PERSONAJES
JULIO DE 2017
The black lover of Cocteau
On June 18, 1929, Brown became the first Latin American champion
in boxing history to win the vacant bantamweight title with a win over
Spaniard Gregorio Vidal in Queens, New York. He accumulated in his
race a record of 135 victories (61 of them by KO), 18 defeats and 13
draws. He was never knocked out.
A
lfonso Teófilo Al Brown was
born in a rental room, be-
tween Avenida Central and
Calle Sexta in the city of Colón. He
was son of a Panamanian with a freed
slave from Tennessee, who arrived at
these shores for the construction of the
canal. He grew up surrounded by limi-
tations, hunger and misery. He entered
the world of human beasts with fists:
he made his debut on March 19, 1922,
overcoming José Moreno. After several
fights, the 9 of December of that same
year defeated the gringo soldier Sailor
Pratchett in 15 assaults and gained the
national Fly title.
He left the following year to New
York and settled in the ghetto of Har-
lem. Those were very difficult years for
the blacks in that nation, because they
were in their apogee the discriminatory
laws, loaded with fanatic racism. In
more than forty fights he went out fi-
ring against blacks, whites and browns.
Villepontoux, a French adventu-
rer, met the promoter of Alfonso, Eddie
Mac Mahon, convincing him to take
him to Paris, where the Africans were
fashionable, although boxing was in
decline.
With 118 pounds (rooster weight)
and 1.74 meters high, shuffling feet and
a mule stick, set off to the old and out-
dated Europe in 1926.
Loaded with dreams against hun-
ger, he became a boxer for Dave Lu-
miansky’s squad and, with his training
and advice, won the bantamweight title
on June 18, 1929, when he defeated
then-holder Gregorio Vidal. He beca-
me the first Latin American to achieve
this.
Lumiansky explotó al panameño
como un esclavo: se dice que defendió
su título veinte veces solo en 1932.
Ganó mucho dinero y lo malgastó
en trajes, autos, caballos, hoteles, mu-
jeres y drogas, la vida loca.
Hasta que sobrevino lo espera-
do: sufre su primera derrota. Le gana
Baltazar Sangchilli, en España, el 1 de
junio de 1935. Continuó drogándose y
bebiendo.
Conoció a muchos artistas fran-
ceses, pintores, cantantes, actores, y
escritores, entre ellos a Jean Cocteau.
Este se enamoró del boxeador y se hi-
cieron amantes, y exhibieron escanda-
losamente su afecto en las calles pari-
sinas.
Muchas fotos registran sus salidas
al hipódromo, a los eventos artísticos
de alta cultura, donde —a diferencia
de en Nueva York— no se le negaba la
entrada debido a su color.
Lumiansky exploited the Pana-
manian as a slave: he is said to have
defended his title twenty times in 1932
alone.
Toda elegancia se aprecia en esta foto
del panameño en una carrera
de caballos
He made a lot of money and wasted
it on costumes, cars, horses, hotels, wo-
men and drugs, the crazy life.
Until what happened waited:
it suffers its first defeat. Baltazar
Sangchilli beats him, in Spain, on
June 1, 1935. He continued to drug
and drink.
He met many French artists, pain-
ters, singers, actors, and writers, in-
cluding Jean Cocteau. This fell in love
with the boxer and became lovers, and
scandalously exhibited their affection
in the streets of Paris.
Many photos record their exits to
the hippodrome, to the artistic events
of high culture, where - unlike in New
York - they were not denied entrance
due to their color.
Cocteau helped him raise morale,
returned to the ring and, in a rematch
match, regains his title against Sang-
chilli on March 4, 1938.
He continued to fight and partying
until he lost everything again. He fou-
ght in Panama, where he returned be-
tween 1941 and 1942, but was no lon-
ger at home, things had changed.
He embarked again to New York
and his vices took their toll. Drug ad-
dict and alcoholic, was infected with
syphilis, and was found dead cold and
very malnourished in an alley. They say
he died of starvation - others, tubercu-
losis - on April 11, 1951.
José Antonio Remón Cantera - then,
president of the Panamanian State -,
knowing his worth, in a human gestu-
re rescued his remains to bring them to
their native land, where they rest. Al-
though very few remember where.
7