Punchers from the Past: Luis Folledo

Photo Credit: Boxrec

Name: Luis Folledo

Born: 10 October 1937

Died: 21 May 2017

Career: 1958 to 1969

Record: 140 fights, won 131 (60 by KO/TKO), lost 6 (4 by KO(/TKO, drew 2, 1 ND.

Division:

Stance: Orthodox

Titles:  Spanish Welterweight, and Middleweight

Major Contests

Scored wins over: Diego Infantes (thrice), Boswell St Louis, Jimmy McGrail, Fred Galiana,(twice), Jose Navarro (twice),  Michel Diouf, Marcel Pigou , Francesco Fiori (twice), Souleymane Diallo, Yoland Leveque, Milo Calhoun, Sugar Boy Nando, Jose Hernandez

Lost against: Chris Christensen, Brian Curvis. Laszlo Papp, Nino Benvenuti**, Carlo Duran,

Drew with:

**Past/ future holder of a version of a world title

* Unsuccessful challenger for a version of a world title

Luis Folledo’s Story

Folledo was a boxer, bullfighter and actor and dominated the welterweight and middleweight divisions in Spain in the 1960’s. Born in the Las Ventas area of Madrid he came from a poor family who lived in a shack and was a skinny kid. Dissatisfied with being so skinny he went to a local gym. At the gym was Segundo Bartos one of the most popular boxers in Spain in the 1920’s and 30’s a Spanish lightweight champion who had almost 100 fights. Bartos would be with Folledo from when Folledo was a 110 lbs flyweight through to the end of his professional career. Folledo eventually entered some amateur tournaments losing his first amateur fight and was said to have had around 20 but won no significant titles. He had put on weight and was a welterweight by the time he turned a pro having his first fight in 30 March 1958 in Madrid. He had 18 fights in the remaining nine months in 1958 going 16-0-2 and added 17 more wins in 1959 including a win over Spanish middleweight champion Francisco Ortega in a non-title fight. Folledo won the Spanish welterweight title in March 1960 and defended the national title twice as he built his record to 44-0-2 before losing his first fight. That came in his first fight outside of Spain when he lost on points to future European champion Chris Christensen in Copenhagen in November 1960. Folledo defended the Spanish title again then travelled to London in March 1961 where he lost on points to unbeaten Brian Curvis. To show he could win in England Folledo beat good level opposition in Tony Smith and 17-1 Jimmy McGrail. The McGrail fight was the seventh in 1961 but Folledo crammed in another nine fights. In July he faced experienced Fred Galiana in a fight all Spain had been waiting for. The huge Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid was packed. Folledo’s record was 50-2-2 and Galiana had lost only 18 of his 146 fights (he would go on to have 191 fights) and Folledo successfully defended the Spanish title with a points win. A fight this big had to go again and two months later Folledo again outpointed Galiana and went on to defend the Spanish welterweight title three times before the end of the year. Folledo had defended the Spanish welterweight title eight times and in January 1962 he won the middleweight title. He scored wins in fights in Germany and France and by the end of the year his record was 74-2-2. He added eight more wins in 1963 taking his unbeaten run to 34 bouts and he had risen to No 5 in the Ring Magazine ratings. In December 1963 he faced unbeaten Laszlo Papp with the possibility of a world title shot for the winner. Papp just proved too good for Folledo and floored him twice in the eighth for a stoppage win. This loss scuppered a fight against Ruben Carter in January which would have seen Folledo fight on the other side of the Atlantic for the first time. This was the pattern for Folledo in is long career. He dominated the domestic scene but lost the big international fights. He ran up 14 wins in 1964 and 1965 including victories over 29-0-1 Souleymane Diallo, Yoland Leveque and unbeaten Milo Calahan. In October 1965 came another huge fight as he faced 58-0 Nino Benvenuti for the vacant European middleweight title. It was a disaster all round as Folledo came in 5 lbs over the weight and was knocked out in the sixth round. Folledo was only 28 but this was fight No 102. Despite that he won 15 of his 16 fights in 1966 and reversed the sole loss. After eight wins in !967 came his last chance saloon when he met Carlo Duran for the vacant European middleweight title in November in Turin and was stopped in the twelfth round. He had thirteen more fights winning them all before retiring in May 1969 after failing medical tests.

Whilst he was still boxing Folledo had started training and then performing as a bullfighter. He fought as a matador in February 1964 just a few days before he was due to fight Souleymane Diallo in Paris and the Spanish Boxing Federation threatened to revoke his licence if he went through with the event. He also acted in three films and worked at a casino in Malaga and as a bodyguard for some of the smart set in Marbella. He set up and ran a gym in Marbella where he helped train Alfonso Redondo who would go on the win the Spanish and European welterweight titles. He bought a house for his parents and two apartments for his sisters but had made some bad business decisions. He continued to live in Malaga but was admitted to a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer’s before eventually dying on 21 May 2017.