09/01/2026
KO KINGZ 👑 PIPINO CUEVAS 🇲🇽
(34W-31KOS)
Turning professional in 1971 at 14 years old, Cuevas learned his trade in the unforgiving arenas of Mexico. By the time he was 18, his record sat at an unassuming 19-5. To an outsider, he looked like a journeyman in the making. But those five early losses masked a terrifying reality: Cuevas was growing into his body, and his left hook was maturing into a lethal weapon.
At 18 years and 6 months old, Pipino Cuevas became the youngest WBA welterweight champion in history. What followed was a reign of absolute terror. Cuevas held the title for four years, defending it 11 times. Ten of those defenses ended by knockout, with most opponents failing to make it past the second round.
Every brutal reign has a natural end. For Cuevas, the end arrived on August 2, 1980, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Cuevas ran straight into a 21 year old Thomas “Hitman” Hearns. In a passing of the touch moment, Hearn caught Cuevas with a devastating right cross in the second round, ending Pipino’s 4 year reign.
Though Cuevas fought on for another nine years, eventually retiring in 1989, his peak era was defined by that golden 1976-1980 window. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2002, Pipino Cuevas remains a folklore legend among hardcore boxing purist. He was a champion who turned professional as a child, conquered the world as a teenager, and left a trail of broken jaws in his wake.