Cocoa Kid -A Mystery No More.

Sheeeeit. PowerPuncher just called janitor a gentleman and I agree -janitor is a true gentleman. Me? Nah. I'm working on it though. I like to punch people too much, 'specially when they deserve it.

 

'Keep on disagreeing with me! That way we can punch each other and have lots of fun.

 

Burley, Jannazzo, Armstrong himself, and Kaplan have a pretty good argument. Cocoa Kid can be placed at the top for that brief time -but it is arguable. Personally, I'd put Burley over him even then, since Burley was ranked as a WW. The only reason I considered otherwise is that Burley had 0 fights at the WW limit during the time in question. He was pickin' on middleweights.

As for '42, he was ranked at #4 for two months and otherwise hovered around the mid-range of the Ring rankings. He did well for a spell in there though -avenging himself against one of his bete noir's in Saverio Turiello looks like a highlight. By the way, Bobby Britton is the son of the great Jack Britton -there was one fight with Cocoa Kid where his nerves reportedly got the best of him in the bout.

In '47 we gotta be careful. His diagnosis of dementia pugilistic was well along by then, though he still could surprise us. That win over Ray Barnes was a shocker. And that loss to Pete Mead was considered yet another robbery.

 

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A recent photograph of the grave of Cocoa Kid; soon-to-be inducted into the IBHOF.

 

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I just got the pages of Mead's book in the mail.

Not much there though it was worth a try. Mead remembered that Cocoa Kid had fought his trainer, Wesley Ramey years before and says that he/Mead beat him "without any trouble." "He knew all the moves," Mead says, but could no longer execute."

He also mentions that CK was part of a group of black fighters who travelled around the country fighting each other -CK, Burley, Williams, Lytell, Moore, and Marshall.

 

'The majority of the [~3,000 patrons] thought that the worst Cocoa Kid should have gotten was a draw.'
-NNPA

I'm gonna check on those CT papers -and maybe rub it in to the CT Boxing Hall of Fame who I contacted months ago and got a measly "thanks for the information." They should have had him in before the IBHOF.

 

I think that would be a good thing. Hopefully, they're on it already.

That's a nugget.

Kaplan was also half-blind at the time but hid it; still, it's impressive work by an 18 year old kid.

 

While I'm thinking of it -this thread is due for another comeback because the month of his death-date engraved on the headstone is wrong. It says January, but Hardwick actually died in December 1966. I have the evidence and will check it again to make sure.

If I confirm with certainty that the month on the headstone is wrong, I'll be contacting the appropriate veterans' administration office to get it corrected.

One is easy to ignore, so anyone interested in sending an email asking for the same will be invited to.