Titles: Bantamweight champion 1961-1965, WBC featherweight champion
           1973-1974
    
Record: 72-2-4 

Born: April 26, 1936 in Sao Paulo, Brazil    

Years active: 1957-1976
 
Nickname: None

If only Eder Jofre had fought more in the United States! The lucky people who did 
watch Jofre perform live say he was the equal of Sugar Ray Robinson and had the kind 
of boxing instincts that only come along once in a generation. But unfortunately 
Jofre only fought in the USA 3 times, still he is recognized by the hard core fans 
of the sport as one of the 10 best fighters of all-time. Consider this, when The Ring
magazine had to chose a fighter to grace the cover it's 500th anniversary issue 
they chose Jofre over everyone else. Jofre in the ring simply lacked nothing! He had 
it all long arms, speed, balance, stamina, knockout power in both hands and he also 
had something else which very few had....a successful comeback. Eder would use those 
long arms to search out weaknesses and box, waiting for the right moment to drop
one of his big right hands down on his opponents. Jofre the first Brazilian to win 
a world title was also a devout vegetarian which makes one wonder where he got all 
his energy from? Another odd fact is that Jofre's mother was a professional wrestler! 
While his Argentine born father was a lightweight boxer of some note in Brazil. Jofre 
began to box as a pro on his 21st birthday after loosing in the 1956 Sydney Olympic 
quarter finals. As a pro Jofre was soon storming through the bantamweight division 
and won the South American bantamweight title in his third year as a pro. He defeated 
Ernesto Miranda who had previously held the less experienced Jofre to two disputed
draws over 15 rounds. To prove his superiority he knocked out Miranda in 3 rounds to
end any speculations. Wins over notable boxers such as Danny Kid and Joe Medel paved 
the way to a N.B.A title. Jofre would win the title by knocking out the dangerous
Eloy Sanchez in the sixth round to win the N.B.A version of the world title. It was 
a classic one two punch that put Sanchez away. This was one of the few times Jofre 
traveled to the USA to fight. Jofre always claimed he would fight best if stayed
among his Brazilian people. When he returned to Brazil a crowd of 1000,000 people 
lined the roads to congratulate him. Jofre a man of the people insisted that the 
parade route also run through the slums of Sao Paulo not just downtown. A win over
Piero Rollo in 9 rounds further strengthened his claim to being the best in the 
world. If that win did not then the 10 consecutive knockouts that followed surely 
would. Jofre won universal recognition as champion when he defeated John Caldwell 
in 1962, in front of 18,000 fans in his hometown. Caldwell a tough but limited
Irishman who was undefeated in 25 fights lasted 10 one sided rounds before folding 
under the power of Jofre. Willie Pep who refereed the fight, stopped it when it was 
obvious Caldwell did not have the power left to defend himself. On his return to
New York City Pep raved off the performance that Jofre gave to friends and to Nate
Fleischer the publisher of The Ring magazine. 5 straight title defenses by 
knockout over good opposition followed. Like many of the smaller fighter Jofre 
battled the scales as much as his opponents, it is ironic he would loose his title 
to a man who had equal troubles with weight. It was Fighting Harada who was the 
first and only man to defeat Jofre in a foul laden bout in Tokyo. Jofre who had to 
loose 2 pounds the day of the fight and still insists the low blows and headbutts 
were what cost him his title. Also Harada was allowed to hold on many occasions and 
press his opponent into the ropes. Jofre did not dispute a second loss to Harada 
however in the rematch. Harada was simply to strong for Jofre and was one of the 
few men who could take his punches and manage to pin the elusive Jofre on the ropes. 
The second loss to Harada gave Jofre reason to retire, but like many he felt he 
needed to comeback. In 1969 the 33 year old Jofre began one of the most incredible 
boxing comebacks of all time as a featherweight and few gave him any chance of
wining. 14 (of his 25 successful comeback fights) consecutive wins earned Jofre now 
37 a title shot against the very good Jose Legra for the WBC featherweight title. 
It was a close fight but everyone felt Jofre had earned the decision in every aspect.
His first defense was more impressive than his title win when you consider the
opposition and the result. The great Vincente Saldivar was doing well when one right
hand blow send him to the canvas in the 4th round and counted out. Jofre dedicated 
the win to his dying father. The following year Jofre was stripped of his title when 
he did not defend against the number 1 contender Alfredo Marcano of Venezuela and 
retired following the sudden death of his brother. Jofre was now 40 years old and had
not lost in 25 comeback fights. In retirement Jofre became the mayor of San Paulo,
one of the most populated cities in the world. When making a list of the best boxers
of all time sadly Jofre is too often ignored from the American dominated media types.

     1957

     Mar 26  Raul Lopez              Sao Paulo               KO 5
     Apr 23  Raul Lopez              Sao Paulo               KO 3
     May 5   Osvaldo Perez           Sao Paulo               KO 10
     Jun 7   Osvaldo Perez           Sao Paulo               KO 2
     Jun 14  Juan C. Gonzalez        Sao Paulo               KO 5
     Jul 5   Raul Jaime              Sao Paulo               W 10
     Jul 19  Raul Jaime              Sao Paulo               W 10
     Aug 16  Ernesto Miranda         Sao Paulo               D 10
     Sep 6   Ernesto Miranda         Sao Paulo               D 10
     Oct 30  Luis Jimenez            Sao Paulo               KO 8
     Dec 13  Adolfo Pendas           Sao Paulo               W 10
     Dec 22  Cristobal Gabisans      Rio de Janeiro          W 10

     1958

     Jan 24  Avelino Romero          Sao Paulo               KO 2
     Mar 7   Cristobal Gabisans      Sao Paulo               KO 6
     Apr 13  German Escudero         Sao Paulo               KO 2
     Apr 27  German Escudero         Rio de Janeiro          KO 2
     May 14  Ruben Caceres           Montevideo, Uruguay     D 10
     Jul 10  Juan Carlos Acebal      Sao Paulo               KO 2
     Aug 9   Roberto Olmedo          Sao Paulo               KO 5
     Sep 12  Jose Casas              Sao Paulo               W 10
     Oct 10  Jose Casas              Sao Paulo               KO 5
     Nov 14  Jose Smecca             Sao Paulo               KO 7
     Dec 12  Roberto Castro          Sao Paulo               KO 2

     1959

     Mar 23  Aniceto Pereyra         Sao Paulo               W 10
     Apr 20  Sal Suarez              Sao Paulo               KO 4
     Jun 4   Leo Espinosa            Sao Paulo               W 10
     Jun 19  Sal Suarez              Sao Paulo               KO 4
     Jul 6   Angel Bustos            Rio de Janeiro          KO 1
     Jul 31  Ruben Caceres           Sao Paulo               KO 7
     Oct 9   Angel Bustos            Sao Paulo               KO 4
     Oct 30  Gianni Zuddas           Sao Paulo               W 10
     Dec 12  Danny Kid               Sao Paulo               W 10

     1960

     Feb 19  Ernesto Miranda         Sao Paulo               W 15
     Jun 10  Ernesto Miranda         Sao Paulo               KO 3
     Jul 15  Claudio Barrientos      Sao Paulo               KO 8
     Aug 18  Joe Medel               Los Angeles             KO 10
     Sep 30  Ricardo Moreno          Sao Paulo               KO 6
     Nov 18  Eloy Sanchez            Los Angeles             KO 6
             (Wins Vacant World Bantamweight Title)
     Dec 16  Billy Peacock           Sao Paulo               KO 2

     1961

     Mar 25  Piero Rollo             Rio de Janeiro          KO 10
             (Retains World Bantamweight Title)
     Apr 18  Sugar Ray               Buenos Aires            KO 2
     Jul 26  Sadao Yaoita            Sao Paulo               KO 10
     Aug 19  Ramon Arias             Caracas                 KO 7
             (Retains World Bantamweight Title)
     Dec 7   Fernando Soto           Sao Paulo               KO 8

     1962

     Jan 18  Johnny Caldwell         Sao Paulo               KO 10   
             (Unifies World Bantamweight Title)
     May 4   Herman Marques          San Francisco           KO 10
             (Retains World Bantamweight Title)
     Sep 11  Joe Medel               Sao Paulo               KO 6
             (Retains World Bantamweight Title)

     1963

     Apr 4   Katsuyoshi Aoki         Tokyo                   KO 3
             (Retains World Bantamweight Title)
     May 18  Johnny Jamito           Quezon City, Phil.      KO 11
             (Retains World Bantamweight Title)

     1964

     Nov 27  Bernardo Caraballo      Bogota, Colombia        KO 7
             (Retains World Bantamweight Title)

     1965

     May 17  Fighting Harada         Nagoya, Japan           L 15
             (Loses World Bantamweight Title)
     Nov 5   Manny Elias             Sao Paulo               D 10

     1966

     Jun 1   Fighting Harada         Tokyo                   L 15
             (For World Bantamweight Title)

     1969

     Aug 27  Rudy Corona             Sao Paulo               KO 7

     1970

     Jan 30  Nevio Carbi             Sao Paulo               W 10
     May 29  Manny Elias             Sao Paulo               W 10
     Sep 25  Roberto Wong            Sao Paulo               KO 3
     Dec 5   Giovanni Girgenti       Sao Paulo               W 10

     1971

     Mar 26  Jerry Stokes            Sao Paulo               KO 2
     Jun 10  Domencio Chiloiro       Sao Paulo               W 10
     Sep 10  Tony Jumaoas            Sao Paulo               W 10
     Nov 16  Robert Porcel           Sao Paulo               KO 2

     1972

     Mar 24  Guillermo Morales       Sao Paulo               KO 6
     Apr 28  Felix Figueroa          Sao Paulo               W 10
     Jun 30  Jose Bisbal             Sao Paulo               KO 2
     Aug 18  Shig Fukuyama           Sao Paulo               KO 9
     Sep 29  Djemai Belhadi          Sao Paulo               KO 3

     1973

     May 5   Jose Legra              Brasilia, Brazil        W 15
             (Wins WBC and World Featherweight Titles)
     Jul 21  Godfrey Stevens         Sao Paulo               KO 4
     Aug 26  Frankie Crawford        Bauru, Brazil           W 10
     Oct 20  Vicente Saldivar        Salvador, Brazil        KO 4
             (Retains World Featherweight Title)

     1975

     Jan 3   Niliberto Herrera       Junday, Brazil          W 10

     1976

     Feb 24  Enzo Farinelli          Porto Alegre, Brazil    KO 4
     May 1   Michel Lefebvre         Brasilia, Brazil        KO 3
     May 29  Pasqualino Morbidelli   Sao Paulo               KO 4
     Jul 2   Jose Antonio Jimenez    Sao Paulo               W 10
     Aug 13  Juan Lopez              Sao Paulo               W 10
     Oct 8   Octavio Gomez           Sao Paulo               W 10