Enrique Chaffardet (December 5, 1907 – April 24, 1980) was a Venezuelan

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

during the

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who became the Venezuelan

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champion on August 17, 1930, after beating

Sixto Escobar Sixto Escobar (March 23, 1913 – November 17, 1979) was a Puerto Rican professional boxer. Competing in the bantamweight division, he became Puerto Rico's first world champion. Escobar was born in Barceloneta and raised in San Juan. There he ...

. Also known as '''Henry Chaff''' and '''El Indio de Irapa''' he was the first

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n boxer to ever achieve international success and was eventually inducted into a Boxing Hall of Fame with an official record of 58–20–7. Born in

Güiria Güiria is the capital city of Valdez Municipality in the Venezuelan state of Sucre. Güiria was the place where the military campaign for South American independence set out to Upper Peru and also a starting point of the 1901 Venezuelan Civil W ...

, Venezuela, he is one of the nation's most legendary athletes. He is also the great-grandfather of Venezuelan

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Andres De Abreu. Later on Enrique Chaffardets family fled Venezuela for political reasons and they settled in New York City. In New York he was known as "Henry Chaff." Chaffardet (sometimes spelled "Chafferdet" by the papers) fought as an amateur in New York City around 1924–1925. In 1924 he worked as a sparring partner for

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...

in New York. As an amateur boxer for the Ascension Parish House, he scored three kayo victories in one night. He turned pro around 1925, and was trained by former champion

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and Clonie Tait. He was the most sought-after boxer in

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in 1926. His professional debut was on October 7, 1926 against Ernie Lind in

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. Chaffardet moved to

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, and reportedly appeared on the first legal boxing card there. He then returned to Venezuela and continued training boxers, including future rival Simon Chavez. Venezuelan sources report Chaffardet had over 100 wins as a pro, with about 18 losses. He ended his career in 1944. Chaffardet died on April 24, 1980 in Caracas, Venezuela.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaffardet, Enrique 1907 births 1980 deaths People from Güiria Venezuelan male boxers Boxing trainers Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico Featherweight boxers