Don Jordan (1934-1997) was a boxer born in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
and was the undisputed
WelterweightWelterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
Champion of the World from 1958 to 1960. His nickname was ‘Geronimo’. Managed by Don Nesseth.
Born 22 June, 1934 in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
, Jordan’s brief spell as an amateur shows that he began boxing as a
MiddleweightMiddleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1867...
and – unusually – worked his way down to
WelterweightWelterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
as a professional. His amateur career spanned just fifteen contests, of which he lost only one.
Jordan fought professionally for the first time in April, 1953.
| Don Jordan |
| Ring Record |
| Career Span |
1953 –1962 |
| Total Bouts |
76 |
| Wins |
51 |
| Knockouts |
17 |
| Draws |
1 |
| Losses |
23 |
| No Contests |
1 |
Don Jordan (1934-1997) was a boxer born in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
and was the undisputed
WelterweightWelterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
Champion of the World from 1958 to 1960. His nickname was ‘Geronimo’. Managed by Don Nesseth.
Career
Born 22 June, 1934 in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
, Jordan’s brief spell as an amateur shows that he began boxing as a
MiddleweightMiddleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1867...
and – unusually – worked his way down to
WelterweightWelterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
as a professional. His amateur career spanned just fifteen contests, of which he lost only one.
Jordan fought professionally for the first time in April, 1953. Standing 5 feet 9 inches and typically weighing around 147 lbs, Jordan was well-proportioned and quickly showed himself to be an effective performer, winning nine in a row before dropping a decision in March 1954, to a fighter he had out-pointed just two months previously. He beat Art Ramponi to pick up the
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
State
WelterweightWelterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
title in October of that year and opened his 1955 campaign with a victory over former World
LightweightLightweight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight. It is also a slang term, indicating insignificance or ineptitude, for example having a low tolerance for alcohol. It can be used as a synonym for "kind of." It may also be used to describe something as being small or...
Champion
Lauro SalasLauro Salas is a former world lightweight boxing champion.-Professional career:Salas was known as a tireless puncher, who often would wear his opponents out in the late rounds with a volume of punches...
. From that point on, Jordan would be mixing it with the best.
Jordan’s progress over the next three years – including two notable victories over Gaspar Ortega – were rewarded when he challenged
Virgil AkinsVirgil Akins was an American boxer who won the undisputed Welterweight Championship of the World in 1958. Nicknamed ‘Honeybear’, Akins was the first World Champion from St. Louis.-Career:...
for the World
WelterweightWelterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
Championship on 5 December 1958, winning by unanimous decision. Akins – who disputed the decision – would suffer an identical reverse when he met Jordan in a championship return five months later. That was the first of Jordan’s two successful title defences (the second was against
Denny MoyerDenny Moyer is a retired American boxer who held the World Light middleweight title between 1962 and 1963. He finished his career with a 97–38–4 record.-Personal Background:...
on 10 July 1959), before losing the title to
Benny ParetBenny "Kid" Paret, born Bernardo Paret , born in Santa Clara, Cuba, was a Cuban welterweight boxer.-Boxing career:...
, eighteen months after being crowned.
Once he lost his title, Jordan also seemed to lose his way. The last years of his career saw him record more defeats than victories and he was effectively – if ignominiously – ‘retired’ by the man refereeing his October 1962 contest with Battling Torres. When Jordan refused to get up after a knockdown in the Seventh, referee Jimmy Wilson ruled that Torres had not actually hit Jordan hard enough to put him down and the fight was declared a ‘no contest’. Subsequently, the
California State Athletic CommissionThe California State Athletic Commission regulates professional boxing, professional and amateur kickboxing and professional mixed martial arts throughout the State by licensing all participants and supervising the events.- Contact Details :...
suspended Jordan indefinitely.
Passing
After being robbed and seriously assaulted in a
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
parking lot in September 1996, Don Jordan went into a
comaIn medicine, a coma is a profound state of unconsciousness. A comatose person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to pain or light, does not have sleep-wake cycles, and does not take voluntary actions....
, and died in a nursing home in
San PedroSan Pedro is a port neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area. The town has grown from being dominated by the fishing industry to become primarily a working class town within the City of Los Angeles...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, on 13 February, 1997.
Sources
1. Biographical information: (i) The Ring Record Book & Boxing Encyclopedia 1959 (
Nat FleischerNathaniel Stanley Fleischer was a noted American boxing writer. Fleischer inaugurated, in 1922, the Ring Magazine publication. He led that magazine, as editor in chief, for fifty years till his death in 1972....
, The Ring Book Shop Inc., 1959). See p.8 for a very brief cameo. (ii) WBA Online
http://www.wbaonline.com/default.asp, offers confirmation of the date and manner of Jordan’s death.
2. Ring Record: (i) The Cyber Boxing Zone
http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/jordando.htm. This source misses Jordan’s first defence of the
WelterweightWelterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
Championship, taking place 24 April 1959. (ii) The Boxing Records Archive
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=009709. This source also provides information about the manner of the end of Jordan's career. (iii) The Ring Record Book & Boxing Encyclopedia 1959 (
Nat FleischerNathaniel Stanley Fleischer was a noted American boxing writer. Fleischer inaugurated, in 1922, the Ring Magazine publication. He led that magazine, as editor in chief, for fifty years till his death in 1972....
, The Ring Book Shop Inc., 1959), P.276.
External links
- http://www.thecruelestsport.blogspot.com/2009/04/catastrophist-troubled-world-of-don.html