Carlos De León

Carlos De León, also known as "Sugar" De Leon, (May 3, 1959 – January 1, 2020) was a Puerto Rican boxer who made history by becoming the first cruiserweight to win the world title twice. Subsequently, he kept breaking his own record for the most times as cruiserweight champion by regaining the title on two further occasions.

Career

De León, a native of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, first won a world title when he faced the WBC world champion Marvin Camel on November 25, 1980, replacing David Pearce the Great Britain boxer on the undercard of Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Durán's second fight in New Orleans. De León outpointed Camel over fifteen rounds. In a rematch later, De León knocked out Camel in eight rounds. When his countryman Ossie Ocasio won the WBA world title, De León and Ocasio became the second pair of Puerto Ricans to share world titles in the same division at the same time; Alfredo Escalera and Samuel Serrano had achieved the feat in the 1970s in the junior lightweight division.

Taking loss De León lost his title in a shocking upset to former Gerry Cooney victim S. T. Gordon by a knockout in round two in Cleveland in 1982, and won a comeback fight versus former world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks by a knockout in round six in 1983. After that, he and Gordon boxed a rematch in Las Vegas, and De León dropped Gordon once in the first round and once in the twelfth, en route to a unanimous decision win in a history-making bout: De León had now become the first boxer to win the world cruiserweight title twice.

Champion again He defended his title against Yaqui López by a knockout in four at San Jose, California, and with decisions over Anthony Davis and Bashiru Ali. The Davis bout took place in Las Vegas and the fight with Ali was in Oakland, California. De León next lost his title in Las Vegas to Alfonzo Ratliff in a decision. Ratliff was in turn beaten by Bernard Benton, who defended against De León on March 22, 1986, once again in Las Vegas. De León joined the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali in becoming one of the few boxers ever to win one division's world championship at least three times, defeating Benton by decision.

Once more He made a couple of defenses in Italy and then in 1988, he defended the title against Uruguayan José María Flores Burlón in Atlantic City, New Jersey, winning by twelve rounds in a unanimous decision but then he lost his titles in a unification bout with WBA and IBF world champion Evander Holyfield, by TKO in the eighth round, also in Las Vegas. But Holyfield soon left the division to pursue the world heavyweight championship, and De León was left with an open door to break his own record and win the title for a record fourth time. He went to London, where he beat the WBC's number two ranked contender, Sammy Reeson, by a knockout in the ninth round, breaking his own record and was crowned world cruiserweight champion once again.

Holding on Carlos held on to the title for two years until finally losing it to Massimiliano Duran in Italy in an eleventh-round disqualification. He gained the title by his aforementioned win over Sammy Reeson. He made a defense by drawing with Johnny Nelson before the loss to Massimilano Duran mentioned earlier.

After boxing During the 1990s, De León ran afoul of the law a number of times, once while he was carrying a rifle. He worked on helping the professional boxing career of his son, prospect Carlos de León Jr.

He died on January 1, 2020, due to a cardiac arrest. He was 60.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes62Loss53–8–1Brian NielsenTKO3 (8)Nov 24, 199561Loss53–7–1Corrie SandersTKO1 (10), Aug 13, 199460Win53–6–1Bobby ArthursMD10Feb 17, 199459Win52–6–1Brian MorganPTS8Jan 14, 199458Win51–6–1Jordan KeepersTKO5 (?)Nov 5, 199357Win50–6–1Andre CrowderKO1 (8)Jun 19, 199356Win49–6–1Joey ChristjohnPTS6May 15, 199355Win48–6–1James WilderUD10Mar 13, 199354Win47–6–1Rocky BentleyUD10Jan 22, 199353Win46–6–1Bruce JohnsonTKO4 (10)Jun 27, 199252Loss45–6–1Massimiliano DuranDQ11 (12)Jul 27, 199051Draw45–5–1Johnny NelsonSD12Jan 27, 199050Win45–5Sammy ReesonTKO9 (12), May 17, 198949Loss44–5Evander HolyfieldTKO8 (12), Apr 9, 198848Win44–4Jose Maria Flores BurlonUD12Jan 22, 198847Win43–4Larry PhelpsKO1 (10), Aug 1, 198746Win42–4Angelo RottoliTKO5 (12)Feb 21, 198745Win41–4Michael GreerTKO8 (12), Aug 10, 198644Win40–4Bernard BentonMD12Mar 22, 198643Loss39–4Alfonzo RatliffSD12Jun 6, 198542Win39–3Dorcey GaymonTKO9 (10)Jan 12, 198541Win38–3Bash AliUD12Jun 2, 198440Win37–3Anthony DavisUD12Mar 9, 198439Win36–3Yaqui LopezTKO4 (12), Sep 21, 198338Win35–3S.T. GordonUD12Jul 17, 198337Win34–3Leon SpinksRTD6 (10), Mar 6, 198336Win33–3Ivy BrownPTS10Nov 26, 198235Loss32–3S.T. GordonTKO2 (15), Jun 27, 198234Win32–2Marvin CamelTKO8 (15)Feb 24, 198233Win31–2Greg PayneTKO3 (10), Dec 12, 198132Win30–2Marvin CamelMD15Nov 25, 198031Win29–2Mario RosaPTS8Jun 28, 198030Win28–2Waldemar PaulinoKO1 (12), Apr 25, 198029Win27–2Christy ElliottTKO4 (12), Sep 25, 197928Win26–2Willie McIntyreTKO1 (10)Aug 25, 197927Win25–2Manny FreitasTKO1 (?), Apr 8, 197926Win24–2Bonifacio AvilaTKO2 (10), Jan 27, 197925Win23–2Wendell JosephPTS10Nov 18, 197824Win22–2Rennie PinderTKO3 (10)Sep 26, 197823Win21–2Roy HarryKO1 (10), Sep 8, 197822Win20–2Tyrone FreemanTKO3 (10), Apr 8, 197821Win19–2Jesse LaraTKO2 (?), Mar 25, 197820Win18–2Ray BryantTKO5 (10)Jan 28, 197819Win17–2Eddie DavisTKO5 (10)Nov 8, 197718Win16–2Battling DouglasTKO5 (10), Oct 14, 197717Loss15–2Ray HammondPTS8Sep 10, 197716Win15–1Mustapha AliUD10Jul 29, 197715Win14–1Eddie DavisTKO3 (?)Jun 25, 197714Win13–1Antonio ColonTKO6 (?)Feb 12, 197713Win12–1Carlos SotoPTS8Oct 11, 197612Win11–1Astor AgostoPTS8Aug 16, 197611Win10–1Dario de JesusPTS8Jul 19, 197610Win9–1Carlos SotoPTS8Apr 5, 19769Loss8–1Roberto ColonPTS4Feb 15, 19768Win8–0Larry AdkinsPTS8Sep 15, 19757Win7–0James JacksonTKO3 (?)Nov 11, 19756Win6–0Cubby JacksonTKO4 (?)May 17, 19755Win5–0Kid GavilanTKO6 (?)Apr 5, 19754Win4–0Tripodi GuadalupeTKO5 (?)Mar 17, 19753Win3–0Vernon LawsTKO3 (?)Nov 2, 19742Win2–0Jesse TorresTKO2 (?)Oct 19, 19741Win1–0Roy HarrisTKO4 (?)Aug 3, 1974

Carlos De León

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