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LA gangster-turned boxing champ dies at 70

Raul Rojas, a Los Angeles gang member who became a world boxing champion in 1968, has died. He was 70. His daughter, Rebecca, tells the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/KmsSdd) that Rojas died Sunday of natural causes. Rojas grew up in Watts and East Los Angeles. Two of his brothers went to prison. According to a 1968 Sports Illustrated article, Rojas led a street gang and wound up in juvenile hall after a battle during which a fellow gangster was shot to death next to him. Rojas turned to boxing and in 1968 he defeated Enrique Higgins to win the World Boxing Association featherweight belt. He surrendered it six months later. He ended his career in 1970 with a record of 38-7-2 with 24 knockouts. He later worked as a longshoreman.

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