Cocoa Kid -A Mystery No More.

You saw the similarity with the monikors. Cocoa Kid was often called "Kid Cocoa" but they were not the same. Kid Chocolate was a phenom in New York. He was flashy and controversial and got alot of attention. Cocoa Kid, by one credible report, adopted the name when he came North to Connecticut in the spring of 1932. This was right around the time that Kid Chocolate was tearing it up in the neighboring state of New York.

In terms of marketing strategy, the name made sense for Cocoa Kid.

 

Well, thank you for your support. Those of you out here in the BWAA or who are voting members of the IBRO -remember Cocoa Kid when you get your IBHOF ballots in the mail.

He, more than any other member of Murderers' Row not already in and more than many fighters of any era already in, should be enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

 

He was only ranked as a LW by The Ring for a month in August 1933 at #10. From June 34 until Sept 44 he was ranked as a WW for many months... Many many months. He was also ranked as a MW sporadically from Sept 44 until Feb 47.

He was #1 during the reign of Armstrong: April through September 1940 to be exact. I am pretty certain that he peaked in January 1940 against Holman Williams in Baltimore. Holman was a far cry from the fighter that he became later -that light punching, brittle-handed defensive master. At that time, he was healthy and vicious as much as he was a master mechanc. He was also trained to a razor's edge with revenge against his greatest nemesis on his mind -this was the 30s-40s answer to Britton-Lewis. He had Joe Louis and Jack Blackburn in his corner, no less. And yet Cocoa Kid took a unanimous, wide decision in a battle that was closely contested every round.

Cocoa Kid has some losses in '39-40 though I am sure that he was handcuffed in the Britt fight in Fall River (he knocked him into a next week a few months later). That first Tony Martin fight and second Mike Kaplan decision losses were very close. He went on to beat Williams, Chalky Wright, Jimmy Leto (who had the right style for him), and top contender Phil Furr (easily from what I recall). That loss to Abrams (who was a great fighter) was very close -Abrams had fully 10 lbs on him and yet had to fight like he was possessed to pull out a split decision at the end.

And Jannazzo? That one was for the world championship ...as recognized by Maryland. It was a split with the deciding vote cast by Jack Dempsey. The Sun and the AP had CK up by something like 7-4-4 and 7-5-3.

After that he ran into a perfectly on-the-level left hook by Leto in round 3. Nighty-night!

Was he the premeir WW at any time...? Well, he hit his peak during Armstrong's reign. Let's look at Armstrong. Armstrong did have the style to beat Cocoa Kid. I saw that style do it in patterns -at least during the 30s (Turiello, Battalino, Mike Frattini particularly) -they were short, rough, tough and busy guys that got under his arms and applied alot of pressure. Armstrong could have done it though I'm not at all sure he could have done it in 1940 when he was no longer that F5 hurricane he was in the late 30s. Armstrong was an F2 then. He was decelerating. Cocoa Kid was far from that fight in 1934 against a surging Battling Battalino when he was taken to hell. He was 20 years old them. He 26 and at his peak in '40.

Ten days before Cocoa Kid lost that disputed decision to Jannazzo, Armstrong fought Fritzie Zivic. At the time, CK was #1 and Zivic was #3. It is pretty well-established now that Armstrong's people ducked the hell out of Cocoa Kid throughout 1940. So what happens?

Zivic beats Armstrong and takes the title. How does he do it? The UP sums it up like this...

"By dancing, boxing, stabbing, and uppercuts."

Who does that sound like? Cocoa Kid! Cocoa Kid was a 1/2 inch taller than Zivic, a year younger than Zivic, and faster than Zivic. Zivic formed his game plan around a left hand (jab -And I'm utterly convinced that Cocoa Kid had one of the top jabs in history) and right uppercuts. Cocoa Kid, like many on Murderers' Row (another pattern) -was known to throw a vicious right uppercut.

-Had Armstrong given Cocoa Kid the shot he undeniably had coming to him, their bout may have looked something like Cocoa Kid-Louis Kaplan.

Now, let's say that Cocoa Kid could've topped Armstrong from January through September of 1940 -you also have Burley, (Boston's own) Mike Kaplan, and Jannazzo. Now, Jannazzo lost to Holman in March and Kaplan (who went 1-0-1 with Cocoa Kid) lost to Fritzie in January. Kaplan also beat Britt early in the year but Cocoa Kid wrecked him in the summer. Burley was mostly fighting as a MW in 40... mostly? I just checked. Burley had no fights in 1940 at or under the WW limit.

Based on all that as well as The Ring's ranking of him at #1 during that time, I'd say Cocoa Kid can be considered the top WW in the world from January through September/October, 1940. It's arguable at least.

 

Yeah, it could have gone either way, and that's the overall image of CK-Abrams, but that aint a robbery. And you know I have to be careful with these series because a big sin is coming across like you have preconceptions. When writing Chasing Jack Chase, I saw that Holman and Cocoa Kid made a jerk out of Chase, and I was like "awww man!" -but they went in anyway.