I heard Aileen Eaton tell this story years ago. Aileen used to promote the fights at the Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. Between her and George Parnassus,boxing really flourished in the 60's and 70's. She told a story of how Manuel Ortiz,the great bantamweight champ,got his start. I know ExPug has expressed interest in the San Jouquin Valley area of California. Fat City was filmed there and there were some pretty good fighters who tried making a living boxing instead of working in the California sun picking lettuce. Manuel Ortiz was one of them.
He was working in an ice house in the valley. The weekend's entertainment was often the local boxing matches. Well Ortiz was in attendance one night and one of the prelim fighters didn't show up. It's not sure whether Ortiz had a few beers in him that summer night,but he thought he'd offer himself as an opponent. He never stepped into a ring before,but he knew he could handle himself with anyone at the ice house.
Well from what they said Ortiz got the better of the other guy. His pals at the ice house talked him into fighting and while he was working at the ice house,Ortiz began a brief amateur career. His first pro fight though was against a tough kid by the name of Benny Goldberg and Ortiz lost his opener. Later after Ortiz won the bantam title, he beat Goldberg in a defense.
Ortiz was very popular in California especially in the agricultural areas of California with the migrant farm workers. He fought over 150 times and tried unsuccessfully to win Willie Pep's feather title. He died in 1970 in San Diego.
Manuel Ortiz---Out Of The Ice House Into The Sun
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dagosd2000
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 8638
- Joined: 01 Sep 2007, 03:31
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dagosd2000
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 8638
- Joined: 01 Sep 2007, 03:31
There are only two clips of Ortiz that I know of, one being a 22 minute HL of his third bout versus Luis Castillo and the other a 12 minute HL of his bout against South African Vic Toweel, both of which I have in my collection. These two fights is all I`ve ever managed to track down of Manuel, but I`m quite positive there is more film of him out there. Perhaps Klompton could help us out here as he seems to know a lot about obscure fight films and where to find them/track them down.
Re: Manuel Ortiz---Out Of The Ice House Into The Sun
Yes, that movie Fat City brought an interest in the Boxing scene in Stockton in the 60s -70s.dagosd2000 wrote:I heard Aileen Eaton tell this story years ago. Aileen used to promote the fights at the Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. Between her and George Parnassus,boxing really flourished in the 60's and 70's. She told a story of how Manuel Ortiz,the great bantamweight champ,got his start. I know ExPug has expressed interest in the San Jouquin Valley area of California. Fat City was filmed there and there were some pretty good fighters who tried making a living boxing instead of working in the California sun picking lettuce. Manuel Ortiz was one of them.
He was working in an ice house in the valley. The weekend's entertainment was often the local boxing matches. Well Ortiz was in attendance one night and one of the prelim fighters didn't show up. It's not sure whether Ortiz had a few beers in him that summer night,but he thought he'd offer himself as an opponent. He never stepped into a ring before,but he knew he could handle himself with anyone at the ice house.
Well from what they said Ortiz got the better of the other guy. His pals at the ice house talked him into fighting and while he was working at the ice house,Ortiz began a brief amateur career. His first pro fight though was against a tough kid by the name of Benny Goldberg and Ortiz lost his opener. Later after Ortiz won the bantam title, he beat Goldberg in a defense.
Ortiz was very popular in California especially in the agricultural areas of California with the migrant farm workers. He fought over 150 times and tried unsuccessfully to win Willie Pep's feather title. He died in 1970 in San Diego.
Particularly Yaqui Lopez.
Really liked that guy .What a warrior.
Somethin about the way he fought and carried himself.
The guy had dignity .
He is what I would call a fighters fighter.
Great story about Ortiz, Dagos. keep em comin !
..the great manuel ortiz was so unknown in the typical provincial new york city that when he came in to stillman's gym to visit he was asked to pay the 50 cent admission fee and he reached in his pocket until his companion said, "Since when does a world champion have to pay to get into this dump" and when he (not ortiz) told who ortiz was he was greeted with a bit more respect. (not a LOT more....this was stillman's gym)..and the fee was waved.