George Araujo (May 26, 1931 – November 21, 1997) was a

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

from

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

Personal life and professional career

Araujo was born in the Fox Point neighborhood of

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

. He was of

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

an descent. Araujo made his professional debut in July 1948 and immediate began fighting twice a month. A powerful puncher, Araujo won his first 14 professional fights, all by knockout. By June 1952 Araujo was sporting a record of 45-1, and in June 1953 he fought

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

for the world lightweight championship. He lost that fight, and also lost two subsequent fight to Teddy "Redtop" Davis for the then-prestigious

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

Lightweight Title. Later after a nearly three-year hiatus Araujo had five fights from August to November 1958, then retired. Araujo's professional record was 58 wins (33 by knockout) and 9 losses with 1 draw. He fought against many of the important small boxers of his era, including Buddy Hayes,

Del Flanagan Del Flanagan (November 6, 1928 – December 26, 2003) was a middleweight professional boxer from Minnesota, USA. Personal life Flanagan was a native of St Paul. He and his brother Glen were known as the Fighting Flanagan Brothers. Both have bee ...

, Harry LaSane,

Charley Riley Charley Riley (April 22, 1922 - May 22, 1994) is an inductee of the Boxing Hall of Fame. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri and was sometimes known as ''Chillin' Charley''. Career Charley Riley was a top featherweight boxing contender in the 19 ...

Sandy Saddler Joseph "Sandy" Saddler (June 23, 1926 – September 18, 2001) was an American professional boxer. He was a two-time featherweight world champion, having also held the super featherweight title. Over his twelve-year career (1944–56), Saddler s ...

, Arthur King,

Paddy DeMarco Paddy DeMarco, (February 10, 1928 – December 13, 1997) was a lightweight professional boxer from Brooklyn, New York who took the Lightweight World Championship on March 5, 1954 against Black lightweight boxer Jimmy Carter. His managers inc ...

, Redtop Davis and

Tony DeMarco Tony DeMarco (January 14, 1932 – October 11, 2021), born Leonardo Liotta, was an American boxer and World Welterweight Champion. Born to Sicilian immigrants from Sciacca (AG), Vincent and Giacomina, DeMarco grew up in the North End neighbor ...

Notes

1931 births 1997 deaths Boxers from Rhode Island American people of Cape Verdean descent American male boxers Lightweight boxers {{US-boxing-bio-stub