Kid Gavilán

Gerardo Gonzalez (Kid Gavilán), boxer: born Palo Seco, Cuba 6 January 1926; married; died Miami, Florida 13 February 2003.

Kid Gavilán was one of the most popular boxers of the 1950s, and became only the second Cuban to win a world title when he outpointed Johnny Bratton in Madison Square Garden in 1951 to claim the vacant welterweight championship.

Though not a heavy puncher, Gavilán was a dazzling performer who overwhelmed his opponents with clusters of punches thrown from unconventional angles, the most renowned of which he termed his "bolo punch", a scything uppercut later appropriated by "Sugar" Ray Leonard and a host of less talented imitators. In the course of his 15-year career, Gavilán, known as the "Cuban Hawk", compiled a record of 107 wins, 30 losses and six draws.

Born Gerardo Gonzalez, he began fighting at the age of eight, earning a dollar a bout from onlookers on the village streets of Palo Seco. When his family moved to the city of Camagüey in 1936, Gonzalez spent all his spare time in a newly opened gym, informing his disapproving mother that, "These hands are for becoming a world champion, not for cutting sugarcane." In June 1943, Gonzalez travelled to Havana for his first professional bout, after which he gained financial backing from the owner of the Gavilán café, who dubbed his charge "Kid Gavilán" (Spanish for "sparrowhawk"), as a way of publicising his premises and as a homage to Cuba's first world champion, Kid Chocolate.

Over the next two years, Gavilán became a popular favourite in the capital before moving to New York in 1946, where he marked his arrival with a fifth-round knockout of Johnny Ryan. Keeping busy, Gavilán won most of his bouts while occasionally dropping decisions to more seasoned campaigners such as the lightweight champion Ike Williams and the welterweight titleholder, "Sugar" Ray Robinson. In 1949, however, Gavilán twice beat Williams to secure a title bout with Robinson in Philadelphia in July. Robinson won on points but later recalled of his opponent: "He not only was aggressive, but you could hit him with everything and still not knock him out." Indeed, Gavilán was never stopped throughout his career.

On 18 May 1951, Gavilán broke Johnny Bratton's jaw on his way to winning the NBA version of the title vacated by Robinson. In August of that year, in his first defence, Gavilán was considered lucky to beat Billy Graham on points, with many observers feeling that the Cuban's unwilling association with the gangster Frankie Carbo had made the difference.

In 1952, Gavilán successfully defended against Bobby Dykes in Miami (in what was Florida's first integrated championship bout), Gil Turner in Philadelphia (for the undisputed title), and Graham in Havana. Having seen off the challenges of Chuck Davey, Carmen Basilio, and Bratton in 1953, Gavilán attempted to emulate Robinson by taking on Carl "Bobo" Olson for the middleweight title in Chicago in April 1954, but was beaten on points.

In October 1954, a fading Gavilán lost his title under highly questionable circumstances to Johnny Saxton, in a bout which moved the author Budd Schulberg to write a famous article entitled "Boxing's Dirty Business Must Be Cleaned Up Now". Gavilán continued to box until 1958, after which he returned to Cuba. There, he found professional sports out of favour with the revolutionary government, which confiscated his properties and ran a motorway through his farm, rendering it unworkable.

Troubled by failing eyesight, Gavilán was eventually allowed to return to America in 1968. Embittered by his treatment, he declared last year, "I love Cuba. I hope to see my family again. But Castro would have to be dead. He hurt all the families of Cuba."

John Exshaw