''For the basketball player with a similar name, see Teófilo Cruz'' Carlos Teo Rosario Cruz (November 4, 1937 – February 15, 1970) was a

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 the Dominican Republic. Cruz was world lightweight champion from 1968 to 1969.

Amateur career

Cruz claimed he didn't put on his first pair of boxing gloves until his 20th birthday. He fought as an amateur from 1957 to 1959, posting a 14–3 record.

Personal

Cruz's father, Francisco Rosario Almonte was an army officer in the Dominican military. Cruz met his wife, Mildred Ortiz in the town of Río Piedras in Puerto Rico. They were married in 1961 when Ortiz was 24 years old. Cruz had two children. Cruz's younger brother, Leo Cruz, went on to become a world champion.

Pro career

He started his career as a professional boxer with a loss, being defeated by decision in eight rounds by Juan José Jiménez, October 23 of 1959 in Santo Domingo. His first win came on December 3 of that year, also in Santo Domingo, with a ten-round decision win over

Rafael Acevedo Rafael Acevedo may refer to * Rafael Acevedo (cyclist) (born 1957) * Rafael Acevedo (writer) (born 1960) {{hndis, Acevedo, Rafael ...

. After one more win in Santo Domingo, he moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico. There, he posted a record of 7 wins and 2 losses before returning to Santo Domingo in 1962. Out of the 7 wins in Puerto Rico during that era, 5 were by

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

. In his return to Santo Domingo, he posted a decision win over Acevedo in a rematch. Towards the end of 1962, he started campaigning in the United States, particularly in New York. There, he boxed 5 times before returning to San Juan for another bout. He won 4 and drew 1 of those fights, all wins by decision. He spent the first half of 1964 touring Australia, where he won 2 fights and lost one. He lost on points to Graham Dicker in Brisbane, stopped Guizani Rezgui in Sydney and outpointed Gilberto Biondi in Melbourne. Then he returned to Latin America, his first fight after arriving from Australia being a major step up in quality of opposition for him: In

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, he met fellow world champion boxer

Carlos Morocho Hernández Carlos Enrique Hernández Ramos (April 21, 1940 – July 2, 2016) was a Venezuelan world champion professional boxer. Known professionally as Carlos Morocho Hernandez (Carlos "Dark Haired" Hernandez), he ended his career following a TKO by Scotti ...

. He was knocked out in four rounds by Hernandez. On to Panama City, where he lost a ten-round decision to

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. He finished his year by beating Marcos Morales, a boxer of Puerto Rico during this era, at Santo Domingo. In 1965, he was undefeated. He fought in St. Croix, in Mayagüez, in Caguas and in London among other places. He won all ten of his bouts that year. He won 8 bouts, lost 1 and drew 1 in 1966. He drew with

Jaime Valladares Jaime is a common Spanish and Portuguese male given name for Jacob (name), James (name), Jamie, or Jacques. In Occitania Jacobus became ''Jacome'' and later ''Jacme''. In east Spain, ''Jacme'' became ''Jaime'', in Aragon it became ''Chaime'', and i ...

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

, and lost to

Frankie Narvaez Frankie Narvaez (December 3, 1939 – April 15, 2004) from Caguas, Puerto Rico was a Puerto Rican boxer. He beat world champions Carlos Cruz, ''Chango Carmona'' and Pedro Adigue, and lost to Ismael Laguna, among others. He died in Hartford, ...

in San Juan. But he also beat former world title challenger

Bunny Grant George Leslie "Bunny" Grant (29 September 1940 – 1 November 2018) was a Jamaican professional feather/ super feather/light/ light welter/welterweight/light middleweight boxer of the 1950s, '60s and '70s who won the Jamaican lightweight title ...

. In 1967, he avenged his loss to Narvaez, and went undefeated the rest of the year, securing his position as the world's number one challenger among Lightweights. He won three more fights to begin 1968, and then, on June 29 in Santo Domingo, he was given his first chance to challenge for a world title. He became world Lightweight champion when he defeated

Carlos Ortiz Carlos Ortíz may refer to: * Carlos Ortiz (boxer) (1936–2022), Puerto Rican boxer * Carlos Escobar Ortiz (born 1989), Chilean footballer * Carlos Ortiz (wrestler) (born 1974), retired wrestler from Cuba * Carlos Arias Ortiz, Mexican biochemist ...

by a decision in fifteen rounds. He defended the world title with a fifteen-round decision over

Mando Ramos Armando Ramos (November 15, 1948 – July 6, 2008) was an American professional boxer and the former two-time WBC and WBA Lightweight Champion. He was born in Long Beach, California. Armando "Mando" Ramos was one of the most popular fighters ...

in Los Angeles, and then, he closed the year by winning a non-title bout in Tokyo, also by decision, in ten. There was a rematch between Cruz and Ramos, also held in Los Angeles. The second time around, Ramos became world Lightweight champion by beating Cruz with an eleventh-round knockout. Cruz went on to win his next three bouts of 1969. On January 17 of 1970, Cruz won his last fight. He beat

Benito Juarez Benito may refer to: Places * Benito, Kentucky, United States * Benito, Manitoba, Canada * Benito River, a river in Equatorial Guinea Other uses * Benito (name) * ''Benito'' (1993), an Italian film See also * ''Benito Cereno'', a novella by Herm ...

in San Juan by a decision in ten, and then returned to Santo Domingo.

Professional boxing record

Death

On February 15, he was flying back to San Juan alongside his family for a fight against Roger Zami, when their Dominicana de Aviación DC-9 plane

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stations, along with some Alternativ ...

into the waters of the Caribbean shortly after take-off, killing Cruz, his wife and two children, and the rest of the passengers, among which also were a large part of Puerto Rico's national women's volleyball team .

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Carlos 1937 births 1970 deaths Dominican Republic male boxers People from Santiago de los Caballeros World lightweight boxing champions World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Council champions The Ring (magazine) champions Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1970 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the Dominican Republic