Classic American West Coast Boxing
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Rick Farris
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 7200
- Joined: 15 Feb 2008, 16:04
Navarro, Crawford and Hawkins . . .
Kiki, thanks for posting photos of Ruben Navarro, Frankie Crawford and one of the greatest boxers to never fight for a world title, Dwight "The Hawk" Hawkins.
Navarro & Hawkins were my stablemates, and Crawford somebody I sparred with in 1971-72. Outside of boxing, I shared some personal experiences with all, and many are quite interesting, to say the least.
Of course, Frankie Crawford is dead. His early demise was no surprise to those of us who knew him. Let me say I was not "close" to Frankie, generally speaking, however, our paths crossed in and out of boxing and the result are some stories most well find both humorous and tragic.
In my opinion, the lives of Ruben Navarro and Dwight Hawkins are truly success stories. Both are men of charactor, and during the best of their careers fought under Johnnie Flores, who took them around the world fighting the best of their era.
Now that I think of it, all three were popular in Japan. Hawkins made the biggest impression in his Tokyo debut, literally flattening a great future world champ in Kiniaki Shibata. I recall Johnny Flores returning from Tokyo after the Shibata fight, and showing us the front page of a Japanese newspaper. A gigantic, full-page photo shows Shibata laying on a stretcher, shielding his eyes, as his handlers carry his body out of the ring.
A few weeks later, Hawkins and Flores return to Japan, where "The Hawk", flattened another world rated featherweight, Rokuro Ishiyama, in two rounds. Needless to say, the Japanese were amazed by Hawkins, but also embarrassed.
To get even, they offer Flores a match with the former great flyweight & bantam champ, Fighting Harada. Harada had recently struggled to make the 118 pound bantam limit and lost his title to Lionel Rose. Harada would now fight at 126lbs. and go after the featherweight title.
Unfortunatly for Harada, he bit off a big piece of meat when he took on Hawkins. The fight was one of the best ever held in Tokyo, a ten round toe-to-toe war, both fighters badly battered and cut, the result of what Flores said came from the 80 plus head butts some ringsider counted during the bout. Flores, and many who saw the bout believed Hawkins had upset the greatest Japanese boxer to ever step into the ring. However, the Japanese officials awarded the great champion a close, split-dec. victory.
Despite the loss, the Japanese loved Hawkins, where today he is still treated with great respect. Dwight came away with more than just fans from Tokyo, he brought home a wife. I'll share more about Dwight Hawkins later.
I'll also talk about Frankie Crawford's two great title fights against featherweight champ Sho Saijyo. I have a funny story about something that happened with Crawford after the first Saijyo match.
Ruben Navarro also fought in Japan, about that time. I recall some funny stories Johnnie Flores told us about Ruben's introduction to Sushi, on the Japanese Airliner they flew home on.
-Rick Farris
Rick,
Let me start off by saying that it is good to see you posting again, as I remember reading your posts back on the old CBZ forum a few years ago and they were always a pleasure to read. Now I have a few questions for you, and if you can find the time to answer them I ould be grateful. My first questions concerns the Danny Lopez-Masanao Toyoshima bout, which I have heard rivals the Hagler/Hearns fight in terms of action, with the jap getting dropped twice in the first only to come back and drop Danny in the third before getting taken out in the same round. Did you see this fight by any chance? And if so, was it as good as I`ve been told and most important of all was it televised?
My second question concerns the Ruben Navarro vs Ken Buchanan fight, of which I remember you sharing a rather amusing story about the contingent of Scottish fans who made the trip to cheer on their fellow countryman. If you could share that story again with all of us that would be great.
Let me start off by saying that it is good to see you posting again, as I remember reading your posts back on the old CBZ forum a few years ago and they were always a pleasure to read. Now I have a few questions for you, and if you can find the time to answer them I ould be grateful. My first questions concerns the Danny Lopez-Masanao Toyoshima bout, which I have heard rivals the Hagler/Hearns fight in terms of action, with the jap getting dropped twice in the first only to come back and drop Danny in the third before getting taken out in the same round. Did you see this fight by any chance? And if so, was it as good as I`ve been told and most important of all was it televised?
My second question concerns the Ruben Navarro vs Ken Buchanan fight, of which I remember you sharing a rather amusing story about the contingent of Scottish fans who made the trip to cheer on their fellow countryman. If you could share that story again with all of us that would be great.
Re: Navarro, Crawford and Hawkins . . .
RickRick Farris wrote: Kiki, thanks for posting photos of Ruben Navarro, Frankie Crawford and one of the greatest boxers to never fight for a world title, Dwight "The Hawk" Hawkins.
Navarro & Hawkins were my stablemates, and Crawford somebody I sparred with in 1971-72. Outside of boxing, I shared some personal experiences with all, and many are quite interesting, to say the least.
Of course, Frankie Crawford is dead. His early demise was no surprise to those of us who knew him. Let me say I was not "close" to Frankie, generally speaking, however, our paths crossed in and out of boxing and the result are some stories most well find both humorous and tragic.
In my opinion, the lives of Ruben Navarro and Dwight Hawkins are truly success stories. Both are men of charactor, and during the best of their careers fought under Johnnie Flores, who took them around the world fighting the best of their era.
Now that I think of it, all three were popular in Japan. Hawkins made the biggest impression in his Tokyo debut, literally flattening a great future world champ in Kiniaki Shibata. I recall Johnny Flores returning from Tokyo after the Shibata fight, and showing us the front page of a Japanese newspaper. A gigantic, full-page photo shows Shibata laying on a stretcher, shielding his eyes, as his handlers carry his body out of the ring.
A few weeks later, Hawkins and Flores return to Japan, where "The Hawk", flattened another world rated featherweight, Rokuro Ishiyama, in two rounds. Needless to say, the Japanese were amazed by Hawkins, but also embarrassed.
To get even, they offer Flores a match with the former great flyweight & bantam champ, Fighting Harada. Harada had recently struggled to make the 118 pound bantam limit and lost his title to Lionel Rose. Harada would now fight at 126lbs. and go after the featherweight title.
Unfortunatly for Harada, he bit off a big piece of meat when he took on Hawkins. The fight was one of the best ever held in Tokyo, a ten round toe-to-toe war, both fighters badly battered and cut, the result of what Flores said came from the 80 plus head butts some ringsider counted during the bout. Flores, and many who saw the bout believed Hawkins had upset the greatest Japanese boxer to ever step into the ring. However, the Japanese officials awarded the great champion a close, split-dec. victory.
Despite the loss, the Japanese loved Hawkins, where today he is still treated with great respect. Dwight came away with more than just fans from Tokyo, he brought home a wife. I'll share more about Dwight Hawkins later.
I'll also talk about Frankie Crawford's two great title fights against featherweight champ Sho Saijyo. I have a funny story about something that happened with Crawford after the first Saijyo match.
Ruben Navarro also fought in Japan, about that time. I recall some funny stories Johnnie Flores told us about Ruben's introduction to Sushi, on the Japanese Airliner they flew home on.
-Rick Farris
Thanks for your contributions.
Really fascinating.
Ive always been interested in hearing about Frankie Crawford also.
Please give us some more about these great fighters.
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Rick Farris
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 7200
- Joined: 15 Feb 2008, 16:04
Jose Medel . . .
Granberry is right about Jose Medel's success in Japan. When Medel was on his way up, he had no problem going out of town to face the best on their home turf.
I forget how many wins Jose Medel had in Japan, but two of his biggest wins were KO's over a heavier Mitsunori Seki (an under-rated contender, who twice gave Saldivar trouble) and the great Fighting Harada.
I had the opportunity to see Jose Medel fight live in Los Angeles twice. The first time was late in 1965, when Medel came off the deck early to drop Jesus Pimentel twice, late in the fight, on his way to a 12 round dec. win.
The next time I saw Medel was in '68, when he lost a close 10 rd. decision to bantam champ Lionel Rose, at the FORUM. A quick glance at Medel's Boxrec record tells me he continued to fight thru 1974. Man, nearly twenty years in the ring against unbelieveable competition. Medel wasn't just an "also ran", he was a guy who on any given night might beat ANY bantam that ever fought. His record supports my belief, seeing him in action validates it.
Medel didn't lose in Japan until hois career was on the down slide.
-Rick Farris
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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
Kiki,These pictures are classics. Thanks for sharing them. That's a great shot of Olivares,Castillo,Medel,and Armstrong. Looking at Armstrong's face, I think he's wondering if he may have put on the wrong outfit being with this group.kikibalt wrote:
Standing (L-to-R)
Ruben Olivares,Chucho Castillo, Evan Armstrong & Jose Medel...1968
Strumming guitar is Lionel Rose
Is Jose Luis the one who fought Shozo Saijo twice? Also, can anyone tell me more about Bobby Chacon`s bout against the hard punching David Sotelo? I know Bobby was dropped twice and in big trouble late in the fight, and would love to see the fight for myself. Unfortunately the only person who I know has a copy of this fight is Kurt Noltimier from ringwise and he stubbornly refuses to release it. And Rick if you have any stories to share about little Art Hafey I`d love to hear them.kikibalt wrote:
Jesus & Jose Luis Pimentel
Frank,kikibalt wrote:
Ruben Olivares vs Art Hafey
Is this a picture of their first fight by any chance? Because I have a copy of their second fight and I don`t recall Hafey being down in that one. I remember he dropped Ruben hard in the 10th and had him in some trouble and I know he knocked him out in 5 the first time around, but I never heard of him being dropped himself by Ruben... can you shed some light on this for me?
