Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Expug]

Rick, its a drag losing pictures I know.
The other day I wanted to show a friend of mine a hilarious picture of myself with Leon Spinks.
It was taken at the Park West in Chicago at one of my fights.
Im standing there next to Leon who was a guest that night.Ive got the Kelly Green Shamrock robe on getting ready to climb the steps.Leons in full super fly regalia.Big wide brimmed hat with the feather, shades, the works. Its a classic.Or was. :x

[Rick Farris]

Rick, its a drag losing pictures I know.
The other day I wanted to show a friend of mine a hilarious picture of myself with Leon Spinks.
It was taken at the Park West in Chicago at one of my fights.
Im standing there next to Leon who was a guest that night.Ive got the Kelly Green Shamrock robe on getting ready to climb the steps.Leons in full super fly regalia.Big wide brimmed hat with the feather, shades, the works. Its a classic.Or was. :x

Brian . . . That does sound like a classic photo. Leon's flame blew out quickly, tragicly. Here was a guy who could really fight, so could his little brother. Only Mike Tyson whipped Michael, and Leon whipped himself. I know he was considered a "small" heavyweight, but he was big enough to score a major legue upset, one of the biggest ever. I believe that if Leon Spinks had the dedication of little brother, he could have been a true threat to the big boys of the oncoming era. A motivated guy with Leon's talent could out work some of the big lazy-ass heavy's of the era that followed the Ali/Frazier/Foreman years. However, an unprepared boxer ain't worth a bucket of warm piss.

-Rick

[dagosd2000]

TOMMY RYAN

[kikibalt]

Margarito & trainer Guilty!

February 10, 2009 by Edgar Gonzalez

Calls illegal pads an “innocent mistake”
Former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo had their licenses revoked at today’s California State Athletic Commission’s disciplinary hearing. Capetillo stated that he accidentally put illegal pads into Margarito’s hand wraps prior to his bout with Shane Mosley. “I committed a big mistake,” Capetillo said according to the LA Times. “I don’t want this young man to have problems. I’m here to cover any responsibility. I take full responsibility. I committed this innocent mistake.”
—-
Earlier, CSAC Inspector Che Guevara testified that the pad inside Margarito’s hand wraps was “not hard as a rock, but firm and hard.” Inspector Mike Bray testified that there was “a white substance smeared across the pad, like a cast plaster.” The pads, confiscated by the commission before Margarito’s fight last month with Shane Mosley, are still being tested by the Commission. Margarito and Capetillo are currently on suspension pending the outcome of this case.

[dagosd2000]

THE BONE YARD

I'm not namin' names here. This guy I played football with and trained with in the weight room ,is one of the most stand up guys I've ever known. He was small in stature by football standards,but his heart and work ethic compensated for what pounds he would have like to have had on his frame.

In the weightroom we had sort of a friendly rivalry about who could lift the most weights. We were neck and neck. He reached 300 pounds in the bench press first. I beat him to 400 pounds.

For some reason I backed off weight lifting for 15 years. I broke contact with my friend. He was playing football in Canada and staying busy with the weights. Once in a while I'd bump into him. I remember the first time I saw him after I'd quit lifting weights. He was huge. Massive. He had arms like ham hocks. I knew then he was on the juice.

We were still best of pals. I didn't care what he was doing. Steroids were very easy to get through a doctor here,or just take a trip to Tijuana . Everything was being used. Anadrol,Dianabol,Testoterone,Wistral...you name it. If it worked on farm animals,that was OK too.

Well later on I'd started to hear about my friend and his buddies that were using this stuff developing cancers. Some were dead. Tumors,heart attacks,organ transplants,liver damage,and kidney failures were part of the problems.

Once a month my friend and the some of the old ball players have lunch together. I try to make it when I can. Yesterday I went to eat lunch with them . My pal was there. He'd had a heart attack,kidney cancer,and now he says his lungs are filling up with fluid. Probably the bad ticker. He's still up beat. Thinks the world of me. But I hate to see him like this.He's skinny and frail. Oh,he blames himself. Didn't think at the time anything bad would happen. Now he's on his last legs. He's 63.

I got back into the weight room about 20 years ago. The supplements the guys were using were very "advanced". All types of aminos. Creatine. Stuff I had never heard of. I went to all these new state of the art health food stores to see what the big guys were using.
"What do you have that will make me strong?"I asked.
So I started popping androstene and andriol. Told me it wasn't steroids,only a "precursor" to a steroid. Besides,they sold this stuff in a health food store.

Well my bench press went up to 535 pounds. I'm 50 years old and pressing 535 pounds. Well find out later all this stuff I was taking was steroids. Same stuff Mark McGwire was taking.

I blew out my shoulder. Good thing I did. Had to quit lifting heavy. Stopped using the "stuff". Hell it wasn't much later the FDA took it off the shelves.

Maybe I'm lucky. Maybe not. Don't know what's around the corner for me health wise. That light at the end of the tunnel? Like I said before,I hope it's not a freight train.

[Rick Farris]

Bennie
In retrospect,I wouldn't have believed that the guy who beat my friend up that night would go on to be one of the greatest right hand punchers of all time.

You know, Rog, I've got a pic of me with Earnie, who now lives in England, and he is holding that right fist to my chin. I wanted to post it but, to my complete disbelief, I cannot find it anywhere.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________


In 1969, I saw Earnie Shavers win the AAU Nat'ls. in San Diego. He had come west with the Ohio AAU team to compete in the Nat'l tourney. However, I didn't know he'd ever fought in L.A. as an amateur. Those thursday night Olympic amateur bouts were as popular as the pro fights. We had a group of L.A. heavies at the time, Bunky Aikens, Walter Moore, Al Boursse, Stoney Land. Most turned pro between '69-'71, like Earnie did after stopping Jim Elder to win the Nat'l title.

-Rick[/quote]

Rick
Stoney Land. That's a name I had forgotten about. Anything on him?[/quote
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Land Brothers . . .

Roger . . . I remember Stoney Land from the '68 Golden Gloves when he defeated my stablemate in the L.A heavyweight finals. Close fight. After that, I believe he turned pro, but his record has been combined on Boxrec with that of his older brother, Eddie Land, who fought Jerry Quarry early in Jerry's career. When you attempt to look up both records, you see one record under "Eddie Land", which states his nickname as "Stoney" (incorrect). You see pro fights listed for Eddie that took place long before Stoney was a pro, and then fights listed beyond the dates that he was active , which are Stoney's fights.

As far as hearing anything recent? Nada. I didn't know either one personally.

-Rick

[kikibalt]

Antonio Margarito's license removed for a year

Fighter and trainer are held responsible for illegal hand wraps before last month's fight against Shane Mosley.

By Lance Pugmire
February 10, 2009

The California State Athletic Commission today voted unanimously to revoke former world welterweight boxing champion Antonio Margarito's license, and that of his trainer, for one year for having plaster-like substances on his hand wraps before his title fight against Shane Mosley.

Margarito said that he did nothing more than hold up his fists for his trainer to wrap before the fight, but his argument failed to move the commissioners.

"When you're the top dog, you bear some responsibility for your team," commissioner Dr. Christopher Giza said to Margarito. "Mr. Margarito felt he did not bear some responsibility for this, and the consequences could've been career-ending."

State inspectors testified that they confiscated two gauze pads that were "firm" and "smeared with a substance" before Margarito made the first defense of his welterweight title against Mosley on Jan. 24 at Staples Center. Mosley won the fight by ninth-round technical knockout.

The pads, shown in photos to be caked with a white grout-like substance still under analysis by a state lab, were positioned to be inserted atop the knuckles of both of Margarito's fists, a fact that his trainer, Javier Capetillo, admitted could have injured Mosley.

"Automatically," he said. "It's hard. It's going to hurt."

Capetillo stunned a large audience attending the hearing in Van Nuys by acknowledging he had mistakenly placed one pad inside Margarito's right hand wraps and was readying to put another in the fighter's left glove before Mosley's trainer, Nazim Richardson, objected.

State inspector Dean Lohuis testified that he immediately declared the pads illegal, and another inspector described the pads as "not hard as a rock, but firm and hard," and possibly sweat-soaked with a stain of what appeared to be blood. The inspector, Che Guevara, described Capetillo's dressing room mood while being confronted as "aggressive, upset, agitated."

But later, Capetillo told his attorney that the pads ended up in his gym bag "by mistake," and should have never been used in Margarito's hand wraps. The trainer explained another fighter from a Montebello gym where he trains boxers must have errantly tossed his used hand wraps into Capetillo's bag after slugging a punching bag.

"I grabbed the wrong things," Capetillo said through an interpreter as his voice rose repeatedly in a distraught tone. "It was something innocent. I committed a big mistake. I don't want this young man to have problems. I'm here to cover any responsibility. I have full responsibility. It was not ill-intended."

But commissioners were highly skeptical of the claim. June Griffith-Collison asked why both of Margarito's hands were to have the illegal knuckle pad inserts, and another asked the trainer, "Do you know the expression, 'Falling on the sword?' "

Tijuana's Margarito, 30, won't be able to re-apply for his boxing license for one year, a sanction that will keep him from fighting in the U.S. unless he follows through with his promoter Bob Arum's promise to stage his fights in Mexico. The boxer declined comment after the hearing, but Arum expressed outrage and said he wouldn't stage another Top Rank boxing card in California for the duration of Margarito's suspension.

Margarito's attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, said after the ruling that he would explore filing a lawsuit to appeal the sanction in a state court.

[email protected]

[Rick Farris]

THE BONE YARD

I'm not namin' names here. This guy I played football with and trained with in the weight room ,is one of the most stand up guys I've ever known. He was small in stature by football standards,but his heart and work ethic compensated for what pounds he would have like to have had on his frame.

In the weightroom we had sort of a friendly rivalry about who could lift the most weights. We were neck and neck. He reached 300 pounds in the bench press first. I beat him to 400 pounds.

For some reason I backed off weight lifting for 15 years. I broke contact with my friend. He was playing football in Canada and staying busy with the weights. Once in a while I'd bump into him. I remember the first time I saw him after I'd quit lifting weights. He was huge. Massive. He had arms like ham hocks. I knew then he was on the juice.

We were still best of pals. I didn't care what he was doing. Steroids were very easy to get through a doctor here,or just take a trip to Tijuana . Everything was being used. Anadrol,Dianabol,Testoterone,Wistral...you name it. If it worked on farm animals,that was OK too.

Well later on I'd started to hear about my friend and his buddies that were using this stuff developing cancers. Some were dead. Tumors,heart attacks,organ transplants,liver damage,and kidney failures were part of the problems.

Once a month my friend and the some of the old ball players have lunch together. I try to make it when I can. Yesterday I went to eat lunch with them . My pal was there. He'd had a heart attack,kidney cancer,and now he says his lungs are filling up with fluid. Probably the bad ticker. He's still up beat. Thinks the world of me. But I hate to see him like this.He's skinny and frail. Oh,he blames himself. Didn't think at the time anything bad would happen. Now he's on his last legs. He's 63.

I got back into the weight room about 20 years ago. The supplements the guys were using were very "advanced". All types of aminos. Creatine. Stuff I had never heard of. I went to all these new state of the art health food stores to see what the big guys were using.
"What do you have that will make me strong?"I asked.
So I started popping androstene and andriol. Told me it wasn't steroids,only a "precursor" to a steroid. Besides,they sold this stuff in a health food store.

Well my bench press went up to 535 pounds. I'm 50 years old and pressing 535 pounds. Well find out later all this stuff I was taking was steroids. Same stuff Mark McGwire was taking.

I blew out my shoulder. Good thing I did. Had to quit lifting heavy. Stopped using the "stuff". Hell it wasn't much later the FDA took it off the shelves.

Maybe I'm lucky. Maybe not. Don't know what's around the corner for me health wise. That light at the end of the tunnel? Like I said before,I hope it's not a freight train.

Dianabol . . .

Roger . . . My friend & former bro-in-law, Bob Seagren, was Olympic Pole Vault champ & record holder, and has an older brother named Art. Like Bob, Art was a helluva athlete and an accomplished pole-vaulter himself, just not quite in his younger brother's league.

In 1970, a couple years after Bob won his first Olympic gold medal in Mexico City, Art would run with us on the cross country course at Mount San Antonio College in the San Gabriel Valley. Art had always been envious of his younger brother and this led to quite a rivalry between the two when we'd run. I was a good cross country runner, and so was Ruben Navarro, who would join us on our runs occasionally. Whenever we'd ride out to Mt. SAC to run, Bob and Art would start out strong and Ruben and I would always be with them for the first four miles of a six mile run. At the four mile mark, Bob and Art would start to kick and slowly pull away from Navarro and I, who would then race each other for third place. Bob would always take the lead with less than a half mile to go and Art would come in second.

We didn't see Art for a couple months and one morning he calls Bob and asks us to meet him for a run at Mt. Sac. When Bob and I pulled up to the track we see Art out on the grass stretching out. As we approach him he stands up and Bob & I are surprised by what we see. Art (who was a natural 6'-175 lbs. like his brother) suddenly had all this extra muscle. It turns out he had been taking DIANABOL (which you'd mentioned in your post) for no other reason than to attempt to beat his brother. Art once again stayed side-by-side with his brother on the run, this time for five miles of the six mile run, before Bob pulled away and left him in second place again.

You had to know the Seagren brothers to realize just how much they hated losing. Art was so mad he didn't say a word to us before he left. Bob Seagren was one of the greatest all-round athletes of his era, a great person and a great friend, however, he was the worst sport in history. Bob hated to lose at anything, which really made playing Monopoly with him fun, because we (his family) would cheat just to see his reaction when he lost. He'd stand up and almost knock over the table we had the game set-up on. We'd fall on the floor laughing. He'd realize he was being foolish and when he'd attempt to contain himself which was even funnier. The last time he lost I pulled him aside and suggested maybe a little Dianabol might help. He didn't laugh. I did!

-Rick Farris

[Rick Farris]

Roger . . . My post about Dianabol was not meant to make light of the potential dangers of steroid use. I think you know I was just commenting on the first time I heard of Dianabol, and then saw the results it could produce. I worked with former Raider Lyle Alzado in the 80's, when he guest starred on a TV production I was involved with. He was undergoing chimo therapy at the time and had his head covered with a scarf after losing his hair. Less than a year later, he was gone. I feel for your buddies because I understand what an athlete will do in order to make it.

-Rick

[Rick Farris]

Hey Frank . . .

Do you remember the boxing robe that your son Tony wore when he was about five. It was made form the material of a zarape. Jesus Pimentel wore the same type robe when he fought Jose Medel a few months earlier. I wanted one just like it, but I'm not Mexican so it really wouldn't have been appropriate, however, I still wanted one. We went to TJ a few weeks after I saw Tony's robe and my grandfather told me if I could find one at Deportes Viking, he'd buy it for me. However, the TJ sporting goods store really didn't have anything in the way of robes.

I know this is a stupid memory, but it's one of those little things I can't forget.


-El Gringo Bandito

[dagosd2000]

Roger . . . My post about Dianabol was not meant to make light of the potential dangers of steroid use. I think you know I was just commenting on the first time I heard of Dianabol, and then saw the results it could produce. I worked with former Raider Lyle Alzado in the 80's, when he guest starred on a TV production I was involved with. He was undergoing chimo therapy at the time and had his head covered with a scarf after losing his hair. Less than a year later, he was gone. I feel for your buddies because I understand what an athlete will do in order to make it.

-Rick

Rick
I know you were not making light of it. BTW,My daughter(Amanda's Mom)won the Mt. San Antonio Invitational Cross Country Meet when she was in high school. And thanks for the info on the Lands.

[Rick Farris]

Roger . . . My post about Dianabol was not meant to make light of the potential dangers of steroid use. I think you know I was just commenting on the first time I heard of Dianabol, and then saw the results it could produce. I worked with former Raider Lyle Alzado in the 80's, when he guest starred on a TV production I was involved with. He was undergoing chimo therapy at the time and had his head covered with a scarf after losing his hair. Less than a year later, he was gone. I feel for your buddies because I understand what an athlete will do in order to make it.

-Rick

Rick
I know you were not making light of it. BTW,My daughter(Amanda's Mom)won the Mt. San Antonio Invitational Cross Country Meet when she was in high school. And thanks for the info on the Lands.

Roger . . .The Mt. SAC Relays is one of America's biggest track meets. If your daughter won her event in any Mt. SAC Track & Field Meet, then she was one helluva athlete. Judging by her daughter, I'm not surprised. I remember seeing some of the State's best High School track stars at these big meets, competeing on the same card with world record holders, the fastest athletes in the world.

Back in the late 60's & early 70's, I spent a lot of time at Track & Field events and boxing matches, along with Bob Seagren and our wives, who were sisters. Back in the 70's, we had the Sunkist Invitational each January at the L.A. Sports Arena, and in February the L.A. Times Invitaional would be held at the Forum. Those were indoor meets. Outdoors the Coliseum would hold the Compton Relays at the Coliseum, and there was the Mt. SAC Relays. Bob and his wife Kam would travel World Wide every year as Bob competed.

Training with Bob as he prepared for the 1972 Olympics in Munich proved to benefit my boxing career. I was on the road a lot with Bob, and my endurance was at an all-time high. In the '72 U.S. Olympic Trials held in Eugene, Oregon. I watched my friend as he broke the world record by a full 5 1/2 inches! No Pole Vaulter in history had ever broken the record by such a large margin. Seagren had broken the world record a dozen times.

Speaking of a few L.A. boxers who were great distance/cross country runners: Mando Ramos, Ruben Navarro & Frankie Crawford. After training with Seagren, I ran the "Maravilla Kid" into the ground one day. However, when we spoke last year, he had conveniently forgotten. Ruben had my number inside the ropes, but he couldn't get the best of me on the road. Ruben had been on his high school's cross country team.

-Rick Farris

[Expug]

Rick, its a drag losing pictures I know.
The other day I wanted to show a friend of mine a hilarious picture of myself with Leon Spinks.
It was taken at the Park West in Chicago at one of my fights.
Im standing there next to Leon who was a guest that night.Ive got the Kelly Green Shamrock robe on getting ready to climb the steps.Leons in full super fly regalia.Big wide brimmed hat with the feather, shades, the works. Its a classic.Or was. :x

Brian . . . That does sound like a classic photo. Leon's flame blew out quickly, tragicly. Here was a guy who could really fight, so could his little brother. Only Mike Tyson whipped Michael, and Leon whipped himself. I know he was considered a "small" heavyweight, but he was big enough to score a major legue upset, one of the biggest ever. I believe that if Leon Spinks had the dedication of little brother, he could have been a true threat to the big boys of the oncoming era. A motivated guy with Leon's talent could out work some of the big lazy-ass heavy's of the era that followed the Ali/Frazier/Foreman years. However, an unprepared boxer ain't worth a bucket of warm piss.

-Rick

Your right Rick.
Leon was a tough busy heavyweight when right.
But the fact he was easily sidetracked is well documented no doubt.
Back in the late eighties he was a "greeter" at Mike Ditkas restaraunt here in Chicago.
Incidently, Ditka is a guy I couldnt stand.Hes a big mouth. A blowhard.

[Rick Farris]

Rick, its a drag losing pictures I know.
The other day I wanted to show a friend of mine a hilarious picture of myself with Leon Spinks.
It was taken at the Park West in Chicago at one of my fights.
Im standing there next to Leon who was a guest that night.Ive got the Kelly Green Shamrock robe on getting ready to climb the steps.Leons in full super fly regalia.Big wide brimmed hat with the feather, shades, the works. Its a classic.Or was. :x

Brian . . . That does sound like a classic photo. Leon's flame blew out quickly, tragicly. Here was a guy who could really fight, so could his little brother. Only Mike Tyson whipped Michael, and Leon whipped himself. I know he was considered a "small" heavyweight, but he was big enough to score a major legue upset, one of the biggest ever. I believe that if Leon Spinks had the dedication of little brother, he could have been a true threat to the big boys of the oncoming era. A motivated guy with Leon's talent could out work some of the big lazy-ass heavy's of the era that followed the Ali/Frazier/Foreman years. However, an unprepared boxer ain't worth a bucket of warm piss.

-Rick

Your right Rick.
Leon was a tough busy heavyweight when right.
But the fact he was easily sidetracked is well documented no doubt.
Back in the late eighties he was a "greeter" at Mike Ditkas restaraunt here in Chicago.
Incidently, Ditka is a guy I couldnt stand.Hes a big mouth. A blowhard.

Leon And "Mr. T" . . .

Brian . . .A funny Leon Spinks story took place as Leon prepared for his rematch with Ali. He had aquired a new body guard, Mr. T, who was an unknown bouncer at the time who'd landed a job with the champ. The press took an interest in the mystique surrounding Spink's newest body guard, who would silently survey the surroundings with his patent glare.

One day, as reporters prepared to interview Spinks at a press conference, one of the newscaster's began to interview Mr. T. Needless to say, this irritated Spinks, who answered for his body guard by slapping his hand down on top of T's bald head as he informed the media they were not to talk to "The Help". Mr. T sheeplessly bowed his head after be repremanded by the champ.

-Rick Farris

[Expug]

Great story about T Rick.
He was a fixture at Chicago Discos on Rush Stret here in Chicago back in the 70s before he made it big.
He was a bouncer and he won some contest."Americas toughest bouncer"or some nonsense.I think it was on TV.
He was standing in front of BBC a Rush Street disco one lovely afternoon before he was famous.
We were cruising along in Larrys drop top cadillac. Larry yelled something along the lines of "Nice head Jerkoff"at Mr. T.
T actually charged the car. I thought he was gonna dive into the back seat. Larry jumped on the gas and we were out of there.
True story. Good Times in Chi-Town.
A few years later Larry was dead. Killed on his sisters wedding day coming home from the reception drunk on his motorcycle.

[Rick Farris]

Great story about T Rick.
He was a fixture at Chicago Discos on Rush Stret here in Chicago back in the 70s before he made it big.
He was a bouncer and he won some contest."Americas toughest bouncer"or some nonsense.I think it was on TV.
He was standing in front of BBC a Rush Street disco one lovely afternoon before he was famous.
We were cruising along in Larrys drop top cadillac. Larry yelled something along the lines of "Nice head Jerkoff"at Mr. T.
T actually charged the car. I thought he was gonna dive into the back seat. Larry jumped on the gas and we were out of there.
True story. Good Times in Chi-Town.
A few years later Larry was dead. Killed on his sisters wedding day coming home from the reception drunk on his motorcycle.

The T story is funny. Sorry about Larry.

-Rick

[Expug]

Thanks Rick.
Larry was just one of those guys that was wilder then hell.
We have all known the type.But, when the shit hit the fan, he was right there going back to back with you.

[bennie]

Joe Calzaghe’s retirement from boxing last Thursday night triggered the inevitable post-mortem to a remarkably successful - and remarkably public – career dating back to 1993. The 36-year-old Welshman, who turned pro on the Lennox Lewis-Frank Bruno bill in Cardiff, won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 2007 and a couple of big fights in the States last year. He decides to bow out with a perfect 46-0 record, three short of Rocky Marciano’s indelible 49-0, his legacy seemingly assured.
Or is it? Traditionalists have long-debated Marciano’s greatness and the latter will also apply to Calzaghe. Some have gone as far as to hail Calzaghe as the greatest British fighter ever; others, a wasted talent. Calzaghe never beat anyone like 37-year-old Joe Louis but he beat Chris Eubank, Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, among many, many others. He won more major world title fights than any British fighter in history.
One can only imagine what he would have done to someone like Kelly Pavlik, thrashed by Hopkins six months after Hopkins had lost to Joe, or Sven Ottke, or Glen Johnson, or Clinton Woods or Dariusz Michaelczweski… There lies the crux of the matter. For each huge win, there are two or three others that could and perhaps should have happened for the gifted southpaw.
Undeniably, the man had it all. He was super-quick, hit hard, had great movement, boasted a fantastic engine and took a good shot, when he did get caught. He leaves the game totally unmarked.
The man just kept winning.

[Rick Farris]

Joe Calzaghe’s retirement from boxing last Thursday night triggered the inevitable post-mortem to a remarkably successful - and remarkably public – career dating back to 1993. The 36-year-old Welshman, who turned pro on the Lennox Lewis-Frank Bruno bill in Cardiff, won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 2007 and a couple of big fights in the States last year. He decides to bow out with a perfect 46-0 record, three short of Rocky Marciano’s indelible 49-0, his legacy seemingly assured.
Or is it? Traditionalists have long-debated Marciano’s greatness and the latter will also apply to Calzaghe. Some have gone as far as to hail Calzaghe as the greatest British fighter ever; others, a wasted talent. Calzaghe never beat anyone like 37-year-old Joe Louis but he beat Chris Eubank, Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, among many, many others. He won more major world title fights than any British fighter in history.
One can only imagine what he would have done to someone like Kelly Pavlik, thrashed by Hopkins six months after Hopkins had lost to Joe, or Sven Ottke, or Glen Johnson, or Clinton Woods or Dariusz Michaelczweski… There lies the crux of the matter. For each huge win, there are two or three others that could and perhaps should have happened for the gifted southpaw.
Undeniably, the man had it all. He was super-quick, hit hard, had great movement, boasted a fantastic engine and took a good shot, when he did get caught. He leaves the game totally unmarked.
The man just kept winning.

Bennie . . . Cheers to this future Hall of Famer. He is a class act and a winner. Once in awhile a special fighter takes the best of his career and leaves, when the time is right. Marciano did, so did Lennox Lewis. Trying to squeeze every last penny out of a boxing career repeatedly leads to tragic results. A few years ago, people saw Roy Jones Jr. as a "super human fighter" (of course those who saw that were blind) however, today, he is just a bum in the park when it comes to ring skills, but he still fights. Lennox Lewis has turned down $millions in offers to return to boxing, and hopefully so well Calzaghe. Modern day boxing got it's start in Great Britain, now the Brits are setting an example for the rest of the world of what boxer's should do before it's too late.

Cheers to Joe Calzaghe

-Rick

[Rick Farris]

Thanks Rick.
Larry was just one of those guys that was wilder then hell.
We have all known the type.But, when the shit hit the fan, he was right there going back to back with you.

That was my pal, heavyweight Al "Kit" Boursse'. Al was a great guy and he and I had a lot of close experiences. He was always there when the shit hit the fan. I wish he were alive today and could join us at our WBHOF get togethers, you guys would have liked him, specially you and Rog, our heavyweight posters. He was a Quarry sparring partner and fought Ron Lyle in the amateurs, as well as Stoney Land, Bunky Aikens, Clay Hodges, Walter Moore. He was also a sparring partner for George Foreman in L.A. in 1973. A bad hand sidelined his pro career. It's just as well, he came up at a time when the heavyweight division was richer than ever in talent . . . Ali, Frazier, Foreman, etc. We both had that in common, at the time, L.A. was where you would find the richest talent in the lower weight classes, as well.

Al and I were never world class boxers, but we traded blows with some of the best of our era, some of the best of all time, at the Main St. Gym. That means nothing in the overall scope of boxing history, but meant a helluva lot to us.

-Rick

[Expug]

Joe was a helluva fighter. A tremendous fighter.
I really hope he stays retired , socks away his money and lives out the rest of his days a happy content former champ.
Ricks right , Calzaghe is a winner.
Another thing about Joe. That style, the southpaw ,the angles , the flurries.He would be a helluva tough fight for anybody.A very very difficult fighter.
I have alot of respect for him.

[Expug]

Thanks Rick.
Larry was just one of those guys that was wilder then hell.
We have all known the type.But, when the shit hit the fan, he was right there going back to back with you.

That was my pal, heavyweight Al "Kit" Boursse'. Al was a great guy and he and I had a lot of close experiences. He was always there when the shit hit the fan. I wish he were alive today and could join us at our WBHOF get togethers, you guys would have liked him, specially you and Rog, our heavyweight posters. He was a Quarry sparring partner and fought Ron Lyle in the amateurs, as well as Stoney Land, Bunky Aikens, Clay Hodges, Walter Moore. He was also a sparring partner for George Foreman in L.A. in 1973. A bad hand sidelined his pro career. It's just as well, he came up at a time when the heavyweight division was richer than ever in talent . . . Ali, Frazier, Foreman, etc. We both had that in common, at the time, L.A. was where you would find the richest talent in the lower weight classes, as well.

Al and I were never world class boxers, but we traded blows with some of the best of our era, some of the best of all time, at the Main St. Gym. That means nothing in the overall scope of boxing history, but meant a helluva lot to us.

-Rick

Believe me Rick. I understand exactly what you mean.
I will tell you also, last night I escorted Michael Jordan around the United Center for a Bulls game he was attending.
Hes an all time great athlete and a nice guy.
The fans absolutely adore this guy.
Im infinitely more impressed with you for getting in there and sparring with Ruben Olivares and some of the others you have swapped with.
So, we are on the same page partner.

[kikibalt]

[Rick Farris]

Syers was no Palooka . . .

Those of us who know the career of Mando Ramos are aware that he was only 17 when he KO'ed Allen Syers, not 18 as he led everyone to believe in order to obtain a pro boxing license in California. Allen Syers was no "set up" like you see fighters of today facing early in their careers. As noted in the above article, Syers had just blasted out Herman Escobar in one round. Escobar a good fighter, and the younger brother of 1950's headliners Andy & Alfredo Escobar.

-Rick Farris

[Rick Farris]

Thanks Rick.
Larry was just one of those guys that was wilder then hell.
We have all known the type.But, when the shit hit the fan, he was right there going back to back with you.

That was my pal, heavyweight Al "Kit" Boursse'. Al was a great guy and he and I had a lot of close experiences. He was always there when the shit hit the fan. I wish he were alive today and could join us at our WBHOF get togethers, you guys would have liked him, specially you and Rog, our heavyweight posters. He was a Quarry sparring partner and fought Ron Lyle in the amateurs, as well as Stoney Land, Bunky Aikens, Clay Hodges, Walter Moore. He was also a sparring partner for George Foreman in L.A. in 1973. A bad hand sidelined his pro career. It's just as well, he came up at a time when the heavyweight division was richer than ever in talent . . . Ali, Frazier, Foreman, etc. We both had that in common, at the time, L.A. was where you would find the richest talent in the lower weight classes, as well.

Al and I were never world class boxers, but we traded blows with some of the best of our era, some of the best of all time, at the Main St. Gym. That means nothing in the overall scope of boxing history, but meant a helluva lot to us.

-Rick

Believe me Rick. I understand exactly what you mean.
I will tell you also, last night I escorted Michael Jordan around the United Center for a Bulls game he was attending.
Hes an all time great athlete and a nice guy.
The fans absolutely adore this guy.
Im infinitely more impressed with you for getting in there and sparring with Ruben Olivares and some of the others you have swapped with.
So, we are on the same page partner.

Brian . . . You have a great job and I can't think of a better bodyguard/security for a high profile celebrity. Michael Jordan is one of my all-time favorite pro athletes. The days of the Bulls under Phil Jackson were my favorite, with Jordan and the rest of the all-star crew. I bet you could write a helluva book on your experiences with the Bulls and Black Hawks, not to mention your own personal experiences.

-Rick