VivirLatino

I am not a sports fan save the occasional futbol game (and no I am not talking Superbowl football), pero even I knew who Jose Chegüi Torres was. I would listen to the first Latin-American world light-heavyweight boxing champion discuss not just race in sports on radio station WBAI, pero identity politics and power in general as he was a regular guest on many Latino themed shows.

From Ponce, Puerto Rico, Chegüi Torres passed away on January 19th.

From a tribute written by Julio Pabon:

José “Chegüi” Torres was one incredible role model for anyone that took the time to speak to him. The fact that he was loved in the Puerto Rican communities of the 60’s is a matter of record. He was an inspiration for every Boricua sweating in the factories of New York struggling in a city that did not understand our political plight.

The 1960’s were a very rough period for the Boricua’s living in this city. It was the height of the struggles between Italians and Puerto Ricans that was manifested in many schoolyards, rooftops and parks in this city with casualties that would equal those of many undeclared wars that received no international attention. It was West Side Story in every community where Puerto Rican’s were moving into and Italians were holding on to.

In was during that volatile period in our history that Chegüi Torres got his long awaited chance to fi ght for the World Championship that was being delayed for no other reason except that he was a dark skin Puerto Rican. Finally in 1965 Chegüi was given the opportunity to fight the reining Champ, Willie Pastrano the pride of the Italian’s.

What people might not know is that Chegüi not only negotiated for himself for this important fight, he also negotiated for the entire Puerto Rican community. Chegüi explained it to me this way: “I knew that every Puerto Rican who could afford it was going to go to Madison Square Garden to see this fight. I also knew that the other half of the Garden (sitting in the lower expensive seats) was going to be filled by Italians. I wanted to do something special for our community so I negotiated that I wanted the Puerto Rican national anthem to be played before the fight.”

This might seem trivial today, however, historians would tell you that no other countries national anthem, other than the American national anthem was ever played in a boxing match, especially if both fighters were American citizens.

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