dagosd2000 wrote:="scartissue"]
dagosd2000 wrote:I remember when Jimmy Heair was going great guns in the Southland. When he was undefeated he was getting quite a following. He fought some good fighters at the Coliseum like Mike Mayan and Lobito Montoya. He also scored victories over Tury Pineda and Chango Carmona. Then I read that he lost his first fight to Rudy Barro in LA. I remember Barro,I thought, was used as a way up for promising fighters. I saw Hedgemon Lewis KO him. But after that loss Barro beat Andy Price and Quincy Daniels. Looking at the record,his next fight beats Jimmy Heair. But then he started losing again. I saw him towards the end of his career lose a fight to a veteran fighter by the name of Bert Lee. Barro had moved up in weight. He lost on cuts. His face looked pretty beat up and I think cuts were affecting his perfomances . He was a tough guy. Because of his name and his looks I thought he was Mexican. He was Phlippino. Another of the tough club fighters of my era.
You guys have anything to add on him?
I was really surprised when Jimmy Heair lost to him, dago. And then I saw the fight, which is about the only time I saw Barro fight. He did well, survived a late rally by Heair who was really trying to take him out and deserved the decision. But I really thought Heair was missing something. I know he was having problems with the nose and management but I felt he should have taken Barro. Of course, then he went to Australia and lost widely to Hector Thompson (No shame, Thompson was outstanding) but then lost to Mike Mayan, a man he had already beaten twice. After that I knew Heair was done.
Scartissue
Scar,Thanks for sharing that story about the Heair/Barro fight. I've got to take my wife for her medicine,but when I get back I'll tell you about the time I saw Jimmy get stopped in TJ by a fighter named Bull Dog Soberanes,a fighter who had never won a fight.[/quote]
"Your boy is fighting tonight",I said.
"Jimmy Heair?",asked Pat.
"In the Auditorium in Tijuana."
Pat Collier was from Texas,but that didn't make any difference. Jimmy Heair was born in the South and that was good enough for Pat. Oh,and the fact that Jimmy Heair was white.
"Who's Jimmy fighting?"
"Some guy by the name of 'Bull Dog' "
"Is he any good?"
"If you're fighting a guy with the name 'Bull Dog' you better watch your ass",I told him.
I'd never heard of Juan 'Bull Dog' Soberanes, let alone seen him fight. But what the hell. It was a chance to get out and watch a fight,and besides after the fight we could always have a good time in the cantinas.
There were posters of the fight all over town. That's how I knew about it.I wish I had my hands on some of those old fight posters now. They go for quite a bit of money on Ebay. Everytime there was a fight in TJ they were plastered all over everything. I think of the fights with Napoles,Olivares ,Saldivar,Sugar Ramos,not to mention Americans like Sugar Ray and Archie Moore. But who in the hell thought of collecting fight posters off of walls in Tijuana? I could have pulled down hundreds of them and no one would have said nothing. Can anyone remember when your mother threw away your baseball cards?
We park across the street next to Carnitas Uruapan and pay the kid a buck to keep an eye on the car. If you don't pay the kid a buck,well whatever is inside your car when you come back is probably going to wind up at the 'Tiangis"(swap meet) on Sunday. And the kid will be selling it.
We sit ringside and buy a beer from the vendor.
"How's Jimmy Heair doing these days?"asked Pat.
"I've lost track. He started losing and went to Texas I think."
"Well if he went back to Texas he knew what he was doing"
"I think he switched managers."
Jimmy Heair was a big draw in the Southland. Tall blond kid. Above average skills. Undefeated in over 30 fights. He was headed for a shot at the lightweight title,but was upset by a tough club fighter by the name of Rudy Barro at the Olympic Auditorium In Los Angeles. Then I heard he had an injury to his nose that was giving him problems breathing. Breathing is one thing you don't want to have problems with when you're fighting.
The crowd is good. Jimmy Heair was a known fighter who was having his way beating Mexican fighters on his way up,so tonight it was time to get even . I'd see that a lot, especially with ethnic people. For instance Hedgemon Lewis beat a lot of Mexican fighters to become a contender,and then when Napoles knocked him out it was doubly satisfying. Heair had beaten Carmona and Pineda,two real good Mexican fighters,so tonight's match wouldn't find anyone cheering for Heair except maybe Pat. So I kept check on him and was counting the number of beers he was drinking. This guy had got me in hot water before with his mouth and what made it worse is that he couldn't fight.
The preliminaries were good and I made sure I didn't buy a beer for Pat. He was always broke so I knew he was waiting for me to buy him one more,but I'd wait until the fights were through. The main event was the next bout on the card and I can see Jimmy Heair walking down to the ring. I didn't recognize any of his cornermen. "Bull Dog" followed Heair into the ring. I'd never heard of Juan Soberanes,the "Bull Dog",so I figured even if Heair had slipped, he had enough experience to beat "man's best friend."
The fight starts fast with Heair having the height and reach in his favor. He uses the advantage to fight the "Bull Dog" on the end of his left hand. Heair easily wins the first and second rounds moving, jabbing ,catching the "Bull Dog" with a right hand ,and tying him up inside . Clinching is supposedly against the rules in Mexican boxing so when Heair tied him up Heair caught an earfull from the crowd. Besides,Jimmy was in good shape. Why did they think this kid had a chance against him? The only thing in the back of my mind was that anytime an American fighter fights in Mexico nobody is on his side. Not even the U.S Consulate.
Halfway through the fight Heair has won every round. Pat wants to say something,something in a racial context, so he yells out "Jimmy. Knock the wetback out!"
I nudge the idiot,but he's confident because Heair is winning the fight big.
"White power Jimmy!" And now Pat starts laughing. I'm thinking, if this moron starts a fight,I'm going to talk Spanish and join everyone else when they start to kill him.
At the close of the 5th round "Bull Dog" gets desperate and butts Heair in a clinch. Heairs nose opens up and blood is running out of it like someone had knocked over a pitcher of beer. The ten second buzzer goes off and I can see Heair trying to put up his arms in front of his face. The bell rings and Heair plops on his stool. The referee is reading the papers and doesn't do anything to punish the "Bull Dog". Heair's corner isn't saying anything either. I can't believe it. Then on top of all that,they make Heair blow his nose. Now the dam has really broke and I'm thinking Heair's going to need a transfusion if they're ever going to get him back to the U.S. alive.
The 6th round gets everybody at ringside bloody with Heair's blood. Jimmy doesn't throw a punch. At the bell the ringside doc goes to Heair's corner and stops the fight. Pat is upset and says something to effect that they should have DQ'd the "Bull Dog " and made Heair the winner. I didn't want to tell him that I was perfectly satisfied with the decision. That's the kind of things that happen down here.
We start walking to the car. Pat looks at the front of his shirt.
"I got Heair's blood all over me",he says.
"Don't worry. Where we're going now,it'll be so dark no one will see it."
