By Gabriel F. Cordero
Legendary former welterweight world champion José “Mantequilla” Nápoles has passed away at age 79 according to WBC President Mauricio Sulaimán. “Mantequilla Napoles is already champion for eternity. He was a great champion, but he did it with dignity and with the love of his children who took care of him. Rest in Peace my great idol, compadre of my dad, Mexican at heart although Cuban by birth! Goodbye my champion,” wrote Sulaiman.
Napoles was born in Havana, Cuba on April 13, 1940, but began his career in Mexico in the 1960s. He was a two-time WBC and WBA welterweight champion and held the titles for the better part of six years. His official record is 77 wins, 54 of them by knockout with only seven losses.
I SEEN HIM FIGHT IN SYRACUSE NY.. HE WAS A GOOD FIGHTER… REST IN PEACE CHAMP…
The writer failed to mention that Mantequilla Napoles was one of the first Cuban defectors who left Castro’s Marxist regime because they outlawed professional boxing.
The writer also forgot to mention that Jose Angel Mantequilla Napoles was one of a very few welter weights who had the cajones to challenge the great middle weight Carlos Monzon! Of course, he lost that fight and was never the same fighter afterwards.
Jose Napoles was a legend. May he R.I.P.
I wish him well in Heaven. He will be missed.
God will greed him with pride. Great man & champion.
Jonathan, what are you talking about? Why are you bringing Peter Fonda up here?
One of my favorite fighters back in his era. I first took notice of him when he knocked out Carlos Hernandez, a noted knockout artist. I followed his career since then. I believe he was at his best at lightweight, but moved up to welterweight to face bigger challenges. He did well against welters but didn’t fare well when he moved up in weight to fight middleweights.
Carlos Monzon was just too big for him, and John Stracey ended his career. Stracey was fortunate to fight him well past his prime. However, he beat so many top fighters during his sterling career. He just dominated Curtis Cokes and stopped him twice. That was a huge accomplishment because nobody was beating Cokes back then.
He lived a good long life and had a great boxing career with some spectacular wins. May he rest in peace.
If he had challenged a middleweight champion with lesser ability, he might have won the title. Carlos Monzon was one of the best of any era. I followed all of Jose’s fights on the Saturday networks back then and thought he might have had a chance to beat Carlos, but it wasn’t to be.
agreed
What a great fighter he was! A legend in the world of boxing.
Napoles spent his primes being avoided, ducked by the lightweight champions at the beginning of the sixties. He went up to welterweight because there was the only man willing to give him a chance. Curtis Cokes was a fine champion and took the fight with Napoles, because he thought he was no longer a threat. Napoles was by then an older 29 fighter with 63 fights. But he was so great that even though winning the title past his primes, he shined for a period of 4 years, until Carlos Monzon obliterated a very old 34 Napoles. Him and Ruben Olivares were the biggest stars in the Forum of Inglewood on those days, promoted by George Parnasus and Aileen Eaton. Rest in peace my great champion
Great fighter who never had to go around telling people how great he was. His performances did the talking for him.
Napoles is rightfully enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
As smooth as BUTTER, and that name was certainly his. R.I.P CHAMPION!!!
RIP great
He beat a fine champion in Curtis Cokes and fought a who’s-who of welterweights of his era. The last live radio broadcast I ever heard involving a boxing match was when he won the title back from Billy Backus.
My dad used to talk to me about him a lot. Nápoles moved up the ranks as a lightweight, but Carlos Ortiz, the champion, never gave him a chance. He moved up in weight and challenged Cokes. We all know what he did in the welterweight. He fought every named fighter as a light and welter weight. He had problems with cuts in his eyes and eyebrows, and lost two fights becouse of cuts: LC Morgan and Billy Backus. I watched him take apart Hedgemon Lewis II in México. A master boxer. He had class, punch, a granite chin, and cojones. Long live my champion. RIP.
I’m 70yrs old and watched Jose fight many times. a great champion
one of the best, what a fight, him and Carmen Basilio !!