José Adolfo Legrá Utría (born 19 April 1943) is a retired professional

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. He is a former two time WBC World Featherweight Champion.

Professional career

In June 1960, Legrá turned professional in Cuba winning his first fight against Pedro Pinera which he won with a points decision over four rounds. Legrá drew his next fight and lost two after that and fought a total of 34 fights in

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and Cuba before departing for

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in 1963 with a record of 27–5–2.

Move to Spain

His first fight in Spain was in October 1963 against Moroccan Lazaro ben Layachi, which he won by KO in the sixth of eight rounds. Legrá then went on a run of over sixty wins between 1963 and 1967 with just one defeat on points against Welshman

Howard Winstone Howard Winstone, MBE (15 April 1939 – 30 September 2000) was a Welsh world champion boxer, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. As an amateur, Winstone won the Amateur Boxing Association bantamweight title in 1958, and a Commonwealth Games Gold Me ...

at the Winter Gardens,

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European title

Legrá won his first title belt, the vacant European Featherweight title, in December 1967 with a third-round knockout win over

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's Yves Desmarets. Legrá subsequently relinquished the title without a defence.

WBC World title

Legrá first opportunity to fight for a recognised world title belt came in July 1968 when he challenged

again, this time for his WBC Featherweight title. Legrá floored Winstone twice in the first round of the fight. The bout was subsequently halted because Winstone had a badly swollen left eye. Legra lost his WBC featherweight title on 21 January 1969 after being defeated by French-Australian Johnny Famechon on points at the

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After Famechon

Legrá won two matches before losing by UD to Vicente Saldivar. Seven matches later Legrá would regain the EBU Featherweight title after beating Tommaso Galli on points. Legra would defend it five times before vacating it in 1972.

Regaining the WBC title and retirement

On 16 December 1972. Legrá fought Clemente Sanchez for the vacant Featherweight title, Sanchez was stripped of the title before the fight but the title was still on the line for Legrá. Legrá would TKO Sanchez in the tenth round to win. Legrá lost the title in his very next fight to Brazilian Éder Jofre by Majority Decision. He would fight 3 matches after that, beating Jimmy Bell by points, losing to

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by KO and beating Daniel Valdez by points. On April 25, 2020, it was announced that Legra, aged 77, was battling the

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Professional boxing record

References

* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Legra, Jose 1943 births Living people Cuban male boxers Cuban emigrants to Spain European Boxing Union champions World Boxing Council champions Spanish male boxers Featherweight boxers People from Baracoa 20th-century Spanish sportsmen 20th-century Cuban sportsmen