Back to the ring
Eder came back to the ring in 1969 this time as a featherweight at the age of 33. The comeback began on August 27th, 1969 at the former champion’s favorite local venue, Ibirapuera Stadium in Sao Paulo in front of an adoring public who welcomed him back tremendous applause. The opponent was a solid one in the form of Rudy Corona, a veteran of 75 fights. Corona was a typical journeyman of those days, facing a plethora of top level fighters, winning some, losing most. Jofre stopped Corona in the sixth round giving the hometown crowd exactly what they wanted from their returning hero.
Jofre would fight four times in 1970 stepping up the level of opposition with victories over a pair of Italian trial horses by the names of Nevio Carbi and Giovanni Girgenti. Jofre, still getting back into the grove of things shook off some rust defeating a Mexican with a losing record and defeating Manny Elias. Elias, as you’ll recall was given a draw (thanks to the South American scoring system) with Jofre back in 1965 but was no match for the Brazilian this time. Jofre, started to look like the Jofre of old, showing his wide array of punches and almost scoring a stoppage. The bell saved Elias, but he lost heavily on the scorecards.
1971 brought four more fights for Jofre as he made up for lost time with a high activity level. In truth the competition faced this year wasn’t quite as challenging as the previous one with the opposition being more of the battle tested variety rather than contender level foes.
In 1972 Jofre, now inching closer to a title shot, stepped up the activity fighting five times, his most since 1961, his maiden year as bantamweight champion of the world. Jose Bisbal, an 85 fight veteran from Spain was dispatched in two swift rounds but the most challenging opponent this year would be Shig Fukuyama. Fukuyama was a popular Japanese fighter on the Los Angeles fight circuit, known for being very aggressive and leaving everything in the ring. This fight was a war with both fighters taking turns in connecting hard shots on each other. Jofre, using his great intelligence and experience realized Fukuyama took an incredible shot to the head so he switched to his body and took the Japanese fighter out in the ninth round of a thrilling contest. Fukuyama would go on to knock out future hall of fame member Danny “Little Red” Lopez the next year whilst for Jofre, even bigger things awaited.
Eder Jofre vs. Jose Legra, May 5th, 1973, Brasilia, Brazil
The magnificent comeback of Jofre had reached its peak on the evening of May 5th, 1973 at Ginasio Presidente Medici in the capital city of Brasilia. His opponent was a formidable one in the shape of Jose Legra. Legra, 30 a Cuban exile fighting out of Spain was in the midst of his second world title reign and sporting a record of 130-9-2 defeating the likes of Howard Winstone, Clemente Sanchez, Evan Armstrong and Tahar Ben Hassen . His nickname was “The pocket Cassius Clay” and he presented the great old fighter with a tall order from a stylistic standpoint. He was unusually tall for a featherweight at 5ft 9, with excellent speed and movement and a tremendous jab.
The bout was a struggle as Jofre initially had a hard time getting inside on Legra who used his long arms and bouncy legs to get around the ring. Jofre suffered a flash knockdown at the end of the third round. “That was only the second time I went down but never did the referee even count to one in any of my fights”, said Jofre on the second knockdown of his career. The knockdown woke him up and forced him into a sense of urgency as he won the fourth round big raking the fight to Legra and banging away at his body and head landing repeated left hooks buckling the champions knees. This round whipped the crowd into frenzy and over the next four rounds the Cuban Spaniard held a slight edge but was noticeably fading under the pressure of the Brazilian’s harder, more accurate punches.
Jofre took control of the fight around the ninth round and moved ahead in the bout entering the 14th round which provided some late drama. Legra landed a hurtful body blow which noticeably stung Jofre who went into retreat briefly after holding his side wincing in pain. One thing that separates the great ones from the mere mortals is the desire and heart of a champion and Jofre showed he had that in spades by digging deep and taking control of the round as Legra once again showed clear signs of fatigue under Jofre’s onslaught. That was often a common trait of Jofre in fights he got hurt or buzzed he’d generally come right back and seize control of the fight and punish the opponent or finish them. In the 15th round he had more left in the tank and won it by two points after Legra lost a point for excessive holding. The scenes were jubilant as soon as the bell ended the bout and the two fighters embraced and when the judge’s verdict of 148-143, 146-141, 143-143 confirmed the Brazilian hero had won the featherweight championship the crowd celebrated wildly.
Jofre, at 37 was champion again and on top of the world. This was a great personal triumph for Jofre who said “The first title was for the Brazilian people. The second was for me”. He would later confirm that Legra was the best featherweight he had encountered during his career.
Champion again
The newly crowned featherweight champion was back on top of the world aged 37, he was to that date the oldest man to ever win a world title in the featherweight division. Keeping busy before his next title assignment Jofre faced a couple of very talented contenders in non-title bouts. First was Godfrey Stevens from Chile, who had an impressive record that read 71-7-3 and includes wins over such notable fighters as Jose Smecca, Kid Pascualito, Don Johnson and some of the top Argentine fighters of that time. He had failed in a world title attempt against Shozo Saijo, losing a decision in Japan and was coming off a decision loss to the legendary Ruben Olivares. The Chilean was no match for Jofre, who made great use of his left jab and body punching to set his foe up for a crunching right hand which ended the fight by knockout.
The next fight would come against another Los Angeles favorite in the form of Frankie Crawford. Crawford, like Stevens had failed to wrestle the title from Saijo, but came much closer, losing two razor thin decisions. Crawford was a fast living, fun loving fighter who took on all comers and could boast of victories over the likes of Mando Ramos and Jose Moreno and had extended Vicente Saldivar the full distance in a recent loss. Jofre, using his expert technical boxing skill completely outboxed the American fighter en-route to winning a decision. Crawford, who wasn’t known for talking well of past opponents was once asked who he’d fought who could be better than Mando Ramos to which Crawford laughed and said “A guy by the name of Eder Jofre, he’s a effing master!’
Eder Jofre vs. Vicente Saldivar, October 21st, 1973, Salvador, Brazil
Perhaps the greatest name of Jofre’s record is that of Mexican legend Vicente Saldivar. Saldivar had been the outstanding featherweight of the 1960’s. He’d won the title be dethroning the brilliant Sugar Ramos and his victims list included such outstanding fighters as Howard Winstone (three times), Johnny Famechon, Jose Legra and Ismael Laguna. Saldivar had reigned from 1964-1967 before a brief retirement. He regained his title in 1970 but lost in a stunning upset to Japanese contender Kuniaki Shibata. He rebounded with a win over perennial contender Frankie Crawford before the showdown with Jofre.
The battle of legends took place on October 21st, 1973 at Ginásio de Esportes Antônio Balbino in Salvador and it didn’t turn out to be much of a conquest with Jofre dominating Saldivar before winning on a 4th round KO via a left hook finish. Jofre, then 37 was seven years older than the Mexican but had a lot more in the tank. What’s significant about this bout is that it was the last fight Eder would have his father in his corner. “Kid” Jofre had been suffering with lung cancer and was having a hard time getting up and down from the corner which Eder later said was the reason he expedited the finish. “He was very sick and so pale but wanted to be the one in the corner bringing the stool up every round. I didn’t want to see my father suffering so I tried my best to win that fight by knockout so that he wouldn’t have to endure getting up and down from the ring every round”. After a tactical first two rounds Jofre put his foot on the gas mixing in jabs and hooks before the knockout finish. After the fight Kid Jofre told his son “You’ve achieved everything boxing has to offer. If you want to you can quit right now because this is it. You’ve done everything.”
Heartbreak
It was just a few months after the Saldivar victory when Aristedes “Kid” Jofre passed away at the age of 67 after his battle with lung cancer. This would become a very difficult time for the champion who had idolized his father and still does to this day. He vacated the featherweight title on June 17th, 1974 after failing to meet mandatory challenger Alfredo Marcano of Venezuela. Jofre didn’t fight for over a year and was going through a dispute with his management team around this time.
He came back to fight in December that year with a lackluster win over a journeyman. The great champion made more of an attempt at a genuine comeback in 1976 fighting on six occasions. He scored decisive victories over a couple of top European featherweights named Enzo Farinelli and Jose Antonio Jiminez before rounding out the year beating a pair of excellent Mexican fighters named Juan Antonio Lopez and Octavio Gomez. Gomez had defeated such outstanding fighters as Art Hafey, Danny Lopez, Rafael Herrera and Kid Pascualito but dropped a decision to the Brazilian legend.
The Gomez fight would be Jofre’s last as he announced his retirement in March of 1977 having lost the motivation to keep going. It was very important for Jofre to not just become a steppingstone for up and coming fighters looking to get his legendary name on their resume but in reality his form and technique was such that he perhaps could have gone on longer but there’s very few professions more dangerous sticking around in than Boxing once the fire has gone away.
A large part of this fire burning out was that another tragedy had affected Eder in that his brother Dogalberto, who had been training him, had passed away. “It was a time to think hard, think about it. Now I do not know what was going on in my head at that moment, but it was difficult ... I have a thousand words to praise my father. He gave me his competence, his teachings, and fortunately, as a son, I was able to assimilate everything and become a two-time world champion. Unfortunately he got cancer from so much smoking. After my father passed away, my brother helped me, it was he who took care of the academy. Modesty aside, I knew more than he did, but having my brother's encouragement made the difference. My family fortunately was always united”, Jofre said with regards to this difficult time in his life.
Retirement
In retirement Jofre remained very active both professionally and physically. He had always managed his money very well which is unlike most prizefighters who end up fighting on too long in search for a payday or making multiple failed comeback attempts to recoup squandered funds. Through lessons learned from his father, Jofre was responsible with his spending and didn’t live the type of fast life that required a giant entourage. He was a devoted family man having married his childhood sweetheart Cidinha in 1961. They were married for 52 years until she passed away in 2013. They had two children together, Marcel and Andrea. Eder has four grandchildren in total. Eder has remained in Sao Paulo and moved in with his daughter and her husband in 2012.
As a result of his sensible use of ring earnings Eder was able to devote a lot of time to his family since his retirement from the ring. Over the years he had made some investments such as owning a few supermarkets throughout Sao Paulo and he remained active in boxing training fighters and teaching boxing classes. According to his son Marcel, Eder didn’t train fighters that long confiding “that he did not like to teach but to fight.”
A highlight in the life of Eder and his family was when he got inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York in 1992 and the family made the trip with him. Marcel had the following to say about his father’s induction; “When we had the opportunity to go to Canastota, New York, for him it was like for a kid to go to Disneyland. The reunion with some boxing friends like Carlos Ortiz, Alexis Arguello and Angelo Dundee was special in his life. He also had the chance to play in a mini exhibition with Alexis (Arguello). Particularly for me it was an incredible experience to see my father be recognized in another country, who has always treated him with respect and recognition. My father always liked the American way of life”, said Marcel. That trip to the Hall of Fame was the last time Jofre travelled to America. He has told his children that he would like to go back to visit for the memories but it is difficult to travel that far these days.
He enjoyed a fairly successful career in politics serving as an alderman for the city of Sao Paulo after receiving the necessary votes in 1982. This is a position he would hold until 2000 and during that time he made some major improvements of which he is very proud of. “I did a lot of projects, more than 30. That law on the old people's seats on the buses and the one for the free pass for them is mine. Only when I was not elected again I decided to stop”, he said when talking about the impact he made.
Eder was always the type to care for other people and lend a helping hand saying, “My goodness, you need patience! And you know why? You go out on the street and everyone comes to ask for a house, a help, a little piece. That's awesome.”
Since he ended his political career Jofre has seen some exciting projects come to life. In 2004 there was the release of a special documentary “O grande campeao” (The great champion) which was released on DVD. This was the second major feature documentary released on the ex-champion after “Quebrando a cara” (breaking the face) was released in 1986. That documentary featured multiple interviews and clips with people who knew him from his youth and explained the impact of the Jofre-Zumbano clan on Brazilian boxing.
This year a movie based on his life titled “10 Segundos Para Vencer” (10 seconds to victory) was released in cinemas all across Brazil. Actor Daniel de Oliveira played the role of Eder, with Osmar Prado playing his father, “Kid” Jofre. The movie was created by Thomas Stavros who’d worked passionately for many years making the movie.
The great champion had the following upon the premier of the movie,”Many thought it was impossible, but in all my life, the word ‘impossible’ was never part of my vocabulary. Yesterday was the pre-premiere day of the movie 10 seconds to win, which counts beautifully all my professional and family history until I was 37 years old, when I won once again a world title. I knew it would be exciting, but I never imagined a movie as beautiful as this. Thank you to my family and everyone involved. Daniel De Oliveira made me very handsome in cinema. I could see my father at Osmar Prado, it was amazing. My special thanks to Thomas Stavros, who 15 years ago came to me, promised me that he would write a movie for me and that he would launch in the movies. He fulfilled his promise with much struggle and perseverance, and the result could not be better. It's not a simple boxing film; it's a movie also about family, about love, and above all, about overcoming. And if there's something Brazilian people understand, it's about overcoming.”
In addition to the movie and documentaries there have been three books released. His autobiography, “O Galo de Ouro” (the golden bantam), “Gente: Eder Jofre” (people: Eder Jofre) and “Em 12 rounds” (In 12 rounds), which focuses on the story of the Jofre & Zumbano family.
He has maintained a healthy lifestyle continuing to work out regularly. He has kept to his strict vegetarian diet to this day, “I even feel disgust today when I see people eating meat”, he said. “I eat pasta, rice and beans, boiled potatoes or fried and very sporadically egg. I drink milk, yogurt, curds, and honey”. Eder became a vegetarian at the age of 20 “after reading a book that claimed that meat was extremely harmful to the body, saying that both the human dentition and our gastro system were not appropriate for meat consumption.”
There have been some slight complications with Alzheimer’s in recent years but he still lives a happy and healthy lifestyle. At 82 he is still often seen at local events throughout the city. He remains the only Brazilian boxer in the Hall of Fame and one of only four Brazilian boxers to win a world title. When offering his opinion on the stagnation of Brazilian boxing and lack of interest compared to other sports he had the following to say, “Unfortunately Kid Jofre is dead. He knew how to teach boxing. You must have technique. To know how to play football, the guy needs to know how to dribble.”
In the years since his retirement Jofre really enjoyed the career and style of Mike Tyson due to his many knockouts and the excitement he brought to the sport. “We should applaud Mike Tyson. He was not a boy like me, who had been fighting since he was a kid. Only after many problems did he dedicate himself and was the champion. A phenomenon for boxing that made many people come back to fight, led the public to the gyms. It's these things that make boxing happen. Show me here in Brazil who can do this ... We have good fighters, but they do not show up because they do not have the chance to dedicate to training because of the lack of support”, he said.
Place in history
To understand just how unique Eder Jofre was you have to understand that his era was objectively more different to rule. When he turned pro there were only 10 weight divisions and this was at a time where only one man per division could claim to be a “world champion”. Compare that to the modern era of between four and six titles in each of the 17 divisions and so many promoters and advisors getting their fighters easy title wins across multiple weights.
In reality, few can claim to be really undisputed champions the way they were back in previous generations. Fighters tend to last longer on average these days’ thanks in large part to science and let’s face it assistance that may or may not be legal. That’s sports across the board really.
The fighters had to contend with same day weigh-ins so far less of the “weight bullying” which is commonplace in today’s game and with already less divisions and titles it was much harder to win and rule in other divisions. This is not a knock on modern day fighters who like generations past pour their heart and soul into the game, rather it’s an indicator of just how special some of these men were.
Jofre reigned as the Bantamweight champion from 1960-1965, retired from 1966-1969 and then compiled arguably the greatest comeback in boxing history. In his second career he campaigned as a Featherweight going 25-0 before retiring at the age of 40. He was able to claim his second world championship at the age of 37. His career spanned 19 years in which he fought 78 times, losing to only one man. He contested major bouts in seven different countries scoring victories over formidable local fighters. The four draws on his record are of the South American variety meaning that under any other jurisdiction he would have been the victor but because a fighter had to lead by four (or more) points on at least two cards it was common for a lot of South American fights to be recorded as draws. The two losses as stated earlier were in Harada’s hometown at a stage in his career where he was having an almighty struggle boiling down to the weight limit. The 13 years between his maiden title win and final title win is among one of the widest gaps across all divisions and he is one of the few fighters to start his career with over 50 fights before encountering a loss. When you consider the level of skill he possessed in addition to the dominance he displayed in the ring and the remarkable consistency and longevity of his career he stands out in history as one of the greatest fighters ever pound for pound.
Just how great? Of course, all-time lists are subjective so it’s very hard to put this into perspective. There have been so many special fighters throughout history, many deserving a feature of this length. That means you’ll see cases for differing opinions. Here I will attempt to justify what his place in history is based on the types of lists he would be included.
Bantamweight
Jofre’s bantamweight career ran from 1957-1966 and it is here where he’s regarded to have been at his best. That is logical because it is where he won his first title, had his longest reign and spent his 20’s competing in. He is generally ranked as the greatest fighter the division has ever seen. He was voted as the #1 bantamweight of all-time by the WBC, who put his face next to Carlos Zarate’s on their bantamweight belt. The WBA gave a similar honor, naming their “super” belt after him.
The International Boxing Research Organization voted him as the finest fighter in history of the division. The last time The Ring made an all-time ranking for the bantamweight division was in 1994 and they placed Jofre at the number two spot, behind Zarate. Most all-time lists would generally have Zarate as ranking behind his fellow Mexican legend, the murderous punching Ruben Olivares. I would generally consider Olivares to be the closest to Jofre in the all-time bantamweight list. Olivares was a fine fighter and arguably the greatest ever from Mexico and his explosive best was in the bantamweight division. Olivares is among the most exciting fighters who ever fought, thrilling crowds all over Mexico and the Los Angeles area in his heyday. Some of his vintage performances show a fighter on Jofre’s level as far as fistic perfection goes but he never quite had the dominant reign that Jofre had and it is of my opinion that Jofre was the more consistent and complete fighter and I think he’d have won had the two fought at their peaks. Interestingly the two nearly fought when they were both residing in the featherweight division but it wasn’t to be as issues between managers got in the way.
I think it would be fair to say that Jofre actually didn’t own an official win at bantamweight over what would be described in historical terms as a “great fighter” but that has to be put into context. Many of the other bantamweights typically in the discussion for best ever also do not have this accolade either. Olivares, Zarate, Manuel Ortiz are generally seen as the men closest to Jofre on this list and while they all fought and beat terrific fighters none of their bantamweight victims are enshrined in the hall of fame. This is largely because these men competed in an era with far less weight categories and of course just one champion. Only one man could be champion and when you’ve got a champion who is such a complete fighter, so dominant and consistent it’s really hard for others to make their mark. Julio Cesar Chavez, the great Mexican boxer is unquestionably high up any list of the greatest in history but look through the win column and you won’t see any truly great fighter under it.
I tend to give the benefit of doubt to a fighter so skilled and so dominant for so long that he may have had something to do with that. It also doesn’t help the case of these fighters that much of the coverage wasn’t readily available to TV audiences in the United States or the U.K, the two largest markets. Jofre went by the nickname “The golden bantam” and it is a nickname that suited him well. He was the greatest bantamweight in history.
Featherweight
At featherweight you will generally not see Jofre’s names listed at the top of the pile for the simple fact that the bulk of his career was spent dominating the bantamweight class. The last time The Ring put out an all-time rankings in the division, Jofre’s name was included in the honorable mentions but not inside the top 20. IBRO placed him at number 15 which I think is a more accurate ranking.
Featherweight was not his best weight. He had accumulated over three years of inactivity and entered the division at the age of 33. His reign lasted just one year before vacating the title after just one title defense. That isn’t to say he didn’t put in some quality work at featherweight because he did. He went 25-0, beat a fine champion in Jose Legra and defended against a legend in Vicente Saldivar. Saldivar is generally ranked highly on these lists after being a dominant champion in his prime but it’s also got to be acknowledged that the class between Jofre and Saldivar was past both fighters’ prime years.
Jofre gets extra kudos because not only did this reign go unbeaten but he also fought in the division until he was 40. The comeback he made is arguably the best in the history of the sport and it’s the featherweight run which helps push him up on any mythical all-time pound for pound ranking.
Greatest from South America?
There are six fighters from South America in the IBHOF currently. Jofre is accompanied by the great Antonio Cervantes from Colombia and the Argentinean quartet of Carlos Monzon, Niccolino Locche, Pascual Perez and Victor Galindez. All excellent fighters but the title of best South American fighter can only be between Jofre and Monzon.
The Ring published their top 10 in 2009 with Monzon in first and Jofre in second. Monzon was a special fighter indeed. He was very tall for the middleweight weight class and possessed a very long reach. He was a powerful puncher with an iron chin and had great intelligence in the ring which enabled him to dominate the middleweight division as champion from 1970-1977 making 14 successful defenses before retiring with an impressive 87-3-9-1 record which included 59 knockout victories. Like Jofre, the majority of hid draws came down to the South American scoring though it’s unknown if he led them all. He did defeat all but one man in his 100 fight career with one draw not being avenged.
Monzon took the title from a great fighter in Nino Benvenuti in addition to having some high profile defenses against an aging pair of welterweight greats in Jose Napoles and Emile Griffith and a pair of decision victories with an excellent Colombian champion by the name of Rodrigo Valdez. Since Monzon retired having never lost his title in the ring in addition to reigning longer and defending the title more I think it’s fair to say his exploits as middleweight champion surpass even Jofre’s in the bantamweight class which I think would justify the Ring’s rating. Monzon as noted had more high profile scalps but I wouldn’t necessarily say his competition was a million miles away since a number of his title defenses the opposition was considerably weaker than that of which Jofre faced.
What I personally believe separates Jofre from Monzon was the best South American fighter is the fact that I believe him to be the more talented and skilled boxer of the two and secondly , his work as a featherweight tips his resume over the edge in my view.
Pound for pound
As far as Jofre’s overall standing in history on the mythical pound for pound list he’s been well respected on most of the published lists. In 1996 the Ring rated him number nine of best boxers of the last 50 years (1946-1996) and they placed him number 19 of boxers in the last 80 years in 2002 (1922-2002) in addition to him being rated the best boxer of the 1960’s in their 90th anniversary issue in 2012. When you consider that the 1960’s was an era which featured the likes of Muhammad Ali, Carlos Ortiz, Emile Griffith and Dick Tiger in their primes you sort of get the idea how special one must be to top that generation. This is an accolade which gave Jofre a great amount of pride, “He is aware that Ring Magazine chose him as the best fighter of the 60's and this made him very happy and honored. All recognition of his career made him a completely happy and accomplished man”, said Marcel.
Hall of fame member and celebrity boxing historian Bert Randolph Sugar placed Jofre at number 26 in his book “Boxing’s greatest fighters” in 1988 and placed him two spots lower in 28th in his updated version in 2006. Dan Cuoco, boxing historian and director of the IBRO from 2000-2014 placed Jofre at number 15 on his all-time pound for pound list which I see as being a more accurate placement than that of Sugar.
I think there’s a reasonably strong case that Jofre is one of the 20 greatest boxers in history when everything is factored in. He is generally regarded as the greatest boxer in one of the original eight classes in addition to being one of the most impressive fighters captured on film. As was mentioned earlier he’s very close to being the perfect boxer and the fact that he could fight as often as 78 times spanning 20 years and only lose to one man shows many unique qualities that even fighters who’d rank above him can’t claim.
Jofre was remarkably consistent throughout his career having never really had any low points in his career or ever becoming just an opponent. For fighters of his generation that is a rarity indeed given that the fighters weren’t quite making the millions fighters of modern times do. He was never used as a steppingstone for some young upstart or went through the common end of career routine of winning some and losing some which is testament to his quality and professionalism since he fought past his 40th birthday.
Marcel attributes his father’s consistency to his sheer professionalism, respect for his oppositions and huge confidence in his own ability; “My father was always an athlete very aware of his ability and no adversary put any fear. My respected everyone equally, but always with the certainty of his mental condition focused to win”, he said.
In addition to being a dominant longstanding champion in an era where you seldom had to differentiate belt holders from champions and the legendary featherweight run which stands out as arguably the greatest comeback in the history of the sport everything points to Jofre being one of the top 20 boxers In history pound for pound.