Herbert Lewis Hardwick
| Herbert Lewis Hardwick | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Herbert Lewis Hardwick |
| Nickname(s) | "Cocoa Kid" |
| Rated at | Welterweight |
| Nationality |
 Puerto Rican
|
| Born | May 2, 1914 Mayaguez, Puerto Rico |
| Died | December 27, 1966 Chicago, Illinois |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 244 |
| Wins | 176 |
| Wins by KO | 48 |
| Losses | 56 |
| Draws | 10 |
Herbert Lewis Hardwick Arroyo a.k.a. "Cocoa Kid" (May 2, 1914 – December 27, 1966) was a Puerto Rican boxer of African descent who fought primarily as a welterweight but also in the middleweight division. Hardwick won the World Colored Championships in both divisions. He was a member of boxing's "Black Murderers' Row" and fought the best boxers of his time. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012.
Hardwick was born in the City of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico to Maria Arroyo, a native of Puerto Rico, and Lewis Hardwick, an African American Merchant Marine. In 1913, his father was on leave and left the island without knowing that Maria was pregnant with his child. It was only upon his return several months later, that he found out that he was a father.
The Hardwick family moved to Atlanta, Georgia when he was still a child and his father renamed him "Herbert Lewis Hardwick." Tragedy struck the family when his father and the rest of the crew of the USS Cyclops disappeared during World War I. The loss of the ship and 306 crew and passengers without a trace sometime after March 4, 1918, remains the single largest loss of life in U.S. Naval history not directly involving combat. The cause of the ship's loss is unknown. Hardwick was only four years old.
Shortly thereafter, upon the death of his mother, Hardwick went to live with his maternal aunt Antonia Arroyo-Robinson. Mrs. Arroyo-Robinson raised Hardwick and he came to identify more with his Puerto Rican heritage.
Hardwick began to box in Atlanta when he was fourteen years old under the tutorship and management of Edward Allen Robinson (Antonia's husband). He fought for the first time as a professional at the age of fifteen, on May 27, 1929 at the Elks' Restaurant, in Atlanta, against a boxer who went under the name of "Kid Moon" and was victorious in that encounter.
In 1932, Connecticut State Senator Harry Durant was among those present at one of his fights in West Palm Beach. The Senator was impressed with Hardwick and sponsored his trip to New Haven where Hardwick began to fight under the name of the "Cocoa Kid." The name printed on his boxing license was that of "Louis Hardwick Arroyo." Hardwick used various names during his boxing career, besides using "Louis Arroyo," he would also fight under the name of "Louis Kid Cocoa". On April 4, 1932, he won his first fight in Connecticut, against a boxer named Joe Miller.
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