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Sports Minute: Curtis Cooke, Hall of Fame welterweight champion, dies at 82

3 years 9 months 3 weeks ago Sunday, May 31 2020 May 31, 2020 May 31, 2020 7:20 PM May 31, 2020 in Sports - AP - Texas

DALLAS (AP) - Curtis Cokes, the Hall of Fame welterweight who became Dallas’ first world champion in 1966, has died. He was 82. Erwin “Sparky” Sparks, Cokes’ partner at the Home of Champions gym, told The Dallas Morning News that Cokes died Friday after a week in hospice. Cokes took the World Boxing Association welterweight title in 1966 belt with a unanimous decision over Manny Gonzalez and added the World Boxing Council crown three months later with a unanimous decision over Jean Josselin in Dallas. Cokes lost the titles to Jose Napoles in 1969. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003, the 5-foot-8 Cokes fought 80 times from 1958 to 1972, finishing 62-14-4 with 30 knockouts.

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