Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Rick Farris]

THE BIRTH DEFECT

We were all sittin' around drinkin' in the street that night in front of the little store. The tequila and the cuahmas were on the hood of an old broken down wreck of a car parked on the side of the street. The sun was going down and I always liked feeling like that when the sun is going down on a summer night in that canyon. The colonia was underneath everything and no one seemed to notice us.

The bragging was going on about who got in the worst car accidents. My Mexican son in law said he got his head shoved through the windshield and he's got the scars to prove it. Another guy says he wrapped his car around a lamp post not far down the street and went to the hospital with broken ribs. The last yarn ended it all when another dude said he crashed head on into a truck ,the guy sitting next to him went through the windshield and was killed. No one could come up with a lie or anything else to top that one. We all had a drink for that one.

Meanwhile I saw the kids starting to move the soccer game towards our direction. One of the kids had a protrusion in his chest. They call it a pidgeon breast I think. One of the guys drinkin' with us said that that boy was his son.He said his son's condition was the result of a birth defect. The kid looked around eight or nine.

At the time I was involved with Children's Hospital in San Diego working with kids across the border who were in need of medical help. Children's Hospital had a clinic in one of the local hospitals and would give medical attention to people who were poor. I told the father that I thought I could get his son's condition examined free by the staff at the hospital.

The father began to cry and then we all started too. We must have been a sight all crying like that, drunk in the canyon. I told the father that I'd come back in a few days on a Tuesday to take his son to the clinic.We were all looking at the boy playing soccer with that pidgeon breast. It was sad,but I was happy because I thought I could help.

When I returned Tuesday, I went to the kid's house. His father,who'd been drinking with us in the canyon, was shoveling some dirt in the front. He looked up at me.
"Que pasa?"he asked me.
"Donde esta tu hijo?"
The father looked puzzled. He told me his son was with his grandmother. I don't know why, but I didn't say anything.

I saw the father again once in a while. Never saw his son. When I'd see the father drinking in the canyon with the neighborhood crew ,I'd take my drinking into town.

Roger . . . This one hit home, for some reason. Although the circumstances were different, the story was the exact same thing.
Some people just don't get it. You can't help some people..


-Rick Farris

[kikibalt]

Me in in posh Lytham St Annes near Blackpool. There is a statue of the late, great comedian Les Dawson nearby but I swear it looks more like Chad Dawson.



Below: Bev and I on the coach on the way back. I look like I could do with a blood pressure test but, in my defence, we fair-skinned Irishmen do turn red after a week on the beer.

Bennie...Thanks for those great photos, I believe its the first photos of you that I have seen, so now I know what you look like.....

[kikibalt]

Salvador Sanchez

Great work, Rog, I have to say that I see it as one of your best....

[bennie]

Salvador Sanchez

Salvador Sanchez....... I can't think of Sanchez without thinking of Danny "Little Red" Lopez. In their first fight, I assumed, like most fans, that Danny would win the fight. He might get knocked down, but as in almost all his fights, he would find a way to win, usually by knockout.

Watching the fight unfold it was hard to accept what was happening. Midway through the fight the unacceptable became a foregone conclusion. Danny was being beat from every angle. Sanchez stopped Danny in the thirteenth round of their scheduled fifteen rounder. This Sanchez kid was a prodigy. His style was atypical of Mexican fighters at that time. Smooth, quick, and with complete control of his environment, in complete control of his punches. Every movement had a purpose. I became an instant fan. A few months later he repeated his victory over Danny, this time stopping him in the fourteenth round.

In the next couple of years he racked up some great wins that included Ruben Castillo, Juan La Porte, and a young Azumah Nelson but the apex of his career came with an eighth round knockout of the legendary Champion from Puerto Rico, the great Wilfredo Gomez.

Sanchez died August 12, 1982 in an auto accident. A great loss to his family, the people of Mexico and to the world of boxing. Julio Cesar Chavez is considered the Mexico's greatest boxer and rightly so but with Sanchez dieing at the tender age of twenty two it's not so hard to imagine that
his accomplishments might have exceeded Chavez'. We will never know if he would have beaten Alexis Arguello or what weight he would have finished his career at. He was still a baby.

Roger the painting of Salvador Sanchez is right on target. I believe, knowing that your talent is going to be put to the test this year, that you are rising to the occasion. it's the fighter in you!

Randy

Thanks fellas' for my effort on Sanchez. Sanchez died in a head on collision with a semi truck on a mountain road in his home state of Queretero. I wrote a story about that on the thread way back when.He was supposed to be training for a fight with Juan La Porte. He'd beaten him once before. Sanchez was breaking training. The day he died he'd been drinking heavily with friends and wanted to take his Porsche to a near by town to get stereo speakers installed . They say the impact was so terrible that the only thing that identified him was his gold ring on his finger.

Maybe it was for the best that he went out undefeated. I think that the high life was getting to him.

Btw. I've written so much that my memory is getting foggy. I remember the story about Sanchez that I wrote. Something about the amber lights high in the hills at night near that mountain road where his life ended. The lights representing a little pueblo.At night you can see the amber lights. The nearer to the top of the mountain,the fewer the lights. Something about Sanchez had had enough of the fast life. That he's really up in those hills living the rest of his life in peace.Solitude. I can't remember exactly what I wrote.

Sanchez should have been in bed, fast asleep. Some fighters can only be beaten by themselves.

[bennie]

Me in in posh Lytham St Annes near Blackpool. There is a statue of the late, great comedian Les Dawson nearby but I swear it looks more like Chad Dawson.



Below: Bev and I on the coach on the way back. I look like I could do with a blood pressure test but, in my defence, we fair-skinned Irishmen do turn red after a week on the beer.

Bennie...Thanks for those great photos, I believe its the first photos of you that I have seen, so now I know what you look like.....

Well, I'm no Brian Higgins...

[scartissue]

Finally got around to posting the finale, the Flyweights. Who else belongs in this group?

Scartissue

FLY
Tancy Lee (Scot) (1)
Jimmy Warnock (Ire) (0)
Joe Curran (Eng) (1)
Bunty Doran (Ire) (0)
Leo Espinosa (Phil) (2)
Halimi Gutierrez (Mex) (0)
Fernando Cabanela (Phil) (1)
Luis Estaba (Ven) (0)
Ignacio Espinal (DR) (1)
Martin Vargas (Chile) (3)
Yoko Gushiken (Jap) (0)
Jung Koo Chang (SK) (0)
Chiquita Gonzales (Mex) (0)
Michael Carbajal (USA) (0)
Ricardo Lopez (Mex) (0)

Okay, gang, we made it to 112, so lets square off with Tancy Lee. This tough little Scot was British and Euro Flyweight champ and the only man to stop a peak Jimmy Wilde. Not bad for a fighter who turned pro at 28. Jimmy Warnock, twice beat the Scottish terror, Benny Lynch, both times while Lynch held the crown. Yet, no 15 rounder for Jimmy. Joe Curran, packed in 156 fights between '32 and '48, beating Rinty Monaghan, Bunty Doran and Jackie Paterson. Lost to Paterson when it counted for the title. Bunty Doran, fought four world champs from Fly to Bantam, his win over reigning Flyweight champ Paterson putting him on the fistic map. Leo Espinosa, before abandoning the Flys to make his mark at 118, fought twice for the 112 lb. title, losing to Yoshio Shirai and Pascual Perez. Also beat Shirai and Pone Kingpetch in non-title bouts. Lorenzo (Halimi) Gutierrez, on the night he decked and beat reigning 112 lb. champ Erbito Salavarria in '71, he was the best Flyweight on the planet. Hard to believe with a #5 rating and a record of 58-7-2 going into that fight, a non-title affair was the best he could get. Fernando Cabanela was a tall, rangy Filipino who went 15 with Masao Ohba for the 112 lb. title, and would go on to have a go at Soo-Hwan Hong and Carlos Zarate for the Bantam crown. Also beat Gutierrez, Chartchai Chionoi and Berkrerk Chartvanchai. Luis Estaba, the first in a long line of dominant Jr. Flys. Although 34 by the time he won the title, he managed to make 12 defenses, beating Franco Udella, Rafael Pedroza and Netrnoi Vorasingh. Ignacio Espinal of the Dominican Republic was a classy boxer/puncher who enjoyed outstanding wins over Betulio Gonzales, Valentin Martinez and Vicente Pool. But, was known more for his torrid three bout series with Miguel Canto. Martin Vargas, this hard punching Flyweight from Chile was unfortunate to have met Miguel Canto and Betulio Gonzales in his quest for the title, even having a go at 108 before his day was done. Held wins over world champs, Alfonso Lopez, Joey Olivo and Rafael Pedroza. Yoko Gushiken was an anomaly...with tremendous backing. Jr. Fly champ in his 9th pro bout, he dominated the 108 lb. scene for five years without ever hinting at 112, despite having the height and range for the division. Our loss. Held wins over Juan Guzman, Jaime Rios, Alfonso Lopez, Martin Vargas and Pedro Flores. Jung Koo Chang, the 'Korean Hawk', won the 108 lb. title on his second attempt and held it through 15 title defenses. Along the way he beat Hilario Zapata, Sot Chitalda and German Torres. Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzales, was a short, compact puncher who won and lost the 108 lb. title 3 times. Amazingly, after losing his title the second time to Michael Carbajal, he turned boxer and soundly beat Carbajal in their second and third bouts. Also beat Chang and Melchor Cob Castro. Michael Carbajal, a true warrior of the ring, will always be remembered for the 'Battle of the little giants' showdown with Gonzales where he lifted the title after picking himself off the canvas twice to stop Chiquita in 7. Carbajal also holds wins over Muangchoi Kittikasem and Cob Castro. And finally, one of the true greats of the ring, Ricardo Lopez. Although languishing, in my opinion, at an irrelevant weight such as 105, his style and talent managed to show through the haze which was devoid of the talent that brings out the best in a fighter. Still, 20 defenses and wins over Hideyuki Ohashi, Alex Sanchez and especially Saman Sorjaturong are testament to what he had. Y'know, we could have really made the boxing world take notice if we had an Estaba, Gushiken, Chang, Gonzales, Carbajal and Lopez all converged at 112 instead of diluting the talent pool down to 108 and 105.

Honorable mention: Dai Dower, Myung Woo Yuh, Saman Sorjaturong

[Expug]

Me in in posh Lytham St Annes near Blackpool. There is a statue of the late, great comedian Les Dawson nearby but I swear it looks more like Chad Dawson.



Below: Bev and I on the coach on the way back. I look like I could do with a blood pressure test but, in my defence, we fair-skinned Irishmen do turn red after a week on the beer.

Bennie...Thanks for those great photos, I believe its the first photos of you that I have seen, so now I know what you look like.....

Well, I'm no Brian Higgins...

Thanks Bennie. Great shots of your trip.
It is good to be able to put a face to a person we've conversed with.
You are holding up alot better then I would after a week on the beer.
Once I traveled a week through Scotland and consumed way too much Guinness. I looked like a zombie at the end.

[Rick Farris]

Salvador Sanchez

Roger . . .

Look at all the positive dialogue your painting has inspired.
Isn't that what art is all about?

You brought Salvador Sanchez to life in this one.
We seem to all agree, it's one of your best.



-Rick Farris

[kikibalt]

Courtsey of Michele Chong

http://myboxingfans.com/2009/06/bell-ga ... xing-show/

[Expug]

Roger,
Can I make a request for a painting?
You know that scene in "Fat City" when Sixto Rodriguez gets off the bus with just his duffel bag in his hand arriving in Stockton to fight Billy Tully? Hes all by himself. The journeyman, seen it all. A real pro.
Maybe your impression?

Thanks pal,
Brian

[Rick Farris]

Roger,
Can I make a request for a painting?
You know that scene in "Fat City" when Sixto Rodriguez gets off the bus with just his duffel bag in his hand arriving in Stockton to fight Billy Tully? Hes all by himself. The journeyman, seen it all. A real pro.
Maybe your impression?

Thanks pal,
Brian

That would be very cool, Brian.

I can't wait for October 24th, the WBHOF event.
This year, for me, it's about the art. The art is about the boxers.
I don't know what to expect, but I think Roger is going to be a big hit.
We'll figure the best way possible to showcase his paintings.


-Rick Farris

[Expug]

Roger,
Can I make a request for a painting?
You know that scene in "Fat City" when Sixto Rodriguez gets off the bus with just his duffel bag in his hand arriving in Stockton to fight Billy Tully? Hes all by himself. The journeyman, seen it all. A real pro.
Maybe your impression?

Thanks pal,
Brian

That would be very cool!

I have always really liked that scene. Sixto had a certain dignity. From a mile away you could tell that dude was a fighter.

[Rick Farris]

Roger,
Can I make a request for a painting?
You know that scene in "Fat City" when Sixto Rodriguez gets off the bus with just his duffel bag in his hand arriving in Stockton to fight Billy Tully? Hes all by himself. The journeyman, seen it all. A real pro.
Maybe your impression?

Thanks pal,
Brian

That would be very cool!

I have always really liked that scene. Sixto had a certain dignity. From a mile away you could tell that dude was a fighter.

Brian, that film was shot in early 1971. I had been a pro about a year. Rastar Productions had an open casting call for boxers in L.A. to travel north for a week to appear in a gym sequence they were filming. Lots of L.A. guys in the gym scenes. John Huston was directing.


-Rick

[Expug]

Its my all time favorite for sure.
I know that along with Sixto, Art Aragon was in it as well as Curtis Cokes.They did an outstanding job.

[Rick Farris]

Its my all time favorite for sure.
I know that along with Sixto, Art Aragon was in it as well as Curtis Cokes.They did an outstanding job.

Brian, Art Aragon was no stranger to the screen, both during and after his career.
When I first started out at Universal in the mid-70's, I'd work on a TV series, "Baretta".
Aragon had a reoccuring role as an expug who worked at a corner newstand.

Over the years, whenever there was a boxing production, Art was usually involved, either as an actor or a technical advisor.

The true Hallmark of this thread is the fact that several of us here are aware of a boxing movie that was produced in 1952, the year I was born.
The movie is titled, "The Ring", and we have already discussed it here more than once.
It was one of the first acting jobs for Rita Moreno. Lots of L.A. boxer's and landmarks. Teamster's Gym, Hollywood Legion, Art Aragon, Keeny Teran.
I first saw it as a kid in the sixties. Hap Navarro remembers when it was filmed and so does Frank, as it was filmed in his gym.
Randy has seen it and I've got to get a copy. Aragon is a young fighter, very hot at the time.


-Rick Farris

[kikibalt]

Its my all time favorite for sure.
I know that along with Sixto, Art Aragon was in it as well as Curtis Cokes.They did an outstanding job.

Brian, Art Aragon was no stranger to the screen, both during and after his career.
When I first started out at Universal in the mid-70's, I'd work on a TV series, "Baretta".
Aragon had a reoccuring role as an expug who worked at a corner newstand.

Over the years, whenever there was a boxing production, Art was usually involved, either as an actor or a technical advisor.

The true Hallmark of this thread is the fact that several of us here are aware of a boxing movie that was produced in 1952, the year I was born.
The movie is titled, "The Ring", and we have already discussed it here more than once.
It was one of the first acting jobs for Rita Moreno. Lots of L.A. boxer's and landmarks. Teamster's Gym, Hollywood Legion, Art Aragon, Keeny Teran.
I first saw it as a kid in the sixties. Hap Navarro remembers when it was filmed and so does Frank, as it was filmed in his gym.
Randy has seen it and I've got to get a copy. Aragon is a young fighter, very hot at the time.


-Rick Farris

Rick...Some of the boxing scenes were shot at the old Valley Garden Arena in the S.F. Valley.

I was at the Teamsters when the gym scenes were being shot there.

[kikibalt]

All the following Enrique Bolanos photos and caption courtsey of Robert Bolanos jr.



Hi Frank,

Here are some more pictures. I am not sure if you can see it in the picture but it looks like he's got a bruise on his right cheek just below his eye. I don;t know who he is posing with.

Robert

[kikibalt]

Here is Enrique with Parnasus probably looking over a contract

[kikibalt]

Looks like photo after a fight. Hey Frank, the guy over to the left looks a little like you. Is that you?

Robert

[kikibalt]

I think this is his trainer Villafor with Enrique. Can you confirm that Frank?

Robert

[kikibalt]

Enrique is sparring. Frank, do you know the sparring partner?

Robert

[Rick Farris]

Its my all time favorite for sure.
I know that along with Sixto, Art Aragon was in it as well as Curtis Cokes.They did an outstanding job.

Brian, Art Aragon was no stranger to the screen, both during and after his career.
When I first started out at Universal in the mid-70's, I'd work on a TV series, "Baretta".
Aragon had a reoccuring role as an expug who worked at a corner newstand.

Over the years, whenever there was a boxing production, Art was usually involved, either as an actor or a technical advisor.

The true Hallmark of this thread is the fact that several of us here are aware of a boxing movie that was produced in 1952, the year I was born.
The movie is titled, "The Ring", and we have already discussed it here more than once.
It was one of the first acting jobs for Rita Moreno. Lots of L.A. boxer's and landmarks. Teamster's Gym, Hollywood Legion, Art Aragon, Keeny Teran.
I first saw it as a kid in the sixties. Hap Navarro remembers when it was filmed and so does Frank, as it was filmed in his gym.
Randy has seen it and I've got to get a copy. Aragon is a young fighter, very hot at the time.


-Rick Farris

Rick...Some of the boxing scenes were shot at the old Valley Garden Arena in the S.F. Valley.

I was at the Teamsters when the gym scenes were being shot there.

Frank . . . I remember the Valley Gardens Arena, however I never saw a fight there. I believe the '65 Golden Gloves tournament finals was held there, and I think that was the last boxing show. It closed shortly afterwards, and became a warehouse. As a kid in Burbank, I lived pretty close to the old arena, which was on Vineland Ave. almost at the end of the Bob Hope Airport runway.

Seems I remember that it was also used in the movie. I also recall how young Jimmy Lennon looked.
Thanks.


-Rick

[Rick Farris]

I think this is his trainer Villafor with Enrique. Can you confirm that Frank?

Robert

That's Johnny Villaflor, without question.


-Rick Farris

[Rick Farris]

Looks like photo after a fight. Hey Frank, the guy over to the left looks a little like you. Is that you?

Robert

Look at George Parnassus (far right). Classic photo, I remember Villaflor and Parnassus so well, but they were a lot older.


-Rick Farris

[Randyman]

THE BIRTH DEFECT

We were all sittin' around drinkin' in the street that night in front of the little store. The tequila and the cuahmas were on the hood of an old broken down wreck of a car parked on the side of the street. The sun was going down and I always liked feeling like that when the sun is going down on a summer night in that canyon. The colonia was underneath everything and no one seemed to notice us.

The bragging was going on about who got in the worst car accidents. My Mexican son in law said he got his head shoved through the windshield and he's got the scars to prove it. Another guy says he wrapped his car around a lamp post not far down the street and went to the hospital with broken ribs. The last yarn ended it all when another dude said he crashed head on into a truck ,the guy sitting next to him went through the windshield and was killed. No one could come up with a lie or anything else to top that one. We all had a drink for that one.

Meanwhile I saw the kids starting to move the soccer game towards our direction. One of the kids had a protrusion in his chest. They call it a pidgeon breast I think. One of the guys drinkin' with us said that that boy was his son.He said his son's condition was the result of a birth defect. The kid looked around eight or nine.

At the time I was involved with Children's Hospital in San Diego working with kids across the border who were in need of medical help. Children's Hospital had a clinic in one of the local hospitals and would give medical attention to people who were poor. I told the father that I thought I could get his son's condition examined free by the staff at the hospital.

The father began to cry and then we all started too. We must have been a sight all crying like that, drunk in the canyon. I told the father that I'd come back in a few days on a Tuesday to take his son to the clinic.We were all looking at the boy playing soccer with that pidgeon breast. It was sad,but I was happy because I thought I could help.

When I returned Tuesday, I went to the kid's house. His father,who'd been drinking with us in the canyon, was shoveling some dirt in the front. He looked up at me.
"Que pasa?"he asked me.
"Donde esta tu hijo?"
The father looked puzzled. He told me his son was with his grandmother. I don't know why, but I didn't say anything.

I saw the father again once in a while. Never saw his son. When I'd see the father drinking in the canyon with the neighborhood crew ,I'd take my drinking into town.

Roger . . . This one hit home, for some reason. Although the circumstances were different, the story was the exact same thing.
Some people just don't get it. You can't help some people..


-Rick Farris

Ain't that the truth!

Randy