Curtis Cokes vs Manuel Gonzalez 5

Curtis Cokes became world welterweight champion at the fifth attempt against his old Texas rival Manuel Gonzalez when he won a wide 15-round unanimous decision at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans on 24 August 1966. Cokes weighed 146 pounds, and Gonzalez weighed 147 pounds. The championship had become vacant after Emile Griffith moved up to middleweight, and the contest drew 5,102 spectators. Cokes, from Dallas, entered with a record of 41-8-2, while Gonzalez, of Houston, stood at 39-13-6. The two men had known one another since the beginning of their professional careers: Cokes had actually made his debut against Gonzalez in March 1958, and this was their fifth meeting.

Their earlier rivalry had been competitive, but the championship contest was not. Cokes did most of the pressing while Gonzalez spent much of the fight moving away or missing with his punches. Cokes was the more accurate and purposeful boxer, able to advance without becoming careless and repeatedly forcing Gonzalez to give ground. The challenger’s movement prevented Cokes from establishing a sustained attack during many of the early and middle rounds, but it did little to win them. Gonzalez was generally reacting to the champion-elect rather than dictating the terms himself, and the official scoring gradually became heavily one-sided.

There was little dramatic incident through the first eleven rounds. Cokes continued to move forward behind controlled boxing, while Gonzalez attempted to remain mobile and pick his moments from distance. The pattern favoured Cokes because he was consistently the man making the fight and landing the cleaner blows. UPI’s unofficial card eventually gave Cokes 12 rounds, Gonzalez two, with one even, which closely reflected the broad opinion of the officials. Referee Pete Giarusso ultimately scored the contest 14 rounds to one for Cokes. Judge Herman Dutreix had it 11-2, with two even, while Eddie Brown returned a card of 8-2 with five even. There was therefore no serious question over the direction of the decision.

The principal action came in the twelfth round. Gonzalez was working with his jab when Cokes suddenly drove a right hand into his jaw. Cokes followed immediately with a succession of punches, including lefts, an uppercut and further rights, forcing Gonzalez back into the ropes before sending him to the canvas. Gonzalez remained down through a count of four and, after rising, was held at the ropes while Giarusso completed the mandatory count of eight. Cokes went after him for the remainder of the round, throwing heavily in an attempt to finish the contest, but Gonzalez survived and reached the bell. It was the only knockdown of the fight and the closest Cokes came to ending matters inside the distance.

Gonzalez recovered sufficiently to complete the final three rounds, but by then the championship had effectively slipped beyond his reach. Cokes did not need to take unnecessary chances. He continued to press, maintained the cleaner work and completed the full 15 rounds without allowing Gonzalez any sustained recovery on the scorecards. When the decision was announced, all three officials had Cokes comfortably ahead. Giarusso’s 14-1 score in particular underlined how thoroughly he believed Cokes had controlled the contest. The victory brought Cokes a world championship after eight years as a professional and after a career in which he had already defeated such accomplished welterweights as Luis Rodriguez.

The governing bodies complicated the title situation at the time. Contemporary accounts and BoxRec describe the fight as filling the vacancy created when Griffith became middleweight champion. At the same time, the International Boxing Hall of Fame records Cokes specifically as winning the vacant WBA welterweight championship against Gonzalez. Cokes’ universal recognition was consolidated three months later when he defeated Frenchman Jean Josselin over 15 rounds in Dallas, a bout associated with the WBC title as well as the WBA championship. He subsequently developed into the recognised leading welterweight of the period and retained his championships until losing to Jose Napoles in 1969.

For Gonzalez, the defeat closed an unusual rivalry that had spanned almost the entire first eight years of Cokes’ career. Gonzalez had beaten Cokes once, by split decision in their third meeting in April 1959, while Cokes had won the other four. By the time they met for the fifth and final occasion, however, the competitive balance between them had shifted considerably. Cokes had developed into a mature, accurate counterpuncher with a particularly effective right hand, while Gonzalez could no longer make their old familiarity count for enough. The twelfth-round knockdown supplied the evening’s only major crisis, but the real story of the fight was Cokes’ sustained control over 15 rounds. He had waited a long time for his championship opportunity and, when it came, he left little doubt that he was ready for it.

I’ve always liked Curtis Cokes because he was a craftsman. Nothing flashy for the sake of it, just balance, timing and a lovely right hand. By the time he met Manuel Gonzalez for the fifth time, they knew each other inside out, but Cokes had developed into the better fighter.

The fight was one-sided. Gonzalez spent too much time moving away and missing, while Cokes kept pressing without getting reckless. That tells you plenty about his maturity. He wasn’t charging after him; he was cutting the distance and waiting for the right opening. In the twelfth, he found it, dropping Gonzalez heavily with his right hand, then trying to finish him.

For me, this was Cokes finally getting the reward his career deserved. After eight years as a professional, he became world champion with scores of 14-1, 11-2 and 8-2. That isn’t a disputed title win. That’s a fighter taking complete control of the biggest night of his career.