Boxing Historian Frank Baltazar SR. Talks About His Pugilistic Journey With RSR
Interview by Dan Hernandez-February 25, 2008
Ringside Report.com
“It’s been a fun journey.”--Frank Baltazar, SR.
Frank Baltazar, SR., contacted me regarding an interview I had conducted with Herman Montes. He said he liked it. I was complimented that a man that has been at the heart of California boxing for over sixty years would take the time to read and comment at this writer’s contribution. Of course it helped that his sons, Frankie and Tony, were world-class fighters and grew up participating in the Golden Glove Tournaments with the Montes brothers, Herman and John.
Frank, SR., was inducted in the California Boxing Hall of Fame for his years of quality service to the local fight game and at over 70 years of age, Frank has hobnobbed with such boxing luminaries as, Cal and Eileen Eaton, Don Chargin, Howie Steindler, Don Fraser, Jackie McCoy, and many others. He remembers seeing and knowing fighters such as Art Aragon, Enrique Bolanos, Keeny Teran, Gil Cadilli, and a significant list of fighters that are a virtual who’s who in California boxing history.
Frank was generous with his time and exuberant in his recollections of his memories. After we spoke he shared this story with me via e-mail:
“I posted this little story about how I met the man I think was the greatest heavyweight of all times: Joe Louis. In 1977, my son Frankie Baltazar, the late trainer, Johnny Flores, and I left Los Angeles to go to Miami, Florida. Frankie was going to fight Francisco Villegas on Don King’s U.S. tournament; Larry Holmes was also going to fight. That was the week before the scandal broke…anyway getting back to Louis. It was a sad and a happy experience for me. Sad because I was seeing Louis working for Don King. He was supposed to be our driver. It was happy, because I met the greatest heavyweight of all time. He was supposed to drive us where we needed to go. I was not going to let the great Joe Louis drive the Baltazar’s around; he and Flores were old army buddies from back in WWII days, so I had them sit in the back of the car and I took the wheel to drive Joe Louis around. That’s how I met Joe Louis.”
It is exactly that kind of humility that highlighted our interview and it is my pleasure to share my conversation with Frank Baltazar, SR., with the readers of RSR.
DH: You say you wake up every morning at 4 AM. Why so early?
Back in ‘60,’61, I used to work at Oscar Meyers. We used to go in at 6 AM. I would have to get up early to get up and go to work. I never got over it.
DH: How old were you then?
Oh I don’t know…25…26.
DH: When did you get involved with boxing?
I actually started in 1948. I started boxing at the CYO and smokers. I was just a young kid and we had an older guy that I could see was in his twenties, and he used to train some of the kids in the neighborhood. I only remember him by the name of “Tiger.” I can’t remember his real name, in fact, and I don’t think I ever knew his real name.
Anyway, Tiger would train us and then he would take us to the CYO and we would box. Then about 1949 or so, I started going to the Teamsters Gym in Los Angeles. I started boxing out of there and boxed until 1964. I never fought pro. In 1964, I made it all the way to the Golden Glove Finals in L.A. I lost that fight and said that’s it for me. To be honest I wasn’t a very dedicated fighter.
DH: It takes dedication, doesn’t it?
Yeah, it takes dedication, and it’s something I didn’t have. So I gave it up but after I stopped fighting, I would still go to the gym on Saturday mornings and I would spar with some of the younger guys. I would do that just to stay in shape. That’s when I started taking my kids and they got involved with boxing. I would baby sit on Saturday mornings, my wife would say: “You’re going to the gym, take the boys with you.” And I said “OK.”
DH: They apparently fell in love with boxing.
Yes, they started boxing in the Junior Golden Gloves, Frankie was 7 and Tony was like 3 ½ years old. About 1965 or 1966, I took over the Junior Golden Glove Tournament and ran that for about 10 years. It was run out of the Teamsters Gym in Downtown Los Angeles; it was on Stanford, just off of 7th street.
In 1973 and 1974, I was the Head Coach and Tournament Director for the Senior Golden Gloves. In 1973, I traveled to Boston with the Golden Glove Team to the National Tournament and the team included, Randy Shields, Frankie Duarte, and Roy Hollis. Roy was the only one that won; he won the Nationals that year. He turned pro, had a couple of fights and left the game. In 1974, I took the team to Denver where Art Frias and Jackie Gonzales were part of the team. Art went on to win the world lightweight championship. Gonzales went on to fight Roberto Duran.
I was also the vice-president of the South California Manager and Coaches Association. I was also the assistant amateur matchmaker at the Olympic Auditorium with Howie Steindler, the owner of the Main Street Gym. I did that for a couple of years. Actually the job was Howie’s but he didn’t want to do it so he asked me and said he would pay me and I said “ok, I’ll take your money.” I used to match the fighters for the amateurs. Back then they used to have like three amateur fights along with the pro cards…so for a couple of years, it was my job to make the fights for them every week.
After that my boys turned pro and I managed them. Frankie I managed with Jackie McCoy who managed champions, and Tony I had by myself.
DH: Where were you born?
I was born in L.A. at the old General Hospital and I grew up in Montebello. I went to school in Montebello, etc.
DH: Howie Steindler had a bad ending.
Yeah, he got murdered. The case is still open; they never knew who did it. It’s been over 30 years. He was well known, his top fighter was Danny “Little Red” Lopez. Danny became champion while Howie was still alive. Right after Danny won the title, Howie got murdered…so he never got to see Danny defend his title.
DH: Was he a nice guy?
Oh sure, he tried to put up a front like he was a tough guy, but he wasn’t, he was a softy at heart. Most of those guys are.
DH: You must have known Cal and Eileen Eaton.
Oh yeah, I had to deal with her.
DH: Do you have any stories to share about her?
Not really. I don’t know if you remember, in the 1970’s, at the Olympic when they used to have a big fight, like with Mando Ramos and others like that, they used to have a public workout on a Sunday. A week or two before a fight they would have a public workout, which I guess was a way to sell tickets. All the top fighters that were going to fight on that particular card would spar. Don Chargin, the matchmaker at the time, would call me to bring in two or three sets of little kids for workouts. I used to set them up about 2 or 3 workouts of 3 rounds a piece with youngsters of 9 or 10 years old.
DH: How was Chargin to work with?
Don is real nice to work with. He is a real nice guy. Don Fraser is another real nice guy and easy to work with.
DH: You knew everybody?
Yes, in fact just last year I got involved with Don Fraser in helping him out with the California Boxing Hall of Fame. To qualify for the California Hall, in the boxing category, you had to have fought in California at least once. And they have the non-boxer category, that’s the one that I was inducted into.
DH: How did that feel to receive that honor?
Well, it was a pretty good feeling. It was something I never expected. It was never a goal of mine. I just did it because boxing was my life. It’s funny because my Dad used to box back in the early thirties. He just boxed amateur, but when I was growing up he never talked to me about boxing. His first love was baseball, so he would talk to me about baseball, and to get me to play and stuff like that. So for some reason, as a young kid I just got into it by myself.
Before most people had televisions, I used to listen to the radio and heard Joe Louis, Willie Pep, Ray Robinson fights. And then we got our first TV and I started watching the fights.
DH: Did your Dad get to see your sons do well in boxing?
Oh yes, I think he went to see Frankie more than he did Tony, Tony had most of his fights out of state. His big fights anyway and Frankie mostly fought here at the Olympic.
DH: How did it feel watching your kids fight?
When I was at the fight I wasn’t their Dad. I was their trainer and manager.
DH: How did you manage that?
It was a mental thing I guess. I never pushed them into fighting. They started so young, hitting the bag and then getting involved with the Junior Golden Gloves and from there on it was their thing and they moved forward on their own.
In fact Frankie, when he got older, 11 or 12, he said: “you know what dad, I don’t want to box no more until later on.” He left came back at 15 and said he wanted to fight in the Junior Golden Gloves. He won that title and in high school he fought Herman Montes and beat him in the amateurs. He mainly socialized in high school. Tony was different…he didn’t want any time off and went to a whole bunch of national tournaments. He won the National Junior Olympics, I believe it was in “76, and went to the National Golden Gloves, we did a lot of traveling with Tony.
DH: In retrospect, which was more productive, taking time off or not?
I wanted Tony to take some time off, but in the long run it didn’t make much difference. They were always in good shape and well trained. And Tony was a knockout puncher, and I hate to say this because it sounds like I’m bragging.
Tony flattened Johnny Montes, Herman’s brother in one round, in fact it was probably less than 30 seconds. He hit him with one left hook and Johnny was out for about ten minutes. Tony was 16 or 17 and I was having a hard time getting him fights here in L. A. I’d have to take him out of town because nobody here wanted to fight him.
DH: Tony had a terrific career, in fact they both were considered world-class fighters.
When Tony turned pro, he fought on CBS 4 times. He beat Roger Mayweather, got robbed with Howard Davis. Davis was knocked down twice but it was Howard’s home town and we knew that unless we knocked him out we weren’t gonna win. He also fought and lost a decision to Buddy McGirt.
It’s been a fun journey.
DH: Were your boys close to the Montes brothers growing up?
No, they were just in the same boxing program. Later on when I was inducted to the Hall of Fame, Tony came in from his home in Arizona to celebrate with me and while he was here he called John Montes and later that day john came over and visited here with Tony. I guess they stay in touch, but back when they were fighting, we didn’t have any ties. They never fought as pros.
DH: What is your best memory of boxing?
As a fan, in the 1950’s I saw Art Aragon, the original Golden Boy, fight Jimmy Carter for the world lightweight championship. Art had beaten Jimmy in a non-title fight earlier and was expected to have a good chance but he lost a decision. A guy I used to follow, he was my favorite, was Keeny Teran.
DH: I remember that name, he was a favorite of my parents. He was involved with drugs wasn’t he?
Yeah, he was a heroin addict. In fact he’s getting inducted this year in the California Hall, but he died in 1995 or 1996. I believe his brother and nephew are going to accept the award for him. Another kid, Gil Cadilli was once beaten at the time and Teran who was unbeaten were set up to fight, cross-town rivals..
It’s amazing because this doesn’t happen nowadays. They used to put together two outstanding rising fighters, now they protect the fighters so much and they seldom put them together with someone who might beat them. There was a big show at the Hollywood Legion Stadium, the main event was Enrique Bolanos and Eddie Chavez, the Teran-Cadilli fight was the undercard and I was there and I was 16 years old and it was a great fight.
Gil Cadilli’s son made a documentary of his Dad and there’s a clip of the Cadilli-Teran fight. It is a great documentary and he gave me a DVD. There’s a bunch of guys on the DVD from those days, Harry Kabakoff, Art Aragon, Armando Muniz, and a bunch of guys.
DH: I heard Kabakoff was quite a character. Wasn’t his name Himmelfarb or something and he changed it to Kabakoff to make it easier?
That’s him. What a character. When my son Frankie was still fighting 6 rounders, Harry Kabakoff and Jesus Pimentel, they had a fighter from Mexico who was going to fight one of the day’s top fighters, Ruben Castillo. Castillo had to pull out of the fight and here it was Monday and the fight was scheduled for Thursday. I walked into the matchmaker, Don Chargin’s office looking for a 6 round fight for Frankie. He wasn’t ready for a main event yet, he had only 4 fights at the time. So I walked in the office and Kabakoff was almost crying and his eyes got real big and asked if my boy was ready to fight. I said, “Yeah, that’s why I’m here.” Harry said: “How about Thursday night?” I said: “Yeah with who?” He told me what had happened and that he needed someone to go in with his boy, “Chongo” Cruz, who came in with a record of 12 fights, 8 knockouts, undefeated. I said not with that guy, with that kind of a record.
Harry kept offering me more money and I kept refusing until I said “ok, I’ll take a chance.” We settled on the money and I called Frankie and told him he was fighting Thursday. Frankie said “Ok, who am I fighting?” I told him he was fighting Cruz in the main event and Frankie said: “Oh Dad!” The fight came around and Frankie knocked the guy out in the ninth round. Harry didn’t talk to me for about 6 months. I used to tell Harry “Hey, don’t take it personal.” Harry would say that Cruz was supposed to be his next world champ!
DH: Any final comments for the boxing fans and the readers at RSR?
I just want to say that I really appreciate the time and the interest of the fans.
