Adolfo Viruet (born 29 January 1952 in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

) is a retired Puerto Rican and NABF junior welterweight champion

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

. He fought five world champions.

Career

Becoming professional on October 30, 1969, at age 18, Viruet was a contender in the

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

and

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

divisions during the late 1970s and early 1980s, fighting such opponents as

Roberto Durán Roberto Carlos Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held quadruple champion, world championships in four weight classes: Lightweight, welterweight, light middleweigh ...

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Bruce Curry Bruce Curry (born March 29, 1956, in Marlin, Texas), is an American former professional boxer. He was the WBC Super Lightweight Champion from 1983 to 1984. Family He is a member of a very traditional family in the boxing scene: he is the olde ...

Pete Ranzany Pete Ranzany (born April 6, 1952 Pete Ronzoni in Sacramento, California) was an amateur boxer who represented the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1973. He defeated future world welterweight champion Carlos Palomino at the 1972 Olympic Trials, but lost to e ...

and Luis Resto. He fought

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

. He retired in 1982 with a final record of 23-6-1. Viruet is 16-0-0 (5 KOs) as a Light-Welterweight. Viruet had long spurts of inactivity, with no bouts from November 1970 to April 1972, and only one bout in 1974. He had no professional boxing activity because of his broken left hand. During this time he was training in his gym in NY and Hoboken NJ. In August 1975 in Las Vegas, Viruet 16-0-0 (5 KOs) upset (W Unan Dec 12) United States Light-Welterweight Champion and #3 WBC-ranked Monroe Brooks, who was 25-1-3 (15 KOs) coming into the contest. He also was the first trainer of

Arturo Gatti Arturo Gatti (April 15, 1972 – July 11, 2009) was a Canadian professional boxer who competed from 1991 to 2007. A world champion in two weight class (boxing), weight classes, Gatti held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior lightwei ...

Personal life

Viruet grew up in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. His brother, Edwin Viruet, was also a professional boxer.

References

External links

* 1952 births Living people Welterweight boxers Puerto Rican male boxers 20th-century American sportsmen {{PuertoRico-boxing-bio-stub