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Luis Manuel Rodriguez-El Feo


BoztheMadman
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El Feo is a Spanish word meaning something or someone nasty or bad or foul. But there was nothing nasty about Luis Manuel Rodriguez. He had one of the smoothest boxing styles ever, which made even Muhammad Ali copy and admire him. He was no slouch in the punching department either, despite only scoring 49 knockouts in 107 victories: he preferred to box but could still produce a stunning knockout when he wanted. He stood only 5'8 but had extraordinary long reach of 74". He was one of the greatest welterweights and greatest Cuban boxers ever. Emile Griffith has had four fights with him, three which he officially won, but has stated that he's not sure that he ever beat Rodriguez. As he entered his 30's, he ventured into the middleweight division and also beat some notable fighters there. He was only stopped three times in his 121 fights, and was only knocked out once, which means he had a solid chin also. Despite being rightfully considered an all-time great, it took until after his death before he was finally inducted into the IBHOF and he is one of the most underappreciated fighters of the ATG's.

 

He was born on 17 March 1937 in Camaguey, Cuba. He made his professional debut in June 1956 with a KO 3 over Lazaro Hernandez Kessell. He beat Gomeo Brennan, the future light heavyweight world title challenger, by UD 8 next year. And in 1958 he decisioned the ill-fated Benny "Kid" Paret twice, once by unanimous and once by split decision. He also captured the Cuban welter title by UD12 against Kid Fichique that year. His last fight in Cuba took place in May next year, when he knocked out Cecil Shorts in the 9th round. After Fidel Castro came to power and banned pro boxing, he was forced to move to Miami, Florida and won his first fight there against the solid Virgil Akins by UD10. He beat other noted fighters like Isaac Logart, Garnet Hart, Yama Bahama and Chico Vejar and also knocked out the 17-0 Carl Hubbard in the 4th round. He ran his record to 35-0 before running into Emile Griffith, the future undisputed world champion and his arch nemesis, in December 1960. Fighting in Madison Square Garden, the Cuban underdog gave the popular Virgin Islands fighter hell but Griffith produced the most eyecatching moment when he buckled his knees in the 3rd with a left hook. In the end, Griffith won a majority decision. He then won four fights before another upset at the hands of Curtis Cokes, another future undisputed champion. The fight was held 3 August 1961 in Cokes' hometown of Dallas and after 10 hard fought rounds where Cokes knocked Rodriguez down in the 5th, Cokes was handed a split decision victory. In October he took on the teak-tough Jose Monon Gonzalez of Puerto Rico and first floored him in the 1st round with a left to the body and a right cross before stopping him by TKO 7. He rounded up the year by avenging the loss to Cokes in a December fight: this time they fought on Rordiguez's turf in Miami and Rodriguez soundly outboxed Cokes to earn an almost shutout victory.

 

He started 1962 by outpointing the famed contender, the Panama-born and Argentina-based Luis Federico Thompson, over 10 rounds in Madison Square Garden. He then won some more fights, including a TKO 3 in a rematch with Yama Bahama and a UD10 against the naturally bigger Joey Giambra in a middleweight fight. After the fight he said "I want Emile Griffith now. He's got to fight me, here, Las Vegas, anywhere. He can't run from me anymore." And Griffith didn't run indeed. The two faced off on 21 March 1963 on Dodger Stadium in LA, on the same card of the tragic Davey Moore-Sugar Ramos fight. To everyone's surprise, Rodriguez outboxed Griffith in convincing fashion to earn a unanimous decision and thus became the undisputed welterweight champion. Griffith was angry at the decision and claimed he had won beyond any doubt. 8 of the sportswriters scored the fight for Griffith, 7 for Rodriguez and 2 scored it a draw. The rematch took place on 8 June at Madison Square Garden and Griffith was a 6to5 favorite. Despite 17 of the writers giving the fight to Rodriguez this time and both the Associated Press and United Press scoring it for the Cuban, the judges awarded Griffith a split decision victory. And thus, Luis Manuel was robbed of his title. He rebounded by stopping the tough scrapper Denny Moyer in the 9th after knocking him down twice, once again showing that he could bang. He also beat Wilbert McClure and Holly Mims on points before he again took on Griffith in their rubbermatch, once again for the world title, 12 June 1964 in Las Vegas. Once again, the fight was dead close but Rodriguez got a point taken away in the 3rd round, which proved to be the difference in the end. Griffith was stronger in the first three rounds but then he seemed to tire for the next four rounds and Rodriguez took over. Griffith came back in the 12th and the fight was close until the end. Once again, the writers were divided but the judges again gave it to Griffith by SD.

 

He then decided to enter the middleweight division, which Griffith also did a little later. He first beat the journeyman LC Morgan by KO 2 before taking on the dangerous and hard-hitting Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in February '65. He moved and jabbed while Carter chased. Carter landed some blows in rounds 3 and 5 but Rodriguez was the better man still. In the 7th however he was caught by a right-left-right combination from Carter and sent thru the ropes. He rose at eight and appeared unhurt. He was again staggered in the 9th but took the last round to get a unanimous decision. "He won the fight" Carter said afterwards, "But there oughta be a law against little men like him having arms that long!" They had a rematch in August and despite getting rocked a couple times, Rodriguez danced and jabbed his way to another unanimous decision. Next year he took on the slick Philadelphian George Benton and opened a cut above his right eye with his jabs before the fight was stopped in the 9th round. After that he surprisingly lost to unheralded Percy Manning by SD10. He then briefly returned to welterweight to fight his old nemesis Cokes in a world title eliminator in July '66. Rodriguez caught Cokes off balance and dropped the Texan to his knees in the 6th round. However, the referee Pete Giarusso said the punch was low and took a point away from Rodriguez. Cokes opened a gash beneath Rodriguez's eye in the 10th and then stepped up the aggression in the 14th. When blood began rushing from Luis' mouth in the 15th, his trainer Angelo Dundee threw in the towel. Dundee stated "My boy likes to bang downstairs. The ref takes the round away and in doing so, took the fight from my guy. Cokes was wearing his trunks damn near his chin."

 

After another unfortunate loss, he returned to the middleweights. On 20 March 1967 he scored one of his best victories as a midddleweight when he outpointed the hard-hitting and tough Bennie Briscoe in front of Briscoe's Philadelphia home crowd. El Feo was simply too slick and elusive for the crude Briscoe, who only managed to win a couple of the scheduled 10 rounds. He did however cut Rodriguez's left eye with a right cross and Rodriguez fought the rest of the fight bravely with the blood flowing from the cut. He then avenged the loss to Percy Manning stopping him by TKO 1 in a fight held in Caracas, Venezuela. In December he had a rematch with Briscoe and once again got cut in the 3rd but won the fight convincingly while Briscoe retorted to wrestling tactics. In June '68 he fought the young up and coming Venezuelan puncher Vicente Rondon in San Juan, Puerto Rico and lost to him by UD10 but in the rematch a month later he was the victor by same result. Next year he stopped Rafael Gutierrez of Mexico by TKO 6. The fight was supposed to be an eliminator for a fight against the world champion Nino Benvenuti. However, Rodriguez had to wait and beat three more guys first, including Tom Bethea, who would stop Benvenuti later. He finally got his shot on 22 November '69 at Palazzetto dello Sport in Rome. Rodriguez took control from the beginning and outboxed Benvenuti for most of the first 10 rounds, but after the 10th he told Dundee he wanted to knock Benvenuti out. Dundee advised him against it, as Benvenuti was famed for his punching power. Rodriguez ignored the advice and paid dearly for it, as he was caught by a left hook and knocked out at 1:08 of the 11th round. It would be his final chance at becoming world champion again.

 

He still continued fighting and in 1971 produced his most famous knockout victory when he knocked the Aussie Tony Mundine out in 52 seconds in front of his own crowd in Melbourne. He then lost to Bunny Sterling on points and then Rafael Gutierrez avenged his loss by another TKO 6, which would be his last stoppage loss. His last victory was over Dave Hilton, who would become the patriarch of the famous Fighting Hiltons family, by UD10. He lost his last two fights, by MD and SD, before retiring in 1972, aged 35. He died 8 July 1996, aged 59. A year later, he was inducted into the international boxing hall of fame. In 2009, The Ring magazine ranked him as 3rd greatest Cuban boxer ever, behind Kid Gavilan and Kid Chocolate. Angelo Dundee called him the best technical boxer he ever trained.

Edited by BoztheMadman
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