There’s perhaps few better boxing historians than the youngest heavyweight champion in the sport’s history Mike Tyson.
Tyson has been in rare form in the last year or so on his new podcast where he often goes back over his fight career.
As well as talking about different aspects of the sport.
Many will know Cuba is one of the great countries of the world for producing some of the best amateur boxers around.
When it comes to turning pro though — things can be a little tricky for Cuban boxers due to political reasons.
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One of the great Cuban boxers was the original ‘Kid Chocolate’.
His real name was Eligio Sardiñas Montalvo with a pro record 136-10-6-51 KO.
Speaking on his podcast Tyson got emotional when his name came up saying:
“He was magnificent. Listen, he had a hundred amateur fights in Cuba and he was undefeated with like eighty-five knockouts.”
He went on:
“They showed pictures of him in the Cuba like in the 80’s. He was this old broken down man but he was a magnificent fighter. He was so inspirational to fighters like Archie Moore, Henry Armstrong because when they saw him fight he made more money than some of the heavyweights. He made like $100,000 a fight. That’s why he was so popular. That’s why everybody loved him. They made songs about him and stuff. He was a sensation when he came to America.”
He added:
“He fought all those guys (the best of his time). It was just that he got sick. Everything (tape available on him) you could watch on him (I watched). (Fidel) LaBarba, Tony Canzoneri. He fought all those guys. He had probably over a hundred and fifty fights. Pro fights. Great fighter. Very sensational fighter. Very popular fighter. One of the most popular fighter’s ever.”
He concluded:
“They had people name themselves after him (copying his nickname later in the sport). When (Fidel) Castro took over he was a very wealthy guy Kid Chocolate but he (Castro) took everything. Castro took all the property and the cash out of the bank. They were Communist.”
