Curtis Cokes (June 15, 1937 – May 29, 2020) was a boxer from Dallas, Texas, United States. Cokes was the simultaneous WBA, WBC and The Ring World Welterweight Champion, and he was famous for his training regimen, which he also imposed on other boxers training with him. Pre-championship career On March 24, 1958, Cokes began to box professionally, defeating Manuel Gonzalez, whom he would later fight for the world title, in a six round decision. He won eleven fights in a row, including a second match with Gonzalez, before losing to Gonzalez in their third fight, on April 27, 1959. His next fight, against Garland Randall on June 18 of the same year, ended in a three round no contest. He and Randall had an immediate rematch and on August 27, he knocked out Randall in the first round. He had an additional fourteen fights, going 11-2-1 in that span (his one draw was against Kenny Lane, a boxer who twice challenged Carlos Ortiz for world championships), before facing Luis Rodriguez, another world welterweight champion, on September 3, 1961. He beat Rodriguez by a ten round decision, outpointed Gonzalez in their fourth fight, and lost to Rodriguez in their second fight, also by points. He went 13-4 in his next seventeen fights, and, after losing in a ten round decision to Eddie Pace at Los Angeles, California, on August 27, 1964, he announced his retirement. On October 14 of that year, however, he announced he was returning to boxing. Championship After winning three fights in a row, he and Gonzalez were matched for a fifth time, on August 24, 1966, this time for the WBA/WBC vacant world welterweight title, in New Orleans. Cokes outpointed Manuel Gonzalez to become world welterweight champion. On November 28 of 1966, he retained the crown against Jean Josselin of France in a fifteen round decision. Nat Fleischer was one of the judges for that fight. On May 19, 1967, he retained the title with a tenth round knockout of Francois Villeiman, and on October 2, he met Charlie Shipes, who was recognized as champion in California. He knocked Shipes out in eight rounds in Oakland. On April 18, 1968, he retained his title with a fifth round knockout of Willie Ludick, and on October 21, with a fifteen round decision over Ramon La Cruz. Post-championship career Cokes lost the world welterweight title on April 18