Jose Napoles 'The Mark of Brilliance'

Didn't know that Pepe...who was the #1?

 

Red Cobra,

As per the end of February 1969 Ratings....... #1 was Ernie 'Indian Red' Lopez
following his TKO 9 over #1 Raul Soriano in January 1969.


April 18, 1969

Despite his age, Curtis Cokes was at the 'pinnacle' of his career. Curtis was a smart
and talented boxer-puncher, who was a 'natural welterweight'. Curtis had 'natural' size over
the smaller-compact Jose Napoles.

Since losing to 'rugged' Eddie Pace on August 27, 1964 - Curtis had gone 18-1-1 (11 KO's)
in 4 years, 8 months.

On the other hand, most will say that 'Mantequilla' was a little past his prime when he got into the
ring with Curtis Cokes. Jose Napoles was a 'natural' 140 lb. boxer, who's prime was between
mid-1963 thru 1967 (ages 23 thru 27 1/2).

Since April 27, 1963 - when he lost a 'close' 10-Round Decision to Alfredo Urbina, 'Mantequilla' had
gone 33-1-0 (29 KO's) in 6 years of ring time.

 

April 17, 1969

'Championship Bout A Toss-Up'

Champion - Curtis Cokes who opened up as a slight-favorite, has
seen the money swing back towards the Challenger - Jose Napoles,
making the Championship Bout a 'Toss Up' for Friday Night.

The Champion - Curtis Cokes from Dallas, Texas has never seen
Jose Napoles fight before.

Curtis Cokes, 'I have only seen Jose Napoles fight on film, and that
from a film reel with a pool of fighters. There was not much I could tell,
other than he looked like he could move fairly well.'

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God help the lightweight and junior welterweight champions of the mid to late 60's if they had given Napoles a deserved crack at their titles.

 

Mr. Red Cobra,

Curtis Cokes had opened up as a 10-6 Betting-Favorite over Jose Napoles.

But two-days before the fight on Wednesday, April 17th the odds dropped
to 'Even'.

Doug Lord, the Manager for Curtis Cokes, 'We have never seen Jose Napoles fight before,
other than a spotty film reel pool. We know he's a very fine fighter with a good
punch. My fighter is prepared, and has only been 'stopped' once before in his career, in
a very bizarre fight in Philadelphia in 1964.

Jose Napoles, 'The Champion is very good. A very smart fighter, who will make
you pay for mistakes.'

 

Red Cobra,

The 'odds' moved back towards Curtis Cokes just before fight time, as he
was installed as the 10-8 Betting-Favorite.

The 'skinny' was that Jose was 'too small' for Curtis, and would be vulnerable to
the Champion's sharp left jabs, and powerful right hand counter-punches.

Fight Promoter, George Parnassus stated that it was possible for the 'two fighters'
to receive a total fight purse of $120,000.

With $96,000 for the Champion, and $24,000 for the Challenger.

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Cokes was an established champion. Looked like he was on a roll and getting better with time. Napoles' two dominations of Cokes was massive IMO.

 

April 1969 'weigh-in'

Curtis Cokes, 'All I have to do, is get off first and not let Napoles
get into a rhythm. If I can keep him at the end of my punches, I
should have no problem catching him with my hard punches later in
the fight. I expect a hard fight tonight, because he's a very good
fighter.'

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Just look at my avatar to see what Coke's face looked like after the bout. This is one of those fights..the Sanchez-Lopez bouts included, where the rematch was almost identical to the first bout. Basilio-DeMarco and of course, Liston-Patterson also come to mind. Sounds like a thread idea, dosen't it?