Ex-Cruiserweight Champ Carlos De Leon Dies of A Heart Attack on New Year’s Day at 60
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Former World Boxing Council World Cruiserweight champion Carlos ‘Sugar’ De Leon, who held the WBC world cruiserweight championship on four different occasions, most times of any fighter in the history of the 200 pounds cruiserweight division, died on a heart attack on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2020, at home in Buffalo, New York, at age 60.
De Leon, a native of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, fought 61 professional bouts between 1974 and 1995, winning 52, losing eight, and drawing one. He beat the likes of S.T. Gordon, Eddie Davis, Leon Spinks, Marvin Camel, and Yaqui Lopez, but lost to Evander Holyfield, Ray Hammond, and Alfonzo Ratliff, on the way to fighting a who’s who of fighters in the cruiserweight division. He later worked as a trainer, working with his son Carlos DeLeon Jr., undefeated heavyweight contender Joe Mesi, WBO World Light Flyweight champion Angel Acosta, and southpaw super featherweight contender Orlando Cruz.
The official statement of WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman: “The WBC boxing family is sad to report the sudden passing away of one of the greatest cruiserweight champions, Carlos De Leon. We join his family in grief. May he rest in peace. Adiós, Campeón.”
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