Legra won his first world featherweight title in Britain, hammering Howard Winstone in five rounds, and also lost it in Britain, on a decision that smacks of Leonard-Hagler. Aussie Johnny Famechon fought steadily and soberly for 15 rounds against the gifted, more eyecatching Cuban, and got the nod. For everyone who says Famechon deserved it, there is someone who swears Legra was robbed.dagosd2000 wrote:I often think what pro boxing would have been like without Jose Napoles,Sugar Ramos,Luis Rodriguez,and Jose Legra. They were thrilling to watch. When they left Cuba they brought with them a wealth of amatuer and pro experience. They had good trainers like Kid Rapidez. I had the opprtunity to watch Napoles and Rodriguez train. They were confident,skillfull,and had that presence and flair,a Cuban style that wasn't a "put on" for show. They had all the ounches and their feet were always in the right place.
I saw Legra on closed circuit beat Clemente Sanchez,the Feather Champ,knocking him down ten times. Legra was a master. He later lost a decision to Jofre in Brasil. They say the decision was close. His last fight he was KO'd in round one by Arguello in Nicaragua. After over 150 fights he was finished. But we'll never be finished remembering the thrilling fights they gave to boxing fans.
Classic American West Coast Boxing
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
They nicknamed Dauthuille "Tarzan", and he does look a bit like Weissmuller.kikibalt wrote:
Laurent Dauthuille
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Mickey Duff said the lower rope should be removed, after Michael Watson suffered the same whiplash brain injury so many other fighters have suffered (against Chris Eubank).raylawpc wrote:Davey Moore's death was somewhat a freak accident. When Ramos dropped him, the back of Moore's neck struck the bottom rope and caused a brain stem injury. Frank tells me that's why the lowest strand in California rings has extra padding.dagosd2000 wrote:Benniebennie wrote:Hey, Frankie, hope you don't mind me saying, but the death of Davey Moore clearly had a big effect on you.
The death of Davy Moore certainly had an effect on Sugar Ramos. I used to read the Mexican fight magazines. They had some good inside info. Sugar Ramos at one time was seeing a psychiatrist to work out the depression he felt after the Moore fight. If you see the tape of that fight. Ramos does a tip of the head after each round acknowlodging Davy. Sugar Ramos was a real gentleman. He was different than Napoles. "Mantequilla" fit more into the macho image of the Latino fighter.
After Moore's death Ramos was never himself. It's strange. I have the tape of that fight. Frank was there. They're interviewing Moore. He says he feels tired and that he'll beat Ramos in the rematch. There's absolutely no indication that he was in trouble. Later he collapsed in the dressing room when taking a shower. A note on that. We had a local fighter here in San Diego named Spud Murphy. After a workout in his father's gym,he collapsed and died when taking a shower. After a workout it's important that when you turn on the faucet not to have too drastic a temperature,hot or cold. We had a fellow who died that way at our gym that I work out in a few weeks ago.
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
bennie wrote:No real reason, Frankie. You were there with your wife and it seems like you remember it like it were yesterday.kikibalt wrote:Why do you say that, Bennie?bennie wrote:Hey, Frankie, hope you don't mind me saying, but the death of Davey Moore clearly had a big effect on you.
Bennie
I do remember the Moore/Ramos fight well and also the Battling Torres/Roberto Cruz fight, don't remember much about the rest of the card.... :x
Last edited by kikibalt on 31 Jul 2008, 10:12, edited 1 time in total.
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Bobbin & Weavin
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 213
- Joined: 08 Nov 2007, 23:33
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Not that it really matters on a boxing forum to properly identify an attractive young lady but my brother-in-law was looking over my shoulder and said this is not Jessica Alba but Vida Guerra he could be wrong but we did google her and it looks like he is right. She hosts a low rider show on the speed channel. Regardless she's not too hard to look at.kikibalt wrote:
Jessica Alba
Plus I like old Chevys!
Bobbin & Weavin in
Nor-Cal
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Bobbin & Weavin wrote:Not that it really matters on a boxing forum to properly identify an attractive young lady but my brother-in-law was looking over my shoulder and said this is not Jessica Alba but Vida Guerra he could be wrong but we did google her and it looks like he is right. She hosts a low rider show on the speed channel. Regardless she's not too hard to look at.kikibalt wrote:
Jessica Alba
Plus I like old Chevys!
Bobbin & Weavin in
Nor-Cal
I think you're right Bobbin', she don't look much like Alba.
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
bennie wrote:No real reason, Frankie. You were there with your wife and it seems like you remember it like it were yesterday.kikibalt wrote:Why do you say that, Bennie?bennie wrote:Hey, Frankie, hope you don't mind me saying, but the death of Davey Moore clearly had a big effect on you.
Bennie,
We didn't fine out that Moore was hurt bad until the next day when we read it in the newspaper.
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
"What's in a name? that which we call a rosekikibalt wrote:Bobbin & Weavin wrote:Not that it really matters on a boxing forum to properly identify an attractive young lady but my brother-in-law was looking over my shoulder and said this is not Jessica Alba but Vida Guerra he could be wrong but we did google her and it looks like he is right. She hosts a low rider show on the speed channel. Regardless she's not too hard to look at.kikibalt wrote:
Jessica Alba
Plus I like old Chevys!
Bobbin & Weavin in
Nor-Cal
I think you're right Bobbin', she don't look much like Alba.
By any other name would smell as sweet"
- Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
bennie wrote:No real reason, Frankie. You were there with your wife and it seems like you remember it like it were yesterday.kikibalt wrote:Why do you say that, Bennie?bennie wrote:Hey, Frankie, hope you don't mind me saying, but the death of Davey Moore clearly had a big effect on you.
Some other news that we received with the Moore news, was that Hank Weaver,
who was the TV comentor at the Hollywood Legion was killed in an auto accident
while driving home from the fights that night, bad news all around the morning after the fights
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Must have been a shock to hear all this, Frankie.
It is incredible how some fighters seem fine after a fight - sometimes even for days - and then collapse and die.
Incredible in a sad way, of course.
It is incredible how some fighters seem fine after a fight - sometimes even for days - and then collapse and die.
Incredible in a sad way, of course.
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Indeed, it was a shock, as Moore seem fine after the fight, you just never know.bennie wrote:Must have been a shock to hear all this, Frankie.
It is incredible how some fighters seem fine after a fight - sometimes even for days - and then collapse and die.
Incredible in a sad way, of course.
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
New life for an old gem in Boyle Heights
Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
Contestants in the Miss Jalisco Pageant rehearse at the historic, 77-year-old Casa del Mexicano, a longtime civic and cultural center for the Los Angeles Latino community. More photos >>>
Casa del Mexicano, once a cultural magnet in the Eastside community, fell on hard times. Now it's making a comeback.
By Esmeralda Bermudez, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
On Cinco de Mayo in 1945, thousands of people gathered to dedicate the Casa del Mexicano, a community center that served as a sentinel of Mexican culture in Los Angeles.
In the 1950s, after the center moved west to Boyle Heights, stars from as far away as Spain flew to Los Angeles to perform. Wealthy Mexican bureaucrats, adorned with pearls and bow ties, mingled with celebrities who included Ricardo Montalban and Maria Felix. The events filled the center's coffers with donations.
In the 1960s, a former President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman, put Casa del Mexicano at the top of his list of places to visit in Los Angeles. The building seemed a majestic anachronism tucked away in an unexpected cul-de-sac of a Mexican American barrio, its massive proportions and stately dome prompting double takes.
Then, about seven or eight years ago, Casa del Mexicano fell into disrepair. The roof leaked, windows were jammed shut and the structure reeked of vermin. Advisory committee members waged a nasty court fight to determine who would seize control of the Boyle Heights building and the organization that runs it.
Today, the historic center is slowly coming back to life.
The doors are open again and the center's roster of programs -- sports, theater, English classes, beauty pageants and relief to the needy -- is growing. As part of a partial remodel of the 104-year-oldbuilding, the facade has been painted a vivid green and yellow, new floors have been installed and the dilapidated dome has been fixed. Soon the inside of that dome will feature an elaborate mural pairing Benito Juarez and Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
The people now running Los Angeles' first civic and cultural center that catered to Mexicans are working hard to recapture a prominent place in the Eastside's social landscape. Among their greatest challenges: dealing with perceptions that the organization is too hyper-focused on Mexican immigrants and out of touch with new generations of Mexican Americans.
"The work that should have happened fell behind and now we have to follow up," said Martha Soriano, president of the Comite de Beneficencia Mexicana Inc., the nonprofit organization that oversees the Casa del Mexicano. "We have to give pride to this organization after so many years."
That goal won't come easily. The center serves all ethnic groups, but down the street, even some neighbors don't know what goes on inside.
Much of what goes on behind the lemon-yellow doors is about tradition.
On a recent Sunday, for example, Marielena Bravo, 22, held her waist and swung her hips, parading onstage with 17 other contestants determined to take the Miss Jalisco-Los Angeles crown. A Mexican ranchera blared from a boombox in the corner as mothers rooted for their daughters and whispered about the competition.
Decades earlier, Bravo's own mother strutted her charms on the same platform, taking part in a beauty pageant, a Casa del Mexicano ritual that dates back nearly 50 years.
The history of the structure that houses Casa del Mexicano is not complete.
A plaque says it was built in 1904 as the Euclid Heights Methodist Church. Some accounts say it eventually became a synagogue, catering to the neighborhood's once-large Jewish community, but no complete record of its tenants can be found.
In 1931, a few miles from the Boyle Heights building, the Mexican Consulate established the Casa del Mexicano. The center's mission was to promote Mexican pride at a time when thousands of Mexicans were being forced to return south, blamed for stealing jobs from Americans coping with the Great Depression.
The center offered educational programs, held Christmas gift drives, shipped the bodies of Mexican nationals to Mexico and donated money to disaster victims in Latin America. Nineteen years later it moved into the Boyle Heights building.
Thousands of visitors have cycled through 2900 Calle Pedro Infante, bearing lasting impressions.
City Councilman Jose Huizar, 39, who oversees Los Angeles' 14th District, where Casa del Mexicano is now based, remembers the center for its literary offerings. The building was on his way home from school, and its few shelves holding a selection of travel and history books became his de facto neighborhood library.
"It was a place to spend my time and stay away from the streets, a self-created school program for kids," Huizar said. The organization deserves praise for standing on its own, he said, but "the place needs to be taken to the next level" with more art programs and outreach to young people.
Yolanda Hernandez's relationship with Casa del Mexicano goes back nearly 70 years. The 72-year-old woman, who lives a few blocks away, used to attend piano recitals there as a teenager.
For two years, she took Spanish classes and learned about Mexico's history and geography.
"You'd walk in and see this very beautiful chandelier that would cast a light on all the stained-glass windows," Hernandez said.
Eventually, she said, the place and its neighborhood became "too Mexican" for her, ignoring the needs of more assimilated Mexican Americans.
Balancing the needs of older and newer generations became a problem for Casa del Mexicano, according to Jerry Velasco, president of Nosotros, a nonprofit promoting the image of Latinos in the entertainment business. Casa del Mexicano accomplished a lot with little help, but it fell short in connecting with American Latinos, he said.
"There was a gap," Velasco said.
"Casa del Mexicano did not relate to Chicanos, and Mexican Americans did not relate to the Casa del Mexicano philosophy," he said.
Starting in the late 1990s, turmoil resulted as Casa del Mexicano's leadership switched hands at least four times. Complaints of loud music late at night, trash and drugs became rampant. One president was ousted by his advisory committee in a series of lawsuits sprinkled with allegations of hostile encounters, armed guards and money mismanagement.
Martha Soriano eventually stepped in as president; her husband, Ruben, is the treasurer.
The couple, who work a series of jobs (Ruben installs car windshields and Martha runs a weekend catering business and sells makeup and health products) run the place as volunteers.
The Sorianos' work has been praised by those who are delighted to see the Casa del Mexicano coming back to life and criticized by those who say they don't have the community's best interests at heart.
Martha Soriano brought in business owners to make up today's new advisory 40-member committee. Many of the programs offered in the 1990s have returned.
Like previous leaders, she shies away from grants and public dollars because she does not want any conditions attached to donations.
Velasco, who tried to build connections between Casa del Mexicano and Mexican American groups 20 years ago, said he would like to see the community reach out and aid the 77-year-old organization.
The site is shabby, he said, "But as soon as you make that turn and see it, you think 'Oh my God. What is this?' You get this Mexican feeling, like you're walking back in time to Mexico."
esmeralda.bermudez
@latimes.com
Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
Contestants in the Miss Jalisco Pageant rehearse at the historic, 77-year-old Casa del Mexicano, a longtime civic and cultural center for the Los Angeles Latino community. More photos >>>
Casa del Mexicano, once a cultural magnet in the Eastside community, fell on hard times. Now it's making a comeback.
By Esmeralda Bermudez, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
On Cinco de Mayo in 1945, thousands of people gathered to dedicate the Casa del Mexicano, a community center that served as a sentinel of Mexican culture in Los Angeles.
In the 1950s, after the center moved west to Boyle Heights, stars from as far away as Spain flew to Los Angeles to perform. Wealthy Mexican bureaucrats, adorned with pearls and bow ties, mingled with celebrities who included Ricardo Montalban and Maria Felix. The events filled the center's coffers with donations.
In the 1960s, a former President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman, put Casa del Mexicano at the top of his list of places to visit in Los Angeles. The building seemed a majestic anachronism tucked away in an unexpected cul-de-sac of a Mexican American barrio, its massive proportions and stately dome prompting double takes.
Then, about seven or eight years ago, Casa del Mexicano fell into disrepair. The roof leaked, windows were jammed shut and the structure reeked of vermin. Advisory committee members waged a nasty court fight to determine who would seize control of the Boyle Heights building and the organization that runs it.
Today, the historic center is slowly coming back to life.
The doors are open again and the center's roster of programs -- sports, theater, English classes, beauty pageants and relief to the needy -- is growing. As part of a partial remodel of the 104-year-oldbuilding, the facade has been painted a vivid green and yellow, new floors have been installed and the dilapidated dome has been fixed. Soon the inside of that dome will feature an elaborate mural pairing Benito Juarez and Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
The people now running Los Angeles' first civic and cultural center that catered to Mexicans are working hard to recapture a prominent place in the Eastside's social landscape. Among their greatest challenges: dealing with perceptions that the organization is too hyper-focused on Mexican immigrants and out of touch with new generations of Mexican Americans.
"The work that should have happened fell behind and now we have to follow up," said Martha Soriano, president of the Comite de Beneficencia Mexicana Inc., the nonprofit organization that oversees the Casa del Mexicano. "We have to give pride to this organization after so many years."
That goal won't come easily. The center serves all ethnic groups, but down the street, even some neighbors don't know what goes on inside.
Much of what goes on behind the lemon-yellow doors is about tradition.
On a recent Sunday, for example, Marielena Bravo, 22, held her waist and swung her hips, parading onstage with 17 other contestants determined to take the Miss Jalisco-Los Angeles crown. A Mexican ranchera blared from a boombox in the corner as mothers rooted for their daughters and whispered about the competition.
Decades earlier, Bravo's own mother strutted her charms on the same platform, taking part in a beauty pageant, a Casa del Mexicano ritual that dates back nearly 50 years.
The history of the structure that houses Casa del Mexicano is not complete.
A plaque says it was built in 1904 as the Euclid Heights Methodist Church. Some accounts say it eventually became a synagogue, catering to the neighborhood's once-large Jewish community, but no complete record of its tenants can be found.
In 1931, a few miles from the Boyle Heights building, the Mexican Consulate established the Casa del Mexicano. The center's mission was to promote Mexican pride at a time when thousands of Mexicans were being forced to return south, blamed for stealing jobs from Americans coping with the Great Depression.
The center offered educational programs, held Christmas gift drives, shipped the bodies of Mexican nationals to Mexico and donated money to disaster victims in Latin America. Nineteen years later it moved into the Boyle Heights building.
Thousands of visitors have cycled through 2900 Calle Pedro Infante, bearing lasting impressions.
City Councilman Jose Huizar, 39, who oversees Los Angeles' 14th District, where Casa del Mexicano is now based, remembers the center for its literary offerings. The building was on his way home from school, and its few shelves holding a selection of travel and history books became his de facto neighborhood library.
"It was a place to spend my time and stay away from the streets, a self-created school program for kids," Huizar said. The organization deserves praise for standing on its own, he said, but "the place needs to be taken to the next level" with more art programs and outreach to young people.
Yolanda Hernandez's relationship with Casa del Mexicano goes back nearly 70 years. The 72-year-old woman, who lives a few blocks away, used to attend piano recitals there as a teenager.
For two years, she took Spanish classes and learned about Mexico's history and geography.
"You'd walk in and see this very beautiful chandelier that would cast a light on all the stained-glass windows," Hernandez said.
Eventually, she said, the place and its neighborhood became "too Mexican" for her, ignoring the needs of more assimilated Mexican Americans.
Balancing the needs of older and newer generations became a problem for Casa del Mexicano, according to Jerry Velasco, president of Nosotros, a nonprofit promoting the image of Latinos in the entertainment business. Casa del Mexicano accomplished a lot with little help, but it fell short in connecting with American Latinos, he said.
"There was a gap," Velasco said.
"Casa del Mexicano did not relate to Chicanos, and Mexican Americans did not relate to the Casa del Mexicano philosophy," he said.
Starting in the late 1990s, turmoil resulted as Casa del Mexicano's leadership switched hands at least four times. Complaints of loud music late at night, trash and drugs became rampant. One president was ousted by his advisory committee in a series of lawsuits sprinkled with allegations of hostile encounters, armed guards and money mismanagement.
Martha Soriano eventually stepped in as president; her husband, Ruben, is the treasurer.
The couple, who work a series of jobs (Ruben installs car windshields and Martha runs a weekend catering business and sells makeup and health products) run the place as volunteers.
The Sorianos' work has been praised by those who are delighted to see the Casa del Mexicano coming back to life and criticized by those who say they don't have the community's best interests at heart.
Martha Soriano brought in business owners to make up today's new advisory 40-member committee. Many of the programs offered in the 1990s have returned.
Like previous leaders, she shies away from grants and public dollars because she does not want any conditions attached to donations.
Velasco, who tried to build connections between Casa del Mexicano and Mexican American groups 20 years ago, said he would like to see the community reach out and aid the 77-year-old organization.
The site is shabby, he said, "But as soon as you make that turn and see it, you think 'Oh my God. What is this?' You get this Mexican feeling, like you're walking back in time to Mexico."
esmeralda.bermudez
@latimes.com
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Lesnevich has the ultimate in 'strong' legs.kikibalt wrote:
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Joe Frazier
"Smokin' Joe"
By Diego
"Smokin' Joe"
By Diego
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
People talk about the three years Ali was robbed of in his prime. A prime Louis was robbed of four years.kikibalt wrote:
-
dagosd2000
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 8638
- Joined: 01 Sep 2007, 03:31
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Benniebennie wrote:People talk about the three years Ali was robbed of in his prime. A prime Louis was robbed of four years.kikibalt wrote:
Remember Joe defended his title twice while he was in the Army. Buddy Baer and Simon. Then donates his purse to relief funds and then our government went after him real hard. I think they liked to pick on him at the end of his career and into his retirement. He was Black and perceived as not being too bright. No one better say that he was not too bright in my presence.
He was more of a patriot than Mike Jacobs.
-
dagosd2000
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 8638
- Joined: 01 Sep 2007, 03:31
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
I don't even know what Jessica Alba looks like,but I think Frank made an honest mistake. Besides she looked good to me.kikibalt wrote:Bobbin & Weavin wrote:Not that it really matters on a boxing forum to properly identify an attractive young lady but my brother-in-law was looking over my shoulder and said this is not Jessica Alba but Vida Guerra he could be wrong but we did google her and it looks like he is right. She hosts a low rider show on the speed channel. Regardless she's not too hard to look at.kikibalt wrote:
Jessica Alba
Plus I like old Chevys!
Bobbin & Weavin in
Nor-Cal
I think you're right Bobbin', she don't look much like Alba.
I've got an idea. Frank,if you're not too busy. When you have the time. I think we should have a trivia contest. Not like the one of "guess the fighter",but put up 100 of the most beautifull Latina women and let's guess which one is Jessica Alba. Now Frank if Connie catches you looking through pictures of beautifull Latina women,just say you're doing to take part in a contest for your pals on the Forum. Or you can say I put you up to it. I'll be happy to take all the blame.
-
dagosd2000
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 8638
- Joined: 01 Sep 2007, 03:31
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
[quote="kikibalt"]New life for an old gem in Boyle Heights
Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
Contestants in the Miss Jalisco Pageant rehearse at the historic, 77-year-old Casa del Mexicano,
Well Gee,if it can't be a gem (or a gym),you might as well have beauty pageants in the place. It's a better idea than a parking lot,condos,a thrift store,or a hotel for gay men.
Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
Contestants in the Miss Jalisco Pageant rehearse at the historic, 77-year-old Casa del Mexicano,
Well Gee,if it can't be a gem (or a gym),you might as well have beauty pageants in the place. It's a better idea than a parking lot,condos,a thrift store,or a hotel for gay men.
-
Rick Farris
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 7200
- Joined: 15 Feb 2008, 16:04
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Frank, Dagos & Randy . . .
Hey guys, just got word that the WBHOF banquet date has been changed to NOVEMBER 15th (originally Oct. 18th). It will still be at the same place, The Airport MArriot Hotel, near LAX.
-Rick
Hey guys, just got word that the WBHOF banquet date has been changed to NOVEMBER 15th (originally Oct. 18th). It will still be at the same place, The Airport MArriot Hotel, near LAX.
-Rick
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
The real Jessica Alba
-
Rick Farris
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 7200
- Joined: 15 Feb 2008, 16:04
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
bennie wrote:People talk about the three years Ali was robbed of in his prime. A prime Louis was robbed of four years.kikibalt wrote:
Good point, Bennie. Ali made a choice, and like everybody else in this world, choices come with consequences. I know three years of activity cost Ali a lot of money, however, it saved him from an earlier demise. Ali always stayed in shape, boxing exhibitions, training, etc. during his hiatus from boxing. However, he took far less trauma to his unprotected chin. Ali had a unique style, one that was NOT of a gifted boxer. Ali was a hands down catcher, once he lost his legs. He didn't have the power to hold off a puncher, just the heart to absorb a beating and come back and win a do-or-die match. It's doubtful Muhammad Ai will live to see 70. Shame.
-Rick
-
dagosd2000
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 8638
- Joined: 01 Sep 2007, 03:31
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
I've mentioned a couple of times in my posts that I've been having this pain in my leg. Been going in for treatments. Noticed that this girl is touching the area where I've been experiencing pain.kikibalt wrote:
Jessica Alba
I brought this picture to the doctor to show him where my pain is. He prescribed that I look at the picture. It will take your mind off the pain.
-
dagosd2000
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 8638
- Joined: 01 Sep 2007, 03:31
Re: Classic American West Coast Boxing
Frank,I think you're ready for the Boom Boom Club. No,I take that back. I think I'm ready for the Boom Boom Club.kikibalt wrote:
The real Jessica Alba
Btw,You spoiled the "Guess Which One Is Jessica Alba Contest?" But we can always do a "Guess Which One Is Salma Hayek Contest?"
Last edited by dagosd2000 on 31 Jul 2008, 15:53, edited 1 time in total.