscoe	UD	15	Nov 5, 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
67	Template:No2Loss	59–6–2	Carlos Monzón	UD	15	Jul 30, 1977	Template:Small	Template:Small
66	Template:Yes2Win	59–5–2	Oreste Lebron	TKO	5 (10)	Mar 19, 1977	Template:Small
65	Template:Yes2Win	58–5–2	Ramon Beras	KO	7 (10)	Oct 24, 1976	Template:Small
64	Template:No2Loss	57–5–2	Carlos Monzón	UD	15	Jun 26, 1976	Template:Small	Template:Small
63	Template:Yes2Win	57–4–2	Nessim Max Cohen	TKO	4 (15), Template:Small	Mar 28, 1976	Template:Small	Template:Small
62	Template:Yes2Win	56–4–2	Rudy Robles	UD	15	Aug 16, 1975	Template:Small	Template:Small
61	Template:Yes2Win	55–4–2	Ramón Mendez	TKO	8 (15)	May 31, 1975	Template:Small	Template:Small
60	Template:Yes2Win	54–4–2	Gratien Tonna	KO	11 (15)	Nov 30, 1974	Template:Small	Template:Small
59	Template:Yes2Win	53–4–2	Vinnie Curto	UD	10	Oct 25, 1974	Template:Small
58	Template:Yes2Win	52–4–2	Cubby Jackson	TKO	2 (12)	Sep 6, 1974	Template:Small
57	Template:Yes2Win	51–4–2	Bennie Briscoe	TKO	7 (15), Template:Small	May 25, 1974	Template:Small	Template:Small
56	Template:Yes2Win	50–4–2	Ernie Burns	KO	2 (10)	Mar 16, 1974	Template:Small
55	Template:Yes2Win	49–4–2	Joey Durelle	KO	2 (10)	Dec 14, 1973	Template:Small
54	Template:Yes2Win	48–4–2	Bennie Briscoe	UD	12	Sep 1, 1973	Template:Small	Template:Small
53	Template:Yes2Win	47–4–2	Antonio Aguilar	PTS	10	Jul 19, 1973	Template:Small
52	Template:Yes2Win	46–4–2	Leon Washington	KO	7 (10)	May 30, 1973	Template:Small
51	Template:Yes2Win	45–4–2	Kim Booker	TKO	5 (10), Template:Small	Apr 16, 1973	Template:Small
50	Template:Yes2Win	44–4–2	José Rodríguez	TKO	5 (10)	Mar 5, 1973	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	43–4–2	Carlos Marks	PTS	10	Dec 18, 1972	Template:Small
48	Template:Yes2Win	42–4–2	Lloyd Duncan	UD	10	Sep 29, 1972	Template:Small
47	Template:Yes2Win	41–4–2	Roy Edmonds	KO	2 (10), Template:Small	Aug 28, 1972	Template:Small
46	Template:Yes2Win	40–4–2	Juan Evangelista Córdoba	KO	6 (?)	Aug 10, 1972	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	39–4–2	Milton Mendez	KO	2 (?)	Apr 2, 1972	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	38–4–2	Thurman Doc Holliday	TKO	4 (10), Template:Small	Nov 25, 1971	Template:Small	Template:Small
43	Template:Yes2Win	37–4–2	Perry Abney	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	Oct 19, 1971	Template:Small	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	36–4–2	Bobby Cassidy	TKO	7 (10), Template:Small	Aug 9, 1971	Template:Small	Template:Small
41	Template:Yes2Win	35–4–2	Edmundo Leite	TKO	4 (10)	Jun 28, 1971	Template:Small
40	Template:Yes2Win	34–4–2	Marcos Tordoya	TKO	4 (10)	May 14, 1971	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	33–4–2	Arturo Lang	KO	5 (10), Template:Small	Mar 26, 1971	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	32–4–2	Juan Jimenez	KO	2 (10)	Jan 24, 1971	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	31–4–2	Juan Evangelista Córdoba	TKO	9 (10)	Jul 31, 1970	Template:Small
36	Template:No2Loss	30–4–2	Ralph Palladin	SD	10	May 11, 1970	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	30–3–2	Cassius Greene	UD	10	May 1, 1970	Template:Small
34	Template:No2Loss	29–3–2	Pete Toro	MD	10	Mar 2, 1970	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	29–2–2	Dave Oropeza	KO	1 (10), Template:Small	Feb 14, 1970	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	28–2–2	Denny Stiletto	TKO	1 (10)	Dec 10, 1969	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	27–2–2	Raul Rodríguez	TKO	9 (10)	Oct 17, 1969	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	26–2–2	David Melendez	TKO	5 (10), Template:Small	Sep 17, 1969	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	25–2–2	Mike DeFeo	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	Sep 3, 1969	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	24–2–2	Peter Cobblah	UD	10	Aug 6, 1969	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	23–2–2	Linfer Contreras	KO	2 (?)	Jun 4, 1969	Template:Small
26	Template:No2Loss	22–2–2	Daniel Guanin	PTS	10	Feb 16, 1969	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	22–1–2	Humberto Trottman	PTS	10	Aug 6, 1968	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	21–1–2	Cartagenita Kid	KO	7 (?)	Apr 15, 1968	Template:Small
23	Template:DrawDraw	20–1–2	German Gastelbondo	PTS	10	Jan 21, 1968	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	20–1–1	Richard Morales	KO	2 (?)	Dec 3, 1967	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	19–1–1	Humberto Trottman	PTS	10	Oct 1, 1967	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	18–1–1	Alfonso Franco	KO	12 (12)	Aug 20, 1967	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	17–1–1	Baby Mendez	KO	3 (?)	Aug 12, 1967	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	16–1–1	Kid Revolledo	PTS	10	Jun 10, 1967	Template:Small
17	Template:DrawDraw	15–1–1	Mario Rossito	PTS	10	Apr 2, 1967	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	15–1	Eugenio Espinoza	UD	10	Mar 5, 1967	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	14–1	Julio Novella	TKO	2 (10)	Jan 22, 1967	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	13–1	Alfonso Franco	KO	7 (12)	Nov 4, 1966	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	12–1	Elias Lian	PTS	10	Jul 29, 1966	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	11–1	Luis Ascary Lucero	KO	2 (10)	Jun 24, 1966	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	10–1	Sixto Ulloa	PTS	10	Apr 29, 1966	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	9–1	Rafael Luna	UD	10	Mar 13, 1966	Template:Small
9	Template:No2Loss	8–1	Juan Escobar	TKO	6 (10), Template:Small	Oct 2, 1965	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	8–0	Elias Hidalgo	KO	6 (?)	Jul 9, 1965	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	7–0	Manuel Jack Hernandez	PTS	10	Sep 12, 1964	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Fernando Alvarez	TKO	8 (10)	May 15, 1964	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Alejandro Parra	PTS	8	Feb 28, 1964	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Humberto Hurtado	PTS	6	Feb 6, 1964	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Alejandro Parra	KO	5 (?)	Jan 15, 1964	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Eliecer de Avila	KO	4 (?)	Nov 6, 1963	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Orlando Pineda	PTS	4	Oct 25, 1963	Template:Small

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

• WBA middleweight champion (160 lbs)
• WBC middleweight champion (160 lbs) (2×)

The Ring magazine titles

• The Ring middleweight champion (160 lbs)

Regional/International titles

• NABF middleweight champion (160 lbs)

Undisputed titles

• Undisputed middleweight champion

See also

• Afro-Colombians
• WBC Legends of Boxing Museum
• List of world middleweight boxing champions

External links

• Template:Boxrec
• Rodrigo Valdez - CBZ Profile

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