Don Jordan (June 22, 1934 – February 13, 1997) was an American boxer born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and was the Welterweight Champion of the World from 1958 to 1960. His nickname was ‘Geronimo’. He was of Mexican and African American descent.

Career

Born 22 June 1934 in

, Jordan’s brief spell as an amateur shows that he began boxing as a Middleweight and – unusually – worked his way down to

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

as a professional. His amateur career spanned just fifteen contests, of which he lost only one. Jordan fought professionally for the first time in April, 1953. Standing 5 feet 9 inches and typically weighing around 147 lbs, Jordan was well-proportioned and quickly showed himself to be an effective performer, winning nine in a row before dropping a decision in March 1954, to a fighter he had out-pointed just two months previously. He beat Art Ramponi to pick up the

State

title in October of that year and opened his 1955 campaign with a victory over former World

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 ...

Champion

Lauro Salas Lauro Salas (28 August 1928 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico – 18 January 1987) was a Mexican professional boxing champion in the lightweight division. Professional career Salas was known as a tireless puncher, who often would wear his ...

. From that point on, Jordan would be mixing it with the best. Jordan’s progress over the next three years – including two notable victories over

Gaspar Ortega Gaspar "Indio" Ortega (born October 31, 1935) was a Mexican professional boxer and is considered one of the best Welterweight boxers from Mexico. Pro career In January 1953, Ortega was only seventeen years old when he won his pro debut against M ...

– were rewarded when he challenged

Virgil Akins Virgil Akins (March 10, 1928 – January 22, 2011) was an American boxer who won the Welterweight Championship of the World in 1958. Nicknamed ‘Honeybear’, Akins was the first World Champion boxer from St. Louis. Career Akins was born and d ...

for the World

Championship on 5 December 1958, winning by unanimous decision. Akins – who disputed the decision – would suffer an identical reverse when he met Jordan in a championship return five months later. That was the first of Jordan’s two successful title defences (the second was against

Denny Moyer Denny Moyer (August 8, 1939 – June 30, 2010) was an American boxer who held the world light middleweight title between 1962 and 1963. He finished his career with a 98–38–4 record. Early life Moyer was born in Portland, Oregon, and attende ...

on 10 July 1959), before losing the title to

Benny Paret Bernardo Paret (March 14, 1937 – April 3, 1962), known as Benny Paret or Benny "Kid" Paret, was a Cuban welterweight boxer who won the World Welterweight Championship twice in the early 1960s. Paret's death occurred 10 days after injuries ...

, eighteen months after being crowned. Once he lost his title, Jordan also seemed to lose his way. The last years of his career saw him record more defeats than victories and he was effectively – if ignominiously – ‘retired’ by the man refereeing his October 1962 contest with Battling Torres. When Jordan refused to get up after a knockdown in the first, referee Jimmy Wilson ruled that Torres had not actually hit Jordan hard enough to put him down and the fight was declared a ‘no contest’. Subsequently, the

California State Athletic Commission The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) regulates amateur and professional boxing, amateur and professional kickboxing and professional mixed martial arts (MMA) throughout the State by licensing all participants and supervising the events. ...

suspended Jordan indefinitely. In 1961

Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as ...

mobster

Frankie Carbo Paul John "Frankie" Carbo (born Paolo Giovanni Carbo, ; August 10, 1904Bureau of Narcotics, Sam Giancana, The United States Treasury Department. ''Mafia: The Government’s Secret File on Organized Crime''. 2007(pg. 85)/ref> – November 9, 1976) w ...

, known as "the Czar of Boxing" was charged with extortion and conspiracy regarding Jordan, convicted and given a 25-year federal sentence. Others convicted were Louis Tom Dragna (conviction overturned), Truman Gibson, Joe Sica, and Frank "Blinky" Palermo.

Death

After being robbed and seriously assaulted in a

parking lot in September 1996, Don Jordan went into a coma, and died in a nursing home in San Pedro,

, on 13 February 1997.

Professional boxing record

References

Sources

1. Biographical information: (i) The Ring Record Book & Boxing Encyclopedia 1959 (

Nat Fleischer Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer (November 3, 1887 – June 25, 1972) was a noted American boxing writer and collector. Career Fleischer was born in New York City. After he graduated from City College of New York in 1908, Fleischer worked for the ' ...

, The Ring Book Shop Inc., 1959). See p. 8 for a very brief cameo. (ii) WBA Onlin

offers confirmation of the date and manner of Jordan’s death. 2. Ring Record: (i) The Cyber Boxing Zon

This source misses Jordan’s first defence of the

Championship, taking place 24 April 1959. (ii) The Boxing Records Archiv

This source also provides information about the manner of the end of Jordan's career. (iii) The Ring Record Book & Boxing Encyclopedia 1959 (

, The Ring Book Shop Inc., 1959), P.276.

External links

* *https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/National_Boxing_Association%27s_Quarterly_Ratings:_1958 *https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/National_Boxing_Association%27s_Quarterly_Ratings:_1959 *https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/National_Boxing_Association%27s_Quarterly_Ratings:_1960 * http://www.thecruelestsport.blogspot.com/2009/04/catastrophist-troubled-world-of-don.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Don 1934 births 1997 deaths 1996 murders in the United States Boxers from Los Angeles Male murder victims People murdered in California Deaths by beating in the United States American male boxers American boxers of Mexican descent Welterweight boxers

Career

Death

Professional boxing record

See also

References

Sources

External links