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By Eric Bottjer
JAMES COOK, 66, London super-middleweight, died in June from bladder cancer. Cook, a native of Jamaica, was 25-10 (14 KOs) from 1982-1994, winning English and European championships. Cook had quality domestic wins over Mark Kaylor, Errol Christie and Sam Storey, but fell short against world-class contenders Herol Graham and Graciano Rocchigiani. Cook’s best win on paper is over Michael Watson, who was 7-0 when he met Cook in 1986 and left the ring a decision loser by a half-point. In retirement, Cook was a trainer and worked most recently with light-heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde.
JOHN COONEY, 28, Irish super-featherweight, died in February from injuries suffered during a February 1 bout with Nathan Howells in Belfast. Cooney was stopped in the 9th round of a scheduled 10 and rushed to a hospital immediately after the match. Just 30 minutes after arriving at a hospital, he underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his brain, caused by internal bleeding. Cooney passed one week later. Mark Dunlop, Cooney’s manager, when asked what kind of man Cooney was, responded, “When John stayed at my house, he would make the bed in the morning before coming to the gym.”
DANNY CORBETT, 67, Miami middleweight, died in November “peacefully” in North Carolina. Corbett was 4-2 (2 KOs) from 1977-1980. Corbett, born in Pittsburgh, lived in various places on the East Coast and made his living as a painter. He coached amateur boxing at times.
RAFAEL CORREA, 78, New York trainer, died in August. No cause of death was revealed, but Correa spent his last years in an Alabama nursing home. Correa was a longtime assistant to famed New York trainer Jimmy Glenn, who operated the Times Square Gym for decades. Correa, born in Puerto Rico, was a decent pro welterweight, going 15-11-3 (8 KOs) from 1967-1974.
L.B. CROFFORD, 70, Virginia middleweight, died in February at a Harrisonburg, Virginia hospital. Crofford, who worked in construction, had two fights in 1984, scoring stoppage wins over boxers with 1-3 records.
FLOYD “Jumbo” CUMMINGS, 75, heavyweight trial-horse, died in August. His death was announced on social media. No cause was given, but Cummings had been in poor health his final years due to breathing issues. Cummings, a heavy-muscled 6-foot-2 specimen, did not begin boxing until age 29 and was known for two things: serving multiple stints in prison (a total of 29 years, including 13 years for a murder he committed at age 17), and “holding” a come-backing Joe Frazier to a draw, the parentheses listed here because Jumbo was robbed (Frazier never fought again). Unfortunately, Jumbo robbed others and was sent to prison for life in 2002 under the “three strikes” law (third criminal conviction brings a life sentence) for robbing a Subway sandwich shot. He was paroled in 2016. Cummings finished his career in 1983 at 15-6-1 (13 KOs). He never won a match after the Frazier fight. Cummings sued ESPN in 2008 for showing the Frazier fight, claiming that he was due financial compensation from the network. The suit was tossed in 2009.
MIKE CUNNINGHAM, 76, Kentucky referee who officiated the Greg Page-Dale Crowe matched that resulted in Page’s life-changing injuries, died in November at a Louisville hospital. Cunningham was a police chief at Lynnview. He refereed pro matches occasionally from 1987 to 2001, when on a March night in Louisville, he counted out Page in the final round of the Crowe fight. Page suffered brain damage and was bed-ridden the rest of his life. Cunningham was later appointed to the Kentucky Boxing Commission (claiming that had he been in charge of the commission at the time of Page’s fight, that Page would not have been allowed to fight that night because he had not passed a brain scan).
LOU DANIELS, 67, Trenton lightweight, died in April. Daniels turned pro after winning the 1976 New Jersey featherweight Golden Gloves, going 6-1 (1 KO). Daniels went 6 rounds with a 1-0 Ray Mancini in 1979.
JEAN DANTAS, 90, French lightweight, passed in March. Dantas was 15-18-6 (1 KO) from 1958-1966, losing his sole shot at the French lightweight title in 1964 by decision.
STEVE DARNELL, 61, Michigan super-middleweight, died in October in Brighton. “Stevie D” was 26-5-2 (15 KOs) from 1984-1993, going unbeaten his first 22 fights. Darnell had multiple fights against world-class opposition, coming up short against Lindell Holmes, Antoine Byrd and Kevin Watts. No cause of death as stated. His family asked for donations in Darnell’s name to be made to Boston University’s study of CTE.
MARK DiGIOVANNI, 55, New Jersey welterweight, died in March. DiGiovanni, who fought out of Kearny, won the 1989 New Jersey Golden Gloves and turned pro in 1990, going 5-3-1 (2 KO’s) over six years. Mark worked as an amateur coach after his own ring career ended.
RAYMUNDO DIAS, 84, Brazilian lightweight, died in October. Dias was 25-10-8 (15 KOs) from 1964-1972, winning Brazil’s lightweight title in October 1970, but losing three weeks later in his only world title shot against WBC Champion Bruno Arcari (KO by 3). A year later, Dias stopped future champion Chango Carmona on a cut, but lost a rematch seven months later. Dias dropped a decision to Esteban DeJesus in September 1972 (DeJesus would be Roberto Duran six weeks later) and went out a winner in 1973, winning a decision in Colorado.
DANNY DILIBERTO, 85, Buffalo lightweight, passed in February. DiLiberto, who fought under the name Dan Toriani, went 12-0-2 from 1957-1959, retiring after a series of hand injuries. DiLiberto spent his boxing career in Miami, training at the 5th Street Gym. DiLiberto became a renowned billiards player and was inducted into the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
JOHN DOTA, 94, Youngstown, Ohio heavyweight, died in July. Dota, a military veteran, had one pro fight in 1951 in Las Vegas, losing a 4-rounder.
FRANCISCO DURANGO, 75, Columbian featherweight, died in October. Durango was 23-7-2 (15 KOs) from 1972-1978, with all but three of his fights held in Columbia. He won his country’s super-featherweight title one fight before retiring.
FRANK ECHEVARRIA, 96, Idaho collegiate boxing champion, died in December. Echevarria was the bantamweight alternate on the 1952 U.S. Olympic Team, losing to future world champion Davey Moore in the Trials championship match. Echevarria won his collegiate title later that year, despite missing parts of fingers on his left hand from a farming accident. Echevarria was 32-5 as a college boxer, but took Tony Zale’s advice (“don’t turn pro – go home and marry your girlfriend and raise a family”), working in farming and staying married 73 years.
DON ELBAUM, 94, Runyonesque boxing character whose promotions and matchmaking spanned SEVEN decades, died in Erie, Pennsylvania, in July after a brief illness. Elbaum wore every professional hat in boxing: promoter, matchmaker, publicist – even boxer. On four occasions, during his run of shows in the 1960s, Elbaum filled in himself as a late replacement. He never won, but was respectable, getting a draw one time and losing a split nod to a 14-15 Tommy Shaffer. In one of those bouts, when Elbaum was hurt by a punch, he grabbed his opponent and whispered, “Remember who’s paying you.” But it was as a promoter that earned Elbaum his fame. He ran his first show at age 18 and became the quintessential club promoter, living out a suitcase, spending most of his time in 2-star motels and creating some of the East Coasts best club shows. Don was a master of creative story-telling and lived for gimmicks. And they often went comically wrong (one boxing man joked that if Don opened a funeral parlor, people would stop dying). When he trumpeted a main event between the two “worst fighters in the world,” the agreement was the loser had to retire. They fought a draw. When Don promoted a heavyweight as a 7-footer, and a reporter met the boxer and told Don he wasn’t close to that height, Elbaum responded, “He’s short for his height.” Elbaum peaked in the 1980s, running weekly shows at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City and promoting welterweight champion Simon Brown. But Don lost the Trop series in 1986 and Brown left him in 1990 for Don King. He served four months in minimum security facility for tax evasion (“I knew a lot of folks in there,” he said, this time without exaggeration). He was rightfully inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Nobody ever loved boxing more than Don Elbaum.
EBO ELDER, 46, Georgia lightweight, died in December from brain cancer. Elder became known while participating in the second Contender series (losing in the first round). An outstanding amateur, Elder turned pro in 2000 and had mid-level success, winning an NABO title in 2004 and defending it on Shobox via a 12th-round stoppage against Courtney Burton in what announcer Steve Farhood called the most exciting fight he’d seen on that series. The deeply-religions Elder retired suddenly in 2006 at age 28 to become a preacher. Elder finished at 22-3 (14 KOs).
ED ESPOSTI, AKA “Eddie Post,” 78, New York boxing man, passed in June from cancer. “Elegant Ed” was the face of Spartan, an equipment and boxing apparel company. Post developed a boxing program for New York inmates in the 1970s. Post became well-known in the New York boxing scene as a prolific fundraiser.
LUIS ESTABA, 86, former world light-flyweight champion, died in February. Known as “Lumumba,” the Venezuelan was 37 when he won the newly-created WBC light-flyweight title in 1975 and defended it 11 times before losing it three years later to Freddy Castillo (it was discovered later that the man Lumumba beat for the vacant title in 1975 – Rafael Lovera – was a pro debut. Lovera, who never boxed again, passed a few months prior to Estaba’s death). Estaba challenged for the WBC belt again five months after losing it (to a Thia fighter who beat Castillo) and retired after he was KO’d in five rounds. The WBC announced Estaba had been in poor health in recent years and had contributed money for medical and living expenses since 2020.
