Classic American West Coast Boxing

[bennie]

Bennie, Ive heard that Randy passed away, but I have no details on it.
His is a story that has played out so many times in boxing history.He had a ton of talent and was a tremendously decorated amateur . He won the Golden Gloves several times, maybe even the Nationals also.
All the talent in the world but for some reason, early on , someone decided he was an opponent type and he was sent all over the world fighting in other guys backyards. Always fighting the hometown favorite. Always expected to go the distance and test the prospect but not expected to upset the prospect.Im not saying he got robbed all the time.Just that with some better management and someone looking out for him, he would definitely have been a contendor.He should have been more than a journeyman .

True, Pug, and it is sad to think another talented fighter is gone.

[raylawpc]

Ken Buchanan recently (circa 2006).

Another pix of Ken w/ Steve Collins in 2008:



And with Collins and Jimmy Clyne at the same event:

[Expug]

Buchannan looks well.
Thats good to see.I think with Ken fighting again it boils down to "needs to vs. wants to".
If Ken is in great shape and wants to jump in there for the thrill, challenge, etc. more power to him.
The problems I think arise when an ex great thinks that it is all he can do. That its the only way to stay afloat'
The only way to make a buck.

[Rick Farris]

Ken Buchanan today.

One last go . . .

If he really wants to fight, they should let him fight. My opinion only.
However, word to the wise Kenny . . . It hurts a lot more in your 60's, than it did in your 20's.
Your body is going to hate 'ya for the ass-whipping your mouth is going to buy 'ya.

Remember mate, there is no "Senior League" for boxers.
To bad, because we've this guy out here on the West Coast, a bit older than you . . . he fought under the name "Joey Barnum."
I gotta feeling that Joey will fight you, just for the fun of it. Of course.


-Rick Farris

[raylawpc]

Ken Buchanan today.

One last go . . .

If he really wants to fight, they should let him fight. My opinion only.
However, word to the wise Kenny . . . It hurts a lot more in your 60's, than it did in your 20's.
Your body is going to hate 'ya for the ass-whipping your mouth is going to buy 'ya.

Remember mate, there is no "Senior League" for boxers.
To bad, because we've this guy out here on the West Coast, a bit older than you . . . he fought under the name "Joey Barnum."
I gotta feeling that Joey will fight you, just for the fun of it. Of course.


-Rick Farris

I remember when Danny Lopez contemplated a comeback not too many years ago, worked out a few days in the gym, and then dropped the idea. When somebody asked him why, Danny replied: "The punches hurt now." Nuff said.

[Rick Farris]

Ken Buchanan today.

One last go . . .

If he really wants to fight, they should let him fight. My opinion only.
However, word to the wise Kenny . . . It hurts a lot more in your 60's, than it did in your 20's.
Your body is going to hate 'ya for the ass-whipping your mouth is going to buy 'ya.

Remember mate, there is no "Senior League" for boxers.
To bad, because we've this guy out here on the West Coast, a bit older than you . . . he fought under the name "Joey Barnum."
I gotta feeling that Joey will fight you, just for the fun of it. Of course.


-Rick Farris

I remember when Danny Lopez contemplated a comeback not too many years ago, worked out a few days in the gym, and then dropped the idea. When somebody asked him why, Danny replied: "The punches hurt now." Nuff said.

"Just a four-rounder?"
Bar Stool Wisdom 101 . . .

Danny "Lil Red" Lopez actually did have one last fight in his forties.
He was KOed easily, in the second round by a guy that wouldn't have lasted thru the instructions with Little Red back in the day.

I was no Lopez or Buchanan, but in my mid-30's I thought it might be good to have some fun and maybe match myself in a four-rounder.
I went to the Goossen's Gym with actor Victor French, we had come up with this great idea for me to have another fight while sitting on bar stools on a film location.
Great wisdom is often found on such barstools, miles from home, a dozen years seperated from the perils of pugilism.

I did well my first time sparring in a dozen years, with a prelim kid. I leave town for another location and return to the gym two weeks later.
I want to box again and Joe Goossen suggests I wait until I'm in a little better condition.
No, I wanted to box that day. So he puts me in with this 120 pounder, a 16-year-old amateur.
Three rounds of seeing openings, my reflexes not responding, eating jabs, hooks and uppercuts, lungs burning after just nine minutes.
I got the message. But I also started to train again, and I have never stopped for long.
I won't look to fight again, but if one ever comes my way, I want to be as good as I can be. That's enough.

By the way, I was a successful lighting director with Michael Landon's "Highway To Heaven" at the time, had a new home, two little daughters, a beautiful wife, everything on track.
Why the Hell would I want to box again? Simple question, the answer isn't so simple. Who the Hell knows?

When I stepped out of the ring, Joe Goossen says, "You showed a lot of savvy in there."
I laughed, "Give me a break. That kid made me look like crap. By the way, he's really got talent."

I looked over at the slender 16-year-old. Joe told me that he and his brother were exceptional young boxers, almost self-taught.
"Yeah, he and his 15-year-old brother kicked Ray Mancini's ass last week, and Frankie Duarte's." Goossen told me.
Boom-Boom Mancini had just started training for his comeback fight with Hector Camacho, it was 1986.
A few months later, Frankie Duarte would challenge Bernardo Pinango for the WBA bantam title.

"What's his name?" I ask Goossen.
"His name is Gabrial Ruelas, we call him 'Gabe'. His brother is just as good, Rafael, or 'Rafa'."

A few years later both became World Champions. Great bar stool story.


-Rick Farris

[raylawpc]

I wasn't much of a boxer but I enjoyed doing it (I was a much, much better cornerman). If I had it all to do over again, I would. And I wish I had had the maturity and experience then that I have now; I might have actually been a good boxer.

But all that said, I don't ever want to get hit in the head again in my life. 54 is too old for that stuff.

[Expug]

Great stuff Rick!
The Ruelas bros. were tough man.

Im convinced once your a fighter you always are. I bet there isnt an ex fighter out there who doesnt think about stepping into the ring again no matter how old they are.
The good thing about fighting , is its the most exciting thing you can possibly do.
The bad thing about fighting is its the most exciting thing you can possibly do.

[raylawpc]

To quote Dirty Harry Callahan: "A man's got to know his limitations."

[Rick Farris]

To quote Dirty Harry Callahan: "A man's got to know his limitations."

Sometimes it's best not to give "limitations" too much power.

-Rick Farris

[SusanW]

Hi, new here --
I was doing a search on my brother's name (Paul Teibl) and came up with this forum. How cool to see him mentioned somewhere (even just "in passing," so to speak) after all these years:

Coliseum, San Diego, California, United States
Manuel Lujan D Miguel Meza PTS 10 10
Randy De La O D Ignacio Cota PTS 4 4
Manuel Castellanos W Joe DeBaker KO 2
Lobito Gonzalez W Paul Teibl KO 4

I was just a little girl when he was boxing (he's 16 yrs. older than I am) but remember well the pride I had in watching him on t.v. -- in black and white, no less. ;;-) I even remember seeing him on ABC's Wide World of Sports once, for knocking out his opponent in the first few seconds of the match. He also won the Southern CA Golden Gloves at one point, too (mid-70's). Neat memories.

Paul suffered a traumatic brain injury in an auto/pedestrian accident 12 years ago and still resides in the L.A. area, but in a neuro care home. He's unable to walk, talk or even eat. He's alert, but his physical abilities are gone. It's hard to think about how athletic, talentend and independent he once was.

Anyway, thanks for mentioning him here! It was nice to see his name again, even if simply in a message board forum.

[Rick Farris]

Hi, new here --
I was doing a search on my brother's name (Paul Teibl) and came up with this forum. How cool to see him mentioned somewhere (even just "in passing," so to speak) after all these years:

Coliseum, San Diego, California, United States
Manuel Lujan D Miguel Meza PTS 10 10
Randy De La O D Ignacio Cota PTS 4 4
Manuel Castellanos W Joe DeBaker KO 2
Lobito Gonzalez W Paul Teibl KO 4

I was just a little girl when he was boxing (he's 16 yrs. older than I am) but remember well the pride I had in watching him on t.v. -- in black and white, no less. ;;-) I even remember seeing him on ABC's Wide World of Sports once, for knocking out his opponent in the first few seconds of the match. He also won the Southern CA Golden Gloves at one point, too (mid-70's). Neat memories.

Paul suffered a traumatic brain injury in an auto/pedestrian accident 12 years ago and still resides in the L.A. area, but in a neuro care home. He's unable to walk, talk or even eat. He's alert, but his physical abilities are gone. It's hard to think about how athletic, talentend and independent he once was.

Anyway, thanks for mentioning him here! It was nice to see his name again, even if simply in a message board forum.

Susan . . .

I didn't know your brother, but I was a pro in Southern Cal at the same time. He had a short career, but he finished with a winning record. He beat a guy that also fought future world champ, Danny "Little Red" Lopez, so your brother's name shall forever have a connection to Southern Cal boxing history. I can see his name appears on the same card with one of our regulars, Randy De La O, another pro of the era. Maybe Randy remembers your brother? There is a good chance they shared a dressing room in the small San Diego Coliseum?

And just for the record, Susan, we are not "just" any message board forum . . . We are the bomb. This is as good as it gets. We have Hall of Famers posting here. You are always welcome here. We can discuss your brothers era, and who he fought. This is what we do, this is for real boxing people and my best to your brother, he's not forgotten here. His fighting on the same card with our Randy makes him one of our family.

-Rick Farris

[SusanW]

Hi, new here --
I was doing a search on my brother's name (Paul Teibl) and came up with this forum. How cool to see him mentioned somewhere (even just "in passing," so to speak) after all these years:

Coliseum, San Diego, California, United States
Manuel Lujan D Miguel Meza PTS 10 10
Randy De La O D Ignacio Cota PTS 4 4
Manuel Castellanos W Joe DeBaker KO 2
Lobito Gonzalez W Paul Teibl KO 4

I was just a little girl when he was boxing (he's 16 yrs. older than I am) but remember well the pride I had in watching him on t.v. -- in black and white, no less. ;;-) I even remember seeing him on ABC's Wide World of Sports once, for knocking out his opponent in the first few seconds of the match. He also won the Southern CA Golden Gloves at one point, too (mid-70's). Neat memories.

Paul suffered a traumatic brain injury in an auto/pedestrian accident 12 years ago and still resides in the L.A. area, but in a neuro care home. He's unable to walk, talk or even eat. He's alert, but his physical abilities are gone. It's hard to think about how athletic, talentend and independent he once was.

Anyway, thanks for mentioning him here! It was nice to see his name again, even if simply in a message board forum.

Susan . . .

I didn't know your brother, but I was a pro in Southern Cal at the same time. He had a short career, but he finished with a winning record. He beat a guy that also fought future world champ, Danny "Little Red" Lopez, so your brother's name shall forever have a connection to Southern Cal boxing history. I can see his name appears on the same card with one of our regulars, Randy De La O, another pro of the era. Maybe Randy remembers your brother? There is a good chance they shared a dressing room in the small San Diego Coliseum?

And just for the record, Susan, we are not "just" any message board forum . . . We are the bomb. This is as good as it gets. We have Hall of Famers posting here. You are always welcome here. We can discuss your brothers era, and who he fought. This is what we do, this is for real boxing people and my best to your brother, he's not forgotten here. His fighting on the same card with our Randy makes him one of our family.

-Rick Farris

Rick,
How nice of you to reply; what you said really made my day. Thank you! :)

I will be sure to check back here often, and maybe pop in with a question every once in awhile. I really appreciate your making me feel so welcome.

Susan D

[kikibalt]

I remeber Paul fighting in the amateurs, I believe he fought for Tony Gomez

boxer: Paul Teibl

division bantamweight

nationality United States

residence Sacramento, California, United States
won 4 (KO 2) + lost 2 (KO 2) + drawn 0 = 6
rounds boxed 27 : KO% 33.33

1976-08-13 128 Lobito Gonzalez 128 0-0-0
Coliseum, San Diego, California, United States L KO 4

1976-03-19 David Haros 0-0-0
Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 5

1975-07-11 125 Roy Hernandez 127 0-1-0
Coliseum, San Diego, California, United States L KO 5

1975-06-19 David Pacheco 2-2-0
San Diego, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1974-12-13 Ben Montoya 0-0-0
San Diego, California, United States W KO 1

1974-07-31 125 Fidel Frajo 125 9-1-1
Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, United States W PTS 6 6

[SusanW]

How cool that you remember him! I will have to let him know. Thanks for posting!

[El Gato]

Hi everyone,

I had to catch up on the last four pages.

First to Dago...
Another new artistic painting of me. Thank you so much for doing this and for posting it on this thread. I noticed that it was different right away.

As for the earthquake, Barbara and I were sitting on the sofa watching TV with our cat (the 4 legged one) sitting between us. Barbara asked me if I felt an earthquake. I told her the cat probably was scratching himself. She said that he wasn't be scratching on the wall where the picture was rattling. Anyway, it wasn't much of a jolt down here. Thank God for that.

That is a super idea for you to come up with the idea for us all to get together, Frank.
Tom's Farms is a really nice place to meet. We have been there several times and like it alot. It was nice that you posted photos of some of the places that are there for all of us to see.
Sunday, June 7 works out well for us. We will be out of town on some of the other week-ends.

El Gato

[Rick Farris]

Hi everyone,

I had to catch up on the last four pages.

First to Dago...
Another new artistic painting of me. Thank you so much for doing this and for posting it on this thread. I noticed that it was different right away.

As for the earthquake, Barbara and I were sitting on the sofa watching TV with our cat (the 4 legged one) sitting between us. Barbara asked me if I felt an earthquake. I told her the cat probably was scratching himself. She said that he wasn't be scratching on the wall where the picture was rattling. Anyway, it wasn't much of a jolt down here. Thank God for that.

That is a super idea for you to come up with the idea for us all to get together, Frank.
Tom's Farms is a really nice place to meet. We have been there several times and like it alot. It was nice that you posted photos of some of the places that are there for all of us to see.
Sunday, June 7 works out well for us. We will be out of town on some of the other week-ends.

El Gato

Frank . . . Looks like we're all in for the 7th. This is great! Long overdue!

-Rick

[kikibalt]

Hi everyone,

I had to catch up on the last four pages.

First to Dago...
Another new artistic painting of me. Thank you so much for doing this and for posting it on this thread. I noticed that it was different right away.

As for the earthquake, Barbara and I were sitting on the sofa watching TV with our cat (the 4 legged one) sitting between us. Barbara asked me if I felt an earthquake. I told her the cat probably was scratching himself. She said that he wasn't be scratching on the wall where the picture was rattling. Anyway, it wasn't much of a jolt down here. Thank God for that.

That is a super idea for you to come up with the idea for us all to get together, Frank.
Tom's Farms is a really nice place to meet. We have been there several times and like it alot. It was nice that you posted photos of some of the places that are there for all of us to see.
Sunday, June 7 works out well for us. We will be out of town on some of the other week-ends.

El Gato

Frank . . . Looks like we're all in for the 7th. This is great! Long overdue!

-Rick

Yeah! looks like its the 7th, we need to set a time to be there, I say early, like 9:00 AM,
as the parking lot gets full early, let me know what you guys think.

[Rick Farris]

Hi everyone,

I had to catch up on the last four pages.

First to Dago...
Another new artistic painting of me. Thank you so much for doing this and for posting it on this thread. I noticed that it was different right away.

As for the earthquake, Barbara and I were sitting on the sofa watching TV with our cat (the 4 legged one) sitting between us. Barbara asked me if I felt an earthquake. I told her the cat probably was scratching himself. She said that he wasn't be scratching on the wall where the picture was rattling. Anyway, it wasn't much of a jolt down here. Thank God for that.

That is a super idea for you to come up with the idea for us all to get together, Frank.
Tom's Farms is a really nice place to meet. We have been there several times and like it alot. It was nice that you posted photos of some of the places that are there for all of us to see.
Sunday, June 7 works out well for us. We will be out of town on some of the other week-ends.

El Gato

Frank . . . Looks like we're all in for the 7th. This is great! Long overdue!

-Rick

Yeah! looks like its the 7th, we need to set a time to be there, I say early, like 9:00 AM,
as the parking lot gets full early, let me know what you guys think.

9:00 AM?
OK! We'll be there. Parking is important. Look forward to a great day.

-Rick & Monica

[scartissue]

Bennie, Ive heard that Randy passed away, but I have no details on it.
His is a story that has played out so many times in boxing history.He had a ton of talent and was a tremendously decorated amateur . He won the Golden Gloves several times, maybe even the Nationals also.
All the talent in the world but for some reason, early on , someone decided he was an opponent type and he was sent all over the world fighting in other guys backyards. Always fighting the hometown favorite. Always expected to go the distance and test the prospect but not expected to upset the prospect.Im not saying he got robbed all the time.Just that with some better management and someone looking out for him, he would definitely have been a contendor.He should have been more than a journeyman .

Brian, were you with us in the lobby when we met up with Leeroy Murphy? I asked him then about Randy Smith and it was he who told me Randy died about 15 years ago, which seemed to coincide with about his last fight. I remember when he and Murphy were amateur teammates. It was almost assured that the annual GG's middleweight champ was going to be Randy Smith and Murphy at lt. heavy. The two were nationally ranked also. But Smith never had Murphy's punch. He could smack a bit but never had the kind of power that could turn 9 rounds of despair into a 10th round victory, like Murphy had. Still, I thought there was going to be more from him but he soon became journeyman. A sort of modern day Tiger Jones or Angel Robinson Garcia. He would box, shimmy, grab and always go the distance with his defense and remarkable jaw in the other fighter's hometown. There were 2 other nationally ranked amateurs from Chicago that never made that next rung and that was Jake Torrance, who also became a journeyman. And Howard Stewart who was a pure bruiser but signed up with some group in Philadelphia who 'transformed' his style. Suddenly I'm hearing about Howard 'Lil Slick' Stewart. "Lil Slick"?! What did they do to him?

Scartissue

[dagosd2000]

.






Yeah! looks like its the 7th, we need to set a time to be there, I say early, like 9:00 AM,
as the parking lot gets full early, let me know what you guys think.[/quote]

9:00 AM?
OK! We'll be there. Parking is important. Look forward to a great day.

-Rick & Monica[/quote]


Sounds good. From San Diego,what time should I get started to be there at 9? Taking the wife and Adam and Amanda.Rog

[dagosd2000]

Ken Buchanan

[scartissue]

Guys, I just got a very nice e-mail from Jeff Flanagan, the son of Glen Flanagan. He saw our conversations on the Flanagan brothers and e-mailed me to thank me. I have invited him on to our little sewing circle in order to share any memories he has. I hope he takes me up on it.

Scartissue

[scartissue]

Bennie, I think he fought Mark Kaylor also.
Did you happen to see that fight?

I'm afraid I didn't, Expug, but again Mark Kaylor was one of our best, most dangerous fighters - a real lunatic.
Randy also came over with a USA amateur team to Gloucester in 1981 and was outscored by England's talented Steve Johnson.

Bennie, I was subscribing to Boxing News at the time of the Kaylor-Errol Christie fight. Was there bad blood between these two or was it spur of the moment stuff? What was the cause of that melee before the fight?

Scartissue

[Rick Farris]

Guys, I just got a very nice e-mail from Jeff Flanagan, the son of Glen Flanagan. He saw our conversations on the Flanagan brothers and e-mailed me to thank me. I have invited him on to our little sewing circle in order to share any memories he has. I hope he takes me up on it.

Scartissue

Dan . . . I gotta PM from Jeff Flanagan, as well. I hopes he joins us. He introduced himself to me at a WBHOF banquet. His dad was inducted a few years back. What a great boxing legacy his family has.

-Rick Farris