Rodrigo Valdéz

Rodrigo Valdez
Statistics
Real name	Rodrigo Valdez
Nickname(s)	Rocky
Rated at	Middleweight
Height	5 ft 9.5 in (1.77 m)
Nationality	Colombian
Born	(1946-12-22) 22 December 1946 Cartagena, Colombia
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	73
Wins	68
Wins by KO	42
Losses	8
Draws	3
No contests	0

Rodrigo Valdez (born December 22, 1946) is a former boxer from Colombia who was a two-time world middleweight champion and former undisputed middleweight champion of the world whose rivalry with Carlos Monzón has long been considered among the most legendary boxing rivalries. Valdez was trained by International Boxing Hall of Fame coach Gil Clancy. Many people consider him, Antonio Cervantes and Miguel "Happy" Lora to be the three greatest boxers ever to come from that country. He is 29th on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

Professional career

Born in Bolívar, Colombia, Rodrigo Valdez began his professional boxing career with a win over Orlando Pineda in a four-round decision on October 25, 1963, at Cartagena. He won his next eight bouts, but on October 2, 1965, he lost his undefeated record, beaten by knockout in six by Rudy Escobar.

After that defeat, he went on another undefeated streak of fifteen fights, of which he won thirteen and tied two. However, on his first fight abroad, February 16, 1969, in Ecuador, he lost a ten-round decision to Daniel Guanin. After one more fight in Cartagena, he moved to the United States. Trying to gain more recognition, he campaigned, from 1969 to 1970, in the states of New York, Nevada and California, winning seven fights and losing two. Then, he returned to South America for four more fights in his homeland, winning all.

Hepatitis

In his next match, held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, with Bobby Cassidy on August 9, 1971, Valdez won by knockout in round six, because the fight doctor deemed Cassidy not fit to continue from a cut around his eye which had been ruled as produced by a Valdez punch. At the time, nobody knew that Cassidy had hepatitis A. As a consequence of this, Valdez also became affected by the disease. Given a quarantine, he refused to quit boxing periodically and continued training during his time of illness. Separated from most of the world, he was fit enough to win two more fights within three months of his initial diagnosis of hepatitis.

Valdez had nineteen wins in a row when he met Philadelphia legend Bennie Briscoe for the NABF middleweight title, in Nouméa, New Caledonia, on September 1, 1973, beating Briscoe in a 12-round decision to capture the regional championship and becoming a world-ranked middleweight contender. After this win, Valdez claimed for a world title shot at Monzon.

World title

He won two more fights, and the WBC made him its number one contender at Monzon's title. But Monzon did not feel like fighting the Colombian at that moment, so the WBC stripped Monzon of the world title (Monzon retained the WBA title) and made Valdez and Briscoe rematch, this time with the WBC world middleweight title on the line. On May 25, 1974, at Monte Carlo, Valdez became a world champion for the first time, by knocking Briscoe out in seven rounds. Valdez subsequently retained his title against Rudy Valdez, Gratien Tonna and Max Cohen, until Monzon finally agreed to meet him.

One week before the long awaited match-up, on June 19, 1976, Valdez's brother was murdered during a barroom fight in Colombia. Already in Monte Carlo for the fight, Valdez wanted to pull out of it to join his family in mourning. But he was contractually bound to fight Monzon, so he had to stay in Europe, and on June 26, Valdez, who to many observers seemed rather uninterested, lost in the unification bout to Monzon in a 15-round unanimous decision. Valdez won two more fights after returning to Colombia.

The WBA and WBC, recognizing that Valdez probably wasn't in the best of moods to fight during his first confrontation with Monzon, ordered a second fight between the rivals, and so they fought again, on July 30, 1977, once again at Monte Carlo. This time around, Valdez knocked down Monzon in the second round, becoming only the second man to send the Argentine to the floor in Monzon's long career. Valdez was leading after seven rounds, but Monzon mounted a late rally that allowed him to keep the title by a close decision.

Monzon's retirement

Monzon announced his retirement from boxing afterwards, and so Valdez and Briscoe were matched once again, on November 5, 1977, for the vacant undisputed world Middleweight championship, in Campione d'Italia, which belonged back then not to Italy, but actually to Switzerland. Valdez recovered the world Middleweight championship, with a 15-round decision over Briscoe. This time around, however, he would lose his title on his first defense, on April 22, 1978, by points in 15 rounds to another Argentine, Hugo Corro, in San Remo, Italy.

On November 11 of that same year, they had a rematch, at Buenos Aires' Luna Park Stadium, and Corro repeated his 15-round victory to retain the world title.

Retirement

Valdez fought only twice more, winning both fights by knockout. After beating Gilberto Amonte on November 28, 1980, in the first round, he retired from boxing for good.

Valdez had a record of 63 wins, eight losses and two draws as a professional boxer, with 42 wins by knockout.

Professional boxing record

63 Wins (42 knockouts), 8 Losses (1 knockouts), 2 Draws
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Round Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	63–8–2	Gilberto Almonte	KO	1 (10)	1980–11–28	Coliseo El Campin, Bogotá
Win	62–8–2	Charles Hayward	TKO	7 (10)	1980–05–14	Coliseo El Campin, Bogotá
Loss	61–8–2	Hugo Corro	UD	15	1978–11–11	Luna Park, Buenos Aires	For WBA and WBC Middleweight titles.
Win	61–7–2	Mayfield Pennington	TKO	7 (10)	1978–09–30	Coliseo El Campin, Bogotá
Loss	60–7–2	Hugo Corro	UD	15	1978–04–22	Teatro Ariston, Sanremo, Liguria	Lost WBA and WBC Middleweight titles.
Win	60–6–2	Bennie Briscoe	UD	15	1977–11–05	Campione d'Italia, Lombardy	Won vacant WBA and WBC Middleweight titles.
Loss	59–6–2	Carlos Monzón	UD	15	1977–07–30	Stade Louis II, Fontvieille	For WBA and WBC Middleweight titles.
Win	59–5–2	Oreste Lebron	TKO	5 (10)	1977–03–19	Coliseo Humberto Perea, Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	58–5–2	Ramon Beras	KO	7 (?)	1976–10–24	Cartagena, Bolívar
Loss	57–5–2	Carlos Monzón	UD	15	1976–06–26	Stade Louis II, Fontvieille	Lost WBC Middleweight title.
Win	57–4–2	Nessim Max Cohen	TKO	4 (15)	1976–03–28	Pavillon de Paris, Paris, Île-de-France	Retained WBC Middleweight title.
Win	56–4–2	Rudy Robles	UD	15	1975–08–16	Cartagena de Indias Bull Ring, Cartagena, Bolívar	Retained WBC Middleweight title.
Win	55–4–2	Ramón Mendez	TKO	8 (15)	1975–05–31	Coliseo El Pueblo, Cali, Valle del Cauca	Retained WBC Middleweight title.
Win	54–4–2	Gratien Tonna	KO	11 (15)	1974–11–30	Palais des Expositions, Paris, Île-de-France	Retained WBC Middleweight title.
Win	53–4–2	Vinnie Curto	UD	10	1974–10–25	Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York	Non-title fight.
Win	52–4–2	Cubby Jackson	KO	2 (10)	1974–09–07	Coliseo El Campin, Bogotá	Non-title fight.
Win	51–4–2	Bennie Briscoe	TKO	7 (15)	1974–05–25	Stade Louis II, Fontvieille	Won vacant WBC Middleweight title.
Win	50–4–2	Ernie Burns	KO	2 (?)	1974–03–16	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	49–4–2	Joey Durelle	KO	2 (10)	1973–12–14	Coliseo El Campin, Bogotá
Win	48–4–2	Bennie Briscoe	PTS	12	1973–09–01	Nouméa, South Province	Won NABF Middleweight title.
Win	47–4–2	Antonio Aguilar	PTS	10	1973–07–19	Coliseo El Campin, Bogotá
Win	46–4–2	Leon Washington	KO	9 (10)	1973–06–05	Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	45–4–2	Kim Booker	TKO	5 (10) 2:12	1973–04–16	Felt Forum, New York City, New York
Win	44–4–2	José Rodríguez	TKO	5 (10)	1973–03–05	Felt Forum, New York City, New York
Win	43–4–2	Carlos Marks	PTS	10	1972–12–18	Parc des Expositions, Paris, Île-de-France
Win	42–4–2	Lloyd Duncan	UD	10	1972–09–29	Sunnyside Gardens, New York City, New York
Win	41–4–2	Roy Edmonds	KO	2 (10) 1:11	1972–08–28	Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Win	40–4–2	Juan Evangelista Córdoba	KO	6 (?)	1972–08–10	Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	39–4–2	Milton Mendez	KO	2 (?)	1972–04–02	Valledupar, Cesar
Win	38–4–2	Doc Holliday	KO	4 (10) 2:38	1971–11–25	Felt Forum, New York City, New York	Fought while quarantined with Hepatitis.
Win	37–4–2	Perry Abney	TKO	1 (10) 2:59	1971–10–19	Felt Forum, New York City, New York	Fought while quarantined with Hepatitis.
Win	36–4–2	Bobby Cassidy	TKO	7 (10) 0:44	1971–08–09	Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York	Cassidy did not know he had Hepatitis, Valdez later developed the disease.
Win	35–4–2	Edmundo Leite	TKO	4 (10)	1971–06–28	Felt Forum, New York City, New York
Win	34–4–2	Marcos Tordoya	KO	4 (10)	1971–05–14	Coliseo Humberto Perea, Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	33–4–2	Arturo Lands	KO	5 (?)	1971–03–26	Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	32–4–2	Juan Jimenez	KO	2 (10)	1971–01–24	Estadio 11 de Noviembre, Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	31–4–2	Juan Evangelista Córdoba	TKO	9 (?)	1970–07–24	Atanasio Girardot Coliseum, Medellín, Antioquia
Loss	30–4–2	Ralph Palladin	SD	10	1970–05–11	Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Win	30–3–2	Cassius Greene	PTS	10	1970–05–01	Felt Forum, New York City, New York
Loss	29–3–2	Pete Toro	MD	10	1970–03–02	Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Win	29–2–2	Dave Oropeza	KO	1 (10) 1:29	1970–02–14	The Forum, Inglewood, California
Win	28–2–2	Denny Stiletto	TKO	1 (10)	1969–12–10	Silver Slipper, Paradise, Nevada
Win	27–2–2	Raul Rodríguez	TKO	9 (10)	1969–10–17	The Forum, Inglewood, California
Win	26–2–2	David Melendez	TKO	5 (10)	1969–09–17	Felt Forum, New York City, New York
Win	25–2–2	Mike DeFeo	KO	1 (10)	1969–09–03	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	24–2–2	Peter Cobblah	UD	10	1969–08–06	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	23–2–2	Linfer Contreras	KO	2 (?)	1969–06–04	Cartagena, Bolívar
Loss	22–2–2	Daniel Guanin	PTS	10	1969–02–16	Quito, Pichincha
Win	22–1–2	Humberto Trottman	PTS	10	1968–08–06	Bogotá
Win	21–1–2	Cartagenita Kid	KO	7 (?)	1968–04–15	Cartagena, Bolívar
Draw	20–1–2	German Gastelbondo	PTS	10	1968–01–21	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	20–1–1	Richard Morales	KO	2 (?)	1967–12–03	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	19–1–1	Humberto Trottman	PTS	10	1967–10–01	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	18–1–1	Alfonso Franco	PTS	10	1967–08–29	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	17–1–1	Baby Mendez	KO	3 (?)	1967–08–12	El Carmen
Win	16–1–1	Kid Revolledo	PTS	10	1967–06–10	Sincelejo, Sucre
Draw	15–1–1	Mario Rossito	PTS	10	1967–04–02	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	15–1	Eugenio Espinoza	PTS	10	1967–03–05	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	14–1	Julio Novella	KO	2 (10)	1967–01–23	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	13–1	Alfonso Franco	KO	7 (10)	1966–11–04	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	12–1	Elias Lian	PTS	10	1966–07–29	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	11–1	Lucero Acary	KO	2 (?)	1966–06–29	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	10–1	Roberto Ulloa	PTS	10	1966–06–24	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	9–1	Rafael Luna	UD	10	1966–03–03	Estadio 11 de Noviembre, Cartagena, Bolívar
Loss	8–1	Juan Escobar	TKO	6 (8)	1965–10–02	Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	8–0	Elias Hidalgo	KO	6 (?)	1964–07–09	Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	7–0	Manuel Jack Hernandez	PTS	10	1964–09–12	Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	6–0	Fernando Alvarez	KO	8 (?)	1964–05–15	Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	5–0	Alejandro Parra	PTS	8	1964–02–28	Barranquilla, Atlántico
Win	4–0	Humberto Hurtado	PTS	6	1964–02–06	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	3–0	Alejandro Parra	KO	5 (?)	1964–01–15	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	2–0	Eliecer de Avila	KO	4 (?)	1963–11–06	Cartagena, Bolívar
Win	1–0	Orlando Pineda	PTS	4	1963–10–25	Cartagena, Bolívar

External links

• "Top 10 Colombian fighters of All Time" list, listing Valdez at #2
• WBC Hall of Fame

Achievements
Vacant Title last held by Carlos Monzon	WBC Middleweight Champion May 25, 1974 – Jun 26, 1976	Succeeded by Carlos Monzon
	The Ring Middleweight Champion November 5, 1977 - April 22, 1978	Succeeded by Hugo Pastor Corro
	WBC Middleweight Champion November 5, 1977 - April 22, 1978
	WBA Middleweight Champion November 5, 1977 - April 22, 1978
	World Middleweight Champion November 5, 1977 - April 22, 1978