 rodrigo valdÃ©z (born december 22, 1946) is a former boxer from colombia who was a two-time world middleweight champion and former undisputed middleweight champion of the world whose rivalry with carlos monzÃ³n has long been considered among the most legendary boxing rivalries. valdez was trained by international boxing hall of fame coach gil clancy. many people consider him, antonio cervantes and miguel "happy" lora to be the three greatest boxers ever to come from that country. he is 29th on ring magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. ==professional career== born in bolÃ­var, colombia, rodrigo valdÃ©z began his professional boxing career with a win over orlando pineda in a four-round decision on october 25, 1963, at cartagena. he won his next eight bouts, but on october 2, 1965, he lost his undefeated record, beaten by knockout in six by rudy escobar. after that defeat, he went on another undefeated streak of fifteen fights, of which he won thirteen and tied two. however, on his first fight abroad, february 16, 1969, in ecuador, he lost a ten-round decision to daniel guanin. after one more fight in cartagena, he moved to the united states. trying to gain more recognition, he campaigned, from 1969 to 1970, in the states of new york, nevada and california, winning seven fights and losing two. then, he returned to south america for four more fights in his homeland, winning all. ===hepatitis=== in his next match, held at the madison square garden in new york city, with bobby cassidy on august 9, 1971, valdez won by knockout in round six, because the fight doctor deemed cassidy not fit to continue from a cut around his eye which had been ruled as produced by a valdez punch. at the time, nobody knew that cassidy had hepatitis a. as a consequence of this, valdez also became affected by the disease. given a quarantine, he refused to quit boxing periodically and continued training during his time of illness. separated from most of the world, he was fit enough to win two more fights within three months of his initial diagnosis of hepatitis. valdez had nineteen wins in a row when he met philadelphia legend bennie briscoe for the nabf middleweight title, in noumÃ©a, new caledonia, on september 1, 1973, beating briscoe in a 12-round decision to 
1946_births Colombian_boxers Living_people Middleweight_boxers World_boxing_champions