Niño Valdés (born Geraldo Ramos Ponciano Valdés, also known as Nino Valdés) (December 5, 1924 – June 3, 2001) was a Cuban professional boxer who was Cuba's national heavyweight boxing champion in the 1940s and 1950s. Statistical boxing website

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

rates Valdés as the 8th best Cuban boxer ever across all weight divisions. All-Time Pound-for-Pound Rankings (Cuba)
BoxRec.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-18.

Professional career

Heavyweight contender

Valdés was a top contender for the heavyweight title during the mid 1950s, although he never received a shot due to his mixed results in the ring. Ring Magazine ranked Valdez as high as the #2 contender in its annual rankings for 1958 and he was highly ranked in several other years.retrieved Feb. 27,2014 After a string of four losses to notable fighters such as Harold Johnson,

Archie Moore Archie Moore (born Archibald Lee Wright; December 13, 1913 – December 9, 1998) was an American professional Boxing, boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time (1952 – 1962). He had one of the longest profe ...

, and Bob Baker in 1952 and 1953, he went undefeated in an impressive run of 11 consecutive victories which saw him defeat

Ezzard Charles Ezzard Mack Charles (July 7, 1921 – May 28, 1975), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1959. Known as "the Cincinnati Cobra", Charles was respected for his slick defense and precision, and is often regarded as the gre ...

and Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson. However, the streak came to an end when he lost a rematch to Moore by a fifteen-round unanimous decision on May 2, 1955. He lost another fight to

Bob Satterfield Bob "Bombardier" Satterfield (November 9, 1923 in St. Louis, Missouri – June 1, 1977) was a heavyweight boxer who fought from 1945–1957. Satterfield, a top rated contender who never fought for the title, retired with a record of 50 wins (3 ...

three months later. After beating former title contender

Don Cockell Donald John Cockell (22 September 1928 – 18 July 1983) was an English boxer who competed from 1946 to 1956. One of the most well known boxers from the UK during the era, Cockell held the British and European light heavyweight titles, and ...

, he lost a ten-round unanimous decision to Bob Baker on December 7, 1955, costing him a potential title bout against

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955. He held the world heavyweight championship from 1952 to 1956, and re ...

Later career and retirement

He continued boxing, losing to heavyweight contenders

Zora Folley Zora "Bell" Folley (May 27, 1931 – July 7, 1972) was an American heavyweight boxing, boxer who was a top 10 contender for eleven years in a row from 1956 to 1966 and a nine-time top 5 contender throughout his career, reaching a peak as number ...

Eddie Machen Edward Mills "Eddie" Machen (June 15, 1932 – August 8, 1972) was an American professional boxer. He was one of six children of a rural mail carrier. Machen dropped out of high school and became an amateur boxer. However, after just three bouts h ...

, and

Sonny Liston Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( – December 30, 1970), nicknamed "the Big Bear", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1962 after k ...

. After defeating contender

Brian London Brian Sidney Harper (19 June 1934 – 23 June 2021), better known by the ring name Brian London, was an English professional boxer who competed from 1955 to 1970. He held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight title from 1958 to 1959, and twi ...

in December 1959, Valdés retired due to eye problems. After retirement, he worked as a security guard and a bouncer.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdes, Nino 1924 births 2001 deaths Heavyweight boxers Boxers from Havana Cuban male boxers 20th-century Cuban sportsmen