Herbert Louis Harwick AKA Cocoa Kid
Born: Mayaguez, Puerto Rico –
Died: December 1966
Whilst conducting research for my book on the life and career of Charley Burley I discovered a great deal about some of the better fighters that Burley crossed gloves with. Fighters such as Holman Williams, Lloyd Marshall, Eddie Booker and Jack Chase had good careers, were well-known in their day and had a life and career arc that can readily be followed. However, another of this group of highly talented black fighters is something of an enigma.
According to the record books, Cocoa Kid, (aka Louis Hardwick), was born in January 1913 in Puerto Rico. He fought (depending on who you believe), between 1929 or 1930 to 1948 and took part in some 240-odd bouts. Among the fighters he met were most of the above mentioned ‘Black Murderers’ Row’ along with talented contenders Archie Moore, Lou Ambers and Georgie Abrams. Whilst the names of Moore, Ambers and Abrams may be well-known to most boxing buffs, the rest of the Kids record reads like a who’s-who of 1930s and 40s boxing talent: Jimmy Leto, Eddie Dolan, Kid Azteca, Andre Jessurun, Saverio Turiello, Izzy Jannazzo, Joe Carter, Bert Lytell and Earl Turner are just a few of the many ranked fighters he met.
Cocoa Kid was a bit of an enigma during his professional career. He would often refer to himself as Louis Hardwick/Harwick, Louis Arroyo or Louis Humberto depending on which newspaper reporter he was speaking to. Although he appears to have been a Puerto Rican immigrant to the United States, there were a number of stories about him in the press about him being Cuban. Jersey Jones claimed that Cocoa Kid traveled form Cuba to the USA with Kid Chocolate and the son of former lightweight contender Wesley Ramey (who defeated Cocoa Kid in 1933 and often used him as a sparring partner) remembers that, to the best of his knowledge, Cocoa Kid was a Cuban fighter. Many newspaper reports from early in Cocoa Kid’s career also refer to him as Cuban.
Whatever his origin, Louis Hardwick was based in Hartford, Connecticut and, as Cocoa Kid, was high-class operator. He had beaten Jack Portney, Werther Arcelli, Pancho Villa, Andre Jessurun and Teddy Loder. He had also met Lou Ambers, losing over ten rounds and had a loss and a draw versus Kid Azteca. Amongst his more widely known opponents was the slick-boxing Holman Williams, against whom Cocoa Kid engaged in thirteen contests; winning eight, losing three and drawing in two. In their 4th meeting in New Orleans (12th March, 1937), Cocoa Kid won over 15 rounds and claimed the Colored Welterweight Championship of the World and the belt that went with it. After a further ten wins and five defeats in around 18 months, the Kid lost the ‘championship’ to the fast-rising Charley Burley of Pittsburgh (Burley would lose the title – but, strangely, not the belt – back to Holman Williams just over a year later.
A more meaningful title opportunity came the Kids way in October, 1940 when he opposed Izzy Jannazo for the welterweight championship (Maryland version). He lost via a split decision over 15 rounds and – like many of his contemporaries – was never provided the chance again. The remainder of the 1940s was largely about eking out a living fighting the rest of the contenders for middleweight honors whilst the title was frozen for the duration of the war. Whilst he may have had a few miles on the clock at 30 years of age, 14 years as a pro and roughly 180 fights under his belt, the Kid still had plenty left. After his second bout with Charley Burley (a draw in 1943), Cocoa Kid had enough to beat Holman Williams (again), Jack Chase, Joe Carter, Cecil Hudson and Gene Buffalo (who was himself a veteran by that point). Other top-flight opposition in his waning years included ‘Oakland’ Billy Smith, Archie Moore and Bert Lytell. Cocoa Kid called it a day in 1948 after losing to Bobby Mann in Trenton, New Jersey.
Although his competitive years were apparently behind him, he was often hired as a sparring partner and on one occasion was brought in to help Sugar Ray Robinson to prepare for a fight with Steve Belloise in 1949. Robinson learned that you couldn’t afford to take liberties with a fighter of the Kid’s caliber when an overhand right dropped him in one of their sessions.
Of the many talented black fighters that inhabited the same time and space as Charley Burley, Cocoa Kid is the only one to get a shot at a world championship. The fact that he got a shot at a ‘title’ didn’t elevate Cocoa Kid’s status, reputation or place in boxing history. It apparently did little of anything for this most talented of welterweights as he reportedly spent his later years ghosting around the seedy shadows of New York’s Times Square begging for money to feed his drug habit.
So what really became of Louis Hardwick, Louis Humberto, Louis Arroyo (or Juan Cepero as some claimed him to be), AKA ‘The Cocoa Kid’? He was reported as speaking several languages and claimed to have a daughter who was in college and two sons whom he hoped wouldn’t go into the ring. In a 1948 interview for the Chicago Tribune he told reporter Robert Cromie:
“If I had to do it over again, I’d still be a fighter. I had a good time about it and I still have my health. If the worst comes to the worst I can still work. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I’m not robbing or sticking people up”.
Be sure to read Springs Toledo’s series on Cocoa Kid at The Sweet Science:
“JUST WATCH MAH SMOKE”: The Secret Journeys of Cocoa Kid
© (Harry Otty)