Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Randyman]

Glad to hear Alex Ramos is on the road to recovery... I have a few of his fights among my collection and he was a fun guy to watch win or lose, his fight against Curtis Parker is an underrated slugfest and one I enjoy watching every now and then.

Glad to hear Alex is doing better.
He fought Johnny Collins here in Chicago in a good fight in I believe 84.
Collins had him down, but I thought Alex should have gotten the nod.
It was a 10 round draw.

We're praying for you Alex. Keep fighting!

[raylawpc]

I don`t know if the following question is in poor taste or not and I hope it isn`t, but can anyone here think of a reason why anyone would have wanted Howie Steindler murdered? I know his death remains unsolved to this day unfortunately, but I always wondered why anyone would want to have him killed in the first place.

I will yield to my west coast friends here, many of whom knew Mr. Steindler and no doubt have followed the case. But if I recall, police theorized his death was the result of a random robbery-homicide. He was not specifically targeted - at least, that's what I recall that the police concluded.

[kikibalt]

I don`t know if the following question is in poor taste or not and I hope it isn`t, but can anyone here think of a reason why anyone would have wanted Howie Steindler murdered? I know his death remains unsolved to this day unfortunately, but I always wondered why anyone would want to have him killed in the first place.

I will yield to my west coast friends here, many of whom knew Mr. Steindler and no doubt have followed the case. But if I recall, police theorized his death was the result of a random robbery-homicide. He was not specifically targeted - at least, that's what I recall that the police concluded.

I had lunch with Howie two weeks before he got killed, he told me then, that he had had a meet with some guys that wanted to buy Danny's contract, he told them no, that Danny was not for sale, he said the guys started to get mad, he said he told them "what, you are going to apply some muscle on me", he did not name the guys, now I'm glad he didn't.

[raylawpc]

Here's a link to an America's Most Wanted story on Howie Steindler's tragic murder:

http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=39677

[kikibalt]

[scartissue]

Glad to hear Alex is doing better.
He fought Johnny Collins here in Chicago in a good fight in I believe 84.
Collins had him down, but I thought Alex should have gotten the nod.
It was a 10 round draw.[/quote]

Expug,

Do you know if this fight was televised? If it was I`ll try and track down a copy of it.[/quote]
It was, my guess would be NBC.I think it was 84.
I watched it on the tube.In a bar called Streeters.
I dont know how I remember this stuff, I cant even find my car keys half the time.[/quote]

You're right Pug, I too recall watching it. And since I knew Collins personally and trained with him at Davis Square, I was happy with the draw even though I had Ramos winning it closely. I never had too many good things to say about Stan Berg, but he was the Ref and the guy who scored for Ramos.

Scartissue

[Expug]

Scar, you mention Stanley Berg.
That name is a blast from the past.He refd a couple of my fights.
Jeez, that guy was everywhere in Chicago boxing for years.
Am and pro.
I was pulling for John in that fight. Im sure you were too.Both guys made a good showing and it was close.
I never really knew John, but I boxed many rounds with his old nemesis Lenny Lapaglia.
Including right before he and John fought.
Still, I was rooting for John in that one too.

[scartissue]

That's a big deal, Pug. Tillis is the first man to take Tyson the distance, as well as fight the cream of the heavyweight crop of the era. I hope you still have your poster, mine was lost with other mementos in a nasty divorce.

-Rick[/quote]

Oh dear. Sorry to hear that, Rick.
Leroy Boone brings back a few memories. They brought him over as a sacrificial lamb for Neville Meade in the early 1980s. Meade was an old man but Boone looked about 90 and yet he outlasted Neville in a fight that made you thank God for the arrival of Frank Bruno.[/quote]

Bennie, talking of Neville Meade against Leroy Boone made me reminisce. A co-worker at the time was as die-hard a fight nut as I and He would pore over any mag I would bring into work. I was subscribing to Boxing News back then (dropped my subscription about a year after Harry Mullan passed. I gave it a good shot but it just wasn't the same anymore). Anyways the two of us were talking about this era. Boone had just beaten Meade, who was being groomed for a shot at the British title and two other prospects who were about to get shots at the Commonwealth title and Euro title also got beat (damned I can remember who the other two were). My buddy and I reckoned that Mickey Duff must've had a nervous breakdown during that rough week back in '81.

Scartissue

[scartissue]

Scar, you mention Stanley Berg.
That name is a blast from the past.He refd a couple of my fights.
Jeez, that guy was everywhere in Chicago boxing for years.
Am and pro.
I was pulling for John in that fight. Im sure you were too.Both guys made a good showing and it was close.
I never really knew John, but I boxed many rounds with his old nemesis Lenny Lapaglia.
Including right before he and John fought.
Still, I was rooting for John in that one too.

Man, you remember that one. Every fight nut in town was galvanized on that fight. Irish vs Italian. South side vs westside. Not to mention the two hottest prospects in town going at it, and it got televised nationally to boot. It didn't get much better than that.

Scartissue

[scartissue]

Scar, you mention Stanley Berg.
That name is a blast from the past.He refd a couple of my fights.
Jeez, that guy was everywhere in Chicago boxing for years.
Am and pro.
I was pulling for John in that fight. Im sure you were too.Both guys made a good showing and it was close.
I never really knew John, but I boxed many rounds with his old nemesis Lenny Lapaglia.
Including right before he and John fought.
Still, I was rooting for John in that one too.

Pug, on the subject of Stan Berg being everywhere. Next time you're watching ESPN classics and they show the 1958 rematch between Sugar Ray and Carmen Basilio, check out whose sitting ringside. That's right, a young looking Stan Berg.

Scartissue

[kikibalt]

Tony DeMarco

[kikibalt]

Rocky Castellani

[kikibalt]

Ben Jeby

[kikibalt]

Laurent Dauthille vs Paddy Young

[kikibalt]

Ezzard Charles vs Fitzie Fitzpatrick

[kikibalt]

[kikibalt]

[Expug]

Scar, you mention Stanley Berg.
That name is a blast from the past.He refd a couple of my fights.
Jeez, that guy was everywhere in Chicago boxing for years.
Am and pro.
I was pulling for John in that fight. Im sure you were too.Both guys made a good showing and it was close.
I never really knew John, but I boxed many rounds with his old nemesis Lenny Lapaglia.
Including right before he and John fought.
Still, I was rooting for John in that one too.

Man, you remember that one. Every fight nut in town was galvanized on that fight. Irish vs Italian. South side vs westside. Not to mention the two hottest prospects in town going at it, and it got televised nationally to boot. It didn't get much better than that.

Scartissue

Aye ,that was a great event.
Lenny was training at a couple gyms in town for that fight.
One of them was The U.S Arena it was called.
It was at Division and Damen.I worked out there too.
Lennys crew was real confident going into that match.Espesially his trainer Pat Lacassa. But looking back now, I think in the back of his mind Lenny was a little nevous about this fight.
John had more rounds under his belt and Lenny really hadnt fought anybody.
He was belting everyone out in one or two rounds .Guys who werent his calibre at all.
John had some easy ones early on too but I think he had stepped it up in competition before fighting Lenny.
Plus, Lenny knew that Collins had that right hand .Man, John could hurt a guy with that punch.

[bennie]

Here's a link to an America's Most Wanted story on Howie Steindler's tragic murder:

http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=39677

What an horrendous death.

[bennie]

That's a big deal, Pug. Tillis is the first man to take Tyson the distance, as well as fight the cream of the heavyweight crop of the era. I hope you still have your poster, mine was lost with other mementos in a nasty divorce.

-Rick

Oh dear. Sorry to hear that, Rick.
Leroy Boone brings back a few memories. They brought him over as a sacrificial lamb for Neville Meade in the early 1980s. Meade was an old man but Boone looked about 90 and yet he outlasted Neville in a fight that made you thank God for the arrival of Frank Bruno.[/quote]

Bennie, talking of Neville Meade against Leroy Boone made me reminisce. A co-worker at the time was as die-hard a fight nut as I and He would pore over any mag I would bring into work. I was subscribing to Boxing News back then (dropped my subscription about a year after Harry Mullan passed. I gave it a good shot but it just wasn't the same anymore). Anyways the two of us were talking about this era. Boone had just beaten Meade, who was being groomed for a shot at the British title and two other prospects who were about to get shots at the Commonwealth title and Euro title also got beat (damned I can remember who the other two were). My buddy and I reckoned that Mickey Duff must've had a nervous breakdown during that rough week back in '81.

Scartissue[/quote]




Was Magri one, Scartissue? If not, I'll check it out. Laing also got beaten around that time by an unheralded Reggie Ford.
Another nervous breakdown for Duff and his infamous Cartel (consisting of Duff, Terry Lawless, Mike Barrett and Jarvis Astaire) came when Frank Bruno - ahead on points - got stopped by Bonecrusher Smith in the 10th and last round at Wembley in 1984, and Mark Kaylor got hammered by Buster Drayton on the undercard. Both Kaylor and Bruno were previously unbeaten. Lawless nearly quit afterwards.
It looked the end for Frank, who appeared to lack the stamina and punch resistance to really make it. Jumbo Cummings had previously flagged similar flaws in Bruno in a tense, thrilling, controversial affair at a packed Royal Albert Hall in 1983, but an 'iffy' stoppage from British referee Mike Jacobs (later demoted as a ref, from world title status to undercard status) kept Bruno's world title aspirations alive. Then came Bonecrusher, but the American fought Larry Holmes for the world title a fight later and gave Holmes a pretty good one before losing on cuts in the 12th.
Bruno was brought back.

[bennie]

Glad to hear Alex Ramos is on the road to recovery... I have a few of his fights among my collection and he was a fun guy to watch win or lose, his fight against Curtis Parker is an underrated slugfest and one I enjoy watching every now and then.

Ramos and Parker were fighting for their careers. A real slugfest.

[Rick Farris]

Ezzard Charles vs Fitzie Fitzpatrick

Frank, thanks for posting this picture. I have a trunk load of Fitzie Fitzpatrick stories that came from my ex-father-in-law, who was a friend of Fitzie's. Most are quite humorous. Due to my time limitation at the moment (just got home from work at 1am.) I'll have to wait until this weekend to post a couple.

-Rick

[Rick Farris]

Johnny Flores gave me this very same magazine in 1966. It was one of dozens of old magazines he had packed away in boxes inside his garage. When Johnny's wife Rose told him, "They gotta go!" Johnny asked if I wanted them. You bet I did, and I had them for years until 1983, when one of my wives said the same thing during a divorce, and away they went without my knowledge, as I was away in Buffalo, N.Y. working on a Robert Redford movie, "The Natural". Well Frank, at least I can check your's out. Thanks for the memories.

-Rick

[bennie]

Ezzard Charles vs Fitzie Fitzpatrick

Frank, thanks for posting this picture. I have a trunk load of Fitzie Fitzpatrick stories that came from my ex-father-in-law, who was a friend of Fitzie's. Most are quite humorous. Due to my time limitation at the moment (just got home from work at 1am.) I'll have to wait until this weekend to post a couple.

-Rick

Yeah, this is a great picture. Fitzie Fitzpatrick looks a right handful.

[BoxBuzz]

90,000 reads......so much content in this thread that you can pick any page and learn something you did not know about this sport. The old newspaper clippings and boxing promotion stuff is just amazing. If I could sell this thread on E-Bay I'd make a fortune.