Eder Joffre has died

Brazil`s first and greatest World Champion Eder “Galinho de Ouro” has died aged 86, after enrapturing the cosmos with his prodigious punching power and sublime skills, befitting his supreme status as forever the “Golden Bantam.” There will never be another like him…and how we`re going to miss him.

Bantamweight and Featherweight Champion of the World, Eder`s 72-2-4, 50 KO`s, is a legend. He`s part of the KO Brotherhood with 50 or more stoppages, denoting sheer might but also uncanny timing, all packed into five feet four inches with a sixty-six-inch reach.

Eder started that fabled career on March 23rd 1957 with a KO of Raul Lopez in five torrid rounds. In his entire career he was only dropped once to the canvass by Jose Smecca in round one. Eder got up and with a will plus patience, wore Smecca down to KO him in seven. Rising up the ranks, he KO`d Jose Medel in the tenth of a veritable slugfest. Eder became bantamweight champion with a six rounds KO of Eloy Sanchez and went on to become Undisputed Champion with a string/hatful of defences.

He lost his bantam title by split decision to Fighting Harada and lost by UD in the rematch. Harada was the only man to ever defeat him. Eder made a comeback at featherweight, winning thirteen fights in a row and then challenged for the title, defeating Jose Legra by MD for the WBC and Lineal Championship. His last great flourish was a KO win in four extraordinary rounds over former bantam champion and fellow all-time great Vicente Salivar.
Eder stayed fit in retirement. He fought an exhibition against Alexis Arguello. A vegetarian from the age of twenty, he was a lifelong keep fit enthusiast, releasing a calisthenics video at the age of seventy-four. Eder died from complications due to pneumonia in the Clinic Embu de Artes. Now he has gone, an era of Boxing has passed. It`s gone with him!

As Brazil choses its next President, it has lost a leading light of boxing. A beacon! The Nation of Brazil and the World mourns a Boxing Superstar. The entire World Boxing Council Family led by President Mauricio Sulaiman, send their deepest condolences to Eder`s Family and the so many friends plus adoring fans the World over who he made during his exceptional lifetime. Eder was a phenomenally popular guest at the WBC Convention and events. People flocked to him. They adored him and he adored them. He had the People Touch.

We wish Eder God speed on his journey of no return with the poem Death Lullaby:

As you die, take a sigh,
Breath flutters, the final closing of the shutters,
Time to relent, time to repent,
God speed as your soul is freed,
Then the calm, before the final psalm.