Carlos De Leon, four-time cruiserweight champ, dies at 60
Carlos De Leon, a four-time cruiserweight titleholder and later a trainer, died on New Year’s Day at his home in Buffalo, New York. He was 60.
De Leon reportedly had a number of health issues in recent years. One unconfirmed report said he died from heart attack.
The Puerto Rican won the WBC title four times in the 1980s, when the late Jose Sulaiman presided over the sanctioning body. Sulaiman’s son Mauricio, the current president, released a statement on De Leon’s passing.
It read: “The WBC boxing family is sad to report the sudden passing away of one of the greatest cruiser weight champions, Carlos De Leon. We join his family in grief. May he Rest In Peace. Adiós Campeón.”
De Leon (53-8-1, 33 KOs) defeated Marvin Camel by a majority 15-round decision to win the title for the first time on the undercard of the first Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran fight on Nov. 25, 1980. He lost it to ST Gordon by second-round knockout on June 27, 1982 and then, after stopping Leon Spinks, he regained the title from Gordon by a unanimous decision on July 17, 1983.
Alonzo Ratliff took De Leon’s belt by a split decision on June 6, 1985. De Leon regained it a second time by defeating Bernard Benton by a majority decision on March 22, 1986. De Leon then tried to unify three titles but was stopped in eight rounds by Hall of Famer Evander Holyfield on April 9, 1988.
And, finally, De Leon regained the title, vacated by Holyfield, when he stopped Sammy Reeson in nine rounds on May 17, 1989. He lost his belt for the last time by disqualification to Massimiliano Duran on July 27, 1990.
He moved up to heavyweight and had some success but lost consecutive fights to Corrie Sanders and Brian Nielsen and retired in 1995.
De Leon finished with a record of 11-4-1 (5 KOs) in title fights. He was 5-5-1 (2 KOs) against former or current titleholders.
He later worked alongside brothers Juan and Angel with such fighters as Orlando Cruz, Angel Acosta and Joe Mesi.