ELIGIO SARDIÑAS

ELIGIO SARDIÑAS Kid Chocolate

Kid Chocolate, Chocolate Birth: 10/28/1910 / Death: 8/8/1988 Known as Kid Chocolate, an internationally recognized Cuban boxer is crowned World Boxing Champion in 1931 and 1932. He was born on October 28, 1910, on Santa Catalina street number six, in the popular neighborhood of Cerro, Havana. He liked to play sports, so since he was a child he played baseball and Handdball. He was from a very poor background so he almost did not attend school because he had to earn a living as a shoe shiner and newspaper vendor to help the family, having lost his father at an early age. He was 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 125 pounds when he debuted as a professional boxer at age 18, in the United States three years younger than the rules required, in the featherweight division. The premiere of the Cuban in North American rings takes place on August 1, 1928, at the Mittchefields military camp, an air base on the outskirts of New York. His rival, Eddie Enos, is the first to enter the ring, under a thunderous salvo of applause. The great difference in size and weight was remarkable, with a wide advantage for the North American boxer. As he waved to the cheering crowd, Chocolate feinted and feinted, punching the air, and fidgeting. Chocolate dominates from the getgo, with a prodigious dodge and two punches that seem to flash. The military do not believe what they see. They encourage their own, but his eyes, wide open, follow the movements of the Kid, who blow by blow is carving out his first triumph in the United States. He wins undefeated the 22 fights he fights in 1929, in which he knocks out ten rivals. With a lot of strength and speed in his legs, he delivered accurate jabs. He defeats the likes of Al Singer, at the Polo Grounds as well as the Italian-American Fidel La Barba. In the United States, he conquered the junior lightweight world belts on July 15, 1931 by defeating Benny Bass and bantam (bantam), in 1932, held by Lew Feldman. In his entire career he was only defeated twice by the Italian boxer Tony Canzoneri, the second time by a sudden knockout, when he was already worn out by syphilis. His coach throughout his sports career was Pincho Gutiérrez who, when introducing Eligio, exclaimed: You're crazy! Who is that black guy carrying? That was the man's response and with it it seemed that the boy's fate was decided. But another trainer insisted and he finally got approval. The fight was agreed for the next day. And in it, the disciple of the two men, Johnny Cruz, received a huge beating from "that black guy." Shortly after the fight was repeated and again Johnny went home with a swollen face. Fame came to the Kid with a lavish hand, and money too. And on the ring he was like a shadow or a black cloud above the opponent, in the difficult sport of "hitting without being hit" according to his own theory. It was like a storm that danced, with more brilliance than lightning and "with more air than a bagpipe" two biographers would say years later. The photos from that time show him with his very shiny black skin, his hair slicked back — ironed, we say in Cuba — with a “high definition” stripe on the side, and looking more like a catwalk model than an invincible gladiator that he took out of the air worthy boxers like Scalfaro, Singer, Batalino, Benny Bass, Feldman or Canzoneri, and let himself be defeated by the look of a beautiful woman. And life began to take its toll on him. It was another time. He was fighting for money. Boxing was a business and life is one, and there were many desires to make it different from the one he lived as a child. "Boxing is me," said Eligio Sardiñas (Kid Chocolate), one of the great boxing figures of all time. As an amateur he never lost in Cuba. According to historians, his greatest pride was getting out of the ring without a disheveled and presumably fresh, as if nothing had happened. He died in Havana on August 8, 1988, at the age of 78.