This is from my profile on him, though of course it's covering a period 20 years earlier:[quote]Kidd, however, was the first Brit to be credibly billed as a "genuine" world champion, defeating Mexican Rudi Quarez for the lightweight title in 1949. The precise details remain a mystery, with some accounts having the title match in Dundee and others in Mexico. There are even claims the title in question was the NWA Lightweight championship, but this seems unlikely at best: the NWA never recognised such a crown in the US and it was not among the three weight divisions that had championships subcontracted to Mexican promoters.
Whatever the circumstances of the Quarez bout, Kidd's championship status was confirmed in 1950 when he battled Rene Ben Chemoul. Several accounts had it that Kidd beat Chemoul in Dundee to win the crown. In fact it was Chemoul who took the title in Dundee, setting up a rematch where Kidd regained the crown in Paris, an unusual booking pattern that no doubt left audiences disappointed on both sides of the Channel. The Paris match set off an unprecedented 26-year reign as world champion for Kidd.
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So Kidd would possible have been known in Mexico, if only by promoters.As for this listing in 1969, my best guess is that Mexico was in a similar situation to the UK in that they recognised national titles in each division, claimed a couple of their guys as world champions (welterweight and middleweight, which were recognised by the NWA) and then simply said/left assumed that the other divisions had world champions based in other countries, rather than go for the less realistic claim that every world championship was held by a Mexican.Heavyweight would have been the current NWA champion, but if you were a magazine publisher looking for somebody to list as world lightweight champion, Kidd would have been the obvious choice.
This is from my profile on him, though of course it's covering a period 20 years earlier: [quote]Kidd, however, was the first Brit to be credibly billed as a "genuine" world champion, defeating Mexican Rudi Quarez for the lightweight title in 1949. The precise details remain a mystery, with some accounts having the title match in Dundee and others in Mexico. There are even claims the title in question was the NWA Lightweight championship, but this seems unlikely at best: the NWA never recognised such a crown in the US and it was not among the three weight divisions that had championships subcontracted to Mexican promoters.
Whatever the circumstances of the Quarez bout, Kidd's championship status was confirmed in 1950 when he battled Rene Ben Chemoul. Several accounts had it that Kidd beat Chemoul in Dundee to win the crown. In fact it was Chemoul who took the title in Dundee, setting up a rematch where Kidd regained the crown in Paris, an unusual booking pattern that no doubt left audiences disappointed on both sides of the Channel. The Paris match set off an unprecedented 26-year reign as world champion for Kidd.
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So Kidd would possible have been known in Mexico, if only by promoters. As for this listing in 1969, my best guess is that Mexico was in a similar situation to the UK in that they recognised national titles in each division, claimed a couple of their guys as world champions (welterweight and middleweight, which were recognised by the NWA) and then simply said/left assumed that the other divisions had world champions based in other countries, rather than go for the less realistic claim that every world championship was held by a Mexican. Heavyweight would have been the current NWA champion, but if you were a magazine publisher looking for somebody to list as world lightweight champion, Kidd would have been the obvious choice.