Hank Kaplan is reported to have said that Rodriguez was probably the most underrated lighter weight fighter of the past half-century?
?As soon as I entered the smoke-filled auditorium and heard the ooohs and aaahs, I sensed immediately what kind of fighter was in there. Then I heard, ?Oh my God?did you see that move?? That?s when all doubt was removed.??From Boxing Is My Sanctuary (2007)
?Luis Manuel Rodriguez was an artist of the fistic canvas?a true master of his chosen craft.??Tracey Callis (CBZ)
With the Cuban boxers of yesteryear, there was plenty of bun but there was even more beef. Kid Gavilan was arguably the flashiest and the best of the great imports but ultra-stylist Luis Manuel ?El Feo? Rodriguez (107?13) was either on par or not far behind.
Gavilan (Gerardo Gonzalez) used the ?bolo punch,? a looping, whirling uppercut that was flashier than it was effective, but it was oh so fan friendly. For the record, IBRO member Ric Kilmer found the following though his research: ?Macario Flores was perhaps the inventor of the so-called ?bolo punch??a combination of a wide uppercut/right cross. At the least, he was one of the very first to use it, by no later than 1924. Tacoma News-Tribune newspaper, March 27, 1924.? Filipino legend Ceferino Garcia also used it and then Kid Gavilan. More recently, Sugar Ray Leonard included it in his tool chest as Roberto Duran found out in the ?No Mas? affair as he watched the right hand that was circling only to be whacked flush with a stiff and sneaky Leonard left jab.
After the Castro-led Cuban Revolution in the late ?50s, a small band of Cuban-born boxeadores including Rodriguez fled their homeland. The lanky banana-nosed welterweight, affectionately nicknamed ?El Feo? (the Ugly One) by his fans in Cuba joined the growing ?Little Cuba? community in Miami and became an instant star. Rodr?guez campaigned out of his new home and fought a Who?s Who of fighters including Isaac Logart, Holly Mims, Luis Federico Thompson (150-14-15), Yama Bahama, Emile Griffith (four times), Denny Moyer, Rudell Stich, Joey Giambra, Curtis Cokes (twice), Virgil Akins (twice), Joe Miceli, Jimmy Lester, Chico Vejar, Rubin Carter (twice), Wilbert McClure (twice), Benny Kid Paret (twice) George Benton, Bennie Briscoe (twice), Bobby Cassidy, Vincente Rondon (twice), Sugar Hart, Rafael Gutierrez (twice), Tony Mundine, Nino Benvenuti, and Dave Hilton.
El Feo, both a boxer and a puncher, was capable of accomplishing just about anything in the ring. But only aficionados and/or historians knew who he was as the slickster worked his ring magic under the radar for many years due to his short title reign and his crucial, albeit close, crossroads losses to Emille Griffith. He was cagey and cute and was unbeaten in 35 fights before losing a split decision to Griffith in 1960. In 1963, the two fought twice for the world welterweight championship. Rodriguez defeated Griffith by a unanimous decision to win the title. Unfortunately the win was overshadowed by the fateful Sugar Ramos-Davey Moore fight on the same card, but Griffith regained it three months later with a hotly disputed split decision. Their fourth and final meeting came in 1964, with Griffith retaining the welterweight title with still another split decision. Each fight was won by a razor thin margin. Many thought El Feo had been jobbed at least twice. Livid Cuban fans shouted at the Garden, ?Ees terrible! Ees steenk! Ees no free countree!?
Along other lines, Luis was very fond of a young and impressionable Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) and vice versa. He was so stylish that Ali reportedly incorporated many of El Feo?s moves into his own repertoire when they both trained at Miami?s 5th Street Gym by the great Angelo Dundee. Both used blazing flurries and could inflict damage on their opponents while back peddling. Both possessed great jabs. Luis had long arms that gave him a reach advantage which he leveraged (along with cat-like quickness and great timing) to launch his snake-like long, left jab. He was flashy, but less so than The Kid.
?Rodriguez is a clown, a friendly clown. He has the furrowed forehead of a bloodhound and the nose of Cyrano. ?Cyrano and I,? he says, ?have more in common than our noses. We are both poets.?? He likes to sing, play the piano and dance. He is simpatico. At his training camp, Tamarack Lodge up in the Catskills, he appeared in the nightclub where his act included ?an old song from my country,? Bei Mir Bist du Schoen, in Yiddish.??Robert H. Boyle. SI VAULT, June 17, 1963
Luis Manuel Rodriguez retired in 1972; he was inducted into the IBHOF in 1997. Herb Goldman ranked Rodriguez as the number eight all-time welterweight. Hank Kaplan is reported to have said that Rodriguez was probably the most underrated lighter weight fighter of the past half-century.
Others
The aforementioned select group of Cuban imports included Ultimino ?Sugar? Ramos, Jose ?Mantequilla? Napoles (who was indeed as smooth as butter), Florentino ?the Ox? Fernandez (one of the most feared KO punchers of the 1960s who could hurt anyone with any kind of punch no matter where it landed), Orlando Zulueta, star-crossed boxers Benny ?Kid ? Paret and Jose Stable, Kid Chocolate (Eligio Sardinias-Montalvo, also known as the ?Cuban Bon Bon? who went 135-10-6), the ignored Kid Tunero , (Evelio Celestino Mustelier), top contender Nino Valdes, and Jose Legra (who moved his base to Spain when Castro outlawed professional boxing). Another who moved from Cuba and retired in 1978 was the lesser known Angel ?Robinson? Garcia whose final mark was a hard-to-fathom 133-81-21 with only three stoppage losses in 235 fights and whose activity level was off the charts. He compiled over 60 wins in just four years from 1963-1967.
While relegated to relative obscurity, El Feo along with Gavilan and Jose ?Mantequilla? Napoles are clearly the best of the great Cuban boxers. Each is in the International Boxing Hall of Fame as is Sugar Ramos and Kid Chocolate, and Legra could well be inducted someday as his final boxing record was 134-12-4.
Te?filo Stevenson and Felix Sav?n might also be there had they become professionals. Other great ?what ifs? include Mario Kindelan, Angel Herrera Vera, and Ariel Hernandez.
More Recent
?If I have to chose between Gamboa, Lara and Rigondeaux, I?ll have to go with Rigondeaux because he?s got the talent but also the discipline. With Gamboa, one day he?ll run a red light and there will be a truck there waiting for him. That won?t happen with Rigondeaux. He?ll never run the red light because of his temperament, his technique and his discipline.??Teddy Atlas
A prime Joel ?El Cepillo? Casamayor (1996-2011) avoided becoming a ?what if? and became a major force with which to be reckoned as his resume included fights with Kwon Baek (undefeated), David Santos, ?Popo? Freitas (undefeated), Roberto Garcia, Diego Corrales (three times), Daniel Seda (undefeated), Nate Campbell (undefeated), Radford Beasley (undefeated), Jose Luis Castillo, Kid Diamond (undefeated), and Michael Katsidis (undefeated). Losses to the likes of Freitas, Corrales, Castillo, Tim Bradley, and Juan Manuel Marquez should not be enough to diminish his career achievements, though they could keep him out of the IBHOF.
Diosbelys Hurtado (43-3-1), known as ?The Oriental Kid,? began his professional career in 1994 and ran up 20 straight wins. On January 4, 2002, he captured the IBA light welterweight title from Ricky Quiles, and in his next match he won the vacant WBA light welterweight title with a KO win over bomber Randall Bailey. Hurtado then lost the two belts in his first defense to Vivian Harris via a second round TKO. He is perhaps best known for his losses to Pernell Whitaker (1997) and Kostya Tszyu (1998) when he gave both pure hell before succumbing. The fight with Tszyu had a shocking beginning. Hurtado went down once in first, while Tszyu was decked twice in the same round. The Kid?now long in the tooth?has come out of retirement twice and is on an eight-fight win streak, but his best days are clearly behind him.
These days defecting Cubans including the reckless but explosive featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa, cruiserweight Yoan Pablo Hernandez Soarez, light middleweight southpaw Erislandy Lara, heavyweights Odlanier Solis and Michael Perez, ultra-slick super bantamweight Guillermo Rigondeaux, and lightweight Richar Abril, are quickly becoming the next big things from the Island nation. And while their skills for the most part are extraordinary, one thing is notably missing; namely, CUBAN FLASH and maybe the reason for this is that after the Revolution, Eastern European methodology replaced the American influences with Russian Andrei Chervorenko, in large part, developing a comprehensive national recruiting and training program based on the then Soviet model that has been passed down ever since.
But what I wouldn?t give to witness one good bolo punch?even if it?s more flash than substance! Just one.
