Classic American West Coast Boxing

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The Forum

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Bottling lines at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Van Nuys. Dec. 5, 1985.

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Billy Walker
"The Golden Boy"

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[dagosd2000]

I don't if you guys go to movies a lot. I don't,but I was curious to see the movie "Piaf". I always liked the late Parisean singer and thought her affair with the middleweight champ,Marcel Cerdan,was a tragic story that corresponded with Piaf's life.

Marion Cotillard played the role of Edith Piaf and won an Academy Award. I loved the movie,but I'll comment on the boxing end of it. There's the scene at Jersey City when Piaf's lover ,Marcel Cerdan,wins the title from Tony Zale. The fight action is choreographed very well. The action is toe to toe. The crowd is going wild. Piaf(Cotillard) is sitting ringside and doesn't know what to make of the bedlam. The two fighters are rocking each other and Piaf is very anxious and confused. She's on the edge of her seat squirming and turning her head side to side rapidly trying figure out what to make the hysteria,but everybody is absorbed in the action. She turns to her French friend for an understanding,but she's as confised as Piaf.

Finally in desperation Piaf starts screaming"KEEEEL HEEEM MARCEL. KEEEEL HEEM."

Worried that her beloved Marcel was in danger,she starts yelling,"KEEEEL HEEEM MARCEL."
One of the most intense moments on film,yet innocently poetic.

[Expug]

Pug
You might get what I'm going for here. I remember when Sonny Liston was going through the heavyweight division like Attila the Hun. Floyd Patterson was the the champ at the time and I was a big fan of his.I was impressed by his hand speed and the relative ease he went through his opponents.

My father,on the other hand,was not overwhelmed by Patterson.My father thought Patterson was fighting mostly set ups. I read in RING MAGAZINE that guys like Folley,Machen,and Liston should get the next shot,but it was always someone like"Cut and Shoot" Harris or Pete Radamacher who'd be trying to win the crown. I started to feel awkward about it after a while. But I always though Floyd would do the right thing and get around fighting the top contenders..

Howevwer,Johansson knocked out Patterson and was involved in a thrilling series with Floyd with Floyd becoming the first man to recapture the heavyweight title. Patterson won a lot of respect with those fights and then signed to fight the number one contender,Sonny Liston.

Sonny looked scary. Sonny acted like he was keeping some tremendous anger within him that he masked with a deadly stare. Short ansewrs. Mean looks. Big shoulders and arms. A clubber,but also a pretty fair boxer. Trained hard. Rigorous exercises,skipping rope to "Night Train". Towels stacked on top of his shoulders and then covered up with his robe. Sonny was the baddest dude. And he was an ex con. Couldn't fight in New York because of his record. For kids like us,Sonny Liston was invincible.

But Sonny's personality didn't impress my father. Maybe it was my father's combat experience on Okinawa,or maybe Italians from the neighborhood thought that Liston as all about"bull shit". Trying to scare people outside the ring showed no class. You scared people once the bell rang. My father thought it was either an act or maybe Liston was trying to cover up a fear he couldn't deal with, so he acted tough. My father figured Liston would be exposed one day. But it wasn't against Patterson. Floyd was the one who revealed himself. Two losses by knockout in one round. Before the second fight Floyd had brought a mask. What was he hiding from? How could he hide anyway?

After Patterson, when you said Sonny Liston,you hid the women and children. But I know on the West Side of Chicago,they still weren't sold on Sonny Liston. Tough guys in the neighborhood didn't have to prove nothing to no one. If you messed with them,then you found out who was tough.

Well Liston finally showed himself by sitting on his stool in Miami ,and for whatever reason rolled around the canvas in a highschool gym in Maine. From the sullen Liston to the outlandish clowning of the Muslim,Muhammad Ali. I remember those old guys on the West Side didn't talk boxing too much after all that.

I remember reading somewhere that Liston was visiting Scotland and he was at a party.
He was in one of his less congenial moods and he knocked a cigar out of a fellow guests mouth and demanded that he not smoke in his presence.
He also told former European Bantamweight champ Peter Keenan to put his out also.
Keenan looked up at Liston and told him "you may be heavyweight champion of the world, but I never lost a streetfight in my life. If anythings going out , its not the cigar, its you."
Aye came a voice from the bristling group at Kennans elbow. "And not by the door, by the windy"
Liston realized he was three stories up and calmed down right away.

Some guys in some cultures just dont scare.

[bennie]

Wilfredo Benitez vs Harold Weston

Weston was one durable mother. He was stopped twice in his career: the first time when he broke his jaw against Cuevas: the second, when he detatched his retina against Hearns. I think it's fair to say he had good reasons for those defeats.

Bennie, I always like Harold Weston and thought he was doing a good job in the Hearns fight until Clancy pulled him out because of the eye. Nice boxer who didn't might gettting stuck in even if he wasn't a banger. Had some nice wins over Antuofermo, Mattiolli and Andy 'the Hawk' Price and some hard luck draws with Hedgemon Lewis, Saoul Mamby and Benitez. Would have liked to seen him matched against Clyde Gray and 'Boy' Green, which would have been excellent matches.

Scartissue

Weston was an underrated fighter, for sure. His record reads like a "Who's who?" and the scorecards for the Benitez rematch for the title are close, even in Puerto Rico.
Incidentally, Dave Green and Gray were scheduled to meet for the Commonwealth title in London in 1979 or '80 but Green got injured in the week of the fight and Gray had to fly home. Shame. I wanted to see Gray.

[bennie]

Billy Walker
"The Golden Boy"

I met Billy at a 'do' here in 2003. He didn't look particularly well but his after-dinner speech was sharp and witty. Earnie Shavers was also there (Earnie lives in England), one of his eyes seriously discoloured from a Larry Holmes thumb. He slurs some of his words.

[bennie]

The Forum

This is a magnificent-looking arena.

[bennie]

San Diego Sports Arena

Thanks for posting this.

[bennie]

Bottling lines at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Van Nuys. Dec. 5, 1985.

Am I the only one thinking of Laverne & Shirley?

[bennie]

Pug
You might get what I'm going for here. I remember when Sonny Liston was going through the heavyweight division like Attila the Hun. Floyd Patterson was the the champ at the time and I was a big fan of his.I was impressed by his hand speed and the relative ease he went through his opponents.

My father,on the other hand,was not overwhelmed by Patterson.My father thought Patterson was fighting mostly set ups. I read in RING MAGAZINE that guys like Folley,Machen,and Liston should get the next shot,but it was always someone like"Cut and Shoot" Harris or Pete Radamacher who'd be trying to win the crown. I started to feel awkward about it after a while. But I always though Floyd would do the right thing and get around fighting the top contenders..

Howevwer,Johansson knocked out Patterson and was involved in a thrilling series with Floyd with Floyd becoming the first man to recapture the heavyweight title. Patterson won a lot of respect with those fights and then signed to fight the number one contender,Sonny Liston.

Sonny looked scary. Sonny acted like he was keeping some tremendous anger within him that he masked with a deadly stare. Short ansewrs. Mean looks. Big shoulders and arms. A clubber,but also a pretty fair boxer. Trained hard. Rigorous exercises,skipping rope to "Night Train". Towels stacked on top of his shoulders and then covered up with his robe. Sonny was the baddest dude. And he was an ex con. Couldn't fight in New York because of his record. For kids like us,Sonny Liston was invincible.

But Sonny's personality didn't impress my father. Maybe it was my father's combat experience on Okinawa,or maybe Italians from the neighborhood thought that Liston as all about"bull shit". Trying to scare people outside the ring showed no class. You scared people once the bell rang. My father thought it was either an act or maybe Liston was trying to cover up a fear he couldn't deal with, so he acted tough. My father figured Liston would be exposed one day. But it wasn't against Patterson. Floyd was the one who revealed himself. Two losses by knockout in one round. Before the second fight Floyd had brought a mask. What was he hiding from? How could he hide anyway?

After Patterson, when you said Sonny Liston,you hid the women and children. But I know on the West Side of Chicago,they still weren't sold on Sonny Liston. Tough guys in the neighborhood didn't have to prove nothing to no one. If you messed with them,then you found out who was tough.

Well Liston finally showed himself by sitting on his stool in Miami ,and for whatever reason rolled around the canvas in a highschool gym in Maine. From the sullen Liston to the outlandish clowning of the Muslim,Muhammad Ali. I remember those old guys on the West Side didn't talk boxing too much after all that.

I remember reading somewhere that Liston was visiting Scotland and he was at a party.
He was in one of his less congenial moods and he knocked a cigar out of a fellow guests mouth and demanded that he not smoke in his presence.
He also told former European Bantamweight champ Peter Keenan to put his out also.
Keenan looked up at Liston and told him "you may be heavyweight champion of the world, but I never lost a streetfight in my life. If anythings going out , its not the cigar, its you."
Aye came a voice from the bristling group at Kennans elbow. "And not by the door, by the windy"
Liston realized he was three stories up and calmed down right away.

Some guys in some cultures just dont scare.

Liston was only ever comfortable around hoodlums and kids. Adults were there to be fucked, if they were female, and mistrusted if they were male.
He just never really grew up.

[bennie]

Liston finally grew up against Clay. He grew old.

[bennie]

...very old.

[bennie]

Cerdan, perfectly poised.

[bennie]

Martin cops one.

[bennie]

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Don Cockell vs Roland La Starza

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Rex Layne & Jim Jeffries

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Brian London vs Tom McNeeley

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Joe Louis & Buddy Baer

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Joe Louis & Lou Nova

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Eddie Machen vs Brian London

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Henry Armstrong

"Hammerin Hank"
By Diego

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Took a spin this morning. Was in Southeast San Diego. Decided to drive by Ol' Arch's house. Found out it's a hotel for gay men. How'd that song go? "So Easy To Remember,So Hard To Forget." I wish I could forget about what I saw this morning. Sorry if any of you guys see this and feel shitty like I do.

diego