Crow of the Little Golden Rooster (diary entry)

Today's "Learn from the Fight" covered Eder Jofre and Eloy Sanchez's battle for the vacant NBA bantamweight championship.

Eder Jofre versus Eloy Sanchez NBA World Bantamweight Championship 18.11.1960

Eder Jofre (aka "The Little Golden Rooster", "Little Golden Bantam" and "Jofrinho"/"Lil' Jofre") was born on 26th March 1936 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As it turned out, Brazil was not overly fond of the sport of Boxing. However, young Eder would grow up immersed in the martial art and to this day is considered the country's greatest boxer by most historians.

The family lived in the backroom of his father, Astrides's Boxing gym. His mother, Angelina, worked as an employee of the gym. His uncle on his father's side, Tonico made his professional debut on the day Eder was born. Meanwhile Angelina's family were no strangers to combat sport either.

Her sister was Olga Zumbano who had been boxing and wrestling since she was 11, notorious for touring with a circus and challenging local bullies to matches. When no girls would face her she regularly took on boys and won. She switched to professional wrestling after her marriage to European Boxing middleweight champion Hans "The Austrian Machine Gun" Norbert.  She would live a remarkable life becoming one of Brazil's most successful female wrestlers playing the role of the heel. She remarried three more times and spent most of her life running and selling circuses.

Angelina and Olga's brother, Ralf, competed as a lightweight in the 1948 Olympics and became Brazilian lightweight champion after he turned pro.

All-in-all Jofre believed that at least 14 of his relatives made their living from either Boxing or Wrestling.

Jofre was learning to box pretty much as soon as he could walk. He apparently fought a cousin when only aged four. Aged just nine he competed in an inter-gym competition between the Jofre and Zumbano clans at his father's gym. Eder recalled the match to have been almost dream-like, flowing by itself and deeply familiar. He knocked out his cousin Ricardo, a future professional, in round three and Jofre fondly remembers riding his father's shoulders in proud celebration.

Jofre made it into the Brazilian Olympic squad of 1956 and won his fight but lost the quarter-final bout on points to Chile's Claudio Barrientos. Much like Archie Moore, Jofre, decided on making a strict dietary choice. Like Moore, he would credit the diet for helping him retain energy throughout his career whilst managing his weight well. However, unlike Moore, whose Australian Aborigine-inspired diet leant more towards high protein Paleo philosophy and Fletcherism, Jofre became a strict vegetarian eating mainly fruit and vegetables.

He made his professional debut on 29th March 1957 when he knocked out Raul Lopez in round four of a match scheduled for six rounds. When the two met for a rematch a month later for a 10 round scheduled fight, Jofre put him away a round earlier. Next month he won a technical knockout in the tenth round of his fight against Osvaldo Perez and then also knocked him out in their rematch in round two. He had proven that in only three matches he not only had incredible knockout power but already had the stamina and maturity to last 10 rounds. Juan Gonzalez fell in round five the following month. Jofre fought twice in the next month, July, outpointing Raul Jamie twice. His winning streak was then halted by two draws against Ernesto Miranda in August and September.

There was zero shame in drawing with Miranda. In his next fight the Argentinian, who was a two-year veteran by this stage and on his twentieth and twenty-first professional fight. His twenty-third will see him win the Argentinian bantamweight title and then successfully defend it over his next eight fights.

Jofre won his next five matches, three by stoppage and two by points. One of his points wins was his first eight-round match. So far all of his matches bar his debut had been 10-rounders. His third fight of 1958 and overall fifteenth fight also became his third draw. Ruben Cáceres took him the full 10 rounds. This fight was also noteworthy for being Jofre's first professional fight outside of Brazil. It had taken place in Montevideo, Uruguay. However, after this he won his next 17 fights, mainly by stoppage and usually a straight KO. One of those stoppages was his revenge against Cáceres in round seven.

His thirty-third professional bout was for the South American bantamweight title on 19th February 1960. As with thirty-one of his thirty-two previous fights, the match was held in Brazil and like the vast majority of his previous fights it was held in his home city of San Paulo. A few of his earlier fights had been held in Rio de Janeiro.

Eder Jofre would have to face one of only two men who had held him to draw, and the only one who had held him to a draw twice: Ernesto Miranda. After successfully defending the Argentinian version of this title eight times he had won five non-title bouts before taking the South American belt from Guido Granzio. This was followed by 10 title defence victories and one draw against Danny Kid.

Danny Kid was a remarkable boxer from the Philippines who was an eight-year veteran who had won and lost the Japanese bantamweight title, won the Philippines bantamweight title, lost on points when he had dropped a weight to challenge Pone Kingpetch for the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation flyweight title and won the North American bantamweight title. However, in his draw against Miranda had been prefaced with a unanimous decision loss to the hungry Eder Jofre.

This same type of defeat was dealt to Miranda and Jofre was now the South American bantamweight champion. Four months later, perhaps the longest time between fights so far in Jofre's career, Eder gave Miranda a chance to win the title and this time knocked him out for his troubles in round three.

Next up, he avenged the man who had beaten him at the 1956 Olympics, Claudio Barrientos, by knock him out in round eight. He then made his second professional boxing trip outside of Brazil to face 62-fight veteran Joe Medel of Mexico on 18th August 1960. Medel fell in round 10 of their 12-round scheduled eliminator for the bantamweight world title. However, this wasn't before he gave Jofre perhaps the hardest fight of his career to date. From the third until the fifth round, Jofre stepped up the pace and totally dominated his opponent. However, Medel weathered the storm and came back in the ninth, clearly hurting Jofre and putting him in trouble. Then just before the bell Jofre came back with a shuddering right uppercut. Round 10 saw Jofre and not Medel now taking charge. It was too much for the Mexican fighter who made it through the round but landed in foetal position just after the bell rung. His seconds failed to get him out in for the eleventh.

The exciting match was held at the Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, where the title fight would also be held. However, before Jofre was to attempt to lift the belt he returned to Brazil for a sixth round knockout victory over Ricard Moreno.

There is very little biography on Eloy "Emeterio" Sanchez. He was provided as a footnote to the career of Jose Becerra after he knocked out the undisputed lineal world bantamweight champion in a non-title fight. Becerra was apparently so disgusted by his own performance that he retired from boxing and left the titles vacant. As has been the pattern in the past when a champion retires, not all the awarding bodies sanction the fight for the new champion. The NBA were first to put their title up for grabs and they offered it to the man who beat their previous champion.

Sanchez was considered a club fighter. Born on 1st January 1935 in Mexico. His place of birth isn't listed but he resided in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was 5′ 4″ / 163cm with a reach of  65″ / 165cm. He came into the fight with a record of 25-12 and had been boxing since 29th August 1956. Prior to his shock eighth round KO of Becerra in their non-title fight at Plaza de Toros, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico he had come off a three points losses, the last to Jose Medel. Unlike Jofre, who went through something of an elimination tournament, his decisive victory over the champion who had then relinquished the title was enough for the NBA to qualify him as the vying pretender to the vacancy.

Eder Jofre was 5′ 4″   /   163cm with a reach of 65½″   /   167cm. No weights are listed for either man going into the fight but Sanchez's average fighting weight was 126 lb / 57.15 kg whereas Jofre fought between 116 and 126 lbs.

In 1986 Ring Magazine's editor-in-chief Nigel Collins said of Jofre:

“Standing only 5-feet-4 inches, Jofre was a handsome fellow with a shock of black curly hair. He boxed out of a classic, standup stance with his chin ducked down behind his shoulder. His footwork was economical, but effective. However, it was when he hooked off the jab, or crossed his right, that the secret of his success was truly revealed. Simply stated, Jofre was one of the hard punching bantams to ever lace on the gloves."

The highlights of the fight revealed Jofre to be very much in control throughout. He was certainly aggressive but had a tight defence with his right hand held tightly by his jaw every time he drove in a jab.

Sanchez looked slow and awkward, using a long guard of sorts that was easily bypassed by his swifter opponent. Jofre easily slipped in with his jab and sent a right either straight to the target or as an overhand.

Eloy's attempts to mix matters up seemed just as ill-fated as Jofre rained down a series of hooks off both hands. In the first part of the footage, it seemed that Sanchez's best punches had been his body shots which he dug in after clinching. However, the rallies were all Jofre's domain.

We picked up the bulk of the action in round six where Sanchez tried to barrel into his opponent but Jofre easily managed him both by manhandling him in the clinch and showing great angling off in his footwork. He steered Eloy into punch after punch. At one point he landed a thunderous jab/overhand right. Sanchez clinched to recover but was manoeuvred into a hard left hook that sent him to the canvas in a foetal position. Sanchez rose into a wide kneeling stance shaking his head, he rose to one knee and then stumbled back down to two as the referee counted. At this point it looked like it was time for the referee to wave off the fight but he gathered enough strength to make it back up to his feet and matters resumed.

Sanchez, now looking more cagey, ducked under his opponent's punches and moved forward. He used his jab and scythed in a right hook to the body but Jofre seemed unaffected as he continued his assault. He threw a tight right that Sanchez slipped. The Mexican swung with a right haymaker that he easily ducked but was caught with a shovel hook to the body that sent him down. This was quite the comeback for Sanchez but Jofre bounced up to his feet before the referee could begin the count. The punch looked good but, in hindsight, it might have been a slip. I have never seen anyone recover from a knockdown liver shot as fast as that!

Still, Sanchez was now on the offence and Jofre was covering as his opponent waded in with a two-fisted attack. Eder did well to retain his guard and throw tight punches whenever Eloy wasn't swinging. A right hook missed but then caught Sanchez's jaw the second time. They closed but didn't clinch as Eloy kept pumping in his fists, trying to burrow under Eder's defence. A natural separation after this clash was all Jofre needed before he began to get the rhythm of the exchange and exploited the growing gaps with sharper counter-punches.  A left clipped Sanchez and then a punishing straight right underlined the target. He left hook caught the Mexican in the head and then in the ribs. Sanchez fired back with his right. A short clinch was followed by Eloy wielding another wild left that the Brazilian rolled under. The same story with the right and then he stepped back from another left haymaker. It looked like a right might have clipped him as Sanchez continued his advance forward.

As the fight finally made its way into ropes near the corner it became a slugfest with Eder giving as much as he got but he soon resumed his deft angling off. Sanchez was hitting air more now and Jofre's punches were landing. Their skill levels were very evident. Eloy had been chasing his moment of glory for too long, believing he had the Brazilian when it was really he who had taken the worst of the knockdowns. Jofre had really been riding and timing his opponent's premature victory charge and as the Mexican threw yet another right haymaker, leaving his face wide open to his opponent, Eder detonated a short, clean and lightning fast right to the chin. Sanchez collapsed for the second time in this round. Eloy was on his side again and rolled to his front and then back again, trying to regain his senses. He was sat up when the referee counted him out.

Eder Jofre made boxing history by becoming the first Brazilian to win a world boxing championship. In a country that didn't celebrate the sport especially, he returned to a hero's welcome. He was paraded in a car in his home in Peruche Park, north of Sao Paulo and a lavish party attended by politicians was held in his honour.

Keeping is eye in, he knocked out the former California state bantamweight champion Billy Peacock in round 2 before the end of the year. Peacock was on a long losing streak and this was his sixteenth loss in a row, not having won anything since 1958. He would retire a few months later in February 1961. Eloy Sanchez wouldn't fight again until next year. With exception of one failed attempt at the Mexican featherweight championship in 1963 he would never have another title shot. Most of his remaining fights would be in Mexico but he would also take one in Panama and five more in the USA, two of which would be at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. He retired in 1965 with a record of 37-22-1.

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