Articles by Contributor Boxing Over Broadway. By Mike Silver. Curtis Cokes held the welterweight title from 1. He was born and raised in Dallas,Texas, where he still resides. Curtis was a gifted all around athlete in high school, excelling in baseball and basketball. He earned all state honors in both sports and briefly played basketball for the Harlem Stars, a professional touring team. Welterweight champion Curtis Cokes. Curtis first laced on the gloves at a local YMCA and was undefeated in 2. This was at a time when there were eight weight divisions and eight undisputed champions. How quaint By the mid 1. Curtis had become a top rated welterweight contender. Like all of his contemporaries he acquired contender status the old fashioned wayhe earned it. BestBuy_US/images/products/5234/5234622_sd.jpg;maxHeight=550;maxWidth=642' alt='Street Fighter: The New Challengers Movie Theatre ' title='Street Fighter: The New Challengers Movie Theatre ' />Hawaiis source for local news headlines. 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Read CNN News18 breaking news, latest news from India World including current news headlines on politics, cricket, business, entertainment and more only on News18. Also quaint by todays standards. During his climb to the title he sharpened his considerable boxing skills against the likes of Stefan Redl, Joe Miceli, Kenny Lane, Manny Alvarez, Jose Stable, Stan Harrington, Stanley Kitten Hayward, Billy Collins and in three memorable bouts with the great Luis Rodriguez. The boxing world first took notice of Curtis Cokes when he upset future welterweight champion Luis Rodriguez in 1. Rodriguez outpointed Curtis in their rematch four months later. The rubber match took place on July 6, 1. New Orleans. The bout was the semi final of a tournament to determine a new welterweight champion. Curtis stopped Rodriguez in the 1. Cuban welterweight in his prime. Less than two months later, in the final bout of the tournament, Curtis outpointed Manny Gonzales to win the crown vacated by Emile Griffith. Curtis Cokes had an elegant and refined boxing style of a type that is all but extinct today. He was adept at both offense and defense but was primarily a counter puncher skills that were admired and appreciated by knowledgeable boxing fans. Films of several of his fights are available on You. Tube. After five successful defenses, including impressive KOs over Charlie Shipes and Willie Ludick, he lost the title to the great Jose Napoles on April 4th 1. With both eyes nearly swollen shut Cokes manager told the referee to stop the fight before the start of the 1. The rematch, two months later, ended similarly with Cokes unable to continue beyond the 1. Curtis fought for three more years before hanging up his gloves. He compiled a 6. 2 1. Napoles and Hayward were the only fighters to stop him. In 1. 97. 2 Curtis gave a credible acting performance in Fat City, a boxing movie directed by John Huston. After he retired from boxing Curtis was involved in various business ventures but he always remained close to the sport he loved. In 1. 98. 0 he wrote, with co author Hugh Kayser, The Complete Book of Boxing for Fighters and Fight Fans. I consider it the best boxing instruction book of the past 7. The book has reportedly sold more than 7. He currently owns and operates Curtis Cokes Home of Champions Boxing Gym in Dallas where the emphasis is on serving his community through an amateur boxing program geared to keeping young people off the streets. Today, at the age of 7. Curtis Cokes is healthy and mentally sharp, with an amazing memory for the details of his career. Fortunately, he exhibits no ill effects from his 8. Aside from being an old school fighter Curtis is also an old school gentleman. He is gracious, engaging and warm. Interviewing this Hall of Fame boxer was a delightful experience. My thanks to mutual friend Ken Burke for providing contact information for Curtis. INTERVIEW Mike Silver Champ, the purists loved your smooth delivery and emphasis on basic fundamentals such as the left jab, footwork, counter punching and defense. I count myself lucky to have seen you fight on television. When I told a few older fans who also saw you fight that I was going to interview you their first words were, He was a good boxer. That is how you are rememberedthat and your tremendous victories over the great Luis Rodriguez. How do you go about conveying your storehouse of knowledge to the young students at your gym Curtis Cokes Before we start teaching fundamentals that involve throwing and blocking punches, or how to get away from punches, I get their legs in shape. We work on walking and running forward and backward. Footwork is such an important part of the sport. When I played baseball and basketball I knew I had to get my legs in shape because the legs are what carry the body. I think todays fighters forget about footwork. I worked every day on my footwork, turning left and right, backing up, going forward. I turned to my left to be outside of my opponents right hand, and then Id swing to my right to be outside of his left jab. Learning how to box is a slow process but you try to learn something every day. MS Speaking of footwork, in my book, The Arc of Boxing, I asked the great ballet dancer Edwin Villella, who was a champion amateur boxer before he became a ballet star, to explain the similarities between the two disciplines. You cover the same topic in The Complete Book of Boxing. Quoting from your book The balance and rhythm of a dancer are also important, for a boxer must be able to move quickly and change his tempo and direction at willmaneuverability is of extreme importance. An almost ballet type of body coordination gives a fighter a distinct edge. CC The balance of a dancer is tremendous, and like a dancer a boxer has to be able to move and dance while maintaining his balance. You have to be able to have good balance to throw your punches. When I played with the Harlem Stars basketball team I used to watch Goose Tatum, how he would get in position and block people out. It was amazing to see him do that so smoothly. Goose Tatums coordination and balance was outstanding. MS Aside from footwork, what do you see as the main difference between the boxers of your generation and todays practitioners CC Today its all about hitting and thats all it isjust go out and hit, hit, hit. They dont learn the fundamentals of boxing. They dont get a Ph. D. in boxinghow to block, roll, duck, slip and get away from punches to hit and not get hit. You have to learn the smart part of boxing, because you want to come out of it the same as you went in. Most guys just fight, fight, fight, but fighting isnt boxing. Its an intelligent sport and you have to be smart to be able to succeed in it. If you just go toe to toe it becomes a toughman contest and the toughman wins. Its not a science anymore. You dont have to be smart to box anymore. There is no sport called fighting, its called professional boxing. A big part of the problem is we dont have the trainers that we used to have. There are not too many people that know how to train fighters. MS Who was your trainer CC I had two trainers Robert Thomas was my first coach and Robert Cornbread Smith was the coach with all the experience. He was back in Joe Louiss day and he was a good trainer. My manager was Doug Lord. Doug was a good manager and he took care of me. He was not only my manager, he was my friend. I knew the boxing game and Doug, who owned an insurance company, knew about business. MS You became welterweight champion in your 5. Two months ago a fighter with only 1. The fighter he dethroned had all of 2. CC I dont think there are as many fighters available as in my day. Most become champions before they are ready to be champions. To be a champion youve got to have fought some of the best fighters in the world. Even if you lose to some of the great guys its not a shame to lose to a great fighter. You can learn from the experience. You have to take it step by step. You go from first grade to the tenth grade and then you graduate. Instead of learning the game they want to fight for a title too early even before they learn to tie their gloves on. Youve got 1. 0 fights and youre fighting for a title. Back in the day you had to have at least 3.