Dallas boxing legend Curtis Cokes’ impact will linger long after his passing

It’s a hot Sunday afternoon and inside the Sandra Clark Funeral Home the best of Dallas/Fort Worth boxing came to a visitation for the Hall of Fame fighter, Dallas trainer Curtis Cokes.

He passed away of heart failure on May 29 at the tender age of 82.

The passing is still felt in his son, Vincent Cokes.

“Went to see him last Friday, talked to him a little bit, kissed him on the forehead (and) got in the car,” Vincent said. “And I got down the street, they called and said he died. That quick. I just saw him. I just left.”

Cokes was admitted to the hospital and later transferred to a nursing home at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. His family couldn’t see him for 90 days per the rules of the state and the nursing home.

Yet, seeing family in person is something a sick person needs. There were no cute pictures of the Cokes family encouraging Curtis to keep fighting.

“He was in the hospital doing good,” Vincent said. “But we couldn’t see him for 90 days in the nursing home and that’s when he got real sick.”

All the Cokes family could do was talk to him on the phone. The voices were all Curtis Cokes had as he lay in a bed trying to survive.

Vincent Cokes was asked if that Friday, the last time he saw his dad, gave him some comfort that at least he saw his father one last time.

“Not like I wanted to,” he said. “He could hear you but he couldn’t talk. When you said something to him he would look at you still. But we thought he was going to come back home. We were going to deal with him like that. This here (coronavirus) killed all that. This damn disease. Just the world, not him seeing his people. I was up there almost every day sitting with him.

Curtis Cokes’ life was full. He made a name for himself in boxing when he won the WBA welterweight title by defeating Manuel Gonzalez in New Orleans in 1966. That same year, he unified the belts by defeating Jean Josselin becoming the WBC/WBA welterweight champion. He won the title at the old Municipal Auditorium where the Dallas Chaparrals used to play in the American Basketball Association. Cokes was the first African American boxer from Dallas to unify a weight division.

He held the belt until 1969 when Jose Napoles took it from him at the Fabulous Forum in Los Angeles. In the rematch a few months later in Mexico City, Cokes, fighting with a right eye swollen shut, couldn’t defend himself and the fight was stopped in the 10th round.

Cokes fought a few more times before retirement and that’s where he also blossomed into an elite trainer. He helped Quincy Taylor beat the talented Julian Jackson to win the WBC middleweight title in 1995. Taylor held the belt for just seven months before losing it the next year. Cokes wasn’t done, he had two heavyweights Ike Ibeabuchi and Kirk Johnson who were rising stars. Ibeabuchi’s legal troubles derailed his career but Johnson had a shot at the title. He was disqualified for throwing too many low blows against John Ruiz for the WBA belt in 2002.

Cokes never stopped training fighters at his Home of Champions gym and became a mentor to other trainers. Sultan Ali from Mesquite trained amateur fighters and learned how to teach the 1-2 thanks to Cokes’ lessons. There was Ali showing you how to throw a straight left, then come back with the right just like Cokes taught him.

The main entrance of Sandra Clark has a sign that reads: “NO MASK NO ENTRY.” Everyone who entered wore one, even Dickie Cole, the retired Texas boxing commissioner, who arrived with his wife and daughter. Paul Reyes, who trained Johnson with Cokes, and was a co-trainer for world champion Paulie Ayala, had one too.

There was Ex Alba, a dear friend and trainer, looking at the program for Monday’s funeral service at Sandra Clark, which starts at 11 a.m. On the cover is a painting of Cokes being given instructions by his trainer before a fight. Alba was trying to get Cokes to eat at Applebees in Oak Cliff so he could see a mural of Cokes.

Inside the chapel, with the red carpeting leading you to the coffin lays Cokes. He’s wearing a brown suit with two boxing pins on his lapel. He’s clean shaven and looks peaceful.

The Champ is going home.

“You want everybody to live forever, you don’t want anybody to die,” Cokes’ daughter, Vashiti Cokes said. “But then you don’t want to see them suffer. It’s hard to see somebody suffering that you love and you know. I think he’s in a better place, his suffering is over. He lived a good life, he will tell you he accomplished what he accomplished. It’s best he goes to the Lord instead of suffering.”

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