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Kid Chocolate-The First Cuban Great


BoztheMadman
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Eligio Sardinias Montalvo, aka Kid Chocolate, was not just the first Cuban professional world boxing champion, he was also one of the greatest Cuban fighters ever. He won the featherweight and super featherweight world championship and fought for both the lightweight and the light welterweight one against the great Tony Canzoneri but lost by a close and split decision. Kid Chocolate was a puncher at 126 and 130 but as he went up in weight he became more of a pure boxer. He was also known for his speed. He fought between 1927 and 1938 and left behind a record of 136 wins, 51 by ko, 10 losses and 6 draws. This is the story of Kid Chocolate, Cuba's first great professional boxer.

 

He was born on 6 January 1910 in Cerro, a part of Havana. His amateur career is shrouded by mystery and uncertainty as his manager claimed his record was 100-0, but this is thought to have been pure propaganda fabrication. All that is certain is that he had 23 amateur bouts and won them all, the rest could not be uncovered. It is said Montalvo (Kid Chocolate) first started fighting as a newspaper boy, to protect his sale turf. After winning an amateur tournament sponsored by the newspaper La Noche, he came under the guidance of its' editor, Luis Gutierrez. It is he who later printed the claim that his amateur record was 100-0. Actually, neither Gutierrez nor Montalvo knew much about boxing and the future Kid Chocolate had to learn about it from boxing footage of famous fights. What is certain is that he never lost a fight as an amateur. He then went to New York in 1927 to start his professional career. He had his first fight there on 22 October that year against Johnny Cruz and won by UD6. In his first 56 fights, only one was a draw and the rest was all wins. That one draw was against Joey Scalfaro, a top ranked contender and came in his 23rd fight. Kid Chocolate got knocked down once and had to fight hard to retain a draw. Scalfaro then would challenge for the world bantamweight title. In 1929, Chocolate started fighting as a featherweight and on 24 February won the "Colored" world title by UD10 against the very experienced veteran Chuck Suggs. On 22 May, he scored an even bigger and more important victory over Fidel La Barba, another top contender who would challenge for the world title. Chocolate decisioned the tough scrapper by MD10.

 

It was then, on 7 August 1930, that he would experience his first loss to legendary Jack Kid Berg, who outweighed him by 10 pounds. Chocolate had Berg in trouble in the 3rd round and fought very well, but a late rally by Berg swung the favor of the judges his way and he was awarded a split decision. Almost 4 months later, he also lost the rematch with LaBarba by UD10. On 12 December he received a shot for the NYSAC (recognized as a world title back then) belt against Battling Batalino. Despite flooring Batalino in the first round and having him on the verge of a knockout, it wasn't enough and in the end he found himself robbed of the victory and the title as the fight went 15 rounds and Batalino got the decision. He then decided to move up to super featherweight and after winning 4 fights there got another shot at the world title, this time the NBA one. It was 15 July 1931 and his opponent and the defending champion was Benny Bass, who had 124 fights under his belt, with 106 victories. However, this time the Cuban whirlwind would and could not be denied and stopped Bass by TKO7 at the Shibe Park in Philadelphia to claim his first world title. Bass was out on his feet when the fight got stopped. After this victory, the next one would be even sweeter, as he took on Joey Scalfaro in his first defense on 1 October at the Queensboro Stadium in Queens, NY and knocked Scalfaro down after only 30 seconds, with a flurry. Scalfaro made the count at 8 but was then waved off by the referee. Scalfaro viciously protested and as the winner approached him with a victor's gesture, offering a friendly handshake, Scalfaro broke away from his handlers and punched him.

 

Kid decisioned Lew Feldman in a non-title fight, which was called one of the most exciting fights in a long time by the New York Times. It was at lightweight, even though Chocolate only weighed half a pound above the super feather limit. He was then given the biggest fight of his life: a chance to win both the lightweight and the junior welterweight title against one of the greatest lightweights in history, Tony Canzoneri. The deal was originally that the fight be fought at the 130 limit, interestingly, but Canzoneri didn't make it and so Chocolate's title was not at stake. On 20 November of 1931 at Madison Square Garden, the two great legends fought what was later called one of the greatest lightweight fights ever and in the end, Canzoneri retained his titles with a split decision after 15 rounds. Kid Chocolate returned to defending his title against Davey Abad next year and won by UD15. He again decisioned Lew Feldman after that and then on the 18th July had a rematch with Jack Kid Berg and scored the harder punches once again yet could not put the tough Briton down and again Berg closed strong to win by split decision. Chocolate then defended his title for the third time on points against Eddie Shae before signing to fight Lew Feldman for the third time, this time with the vacant NYSAC featherweight title on the line as well. As the previous two times, the Cuban was the better man but this time stopped Feldman by TKO12. He rounded out the busy 1932 to defend two titles at once for the first time against Fidel LaBarba and this time had to settle for a majority decision in a tough fight.

 

He would defend the two titles once more, on 19 May 1933, against Seaman Tommy Watson and decisioned Watson over 15 rounds, this time the decision was unanimous. After that, unable to make the featherweight limit anymore, he relinquished his NYSAC belt. On 24 November 1933, he again faced Tony Canzoneri and this time, after 99 fights, he was knocked out for the first time in a wild brawl, in 2 rounds. Both guys were hurt and bleeding after the first round but in the second, Canzoneri prevailed and put him down and out with a right hand and the fight ended at 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Many think this was the beginning of the end for the 23-yearold Kid Chocolate and he would never be the same again. At the end of that year, he was stopped again by Frankie Klick in a fight for the PA Athletic Commission world title, by TKO 7. He would drift into relative obscurity after that but he remained undefeated in his last 28 fights. The last one was at the tail end of 1938 and Kid Chocolate retired at 29 next year. He died in 1988, aged 78 and was inducted into the IBHOF 3 years later, in the second year of the hall of fame. In 2001, The Ring called his boxing nickname the greatest one in boxing and one of the greatest in all sports. In 2002, the same magazine ranked him as the 5th greatest featherweight of all time.

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