Jose Ribalta was a good heavyweight boxer out of Rodigo, Cuba…..who had a professional boxing career that spanned 17 years from 1982 to 1999….with a career record of 38 wins with 27 KO’s and 17 losses with 1 draw….in which he fought an impressive array of Heavyweight Champions to include James Bonecrusher Smith, Mike Tyson, Leon Spinks, Tim Witherspoon, Larry Holmes, Tony Tubbs and Vitali Klitschko….in which he went the distance with most of these fighters, but not during their reign as champions….cuz none of these fights were title fights.
So, next to Teofilo Stevenson, Jose Ribalta was probably the 2nd best heavyweight boxer to ever come out of Cuba…..as as seen in this HBO profile by Larry Merchant….Ribalta was definitely a positive force to be reckoned with.
