Panama Al Brown, was a bantamweight boxer from Panama who made history
by becoming boxing's first Hispanic world champion. Brown was a native of the
city of Colón.
Brown fought during the early 20th century, a period in which boxing
records were not well kept. He is said to have fought professionally 164 times.
He stood about six feet tall, an extraordinary height for a
bantamweight/featherweight. His long arms contributed greatly to his success in
the ring.
On October 7, 1929, National Boxing Association President Edward Foster
announced that, following a telegraphic conference among its members, the NBA
had proclaimed Panama Al Brown its World Bantamweight Champion. (New York
Times, Oct. 8, p. 24.) (Brown reportedly also had won the International Boxing
Union (IBU) World Bantamweight Title sometime during this period.)
Over the next six years, Al Brown would defend various versions of the
World Bantamweight Title in Paris, Montreal, Milan, London, and elsewhere,
before losing what was later considered the generally-recognized bantamweight
title to Spain's Baltazar Sangchili in June 1935. Then, after Brown lost to his
former nemesis Pete Sanstol a few months later in Oslo, Norway, he decided to
retire from boxing. (During an interview with Alexandria, Virginia, newspaper
reporter Bob McCormick--before his January 10, 1933 bout with Jimmy Mack--Sanstol,
reflecting on his August 1931 bout with the Panamanian, described Brown's
fighting style: "Not once did Brown get himself in a hole. And not once
did he waste a blow or the least little drop of energy.")
Two years later, Brown reconsidered his retirement, making a comeback
in September 1937. He scored five straight wins before defeating former foe and
champion Sangchili on March 4, 1938, in Paris. Based upon this victory he was
declared once again the "world bantamweight champion" by the
International Boxing Union, which was headquartered in Paris. He successfully
defended this "title" against Valentin Angelmann, but then, unable to
make the bantam weight limit any longer, soon after gave up his claim to this
IBU title. (The Ring, August 1985, p. 27.) Brown finally called it quits in
1942, having never been stopped throughout his long career.
After his boxing career ended Al Brown fronted an orchestra on the
French Riviera for a while. (The Ring, August 1985, p. 27.)
"Ironically, cocaine proved the downfall of Panama's and Latin
America's first boxing champion -- Panama Al Brown. Brown was arrested in New
York in the 1940s for using cocaine. The judge ordered Brown to be deported for
one year, a pretty lenient sentence under the circumstances." (The Ring,
March 1988, p. 11.)
Brown died penniless of tuberculosis in New York City in 1951. He had
fainted on 42nd Street. The police thought he was drunk and took him to the
station. Eventually he was transferred to Sea View Hospital. He died there on
April 11, unaware that not long before, one of the newspapers in Paris had
begun talks about organizing a fund drive to pay for his trip home.
Forty-one years later, Brown was inducted into the International Boxing
Hall of Fame.
After his death, writer Eduardo Arroyo wrote a biography of Panama Al,
titled Panama Al Brown, 1902-1951.
Panama Al Brown's final record is believed to have been 123 wins, 18
defeats and 10 draws, with 55 knockouts, placing him in the exclusive list of
boxers who have won 50 or more fights by knockout. He was the recognized
bantamweight world champion for six years and over that time made 11 title
defenses against the best bantamweights and featherweights of his era.
Highlights on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cfn7YnDxKM4#t=0
