Pipino Cuevas

José Isidro “Pipino” Cuevas González is a Mexican former world welterweight champion whose reputation rested upon one of the most destructive left hooks of his generation. Born on 27 December 1957 in Santo Tomás de los Plátanos, in the State of Mexico, he stood 5ft 8in, boxed from an orthodox stance and competed professionally from 1971 until 1989. His final record was 35 victories and 15 defeats, with 31 wins by knockout. He fought 50 times, recorded no draws and held the WBA welterweight championship for just over four years.

Cuevas received only a brief amateur education, with 19 contests reported, before entering the professional ring at an extraordinarily young age. He made his debut in Mexico City on 14 November 1971, six weeks before his 14th birthday, and was knocked out in the second round by Alfredo Castro. His early record offered little indication of what was to follow. He lost five of his first 12 fights while learning against older and more experienced opponents, but his natural strength and punching power gradually compensated for the roughness in his technique. Managed by Lupe Sánchez, he developed on the busy Mexico City circuit, appearing regularly at venues such as Arena Coliseo and Arena México.

The progress became more pronounced during 1974 and 1975. Cuevas put together a run of knockout victories and began to show that his power could be carried against better opposition. On 27 September 1975, at Arena México, he stopped José Palacios in the tenth round to win the Mexican welterweight championship. Victories over Rafael Piamonte and other domestic opposition followed, although a unanimous decision defeat by Andy Price in Los Angeles in June 1976 appeared to have checked his advancement. Six weeks later, however, Cuevas was given an unexpected opportunity against WBA champion Ángel Espada.

Espada was 28, experienced and had never been stopped. Cuevas was an 18-year-old challenger with six defeats and only 21 professional contests to his credit. At the Plaza de Toros Calafia in Mexicali on 17 July 1976, the difference in experience proved irrelevant once Cuevas found the range for his left hook. Espada was knocked down three times in the second round before referee Larry Rozadilla stopped the fight. Cuevas became the youngest boxer to win a recognised world welterweight championship, and a difficult early career was transformed almost immediately into one of the division’s most imposing title reigns.

Cuevas successfully defended the WBA title 11 times against ten challengers, with only Randy Shields surviving the distance. His first defence took him to Japan, where he stopped Shoji Tsujimoto in six rounds. The unbeaten Miguel Ángel Campanino, who had won 32 consecutive contests, lasted less than two rounds. Canada’s Clyde Grey, a seasoned contender with 58 victories, was also knocked out in the second. Cuevas then travelled to Puerto Rico for a rematch with Espada and stopped him in the 12th round after breaking the former champion’s jaw. Harold Weston suffered a similar injury during a ninth-round defeat in Los Angeles.

Former champion Billy Backus was stopped in two rounds, as were Pete Ranzany and Scott Clark. Ranzany entered with only two defeats in 43 fights and had the advantage of fighting in Sacramento, but Cuevas overwhelmed him before the contest had properly settled. Shields finally extended the champion through 15 rounds in Chicago in July 1979, losing a unanimous decision. Cuevas stopped Espada for a third time later that year and knocked out South African champion Harold Volbrecht in five rounds in April 1980. His championship record stood at 12 victories from 13 world-title contests, with 11 wins inside the distance.

Cuevas was not a polished boxer in the conventional sense. His feet could be deliberate, his attacks direct, and his defence dependent upon a high guard and a willingness to take a punch while seeking position for his own. He was most dangerous when he could plant himself at mid-range and bring the left hook around or through an opponent’s guard. The hook was short, heavy and delivered with the full turn of his body. He also possessed a solid right hand and considerable physical strength, but the left was the punch around which his reputation was built. The Ring later placed him 31st among its 100 greatest punchers, an assessment supported by the damage he inflicted during his championship years.

His reign ended in a loss to Thomas Hearns at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on 2 August 1980. Hearns was unbeaten, six feet one inch tall and possessed exceptional speed and reach for a welterweight. He kept Cuevas outside, beat him to the punch and stopped him in the second round. Cuevas had been accustomed to walking through opponents in order to land his hooks, but Hearns’s straight right reached him before he could establish his own attack. The defeat removed both his title and much of the fear that had surrounded him. He returned with knockout victories over Bernardo Prada and Jørgen Hansen, but suffered a major upset when Roger Stafford outpointed him in 1981.

Cuevas later moved into higher-weight contests and met Roberto Durán in Los Angeles in January 1983. Durán, rebuilding after his defeats at welterweight and light-middleweight, stopped him in the fourth round. Cuevas continued intermittently, losing decisions or stoppages to Jun-Suk Hwang, Herman Montes, Steve Little, Lorenzo Luis García and future welterweight champions Jorge Vaca and Lupe Aquino. There were still occasional victories, but the speed, timing and durability of his championship period had diminished. He knocked out Martín Martínez in one round in July 1989 before Aquino stopped him in the second round in Tijuana on 25 September. That defeat brought his 18-year professional career to an end.

In retirement, Cuevas remained a recognised figure in Mexican boxing. He went into business in Mexico City, owning a restaurant and a security company. His son, José Gerardo Cuevas, also boxed professionally under the name Pipino Cuevas Jr. The former champion received his most important formal recognition in 2002, when he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His career record contained more defeats than those of many champions, but a large proportion came either during his exceptionally early apprenticeship or after his championship peak. At his best, Cuevas made 11 successful WBA welterweight title defences and stopped ten of the challengers placed before him. His place in boxing history rests upon that reign, his youth when he won the championship and a left hook which made him one of the most feared welterweights of the late 1970s.