Young Jack Johnson vs Ezzard Charles...1955
Classic American West Coast Boxing
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Rick Farris
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 7200
- Joined: 15 Feb 2008, 16:04
Rojas-Saijyo . . .
I remember this fight so well. It was part of a big double-hitter at the LA. Coliseum. Rojas was destroyed by Saijyo, a heavy underdog. In the co-feature, Mando Ramos, only 19, would challenge Carlos "Teo" Cruz, and ALMOST win the lightweight title at age 19. Mando would lose, a very close decision, but three months later, would defeat Cruz, to become the youngest world lightweight champ in history (something he still is, and likely always will be)kikibalt wrote:
Sho Saigo vs Raul Rojas
After the Saijyo fight, Rojas looked like his face had been run over by a train. Saijyo had come to town with all the politics against him, a possible "opponent" for all the best L.A. featherweights. In his L.A. debut he dominated Jose Pimentel, only to be the victim of a bad decision. I would see Shozo Saijyo training at the Main St. Gym, and he was kicking the crap outta most they put in the ring with him. In due course, he would avenge his loss to Pimentel, and of course, on this night would take Rojas WBA Featherweight title.
In the weeks leading up to the match, Rojas & Ramos, two of Jackie McCoy's all-time party boys, would sneak out of camp, had women, drank, etc. On this night at the Coliseum, Ramos "blew" his chance to not only be the youngest lightweight champ, but to be the only "teenager" to win the title. For Rojas, it wold be the loss of his title, and the first sign of a downward turn in his career. Raul would later win a version of the Jr. lightweight title, but his career had crested, and the only way to go was a slow descent downward over the next couple of years.
Great pic, Frank. And it was a historical night in L.A. boxing. Those were great days.
-Rick
Folley KO'd Henry Cooper with a single right hand (2nd round).scartissue wrote:Always stunned at that one. Folley had so much talent but his chin was very questionable. Lavorante, Young Jack Johnson and Doug Jones in their rematch simply got to him. But when he was really 'on', he could hold a Bonavena, Chuvalo and Bob Foster at bay. Very talented dude...except for the jaw part.bennie wrote:Fantastic shot. Lavorante could obviously fight.kikibalt wrote:
Alejando Lavorante vs Zora Folley
Scartissue
He could punch.
Liston thought highly of Folley.
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Rick Farris
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 7200
- Joined: 15 Feb 2008, 16:04
Raul Rojas . . .
Raul Rojas . . .
One more thought on Raul Rojas, a few years ago, a boxing fan found Rojas taking shelter in an old, rusted out car. He weighed only 98 lbs. and had chronic bleeding.
The fan, made some calls and pulled Rojas out of the car, helped check him into a care home where he lives today, somewhere in the Long Beach area.
Each year, at the World Boxing Hall of Fame banquet, we make certain to provide Raul with an escort, so he can get out of the home and take his place on stage with the other great boxers, hall-of-famers. He isn't doing well.
Rojas will sit on stage, his expression rarel changes. I often have wondered what is going thru his mind. It's just another sad example of "what might have been", in the lives of great prizefighters.
More to be shared later . . .
-Rick
One more thought on Raul Rojas, a few years ago, a boxing fan found Rojas taking shelter in an old, rusted out car. He weighed only 98 lbs. and had chronic bleeding.
The fan, made some calls and pulled Rojas out of the car, helped check him into a care home where he lives today, somewhere in the Long Beach area.
Each year, at the World Boxing Hall of Fame banquet, we make certain to provide Raul with an escort, so he can get out of the home and take his place on stage with the other great boxers, hall-of-famers. He isn't doing well.
Rojas will sit on stage, his expression rarel changes. I often have wondered what is going thru his mind. It's just another sad example of "what might have been", in the lives of great prizefighters.
More to be shared later . . .
-Rick
At lightweight (pre-Rosario), Camacho-Baltazar would have been a classic.kikibalt wrote:The thing with these two guys was that at the time they were such good friends, they didn't want to hurt each other.
I would tell Tony "Throw some punches" and he would tell me "I don't want to hurt him" so they dance 12 rounds for their money.
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Rick Farris
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 7200
- Joined: 15 Feb 2008, 16:04
Anytime before they became friends..LOL!bennie wrote:At lightweight (pre-Rosario), Camacho-Baltazar would have been a classic.kikibalt wrote:The thing with these two guys was that at the time they were such good friends, they didn't want to hurt each other.
I would tell Tony "Throw some punches" and he would tell me "I don't want to hurt him" so they dance 12 rounds for their money.
Re: Rojas-Saijyo . . .
Rick,Rick Farris wrote:I remember this fight so well. It was part of a big double-hitter at the LA. Coliseum. Rojas was destroyed by Saijyo, a heavy underdog. In the co-feature, Mando Ramos, only 19, would challenge Carlos "Teo" Cruz, and ALMOST win the lightweight title at age 19. Mando would lose, a very close decision, but three months later, would defeat Cruz, to become the youngest world lightweight champ in history (something he still is, and likely always will be)kikibalt wrote:
Sho Saigo vs Raul Rojas
After the Saijyo fight, Rojas looked like his face had been run over by a train. Saijyo had come to town with all the politics against him, a possible "opponent" for all the best L.A. featherweights. In his L.A. debut he dominated Jose Pimentel, only to be the victim of a bad decision. I would see Shozo Saijyo training at the Main St. Gym, and he was kicking the crap outta most they put in the ring with him. In due course, he would avenge his loss to Pimentel, and of course, on this night would take Rojas WBA Featherweight title.
In the weeks leading up to the match, Rojas & Ramos, two of Jackie McCoy's all-time party boys, would sneak out of camp, had women, drank, etc. On this night at the Coliseum, Ramos "blew" his chance to not only be the youngest lightweight champ, but to be the only "teenager" to win the title. For Rojas, it wold be the loss of his title, and the first sign of a downward turn in his career. Raul would later win a version of the Jr. lightweight title, but his career had crested, and the only way to go was a slow descent downward over the next couple of years.
Great pic, Frank. And it was a historical night in L.A. boxing. Those were great days.
-Rick
Its good to see Shozo get a mention, this guy was some fighter! The manner in which he trounced Rojas was surprising to me the first time I saw the bout. Raul was a better fighter than that but now that you bring to light what went on with Raul/Mando in training or their lack thereof it explains why he looked so flat against Saijo.
Nevertheless, with his height, reach and quick hands and feet Sho would have been a handful for Rojas everytime wether he was in top form or not. I also have the last two rounds of Raul`s fight against Yoshiaki Numata which looked to be one heck of a fight! Raul had him down in the 4th from a body punch and was kicking the crap out of Numata for the most part although the tough little jap was firing back whnever he could.
Finally, Numata managed to spin off the ropes and bring the fight to mid-ring where they both started firing bombs until Numata landed a thunderous right uppercut that caught Raul flush on the point of the chin and violently snapped his head back and down he went in a heap. He tried in vain to beat the count but it wasn`t to be... had it not been for that desperation punch thrown by Yoshiaki it looked like Raul was on his way to a win.
I just noticed this post of yours Frank, and I am very sorry to hear about what happened to Tony and the pain he is still carrying with him to this day. However, I can say in all honesty that he is fortunate to have a good man like you as his father and I for one hope that one day he can make his peace with the past and move on with his life.kikibalt wrote:
As I write this, I do it with a heavy heart.
Tony fought Roger Mayweather with one bad hand (right), I have already address that in another post, he had surgery on the hand after the R.M. fight, after the surgery he had lots of time with nothing to do but hang out with his friends and drink and god know what else they were doing.
The hand was taking a long time to heal, so that gave him more time to hang out and drink, sometime in 1984-85, he was involved in a auto accident while drinking, Tony's best friend Roger and a little boy, Timmy Duran, in the other car were killed, Tony was arrested and charged and later on convicted of vehicular manslanghter, he was sentence to 3 years in prison, he did 2 1/2 years.
The fight with Darrell Cottrell was between the accident and going to prison.
It gives me no particularly pleasure to address this chapter of Tony's life, but the chapter has been written and we (Tony, his siblings, my wife and I) have to deal with it.
Tony carries a heavy burden, and its a burden that he will carry for the rest of his life, we, his family, try to help and make that burden a little lighter.
Tony is having a hard time dealing with all this, though he has made peace with Roger's and Timmy Duran's parents and with his god, Tony is not a happy man, he just can't make peace with himself and get over it, its that and the death of his son Kody (5 years old) that sometimes gets to be too much for him and he'll start crying like a baby.
Bennie,
Do not feel bad for asking the question, it a fair question and you're entitled to an answer.
Thanks Craig,Lausse wrote:I just noticed this post of yours Frank, and I am very sorry to hear about what happened to Tony and the pain he is still carrying with him to this day. However, I can say in all honesty that he is fortunate to have a good man like you as his father and I for one hope that one day he can make his peace with the past and move on with his life.kikibalt wrote:
As I write this, I do it with a heavy heart.
Tony fought Roger Mayweather with one bad hand (right), I have already address that in another post, he had surgery on the hand after the R.M. fight, after the surgery he had lots of time with nothing to do but hang out with his friends and drink and god know what else they were doing.
The hand was taking a long time to heal, so that gave him more time to hang out and drink, sometime in 1984-85, he was involved in a auto accident while drinking, Tony's best friend Roger and a little boy, Timmy Duran, in the other car were killed, Tony was arrested and charged and later on convicted of vehicular manslanghter, he was sentence to 3 years in prison, he did 2 1/2 years.
The fight with Darrell Cottrell was between the accident and going to prison.
It gives me no particularly pleasure to address this chapter of Tony's life, but the chapter has been written and we (Tony, his siblings, my wife and I) have to deal with it.
Tony carries a heavy burden, and its a burden that he will carry for the rest of his life, we, his family, try to help and make that burden a little lighter.
Tony is having a hard time dealing with all this, though he has made peace with Roger's and Timmy Duran's parents and with his god, Tony is not a happy man, he just can't make peace with himself and get over it, its that and the death of his son Kody (5 years old) that sometimes gets to be too much for him and he'll start crying like a baby.
Bennie,
Do not feel bad for asking the question, it a fair question and you're entitled to an answer.
Its friends like you, Mr. D., Rick, the pug, Bennie and scard and so many other that helps make life easier for us.
Say, did any of you happen to see the first Alacran Torres/Hiroyuki Ebihara fight by any chance? I`ve only got a copy of their second fight, but have heard and read that the decision in favour of Ebihara was anything but popular with the crowd in their first go-round.
My question is if anyone here has seen the fight that is wether Ebihara did win the fight without controversy, as he sure looked to be in control of things in the return, and he was a damn good fighter to begin with was Hiroyuki. He had genuine KO power in his left and the way Torres fell face first to the mat in the remach is testament to that.
My question is if anyone here has seen the fight that is wether Ebihara did win the fight without controversy, as he sure looked to be in control of things in the return, and he was a damn good fighter to begin with was Hiroyuki. He had genuine KO power in his left and the way Torres fell face first to the mat in the remach is testament to that.
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scartissue
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1893
- Joined: 31 Mar 2002, 20:00
scartissue wrote:Frank, do you have any pics of Alfredo Urbina? I was always intrigued with him. Held wins over Lauro Salas, Eddie Perkins, Jose Napoles, Chango Carmona, Joe Brown and held Sugar Ramos and Carlos Hernandez to draws and never got a title shot.
Scartissue
Scard,
This is all I have of Urbina.