Luis Manuel Rodríguez was a professional boxing champion. Known as "El Feo", Rodriguez began his career in pre-Castro

Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

 Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

. In Cuba, Rodriguez twice defeated the ill-fated future welterweight

Welterweight

Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

 champion Benny Kid Paret.

After the Cuban Revolution, Rodríguez campaigned in the United States. Fighting out of Miami, Rodriguez decisioned top welterweights Virgil Akins

Virgil Akins

Virgil Akins was an American boxer who won the undisputed Welterweight Championship of the World in 1958. Nicknamed ‘Honeybear’, Akins was the first World Champion boxer from St. Louis.-Career:...

, Isaac Logart, Rudell Stitch

Rudell Stitch

Rudell Stitch was a professional boxer from Louisville, Kentucky. Stitch was ranked second in the world as a welterweight and fought numerous contenders, including Isaac Logart, Yama Bahama, Chico Vejar, Gasper Ortega, Luis Manuel Rodríguez, Ralph Dupas, Holly Mims, and Stan Harrington...

 and Garnet "Sugar" Hart.

He was unbeaten in 36 fights before losing a split decision to Emile Griffith

Emile Griffith

Emile Alphonse Griffith is a former boxer who was the first fighter from the U.S. Virgin Islands ever to become a world champion. He is perhaps best known for his controversial third fight with Benny Paret in 1962 for the welterweight world championship...

 in a 1960 non-title fight. In 1963, Rodriguez and Griffith fought twice for the World Welterweight Championship. Rodriguez defeated Griffith by a unanimous decision to win the title, but Griffith regained it three months later with a split decision. Their fourth and final meeting came in 1964, with Griffith retaining the welterweight title with a split decision.http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/luisrod.htm

In November 1969, Rodriguez challenged Nino Benvenuti in Rome, Italy, for the World Middleweight

Middleweight

Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...

 Championship. In the 11th round, slightly ahead on points but tiring and badly cut, Benvenuti suddenly landed a perfect left hook that left Rodriguez on the floor for 5 minutes.

Rodriguez retired in 1972. http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/modern/rodriguez.html

External links