José Isidro Cuevas González (born December 27, 1957), known as Pipino Cuevas, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1971 to 1989. He held the WBA welterweight title from 1976 to 1980.

Cuevas was inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Cuevas turned professional at age 14; he won only seven of his first twelve bouts but eventually put together an eight bout winning streak before losing to Andy Price. On 17 July 1976, he received a shot at the WBA welterweight title against champion Ángel Espada. Cuevas pulled off an upset victory by knocking Espada to the canvas three times in the second round. At age 18, he was the youngest welterweight champion in history. In his first defense, he traveled to Japan and defeated hometown fighter Shoji Tsujimoto by knockout.

One of the greatest wins of his career was against Argentinian Miguel Angel Campanino, who boasted an impressive record (84-4-4), including a thirty-two fight winning streak. Once again, Pipino disposed of his challenger before the end of the second round.

On 8 June 1977, he faced veteran Clyde Gray of Canada who had only been stopped twice in his entire career which included fifty-eight wins. Yet again, Cuevas pulled off another second round knock out. A few months later, Cuevas returned to the ring for a rematch against Espada. This time Cuevas defeated Espada in the eleventh round after he sustained a broken jaw. On 4 March 1978, he disposed of Harold Weston in the ninth round after Weston also sustained a broken jaw like Cuevas' previous challenger. Cuevas then defeated former champion Billy Backus in one round. On 9 September 1978, he defeated hometown favorite Pete Ranzany (40-2-1) in Sacramento, California via a second-round knockout. He defeated Scott Clark (28-1-0) in another second-round knockout. Cuevas next title defense went the distance in a unanimous decision win against the durable Randy Shields (33-5-1). On 8 December 1979, he faced Espada for a third time, stopping him in the tenth round. Cuevas then defeated South African national champion Harold Volbrecht by fifth-round knockout.

Cuevas finally lost his title in 1980 to the undefeated and up-and-coming hometown hero Thomas Hearns in Detroit. The much taller and lankier Hearns was able to use his reach to his advantage as he kept Cuevas at a distance and knocked him out in the second round. Cuevas' talent began to decline after that loss; the most notable opponent he faced was Roberto Durán, who stopped him in the fourth round in the spring of 1983. He also lost to former world title challenger Jun Sok-Hwang and future or former world champions Jorge Vaca and Lupe Aquino before finally retiring in 1989.

Pipino Cuevas fought during a period when an unusual number of accomplished welterweights were active: Sugar Ray Leonard, Wilfred Benítez, Carlos Palomino, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Durán, although his reign had nearly come to an end as Leonard, Benítez, Hearns, and Durán emerged as welterweight champions. Cuevas successfully defended his welterweight title eleven times against ten different boxers over a four-year span. During his reign as champion, Cuevas fought the best opposition available to him. In total, the opponents he faced throughout his career had a combined record of 505-70-29.Remembering the Career of Pipino Cuevas HBO: Boxing: Features: Best Of: THE BEST WELTERWEIGHT PUNCHERS EVER In 2003, The Ring listed Cuevas as number thirty-one on their list of the 100 greatest punchers of all time. In 2002, Cuevas became a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Retirement Cuevas is the owner of a restaurant and a security company in Mexico City. At one point of his career, he was also the owner of a famous sports and luxury car collection, and he was one of the first boxers to sport a golden tooth. Most people probably know him for his nickname Pipino, which is far more used to refer to him than Jose by fight commentators and magazine writers.

He ran into trouble with the law in 2001 when he was accused of racketeering in Mexico, in connection with a Mexican mayor. But he was declared innocent in 2002.

His record as a boxer was of 35 wins and 15 losses, with 31 wins by knockout.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRoundDateLocationNotes50Loss35–15Lupe AquinoKO2 (10)25 Sep 198949Win35–14Martín MartínezKO1 (10)31 Jul 198948Win34–14Francisco CarballoKO4 (10)29 May 198947Win33–14Daniel ValenzuelaKO6 (10)25 Jul 198746Loss32–14Jorge VacaKO2 (10)19 Dec 198645Loss32–13Lorenzo Luis GarcíaMD104 Oct 198644Win32–12Luis MateoTKO3 (10)25 Jul 198643Loss31–12Steve LittleMD103 Mar 198642Win31–11Felipe VacaUD425 Feb 198641Loss30–11Herman MontesKO3 (10)7 Mar 198540Loss30–10Jun-Suk HwangMD1012 Jul 198439Win30–9Mauricio BravoTKO1 (10)1 Mar 198438Loss29–9Roberto DuránTKO4 (12)29 Jan 198337Loss29–8Roger StaffordUD107 Nov 198136Win29–7Jørgen HansenTKO1 (10) 25 Jun 198135Win28–7Bernardo PradaKO2 (10)7 Feb 198134Loss27–7Thomas HearnsTKO2 (15)2 Aug 198033Win27–6Harold VolbrechtKO5 (15)6 Apr 198032Win26–6Ángel EspadaTKO10 (15)8 Dec 197931Win25–6Randy ShieldsUD1530 Jul 197930Win24–6Scott ClarkTKO2 (15)29 Jan 197929Win23–6Pete RanzanyTKO2 (15)9 Sep 197828Win22–6Billy BackusTKO2 (15)20 May 197827Win21–6Harold WestonTKO9 (15)4 Mar 197826Win20–6Ángel EspadaTKO12 (15)19 Nov 197725Win19–6Clyde GrayKO2 (15)6 Aug 197724Win18–6Miguel Ángel CampaninoKO2 (15)12 Mar 197723Win17–6Shoji TsujimotoKO6 (15)27 Oct 197622Win16–6Ángel EspadaTKO2 (15)17 Jul 197621Loss15–6Andy PriceUD102 Jun 197620Win15–5Rafael PiamonteKO1 (10)3 Apr 197619Win14–5José PalaciosKO10 (12)27 Sep 197518Win13–5Carlos ObregónUD1012 Jul 197517Win12–5Rubén Vázquez ZamoraUD1025 Jan 197516Win11–5Sammy GarcíaKO3 (10)26 Oct 197415Win10–5José Luis PenaKO1 (10)21 Aug 197414Win9–5Sugar SandersTKO1 (10)12 Jun 197413Win8–5Salvador RuvalcabaKO1 (10)11 May 197412Loss7–5Eleazar DelgadoMD1024 Nov 197311Win7–4Octavio AmparanTKO7 (10)6 Oct 197310Win6–4José FigueroaTKO3 (10)4 Aug 19739Loss5–4Memo CruzUD1013 May 19738Win5–3Sergio AlejoKO4 (8)1 Mar 19737Win4–3Raúl MartínezKO1 (8)7 Dec 19726Loss3–3Juan Pablo OropezaMD819 Aug 19725Win3–2Pancho BenítezTKO2 (8)22 Jun 19724Win2–2Rielero RodríguezTKO2 (6)24 May 19723Loss1–2Mario RomanMD64 Mar 19722Win1–1José AriasTKO4 (6)1 Jan 19721Loss0–1Alfredo CastroKO2 (4)14 Nov 1971

See also List of Mexican boxing world champions List of world welterweight boxing champions

References

External links