Classic American West Coast Boxing

[kikibalt]

A group watches the Station fire from a hill overlooking Tujunga.

[raylawpc]

Are those fires close to any of you guys out there? Conan O'Brien said something in his monologue on the Tonight Showabout the fire being in the San Fernando Valley, but I wasn't sure if he made that up as part of his joke.

[kikibalt]

Are those fires close to any of you guys out there? Conan O'Brien said something in his monologue on the Tonight Showabout the fire being in the San Fernando Valley, but I wasn't sure if he made that up as part of his joke.

Tom, the nearest fire to me is the Morris Dam fire, (Azusa Canyon) which is about 20 mile away, the one in La Crescenta is about 30 mile away, we here in La Puente can see the flames real good at night.

[Rick Farris]

Are those fires close to any of you guys out there? Conan O'Brien said something in his monologue on the Tonight Showabout the fire being in the San Fernando Valley, but I wasn't sure if he made that up as part of his joke.

Tom, the nearest fire to me is the Morris Dam fire, (Azusa Canyon) which is about 20 mile away, the one in La Crescenta is about 30 mile away, we here in La Puente can see the flames real good at night.

At night, if you are entering the San Fernando Valley via the 405 Fwy. thru the Sepulveda pass, you can look across the Valley to the north and see the hills ablaze from the Tujunga Canyon area. During what would normally be a sunny day, the thick smoke has left much of the San Fernando Valley in a haze, or over cast condition. I believe the news said the fires have burned about 160,000 acres.

-Rick Farris

[raylawpc]

Tom, the nearest fire to me is the Morris Dam fire, (Azusa Canyon) which is about 20 mile away, the one in La Crescenta is about 30 mile away, we here in La Puente can see the flames real good at night.

At night, if you are entering the San Fernando Valley via the 405 Fwy. thru the Sepulveda pass, you can look across the Valley to the north and see the hills ablaze from the Tujunga Canyon area. During what would normally be a sunny day, the thick smoke has left much of the San Fernando Valley in a haze, or over cast condition. I believe the news said the fires have burned about 160,000 acres.

W O W

I hope you guys stay safe - Randy and everybody else in LA too!

[Rick Farris]

Tom, the nearest fire to me is the Morris Dam fire, (Azusa Canyon) which is about 20 mile away, the one in La Crescenta is about 30 mile away, we here in La Puente can see the flames real good at night.

At night, if you are entering the San Fernando Valley via the 405 Fwy. thru the Sepulveda pass, you can look across the Valley to the north and see the hills ablaze from the Tujunga Canyon area. During what would normally be a sunny day, the thick smoke has left much of the San Fernando Valley in a haze, or over cast condition. I believe the news said the fires have burned about 160,000 acres.

W O W

I hope you guys stay safe - Randy and everybody else in LA too!

Thanks Tom . . . I don't believe any of us are in any danger, just a little inconvenienced by the smoke. Hope you are feeling better.

-Rick



Just heard on the news they don't expect to contain the fighters for another two weeks.

[raylawpc]

"Thoughts for Today"

Birds of a feather flock together and then crap on your car.

A penny saved is a government oversight.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

He who hesitates is probably right.

Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are "XL."

If you think there is good in everybody, you haven't met everybody.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.

There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.

Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words 'The' and 'IRS' together it spells "Theirs . . . ."

Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to your youth, think of Algebra.

You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

[raylawpc]

Tom, the nearest fire to me is the Morris Dam fire, (Azusa Canyon) which is about 20 mile away, the one in La Crescenta is about 30 mile away, we here in La Puente can see the flames real good at night.

At night, if you are entering the San Fernando Valley via the 405 Fwy. thru the Sepulveda pass, you can look across the Valley to the north and see the hills ablaze from the Tujunga Canyon area. During what would normally be a sunny day, the thick smoke has left much of the San Fernando Valley in a haze, or over cast condition. I believe the news said the fires have burned about 160,000 acres.

W O W

I hope you guys stay safe - Randy and everybody else in LA too!

Thanks Tom . . . I don't believe any of us are in any danger, just a little inconvenienced by the smoke. Hope you are feeling better.

-Rick

I'm fine. I didn't know I was sick.

[Rick Farris]

I'm fine. I didn't know I was sick.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


I was referring to your recent hospital vists. I'm happy you are well.

[Rick Farris]

Magic Hour . . .


Anybody remember the dramatic exterior shots seen in movies such as "The Natural", or "The Black Stallion"?
Both did well at the box-office in the 80's, and both were shot by a brilliant cinematographer, Caleb Deshanel.

I worked on several features with Deschanel in the 80's, such as "The Right Stuff", "Being There," and "The Natural."
All were major budget pictures, A-list cast, crew, future academy award nominees.

Caleb was an artist. He was a special talent, and had a brutally sarcastic side that often set legendary directors in their place.
He was always right, and they knew it, so Caleb got whatever he needed to make the shot perfect. I'd have to say he often exceeded perfection.
In other words he had whatever equipment, crew, and most important, TIME to set-up a shot to make a cinematic statement that compliments the scene.
Often an image can define a scene when the talent falls short of making a powerful statement.

For The Black Stallion, a film with a beach sequence between the young actor and the horse. It was a scene that Caleb demanded be shot during "Magic Hour".
I love when we can capture a magic hour shot. Whenever we had a chance to catch a magic hour shot on "Little House on the Praire", Mike Landon would let us go for it.
Landon knew a nicely composed magic hour shots was a gift from God. It requires no lighting, just a camera and mother nature.
For the Black Stallion, magic hour shots would be filmed on an island in Italy.

Magic Hour lasts less than 20 minutes. It takes place just before sunset, before the sun dips under the horizon.
You have to be ready for it, and be sure everything is set correctly.
If you blow it and don't get the shot, you'll have to do it another time, and time is money in film making and you usually have but one chance.

On The Black Stallion, the crew took advantage of early morning sun, similar in color and angle to magic hour, only a bit more golden in tone, and from the opposite direction.
In the evening, the setting sun would backlight the beach, coming from over the ocean's horizon. This is when they'd shoot the boy riding the horse bare back.
Of course, the "little boy" was actually a jockey, not the little actor pplauying Alec Ramsey.

They would shoot toward the sun, to keep the image in a beautiful golden backlight. No artificial fill light was used, thanks to the brilliant Eastman-5247 film stock.
All they used on the island was natural light. During the magic minutes of magic hour, the light is a deep amber/red.
The short UV sunrays only touch the earth from mid morning to mid afternoon.
However, early in the morning and late in the afternoon, only the long infra-red rays reach earth, bathing everything in a warm sunlight.

Caleb would shoot for several minutes of preset shots in the morning. The crew would then just relax, sleep, play football or whatever all day.
Late in the afternoon, as magic hour approached, the camera crew would mount their cameras and wait, like gunners perched on the beach awaiting an enemy attack from sea.

When it was time, the director would look to Caleb for the signal, and when he said, "OK", the director would yell "ACTION"!
The crew had nothing to do most of the day. No lighting, no props, no sound, just the horse and the kid running up and down the beach in long shots.
I wasn't part of that crew, but wish I had been. I always learned something working with Caleb and I'd have loved a couple weeks on an Italian island.


The result on screen was beautiful. A couple years later we'd shoot Robert Redford in an Iowa corn field, throwing a baseball with a young boy for The Natural.
We shot the scene at magic hour and the result was really nice.
Caleb had been an under study of the legendary Gordon Willis. Willis had shot all of the "Godfather " movies for Coppola, all Woody Allen's films for decades.
Willis was a multi-academy award winner and a 24 Karat pain-in-the-ass, but he was a pioneer in a new style that changed the look of cinematography.

I was lucky to work with Caleb during my career. Today his daughter Zoey is an up and coming young actress.


-Rick Farris

[raylawpc]

I'm fine. I didn't know I was sick.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


I was referring to your recent hospital vists. I'm happy you are well.

I thought maybe you knew something I didn't. They got my heart problem resolved back after the second visit in May and my ticker is better than ever, I guess. But thanks for remembering Rick. I appreciate it.

[Randyman]

L.A. today

Frank, I have that same view from my front yard. Looks like a nuclear bomb went off. Amazing. Did you take the photo?

Randy

You Angelinos are getting a view at what our clouds look like in the Midwest. We get those big cumulus clouds quite frequently, and they are a sight to behold.

FYI, that particular clouds is called a "Calvus type Cumulonimbus cloud."

Tom,I know it looks like a cloud but it's all smoke. It was hanging around for a few days. It looked like bomb went off. Here are two quick videos that show the formation of that exact cloud of smoke being formed. Both of them are time lapse videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTMDJaeBHEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqxjO5nr8k

Randy

[Rick Farris]

Tom,I know it looks like a cloud but it's all smoke. It was hanging around for a few days. It looked like bomb went off. Here are two quick videos that show the formation of that exact cloud of smoke being formed. Both of them are time lapse videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTMDJaeBHEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqxjO5nr8k

Randy
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Randy . . . Thanks for the great clips. The second clip was photographed from the hills where I run with the boxers, off Mulholland Drive above Universal.
That's how it looks coming over the Sepulveda pass, as well.

[kikibalt]

Rest In Peace, Joey Roach

By George Kimball

THE SWEET SCIENCE - SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2009

"Listen, I got a story for ya!" Anthony (Rip) Valenti sounded excited, but that wasn't unusual.

Every time the octogenarian boxing promoter called to relay the details of his latest project there were two things I could count on him telling me. One was that this was the biggest story yet. The other was "Ya gotta get this in the paper right away, 'cause I ain't giving it to nobody else -- yet."

By the early summer of 1982 I'd been dealing with Rip for a while, so I knew enough to listen to what he had to say before I phoned the composing room with orders to stop the presses.

"Never happened before in the history of the Boston Garden," I could hear him saying on the other end. "All three of them!"

"All three of them?" I asked. "Don't tell me. You've got Magda, Eva and Zsa Zsa coming to Boston?"

"Naw. The Roach kids," he said. "Freddie, Pepper and Joey. They're all gonna be back here, and fight on the same card."

As amateurs, the three brothers had achieved almost legendary status in New England boxing circles, winning everything from Silver Mittens to Golden Gloves titles. Even their mother had followed them into the family business. When her sons headed out West to turn pro, Barbara Roach underwent a seamless transition from AAU volunteer to professional judge. At a time when female judges were a rarity, she was already the best in Massachusetts -- of either gender.

Freddie, the oldest, had just turned 22. He had turned pro at 18, signed on with Eddie Futch, and moved to Phoenix, later relocating with the Hall of Fame trainer to Vegas. Rip had continued to nurture a relationship with Freddie. In January of '81 he brought him back to the Garden, where on the undercard of the first Hagler-Obelmejias fight he beat Joe Phillips to win the New England featherweight title that had once belonged to Willie Pep. A month later he'd flown Freddie and Futch back for a headline performance on an ESPN card he staged at the old Hotel Bradford Ballroom, the site of today's Roxy.

By early '82 his brothers had followed Freddie to Las Vegas. Pepper had already had a couple of fights that spring. If memory serves, Rip had hoped to have 20 year-old Joey turn pro on his Boston show in June, but Joey beat him to the punch and made his debut in Vegas a couple of weeks earlier, fighting a guy named Alex Silva to a draw at the Showboat.

Although they enjoyed something of a local following, Rip Valenti didn't think for a moment that the three Roach brothers were going to fill the Boston Garden. Back in those days big fights were routinely shown on closed-circuit television, and in boxing venues like the old Causeway Street building were often augmented by live cards that might attract a few thousand extra customers.

Larry Holmes was defending his heavyweight title against Gerry Cooney at Caesars Palace that night. Joey, fighting as a pro for just the second time, made short work of Joe Vanier, knocking him out in the first round. Pepper did his part, outpointing Jaime Rodriguez in the six-round co-feature. But in the main event, Freddie, who had come into the bout 26-1, had his problems with Rafael Lopez, a decent prospect from Pawtucket, and wound up on the wrong end of a unanimous decision.

It was the first and last time the Roaches ever fought together on the same bill, though they came close: On Nov. 10, 1983, Marvelous Marvin Hagler won a come-from-behind decision over Roberto Duran at Caesars. Joey Roach fought a six-round draw with Manny Cedeno in one of the undercard bouts, while Freddie dropped a 10-round decision to his old nemesis Louie Burke in another. Pepper didn't fight that night because he had a scheduled bout at the Showboat a week later.

Pep had by some accounts been the more promising amateur, but by the time he turned pro he seemed to have lost interest. He retired after less than two years as a professional with a 7-2-1 record.

Joey Roach's amateur career had begun memorably, if inauspiciously, ten years earlier at an outdoor arena in Lynn, where he was matched against another Massachusetts 10 year-old named Micky Ward in the 50-pound class. Nobody emerged with bragging rights that evening. A thunderstorm blew in across the harbor and the bout was rained out midway through the second round.

Joey, though, shared the same card with Freddie on several other occasions. The handwriting may have been on the wall in late 1985 when, at the Hollywood Palladium, he faced '84 gold medalist Paul Gonzales. Joey had lost just one of ten fights, while Gonzales was fighting for just the second time as a pro, but the Olympian won eight of eight rounds on all three cards. The next year he got knocked out by a guy (Mauro Diaz) who was 1-7-1. He never boxed again, finishing up 8-3-3.

An ESPN fixture from the network's inception, Freddie was a popular draw, but as has been well documented since, he spurned Futch's advice and overstayed his welcome, continuing to fight until 1986. He finished with a record of 39-15, but the fights he engaged in over those last couple of years may well have sown the seeds of the Parkinson's Disease he would encounter later in life.

The brothers remained close even after going their separate ways. As has been recounted in painful detail elsewhere, they had shared not only their boxing experiences, but an abusive childhood at the hands of their father as well. Paul Roach might have been the driving force in turning his kids into successful boxers, but by most accounts he wasn't averse to using each of them as punching bags along the way.

One can only assume that there were some lively scraps around the Roach household while the three were sharing their boyhood home in Dedham, but they loved one another as only brothers can.

While Freddie and I saw one another regularly over the years, I occasionally ran into Joey and Pepper too. The first time I saw Joey after he'd stopped boxing he grinned and told me he was working as a telemarketer.

"Who'd buy anything from you? Over the phone?" I kidded him.

That's how much I knew.

Once he stopped boxing Freddie worked as an assistant trainer under Futch, and then, after Eddie's automobile accident, took over as head trainer for a few of his boxers. Next thing you knew he was the head trainer for a couple of world champions, and was regarded as one of the bright young minds in the business.

It was along about that time that Freddie told me Joey had so taken to the telemarketing business that he'd quit his job and started his own telemarketing company.

"I can't believe it," said Freddie. "He's making more money than I am."

Barbara Roach eventually moved to Las Vegas and into the house Freddie had built there. Once Freddie's base of operations became the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood (where he was eventually joined by Pepper), she remained in Vegas, where Joey could look after their mother the way she'd always looked after them.

Just as Freddie went on to become a superstar in his field, so did Joey in his. Freddie won three Trainer of the Year Awards (and already has a leg up on a fourth), but Joey was pulling down million-dollar purses even before Freddie was. He employed over a hundred workers at his telemarketing firm, and owned so many cars he could pick his ride of the day by color-coordinating it with his clothes. He had two college-age kids by his first marriage, and there was no way in hell either of them was ever going near a boxing ring.

A few weeks ago he had told Freddie it was time to relax and enjoy life. He planned to sell his business and retire by the end of 2009.

Last week Joey and his wife Jacqueline returned from a family vacation in Michigan. On Saturday morning Jackie woke up, and when she looked at her husband in the bed beside her, the first thing she noticed was that he had turned a ghastly shade of blue. Joey Roach had, at the age of 47, died in his sleep. Although the cause of death has yet to be determined pending an autopsy, a heart attack is suspected.

It was left to Barbara Roach to break the news to Freddie and Pepper. Freddie, who had been training Manny Pacquiao for his Nov. 14 date with Miguel Cotto, immediately suspended camp.

"She's trying to be a trouper, and Freddie is trying to be strong," said a close family friend. "But you know how close they all were. You can imagine how hard this has hit them."

Arrangements have yet to be finalized pending the autopsy, and while there's no indication Joey had the slightest reason to suspect that his days might be numbered, he had recently addressed the subject in terms that some might find surprising.

"When my time comes," Joey had said, "I think I'd like to be buried back in Boston -- next to my father."

[raylawpc]

Tom,I know it looks like a cloud but it's all smoke. It was hanging around for a few days. It looked like bomb went off. Here are two quick videos that show the formation of that exact cloud of smoke being formed. Both of them are time lapse videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTMDJaeBHEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqxjO5nr8k

Randy

Now that got me really curious because I'd never heard of such a thing. One of the advantages of my work is that I have clients from all the professions. This morning, I called a client who is a firefighter here in St. Louis. He said that the cloud itself really is a cloud, but the cloud is caused by the heat from the fire, which turns the surface water and moisture into a cloud vapor. He said the same thing was happening in Greece, where they are experiencing fires outside Athens this week as you are in LA. The cloud is called a "pyrocumulus cloud."

I found an article in Wiki on the strange phenomenon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=991545

[Randyman]

Tom,I know it looks like a cloud but it's all smoke. It was hanging around for a few days. It looked like bomb went off. Here are two quick videos that show the formation of that exact cloud of smoke being formed. Both of them are time lapse videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTMDJaeBHEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqxjO5nr8k

Randy

Now that got me really curious because I'd never heard of such a thing. One of the advantages of my work is that I have clients from all the professions. This morning, I called a client who is a firefighter here in St. Louis. He said that the cloud itself really is a cloud, but the cloud is caused by the heat from the fire, which turns the surface water and moisture into a cloud vapor. He said the same thing was happening in Greece, where they are experiencing fires outside Athens this week as you are in LA. The cloud is called a "pyrocumulus cloud."

I found an article in Wiki on the strange phenomenon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=991545

Amazing! That explains why it is so white. Just as amazing is what can be learned from this site. Thanks for sharing that Tom. I love learning things like that.

Randy

[raylawpc]

Tom,I know it looks like a cloud but it's all smoke. It was hanging around for a few days. It looked like bomb went off. Here are two quick videos that show the formation of that exact cloud of smoke being formed. Both of them are time lapse videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTMDJaeBHEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqxjO5nr8k

Randy

Now that got me really curious because I'd never heard of such a thing. One of the advantages of my work is that I have clients from all the professions. This morning, I called a client who is a firefighter here in St. Louis. He said that the cloud itself really is a cloud, but the cloud is caused by the heat from the fire, which turns the surface water and moisture into a cloud vapor. He said the same thing was happening in Greece, where they are experiencing fires outside Athens this week as you are in LA. The cloud is called a "pyrocumulus cloud."

I found an article in Wiki on the strange phenomenon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=991545

Amazing! That explains why it is so white. Just as amazing is what can be learned from this site. Thanks for sharing that Tom. I love learning things like that.

Randy

The whiteness is what baffled me, and why I called him.

And thanks for your comments, Randy. Like you, I am fascinated by that stuff.

[kikibalt]

Floyd Mayweather focuses on fight, not legal matters

The undefeated boxer, who will face Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19 in Las Vegas, says he's not worried about two police cases surrounding him.


It came as fast and swift as a punch thrown seconds after the opening bell.

Boxer Floyd Mayweather held a media conference call Tuesday to promote his return to the ring Sept. 19 at Las Vegas' MGM Grand in a welterweight fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, but questions about two separate police cases quickly came up.

"My main thing is to focus on the fight," Mayweather said. "Anything else, I'm not worried about. I try to focus on positive things."

Las Vegas police are investigating a shooting outside a skating rink and last week seized two handguns, ammunition and two bulletproof vests from Mayweather's home and two cars. Witnesses told police that a Mayweather associate fired shots at the alleged victim, Quincey Williams, who had argued with Mayweather over a text message sent to the boxer saying he hoped Mayweather would lose his next fight, according to court records. Mayweather has not been named as a suspect, police said.

And in early August, Roger Mayweather, Floyd's uncle and trainer, was taken into custody from his Las Vegas condominium by police on suspicion of attacking a female boxer he once trained.

But Floyd Mayweather insisted Tuesday he was concentrating on the Marquez fight, not legal cases.

A six-time champion, Mayweather is 39-0 with 25 knockouts and wants to keep his record unblemished.

"It's extremely important for me to perform well and dominate," he said.

Mayweather has not fought since December 2007 when he knocked out Ricky Hatton in the 10th round, but he doesn't anticipate any ring rust.

"I feel fast and strong and the timing is there," he said. "I'm in the gym every day and I feel the same way as I felt before I left."

But that doesn't mean he'll commit himself to a future fight against Manny Pacquaio. "All roads lead to Floyd Mayweather, I don't have to chase any fighter," he said.

For now, that fighter is Marquez, who is 50-4-1 with 37 knockouts. Marquez's training includes working out in the mountains and lifting rocks and boulders.

"This isn't a rock-throwing contest," an unimpressed Mayweather said. "If you want to throw javelin, get in the Olympics. This is boxing and hand-to-hand combat. That looks good for TV, but come Sept. 19 that stuff goes out the door."

That day, Mayweather hopes the attention will veer away from legal cases to his success inside the ring.

"Jealousy just comes with success," he said "If you go read 300 articles about me, 250 of them are all saying something bad and negative. But I'm the only fighter that hasn't lost."

[email protected]

[dagosd2000]

WE DIDN'T MEAN IT,HONEST

My father never admitted it,but Capone was the guy that put a contract on my grandfather Diamond Joe. My grandmother always said it was Capone who had her husband killed. It added up. All the Wards in Chicago were locked up with the Democrats and the Mayor,Big Bill Thompson. My grandfather was a Republican that was the Don of Little Italy,referred to in Chicago as the Patch. .

The mayor of Chicago,Big Bill Thompson was Capone's man at the top of municipal goverment and Thompson always made sure he looked the other way when Capone was up to criminal activities.

The way my father told it,it was Thompson who had my grandfather killed. The thing is that Thompson would have had to have an OK from Capone.

So my grandfather was filled with buckshot from sawed off shot guns as he was walking towards his house on Oakley Boulevard. My grandmother and my aunt saw the hit as they were waitng on the porch for Diamond Joe.

My grandmother went to Capone to ask him why it happened. Al shrugged his shoulders and gave the typical Mafia response,"It was a mistake."

As was traditional in many scenarios like what happened to my grandfather,Al Capone took my father into his home. It was an obligation to take care of Diamond Joe's son. My father lived with Al and his family for several years. He palled around Al's son who they called "Sonny". The Capone's said my father was a bad influence on Sonny. Why? I don't know.

My father always spoke highly of Al Capone. He must have known that Capone was involved with the murder. But no,my father always said it was that no good Bill Thompson who orchestrated the hit.

That era is dead. Dead like Capone. Dead like Diamond Joe. Dead as Big Bill Thompson. However there is one player left, my aunt who was sitting on the porch that night waiting for her father.

I haven't spoken to my Aunt Jeanette in years. She's got to be in her 90's. The last time I spoke with her on the phone she was pissed off that my sisters weren't sending her money. Real grease ball sh-t. If I'd ask her about the hit on my grandfather she'd probably say that she'd tell me something if I sent her a check and I wouldn't believe half of it

[dagosd2000]

Al Capone with my father sitting beside him . Wrigley Field,1933. Ball player is Gabby Hartnett.

[dagosd2000]

The image of Joe Louis that I mailed to the WBHOF for my full page ad for their program.

[kikibalt]

We lost all tv power about an hour ago, don't know if its because of the fires, either way we don't have tv....

[kikibalt]

The image of Joe Louis that I mailed to the WBHOF for my full page ad for their program.

That's a great one Roger.....

[kikibalt]

Roach unable to reach Pacquiao
September 2, 2009 by Edgar Gonzalez



Michael Rosenthal from RingTv recently wrote:

If you run into Manny Pacquiao, tell him Freddie Roach would like to talk to him.

Roach, the pound-for-pound king’s Los Angeles-based trainer, can’t seem to reach his fighter in the Philippines even though his next fight -– against Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas –- is only 10 weeks away.

At issue is the location of their training camp. Pacquiao must train all but three weeks outside the United States for the bulk of camp to save on taxes. The question is: Where will they go?

“Well, I don’t know,” Roach said. “No one has contacted me. Mike Koncz [Pacquiao’s advisor] said, ‘You don’t have to talk to Freddie Roach. He’s just the trainer.’ If he wants to have that attitude, what can I do?”

Roach thinks camp will end up in the worst place possible.

“I have a camp set up in Toluca, Mexico,” he said. “I have an offer to go to Puerto Vallarta. I have an offer to go to Cancun. I have an offer to go to the Bahamas. I would say Toluca is the best option. It’s private, quiet, not a vacation-type of area. The gym is owned by the government. It’s a very safe place. A federal marshal works up there; he’d be with us the whole time. Security wouldn’t be a problem. And it’s not a dangerous place.

“My gut feeling, though, is that we’ll end up in the Philippines.”

Roach likes the Philippines. He just doesn’t want to train Pacquiao there.

“Wherever I get him, I’ll make sure he’s ready for the fight,” he said. “The thing is, there are a lot of distractions in the Philippines. One weekend, this governor will want to fly him here. The next weekend, another governor will want to fly him there. It’s just a hassle.

“Once I get Manny, though, he listens to me. As long as I’m in front of him. Right now I can’t talk to him on the phone. Unfortunately they’re [Koncz] is blocking my phone calls.”

Roach did talk to Koncz.

“I said, ‘Where are we training?’” he said. “‘I haven’t asked Manny yet,’ he told me. I said, ‘You haven’t asked him? What do you mean? The fight is right around the corner and you haven’t asked him yet.’ He’s scared to ask him where he wants to train.

“Manny will make a decision. I think it’ll be in Baguio, where their Olympic training center is. It’s in the north. I’ve never been there but it doesn’t’ matter. Wherever we go there’ll be distractions.”

The indecision couldn’t have come at a worse time. Roach was asked how tough this fight will be.

“The toughest fight of Manny’s life,” he said. “Cotto is getting ready for this fight. He’s in camp already. He knows a win over Manny Pacquiao erases everything else in the past. That’s why he’s in camp early, getting into shape. This guy beat Shane Mosley, a speed guy. He knows how to nullify speed. Someone told me Cotto’s not fast enough. I said, ‘What do you mean he’s not fast enough? He beat Shane Mosley.’ It was a good, close fight but he won. He knows how to deal with speed.

“He’s taking this very serious. We have to respect that. If I could just get a hold of Manny and tell him Cotto’s in camp already, he’d be there today. Manny won’t let anyone out train him. That’s how he is.”

Roach is hoping Manny gets the word somehow.

“That’s why I’m mouthing off a little bit with (reporters),” he said. “Hopefully he’ll read something. This is the real deal. Cotto is better than Oscar De La Hoya, better than Ricky Hatton. He’s the biggest, strongest guy we’ve ever fought.”

[dagosd2000]

We lost all tv power about an hour ago, don't know if its because of the fires, either way we don't have tv....

So you lost your TV. Gee. By the way how's that medicine working that's supposed to put lead in your pencil?