Cocoa Kid -A Mystery No More.

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Stonehands89, Mar 3, 2011.


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  1. Stonehands89

    Stonehands89 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    That seems most likely. He fought out of Connecticut and around western MA like the original. I'd be curious to know who handled him. If Al Caroly or Al Blondi or Charley Brown were still alive and active, then there you go.
     
    Stonehands89, Mar 12, 2011
    Stonehands89, Mar 12, 2011
    #61
  2. SLAKKA

    SLAKKA Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Could be a lead worth following.
     
    SLAKKA, Mar 12, 2011
    SLAKKA, Mar 12, 2011
    #62
  3. Stonehands89

    Stonehands89 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    #63
  4. WhataRock

    WhataRock Loyal Member Full Member

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    Excellent stuff Mr Toledo..very enlightening and a treat to read.
     
    WhataRock, Mar 17, 2011
    WhataRock, Mar 17, 2011
    #64
  5. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    That's a bit special.

    The highest compliment I can pay you is that I feel I know a little bit about CK and reading this is just like the pieces falling into place. That's outstanding. I feel like I have a real grasp on this budding style.

    This here is priceless:
    This is precisely what Frattini was –short enough to get under shots and ferocious enough to “set up a steady bombardment” to his body. At the end of the rematch, Cocoa Kid was a bit mangled but on his feet. When Turiello went underneath Cocoa Kid’s lightning left, the Baltimore Sun said he was “practically on the floor” but he “dodged and ducked and fell in close to deliver plenty of body punishment.” The chunky Ambers, an all-time great who would go on to become the lightweight champion of the world, moved ever-forward and hurt the teenager several times. According to the Providence Journal, he met a long jab with short jolting ones. By combining aggression with a versatile attack, Ambers put him down three times in the seventh round. Cocoa Kid’s gallant exertions did not win him the decision. In 1934, Battalino bobbed and weaved around the ring, got close and attacked a weight-drained body. When Cocoa Kid lowered his guard to protect his ribs, Battalino landed four rights to the head and his knees sagged. In the sixth round, a “distressed look” was observed on Cocoa Kid’s face when he was corralled into a corner. After the round he “slumped on his stool” and his chief second signaled the referee to end the fight.

    I want these articles to do this - close the gap between CK's domination of Holman and the fights that he lost. I want the truth of that matter. They're multi-layered of course but that's what i'm really after. I can feel that happening now.

    You're an extraordinary writer. I think this is the best short piece on boxing i've ever read. I've read it four or five times and that's how I feel about it. Most pleasing of all, you know enough to know when the original material can be allowed to over-shadow your own writing a bit:

    The local newspaper puts us at ringside for what happened next:

    “And then, pivoting rapidly and sharply he snapped his right hand out and it crashed Carlton just below the left ear… Carlton’s head jerked back, his mouth fell open and the rubber protector for his teeth flashed out and bounded across the ring… A glaze came over Carlton’s eyes but he shook his head and turned to renew hostilities instinctively… the Kid stepped back and then flashed rapidly in with a left and right to the chin… Carlton shook to his heels, halted in his tracks, then slowly crumbled and spread-eagled the canvas… he lay there while the referee counted and until with the assistance of the Kid… his seconds carried him to his corner, where he flopped about lifelessly as they attempted to seat him in his chair.”

    That's an absolute gem you've dug up there, and you were right to recreate it in its entirety. Plenty wouldn't have. Taking us to ringside is maybe the one thing you can't do and it's superb that you acknowledged that in even such a well scripted piece. Many wouldn't have.

    Word up.
     
    McGrain, Mar 17, 2011
    McGrain, Mar 17, 2011
    #65
  6. GPater11093

    GPater11093 Barry Full Member

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    Superb stuff yet again. I've said it before, your my favrouite current boxing writer.
     
    GPater11093, Mar 17, 2011
    GPater11093, Mar 17, 2011
    #66
  7. Stonehands89

    Stonehands89 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Thanks McGrain. Part 2 and Part 3 were actually one but I split them up because they were too long together (...and -ahem- I'm paid for each essay). I was a little concerned that this one would be too fact-laden to read well but it served several purposes that transcended by need to be artful.

    First of all, it tells the world how it was that Lewis Hardwick came to the north of the U.S (ie. New Haven, Connecticut) from Georgia/Puerto Rico/Florida. This has been one of the mysteries out there. Some believe that Lewis Hardwick met Juan Cepero in Florida and gave him his boxing license before he/Hardwick retired and then Cepero came north and campaigned as a Puerto Rican named Cocoa Kid to avoid visa problems. This theory holds that Hardwick ended up in Ohio and died in the 70s. But here's the thing: I have a death certificate for one "Louis Hardwick" -born in 1910, died in 1976 in Dayton, Ohio. He was white.

    The truth is that a politician from New Haven named Harry Durant saw Lewis Hardwick in the gym and wooed him north. How do I know? Durant himself said so. And it's confirmed all over the place in those early fight reports in 1932.

    Boxing historians also believe that Hardwick was not born in 1913 because he would have been too young to travel from Atlanta to Puerto Rico. They're right on that one, because Hardwick wasn't born in 1913. He was born in 1914 and thus was even younger than supposed! How did he travel to Puerto Rico so young? Well, two things. First, he was with his uncle (E.A. Robinson) and second, he lied about his age. The evidence is right there on the ship's manifest.

    The other thing Part 2 does is reveal how he got the nom de guerre -"Cocoa Kid." And how he began to evolve into the machine he became. At least one historian dismisses the idea that the brawling Hardwick in Georgia was Cocoa Kid because one was a brawler, the other a busy boxer-puncher. But it is entirely understandable. Many new fighters (and Lewis was 14 at the start) are wild brawlers. New Haven trainers Brown and Blondi streamlined his style. It showed.

    Finally, you are exactly right in the value you place on the real story. While no one said that the young Cocoa Kid had problems with the crowding, short-man style, it became very clear in reading the fight reports. It got funny -that style was inordinately, though not always, a problem. Kaplan's style was like that, but he was faded and had eyesight issues by the time he faced the young phenom burning up his state.

    Reading the Ambers fight against Cocoa Kid really gives a glimpse into how great Ambers was -and early on! Granted, Cocoa Kid was still very young, but so wasn't Ambers.

    The end sets up a specter that you yourself spotted early on out here on ESB --the specter of bad decisions which will point towards bribes and later, dives.

    Anyway, thanks for giving me the excuse to elaborate. Narratives don't allow it as much, but it's important to see the substantiated truth of the Cocoa Kid matter.
     
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    #67
  8. Stonehands89

    Stonehands89 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Well, damn, I better be -the expense of doing this far exceeds the pitiful pittance this pauper is paid!
     
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    #68
  9. GPater11093

    GPater11093 Barry Full Member

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    I'm sure the feeling of satisfaction of shedding light on Cocoa Kid and the acclaim of us guys, will go a long way to making you feel better, money aint everything.

    Your research is really in-depth and its good in this article to see the evolution and foundations of The Kids style. Hopefully, and I am sure, over the articles we will see this progression of Cocoa, not only in his style but his involvement in the seedier side of the game, which I'm sure interests almost everyone.

    In your previous post to McGrain, you seem to mention that Cocoa Kid may still be alive, is this the case?
     
    GPater11093, Mar 17, 2011
    GPater11093, Mar 17, 2011
    #69
  10. bodhi

    bodhi Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Not even read one letter yet. Still waiting for it to be completed to print it out and read it in one big swallow. It´s hard not to given all the praise here though.
     
    bodhi, Mar 17, 2011
    bodhi, Mar 17, 2011
    #70
  11. Stonehands89

    Stonehands89 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    He's got a great story on many levels. As to the seedier stuff, that was in the shadows then and after all these decades, it has further retreated into those shadows. However, I was lucky to get at a few incidences that were documented well-enough then to make some observations now. The next installment is all about one of them. Cocoa Kid was in the middle of something stormy -and he was just 20 years old.

    All good things to those who wait.
     
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    #71
  12. Stonehands89

    Stonehands89 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Nah, you should start in now. They're designed to be spread out and leave a bit of suspense. After the series is done and published, I will be making a few changes so that they read better in one sitting. For now though, they're supposed to be read gradually....
     
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    #72
  13. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    :twisted:

    Would you say this is a little drier than what you usually write? I think it is.
     
    McGrain, Mar 17, 2011
    McGrain, Mar 17, 2011
    #73
  14. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    This content is protected


     
    McGrain, Mar 17, 2011
    McGrain, Mar 17, 2011
    #74
  15. Stonehands89

    Stonehands89 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Do you mean the style of how I wrote it?
     
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    Stonehands89, Mar 17, 2011
    #75
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