When Jose Napoles died in 2019, the boxing world paused to mourn a very nice boxer, one of many all-time finest welterweight champions. Everybody within the struggle sport acknowledged Napoles’ uncommon expertise and distinctive capacity to field with each lethal effectivity and unusual grace. Certainly, his subtle type gained him the nickname of “Mantequilla,” which means “butter,” a reference to his clean and refined strikes within the ring.
Napoles (81-7, 54 KOs) was born in Santiago de Cuba on today again in 1940 and he’s broadly considered his native nation’s biggest skilled prizefighter, having reigned twice because the undisputed world welterweight champion. He turned professional in 1958 and fought his first 21 bouts in Cuba earlier than abandoning his house nation after Fidel Castro banned professional boxing. Napoles lived the remainder of his life in Mexico the place, after he gained the welterweight title from Curtis Cokes in 1969, his adopted homeland granted him full citizenship.
But it surely should be famous that the previous light-weight determined to marketing campaign at 147 kilos not as a result of he may not make 135, however because of the truth he was so gifted and harmful he simply couldn’t get fights on the decrease weight. His slick motion, artful use of angles, and crippling energy made him nearly unbeatable at light-weight. Welterweights didn’t fare a lot better and Napoles went on to notch fourteen championship wins earlier than defeats to Carlos Monzon and John Stracey prompted him to retire.
At its technical peak, the talent of boxing is all about making offense and protection mix collectively into one seamless athletic act and treasured few have ever been higher at this than Jose Napoles. Lee Wylie has beforehand taken an in depth have a look at the steadiness and footwork of Napoles, however in “Suave Aggression” he breaks down how the legendary “Mantequilla,” who scored fifty-four knockouts in eighty wins, mixed protection and assault in a very clever strategy to change into an all-time nice, certainly, among the finest ever at 147 kilos. Test it out:
“Any critical dialogue of the actually nice welterweight champions should embody ‘Mantequilla,’ as gifted a pugilist as boxing has ever seen. His nickname means ‘butter’ in Spanish and this referred to the smoothness of his strikes and his relaxed manner within the ring, however the moniker belies the very fact Napoles possessed crushing energy and ruthless ending instincts.’ — From “Feb. 28, 1973: Napoles vs Lopez II” by Michael Carbert
