Rafael Correa, a former welterweight boxer who spent decades as a staple of the New York City training circuit, died Saturday at the age of 78. He had been living at a nursing home in Athens, Alabama, in recent years.
Correa, who boxed in the 1966 and 1967 New York Golden Gloves, accumulated a pro record of 15-11-3 (8 KOs) between 1967 and 1974. But it was what he did afterwards that had an even bigger impact: working as a trainer alongside his former coach Jimmy Glenn at the famed Times Square Gym from the late 1970s until the gym closed in the early ‘90s. Among the champions who prepared for fights there were Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Wilfredo Gomez and Emile Griffith.
Correa, born Rafael Anibal Correa on October 17, 1946, in Salinas, Puerto Rico, began his pro career at 6-0-3, but he eventually fell into the role of dangerous journeyman. Among his biggest wins were a first-round knockout of Roland Pryor, then 21-1, in Baltimore in 1972 and a come-from-behind sixth-round stoppage of Bobby Haymon in Cleveland in 1971.
The win over Haymon made Correa something of a popular fighter in Cleveland, with “The Cleveland Press” writing that Correa “uses a walkaway style very similar to that of Jersey Joe Walcott. He keeps walking away from his opponent, stopping occasionally to throw a jab. Then he’ll suddenly find an opening, step in and Pow!”
Correa’s highest-profile fight came in 1971, when he traveled to France to fight Gratien Tonna, who eventually fought Rodrigo Valdez and Carlos Monzon for two different versions of the middleweight title. Correa was stopped in two rounds.
While working at the Times Square Gym, Correa operated as one of Glenn’s most trusted coaches. Among the world champions he worked with was Joey Gamache, who praised Correa for his adherence to the boxing fundamentals.
“Ralphy was a good trainer, he was a guy that fighters liked to train with. He was a fundamental guy, a guy that kept it simple,” said Gamache, who held the WBA lightweight and junior lightweight titles.
Among other boxers Correa worked with were Hall of Famer Ivan Calderon and junior welterweight contender Terrence Alli.
Another of Correa’s former pupils, Percy Gayanilo, worked with Correa at Church Street Boxing in New York's financial district during the 2000s. He says that although Correa was not as recognized by the public because he usually worked as a second behind bigger-name trainers, he was respected by boxers for the work he did in the gym.
“I think his main impact is that he’s always been that old school trainer that everybody respected. He came from that old school, gritty boxing,” said Gayanilo, who owns Park Elite Boxing Academy in Roselle Park, New Jersey.
Gayanilo, who has remained close with the Correa family, says there will be no memorial service and the deceased will be cremated.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
