Classic American West Coast Boxing

[dagosd2000]

Julio Cesar Chavez is doing commentary for the boxing on Mexican television. That´s good. That´s very good. He´s out of rehab and doing a great jos doing analyzing the matches.

Tell someone your problems,and half don´t care and the other half is glad you have them. Heard that somewhere. I´m glad for Julio. Mexico´s greatest fighter. The announcer with him often referred to Julio Cesar as ¨mejor boxeador Mexicano que todos.¨

Julio Cesar was very anxious this morning. Oscar Alvarez,the 17 year old Mexican kid had advanced to the semi finals. Julio was nervous.
^Vamos con Oscar. Vamos con todo. Viva Mexico!¨
He couldn´t control himself.

Alvarez was fighting a Mongolian. They brought them in and they were at it right away. Alvarez came forward. I looked at his face. He looked like Julio Cesar in the face. That ¨chata¨face. Except Alvarez is a Bantam,but he´ll probably fill out as he grows older. Alvarez moved forward,but the Mongolian looked like he was more experienced. Moved to the side. Countered and moved to the side. Alvarez could never get his feet in a good position to get full leverage on his punches. Julio said that a shuffle works better than a step sometimes when moving the feet. Good Julio. Very good. Stay like this please.

As the fight moved on,you could see by the scoring that Alvarez was getting further behind. The boy was frustrated. His face was grimacing with desperation. Tears were on his face. He couldn´t hit his man. Julio Cesar was shouting.
Ändale Oscar. Sigalo. Andale.¨
Julio was with this kid. Julio wanted to swing for him. Good Julio. Very good.

At the final bell it was evedent. But for Oscar Alvarez,it is only a begining. I remember Julio´s fight with Whitaker. It was similar to what I just saw. Julio,frustrated,moving in ,never getting the feet right. Whitaker was a cutie that night. Julio was crazed with desperation. He came in now with his hands down. It was like he was not only getting hit on the chin,but figured if that´s the only part of my body I´m connecting with,I´ll hit YOU with my chin. Chavez got a gift that night. But it was the beginnig of the end of a brilliant career.

They say Duran was the greatest Latino fighter. Just my opinion,but I go with Chavez. On courage alone. Duran fell flat on his face from Hearn´s right hand. Julio never looked that way in a ring. Yes,as time went on,Julio bled more,landed less, and finally got consimed by all the wrong things.

But Julio is doing a great job at the Olympics. He´s incitefull and let´s out his emotions. That´s good. That´s very good.

[TheOneIsHere2008]

The gym in the movie is actually a warehouse located in the old garment district in L.A. on Palmetto St. It's also the warehouse used to shoot the boxing reality show, "The Contender". It's not a gym at all, just a warehouse that at the moment houses outdated industrial materials. That area, located just west of the Los Angeles river, and east of Alameda St. is now being called "The Arts District" of downtown. Just a bunch of old warehouses, condemned factories, turn of the century era bldgs (the last century, that is) that are suddenly very popular filming locations and high end loft residences. Seedy is now very trendy in L.A. It's not too far from where the old Teamsters Union Hall on Stanford St. still stands. The Teamsters bldg. was once a top L.A. boxing gym, and amateur fight arena. This where Frank Baltazar once trained with Keeny Teran and Gil Cadilli, among others. It's also where I had my first of many jr. amateur bouts in the 60's. Today, it's just an office bldg. As far the Wild Card Gym is concerned, it's trainer Freddie Roach's place, and the busiest boxing gym in town. That's where James Toney & Manny Pac train, as well as many other world champs and contenders. It's also where Bernard Hopkins trained for his upset win over Antonio Tarver. For the record, Wild Card is located on Vine St. in Hollywood, a couple hundred yards north of Santa Monica Blvd, West side of the street, just above a strip mall. If you wanna see Wild Card, now you know where it is. As far as Reseda is concerned, there are a few so-called "boxing gyms" in the area, but none where real pros train. These are places where self proclaimed "boxing trainers" charge a lot of money to teach something they don't know themselves. Most are not capable of teaching a cat to crap in a box. I hope this has answered your questions, and don't listen to what girlfriends have to say about boxing, they are walking encyclopedias of misinformation. Just like "Granberry"

-Rick

Thanks for the information...My girlfriend is from Manila and she loves Manny Pacquiao...She's not a boxing fan at all, but her late father was a big one, and Manny is a source of nat'l pride...She used to like DLH because he was "cute" and she saw him at Beverly Center...She also saw Pac-Man at some concert by a Filipina artist...I don't know what to make of them fighting if they do...Stanley Roach seems to feel DLH has lost it and is ripe for the pickings...

[bennie]

Julio Cesar Chavez is doing commentary for the boxing on Mexican television. That´s good. That´s very good. He´s out of rehab and doing a great jos doing analyzing the matches.

Tell someone your problems,and half don´t care and the other half is glad you have them. Heard that somewhere. I´m glad for Julio. Mexico´s greatest fighter. The announcer with him often referred to Julio Cesar as ¨mejor boxeador Mexicano que todos.¨

Julio Cesar was very anxious this morning. Oscar Alvarez,the 17 year old Mexican kid had advanced to the semi finals. Julio was nervous.
^Vamos con Oscar. Vamos con todo. Viva Mexico!¨
He couldn´t control himself.

Alvarez was fighting a Mongolian. They brought them in and they were at it right away. Alvarez came forward. I looked at his face. He looked like Julio Cesar in the face. That ¨chata¨face. Except Alvarez is a Bantam,but he´ll probably fill out as he grows older. Alvarez moved forward,but the Mongolian looked like he was more experienced. Moved to the side. Countered and moved to the side. Alvarez could never get his feet in a good position to get full leverage on his punches. Julio said that a shuffle works better than a step sometimes when moving the feet. Good Julio. Very good. Stay like this please.

As the fight moved on,you could see by the scoring that Alvarez was getting further behind. The boy was frustrated. His face was grimacing with desperation. Tears were on his face. He couldn´t hit his man. Julio Cesar was shouting.
Ändale Oscar. Sigalo. Andale.¨
Julio was with this kid. Julio wanted to swing for him. Good Julio. Very good.

At the final bell it was evedent. But for Oscar Alvarez,it is only a begining. I remember Julio´s fight with Whitaker. It was similar to what I just saw. Julio,frustrated,moving in ,never getting the feet right. Whitaker was a cutie that night. Julio was crazed with desperation. He came in now with his hands down. It was like he was not only getting hit on the chin,but figured if that´s the only part of my body I´m connecting with,I´ll hit YOU with my chin. Chavez got a gift that night. But it was the beginnig of the end of a brilliant career.

They say Duran was the greatest Latino fighter. Just my opinion,but I go with Chavez. On courage alone. Duran fell flat on his face from Hearn´s right hand. Julio never looked that way in a ring. Yes,as time went on,Julio bled more,landed less, and finally got consimed by all the wrong things.

But Julio is doing a great job at the Olympics. He´s incitefull and let´s out his emotions. That´s good. That´s very good.

Chavez was a machine, at his best. He could be hit but he hit them back a helluva lot more. I liked him as a super-featherweight (junior-light). He made NINE defences in the blink of an eye. Brilliant.

[bennie]

Where is everyone?

[kikibalt]

Where is everyone?

I just got home from seeing my cancer doctor.... :x

[Chuck1052]

I watched Ken Norton train for his bout with Gerry Cooney at the gym located on 108th St. and Broadway during the early 1980s. At the time, the gym appeared to be fairly new.

I went to the Main St., Hoover St. and the Olympic Gyms a number of times, all very Spartan places at best. As I recall, Carol Steindler later took over the Olympic Gym after the Main St. Gym was torn down. I must say that the Main St. Gym was an outright dump despite being a very memorable place.

In regards to the information about Norton coming down with a stroke, I am sorry to learn that and hope that things are better for him from now on.

- Chuck Johnston

[TheOneIsHere2008]

Where is everyone?

I just got home from seeing my cancer doctor.... :x

I'm praying for ya...

[kikibalt]

Where is everyone?

I just got home from seeing my cancer doctor.... :x

I'm praying for ya...

Thank you TheOne 2008, can use all the help I can get...

[kikibalt]

[TheOneIsHere2008]

Do you have any Jose Torres pictures?

Have you ever met him?

[kikibalt]

Carlos Santana

"Santana"

By Diego

[kikibalt]

Do you have any Jose Torres pictures?

Have you ever met him?

Jose Torres, the LHW champ?

[TheOneIsHere2008]

Do you have any Jose Torres pictures?

Have you ever met him?

Jose Torres, the LHW champ?

Yes sir...I have a question...Do Latino boxers from different Latin countries dislike one another?

I go to a gym (regular gym) in Orlando and there are Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, and Mexicans and they all get along great...

My best friend was from Ponce and he would tell an occasional joke about Cubans but nothing malicious...

[Rick Farris]

Frank . . . do you recall a oformer California lightweight champ, Paulie Armstead? I know he fought from the late 50's thru early 70's, and I used to see him traing at Jake Shagrue's Hoover St. Gym when I was a kid. He fought the best lightweights and jr. welters of his era, world wide, but rarely in L.A. which was his home town. I really thought he was a great fighter and regret not having a chance to see him fight in person.

[kikibalt]

Do you have any Jose Torres pictures?

Have you ever met him?

Jose Torres, the LHW champ?

Yes sir...I have a question...Do Latino boxers from different Latin countries dislike one another?

I go to a gym (regular gym) in Orlando and there are Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, and Mexicans and they all get along great...

My best friend was from Ponce and he would tell an occasional joke about Cubans but nothing malicious...

There is, I believe a rivalry between latino boxers from different countries, but a respected rivalry.

I do have some Torres photos, I'll post them for you, and yes I met Torres in the 1970's in New York.

[kikibalt]

Frank . . . do you recall a oformer California lightweight champ, Paulie Armstead? I know he fought from the late 50's thru early 70's, and I used to see him traing at Jake Shagrue's Hoover St. Gym when I was a kid. He fought the best lightweights and jr. welters of his era, world wide, but rarely in L.A. which was his home town. I really thought he was a great fighter and regret not having a chance to see him fight in person.

Rick,

I do remember Paulie Armstead well, he is another one that came up from the Jr.GG's in the early 1950's, back in those years black fighters had a hard time getting fights in L.A., the once's that did were just used as opponents, the good one had to go out of town, the honest truth is that they just didn't draw the fans, the fans back then in L.A. were 80% Mexican-American or Mexican Nationals.
When you have Mexican's drawing 10,000 fans just about every week, well you're going stick with them.

[TheOneIsHere2008]

http://www.josportsinc.com/catalog/view.php?id=5837

Fidel should have let him fight in the States...

[kikibalt]

Frank . . . do you recall a oformer California lightweight champ, Paulie Armstead? I know he fought from the late 50's thru early 70's, and I used to see him traing at Jake Shagrue's Hoover St. Gym when I was a kid. He fought the best lightweights and jr. welters of his era, world wide, but rarely in L.A. which was his home town. I really thought he was a great fighter and regret not having a chance to see him fight in person.

Rick, here is Paulie Armstead fighting in the 1953 Jr. GG tourney.

[TheOneIsHere2008]

Frank . . . do you recall a oformer California lightweight champ, Paulie Armstead? I know he fought from the late 50's thru early 70's, and I used to see him traing at Jake Shagrue's Hoover St. Gym when I was a kid. He fought the best lightweights and jr. welters of his era, world wide, but rarely in L.A. which was his home town. I really thought he was a great fighter and regret not having a chance to see him fight in person.

Rick, here is Paulie Armstead fighting in the 1953 Jr. GG tourney.

When I was a kid my dad used to take me to the Golden Gloves Tournaments at MSG in the late sixties...

[kikibalt]

8-year-old guitar wiz has reason to play the blues
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER, Associated Press Writer

ELKHORN, Wis. - When Tallan "T-Man" Latz was 5, he saw Joe Satriani playing guitar on TV. "I turned around to my dad and said, 'That's exactly what I want to do.'"

Three years and countless hours of practicing later, 8-year-old Tallan is a blues guitar prodigy. He's played in bars and clubs, including the House of Blues in Chicago, and even jammed with Les Paul and Jackson Browne. He has a summer of festivals scheduled and has drawn interest from venues worldwide.

And what, you might ask, would a kid not even in the third grade have the blues about? The state of Wisconsin for one, and some possibly jealous older musicians for another.

An anonymous e-mail sent to state officials complained that Tallan was too young to perform in taverns and nightclubs because of state child labor laws. His booking agent even got an anonymous letter threatening her with death if she keeps booking him.

When Tallan's father read him the state's letter saying he couldn't play clubs anymore (he can still play festivals), the boy's response — like his music — seemed beyond his years.

"He goes, 'It's not how many times you get knocked down but it's how many times you get back up and go forward,' Carl Latz said his son told him. "And I told him that's exactly what this is all about and if nothing else this letter just taught you a life lesson."

The lesson can be stiff: Each day he performs, the employer can be fined $25 to $1,000 and the parent from $10 to $250.

Jennifer Ortiz of the state Equal Rights Division said her agency has a responsibility to enforce the law once it becomes aware of a violation.

"Well, the law prohibits it, and the Legislature enacted the laws to protect the health, safety and welfare of all children."

Latz, who also is Tallan's manager, has asked a legislator for help changing the law but it's unclear whether any action will be taken.

Latz received the letter a few days before Tallan was to perform at Lil Downtown Lounge in suburban Milwaukee, where club co-owner Michelle Boche said the boy always packed the place when he sat in with other musicians.

Latz claims that two weeks before getting the letter he overheard local blues guitarist Jammin' Jimmy, whose real name is James Kemeny, say Tallan shouldn't be in a bar and he was going to turn him in.

Kemeny, who's been playing for 44 years, denied badmouthing Tallan.

"It seems totally unbelievable that somebody would even go to that extreme to send a letter to somebody, let alone looking to find something about child labor laws," Kemeny said.

Boche said she has received backlash from musicians and area bar owners because she supports Tallan. Some have tried to take patrons away, she said. Some even called in fake incidents to police, causing them to look for guns or underage drinkers, she said.

"If my doors close and I never open again and this boy becomes successful, then I will be the happiest person in the world," she said.

Tallan's agent, Sharon Pomaville, said she received a threatening letter June 2 warning her to stop booking the boy. She thinks he's a local musician and believes he's harmless. Deputies came to her house, but she didn't want to pursue the case.

Greg Koch, 42, an internationally known guitarist and clinician for Fender Musical Instruments, called the backlash despicable.

He said most 8-year-olds don't have the strength or attention span to pursue guitar or can't endure the calluses.

"It's strange that a kid at this age would glean onto this particular kind of music and show the intensity and kind of the ability to function as kind of 8-year-old blues guy," he said.

Brad Tolinski, editor-in-chief of Guitar World magazine, said kid guitar prodigies are rare, with one emerging perhaps every four or five years.

"It would be unusual to find an 8-year-old who can play Joe Satriani licks," he said.

Carl Latz said there's no explanation for Tallan's blues connection other than he seems to have an old soul.

"I've had more people tell me, they say 'It's a kid's body but it has a 70-year-old dude inside,'" Carl Latz said.

Tallan, whose heroes are Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, has 13 guitars and endorsements from at least nine companies to use their equipment. He can read music but plays mostly from memory.

He has two bands — one with veterans called T-Man's Blues Project and another with 16-and-younger bandmates called Tallan "The T-Man" Latz and the Young Guns. He also sings and plays drums, harmonica, bass and piano.

Tallan said he likes to play guitar to "put smiles on people's faces" when they are having a bad day.

"It sounds awesome," he said. "I think it's so much you can do on the guitar."

He knows 30 to 40 songs and someday hopes to write his own. It was his idea to start playing in public.

"He drags me around," his dad said. "I don't drag him around."

Tallan said the problems he's faced have doing nothing to dampen his ambition to be a blues rock star when he grows up. Just the opposite, in fact.

"Because I got more inspiration, I got more sadness in me," Tallan said. "I'm just feelin' it."

Tallan 'T-Man' Latz performs Monday, June 30, 2008, at Summerfest in Milwaukee. A blues guitar prodigy, the 8-year-old has played in bars and clubs, including the House of Blues in Chicago, and even jammed with Les Paul and Jackson Browne. However, the state of Wisconsin says that Tallan cannot play in taverns and nightclubs because of state child labor laws.
(AP Photo/Morry Gash)

[kikibalt]

Do you have any Jose Torres pictures?

Have you ever met him?

Jose Torres vs Dick Tiger

[bennie]

I lkike Torres because he was the first to cite Mike Tyson's attitude towards women. Jose was censured for it at the time, back in the 1980s, but history has borne him out.

[kikibalt]

Ken Norton, Unknown, Jose Torres and Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

[bennie]

Ken Norton, Unknown, Jose Torres and Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

Poor Norton always looks ill. As for Carter, he smuggled a gun into England when he came over to fight Liverpool's Harry Scott, who licked him (and also beat him in a rematch). When people say Carter was robbed of a chance to win the world middleweight title, it is quite amusing. Rubin was already over the hill when he was sent to jail.

[kikibalt]

Tommy Farr