Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Rick Farris]

Hey Frank . . . Alfredo Angulo fights tonight at 6:30 on HBO. I think they got him a stiff?
He needs stiffs. .


-Rick Farris

Rick, I'm sure he is fighting a stiff, thats the only way he can win....

Of course, Gwen thinks we are wrong.
Well, all I can say to our friend Gwen is:
He's a BUM! That's how Johnny Flores would have called it.


-Ricardo

[Rick Farris]

A Tough Bastid . . .

Angulo didn't KO a great boxer tonight, but the guy was a man, that's for sure. What a tough bastid!
Angulo? I wasn't impressed with his KO, but by the heart of the opponent.

Anybody's thoughts of Angulo vs. Joey Giambra or Denny Moyer at 155 lbs?
He might have a chance if matched with them as they are today. Joey turned 78 in August.
In the late 50's, early 60's?


-Rick Farris

[kikibalt]

Hey Frank . . . Alfredo Angulo fights tonight at 6:30 on HBO. I think they got him a stiff?
He needs stiffs. .


-Rick Farris

Rick, I'm sure he is fighting a stiff, thats the only way he can win....

Of course, Gwen thinks we are wrong.
Well, all I can say to our friend Gwen is:
He's a BUM! That's how Johnny Flores would have called it.


-Ricardo

Rick, the guy was a stiff for sure, I seen the first round and I told Charlie "Dude we don't need to see this crap, lets go back to watching the USC game" we did see the re-play of the ko...

[Randyman]

I didn't see tonights fights. maybe I'll get a chance to see them tomorrow. We went to see the movie "Paranormal" tonight. I had written about what a waste of money it was and then my computer froze and crashed ...twice. I'm not sure what's going on but I'm not writing this three times.

Randy

[dagosd2000]

I didn't watch the fight.but I saw USC play Arizona State. USC has a lot of injuries and isn't playing well right now. Barkley needs time to develop. Wait till next year.

[dagosd2000]

[quote="Rick Farris"]A Tough Bastid . . .

Angulo didn't KO a great boxer tonight, but the guy was a man, that's for sure. What a tough bastid!
Angulo? I wasn't impressed with his KO, but by the heart of the opponent.

Anybody's thoughts of Angulo vs. Joey Giambra or Denny Moyer at 155 lbs?
He might have a chance if matched with them as they are today. Joey turned 78 in August.
In the late 50's, early 60's?

PASSING IN THE FOG

I've seen Argulo fight on TV. He's blown out of proportion like a lot of the boys they hype up on the networks now. If they fight on HBO or SHOWTIME,they try to market it as something special.

A lot of the fellas' walking around the WBOF Banquet a couple of weeks ago would have been main eventers on those networks. Mando Muniz and Gaspar Ortega jump out at me. They weren't champions,but they would have won some kind of belt today and had Larry Merchant talking up a storm about them.

I spent a little time with Gaspar Ortega that weekend. He didn't talk boxing much. He's pretty close to Carlos Ortiz who was there with his wife. We sat together,my wife, with the Ortegas and Ortizes. The conversation was about the night club Carlos opened in New York back in the day. It sounded like a great gathering spot, apropos with Manhattan night life. Could you imagine what a draw Carlos Ortiz would have been on cable TV?

However the guy in the room that i couldn't help but noticing was Emile Griffith. He seemed surly this year. Last year he was kind of like Bobby. Happy. This time around he seemed agitated. His friend tried to calm him down a few times. I gave him my painting I did of him. He asked me if I had a cigarette.

You can make a point that Griffith was the most successfull fighter of the 60's. You can say Ali,but Ali didn't have that many fights during that time.Griffith won titles and fought everyone within weight, and not in his weight class. To see him in the lobby with his friend,Emile seemed almost invisible. He walked by Armando and Gaspar like a ship passing in the fog. Emile didn't have much trouble with either one of them in the ring.

Imagine Emile Griffith fighting on the Pay For View? Think of all the promoters and managers that would want to sink their teeth into him? Imagine what he would have done to Alfredo Angulo?

[dagosd2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M52UCChnME

Moonlight In Vermont

Willie Nelson

[dagosd2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StNAmz7kpe4

Moonlight In Vermont

Billie Holiday

[dagosd2000]

SOMETHING'S WRONG

I don't know if you fellas' got a chance to watch the documentary on ESPN on the the prelude to the Ali/Holmes fight. The documentary series is called 30/30. It goes into the social ramifications of athletes .Not so much the sporting events themselves,but what led up to them and the aftermaths.

The aspects of the Ali fight with Holmes was very interesting. Holmes ,to this day ,can't get over all the attention that was given to Ali. Ali filled the seats. Ali sold the big screen ducats. Celebrities from all over the world flew in to see Ali perform one more miracle.

Of course Ali did his bragging and convinced many that there would be some outside force that would see him through his fight after a two year layoff. Holmes knew that he wouldn't have any problem with him.

There were stories coming out of Ali's camp that he was tired. The Mayo Clinic put him through a physical and reported that his kidneys were on the blink. Ali was taking some kind of pills prescribed by a doctor. He was down to 218 pounds. He must have been in shape. He was at his old fighting weight.But Ali was just old that's all.

But the part of the story that got me was Ali's lawyer approaching the old fighter and telling him that he was going to put down 40 grand on him to win. The Greatest then looked at his friend.
"No .Don't do that. There is something wrong with me.I don't know what it is."

Larry might have killed Ali in that fight. He was pulling his punches,but when Ali wouldn't fall,he was told to let him have it. Get him out of there,but Ali wouldn't fall. Finally, Herbert Muhammad gave the sign to Ali's corner to stop it.

I wish Ali would have told the world before that fight that something was wrong.Maybe they wouldn't have gone through with it then. Herbert Muhammad was the first one in Ali's corner to see that the miracle would not happen.

[dagosd2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM2Xa4RUBCk

Old Cape Cod

Patti Page

[Boxingnut]

One for the West Coast guys.

[dagosd2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTkTeWwB0Sg

Melodie D' Amour

Lennon Sisters

NO MILK TOAST ON THE MENU

Ok. I ran my Uncle Chaz by you yesterday. He had that wooden leg that he'd get around with. Didn't make a fuss about it though.The guy was a "man's man." Don't find his kind around much anymore unless you go to one of the old timer boxing luncheons. That's one of the real reasons I like to attend those functions. No milk toasts on the menu there.

Anyway getting back to my Uncle Chaz. When he drank,it was warm whiskey straight, in a coffee mug. Like men of his ilk he had his particular likes. No one could convince him away from what he thought turned him on.

Like I was relating,Uncle Chaz was pretty easy going. However one night I saw a side of him that gave me a hint of what he must have been like on Guadacanal. I stumbled in on him one time while he was sitting in HIS easy chair.(no one sat in that chair but him). He had his coffee mug filled to the brim with Old Taylor and was watching the television. He was entranced with the Lawrence Welk Show. The Lennon Sisters were singing this song.,Melodie D' Amour.
"Hey Uncle Chaz," I piped up throwing out my chest. "You watch this stuff?"

Well Uncle Chaz must have discovered another priority for that mug filled to the brim with Old Taylor because the next thing I knew it was flying by my ear.

[kikibalt]

One for the West Coast guys.

Thanks, Boxingnut....

[Rick Farris]

One for the West Coast guys.

Thanks, Boxingnut....

Jackie McCoy, the best I ever met.

[dagosd2000]

A VETEREN'S DAY

[Rick Farris]

A Tough Bastid . . .

Angulo didn't KO a great boxer tonight, but the guy was a man, that's for sure. What a tough bastid!
Angulo? I wasn't impressed with his KO, but by the heart of the opponent.

Anybody's thoughts of Angulo vs. Joey Giambra or Denny Moyer at 155 lbs?
He might have a chance if matched with them as they are today. Joey turned 78 in August.
In the late 50's, early 60's?

PASSING IN THE FOG

I've seen Argulo fight on TV. He's blown out of proportion like a lot of the boys they hype up on the networks now. If they fight on HBO or SHOWTIME,they try to market it as something special.

A lot of the fellas' walking around the WBOF Banquet a couple of weeks ago would have been main eventers on those networks. Mando Muniz and Gaspar Ortega jump out at me. They weren't champions,but they would have won some kind of belt today and had Larry Merchant talking up a storm about them.

I spent a little time with Gaspar Ortega that weekend. He didn't talk boxing much. He's pretty close to Carlos Ortiz who was there with his wife. We sat together,my wife, with the Ortegas and Ortizes. The conversation was about the night club Carlos opened in New York back in the day. It sounded like a great gathering spot, apropos with Manhattan night life. Could you imagine what a draw Carlos Ortiz would have been on cable TV?

However the guy in the room that i couldn't help but noticing was Emile Griffith. He seemed surly this year. Last year he was kind of like Bobby. Happy. This time around he seemed agitated. His friend tried to calm him down a few times. I gave him my painting I did of him. He asked me if I had a cigarette.

You can make a point that Griffith was the most successfull fighter of the 60's. You can say Ali,but Ali didn't have that many fights during that time.Griffith won titles and fought everyone within weight, and not in his weight class. To see him in the lobby with his friend,Emile seemed almost invisible. He walked by Armando and Gaspar like a ship passing in the fog. Emile didn't have much trouble with either one of them in the ring.


-Rick Farris

Imagine Emile Griffith fighting on the Pay For View? Think of all the promoters and managers that would want to sink their teeth into him? Imagine what he would have done to Alfredo Angulo?

Roger . . . I miss the quality of boxers from the past. These guys were really boxers, fighters, champions in the truest sense of the word.
Griffith, Ortiz, and Ortega are names I grew up with. As you know, Moyer and Giambra fought for a world title, also.
Angulo types would get a boxing lesson.



-Rick Farris

[Rick Farris]

Who better than Mando? . . .

June, 2008-
We are two months into the production of "The Cleaner", a one hour TV drama for the A&E Network.
We've six weeks left on the first season's shooting schedule. The first episode would debut in July.
The script focused on a real life charactor portrayed by actor Benjamin Bratt, who's charactor William Banks, was in real life that of Exec. Producer and Creator, Warren Boyd.

Warren Boyd had made a name for himself in the world of drug addiction, recovery, etc. Boyd was the guy who kidnapped singer Witney Huston and who helped get her clean.
I'd see the singer on stage several times during our 4 1/2 month shooting schedule. She'd come to check in with her sponsor.
Warren learned from the director of photography that I had been a boxer, and this inspired him to talk with me. We discussed a possible script relating to boxing and addiction.
The cameraman, as a child growing up in San Pedro, used to deliver papers to the home of MAndo Ramos. Of course, Mando and I knew each other and were in contact.
Danny and Warren listened to all the Mando Ramos adventures and I was asked if I could have them visit the set. Warren wanted to talk with Mando.

I called Mando, put him on the phone with Warren, who also wanted Rodolfo Gonzalez to come after speaking with El Gato. The two would come a few days later.
Who better than Mando Ramos to share drug addiction "war stories", I mean, the guy woke up from a heroin haze to find his older brother dead. OD
Mando was a legend in the making. He was the one that Warren needed to talk to. I was glad it was going to happen.
I envisioned a more realistic boxing script than usual, and a cameo role for Mando and El Gato.

A few days later, the boxers and their ladies, Sylvia and Barbara, are scheduled to meet the production company on stage 9 of the CBS Studio Center.
About 8am I get a call from Rodolfo, who informs me that he'd be coming alone. Mando is sick. Barb is closing a real estate deal. It'll just be El Gato.
I call to see how Mando was feeling and he didn't sound good. I invited him to come whenever he felt better, the producer wanted to talk with him.

A few days later he was dead. There was no script discussed, it kind of died with Mando. The following season they did attempt a boxing piece, but it missed.
Mando loved the studio, and the studio people loved him. He was always the biggest star on the film sets he visited that I was involved with.
The guys on the set who had the pleasure of watching Mando fight would tell the younger guys who he was. Mando loved the attention.


-Rick Farris

[dagosd2000]

Who better than Mando? . . .

June, 2008-
We are two months into the production of "The Cleaner", a one hour TV drama for the A&E Network.
We've six weeks left on the first season's shooting schedule. The first episode would debut in July.
The script focused on a real life charactor portrayed by actor Benjamin Bratt, who's charactor William Banks, was in real life that of Exec. Producer and Creator, Warren Boyd.

Warren Boyd had made a name for himself in the world of drug addiction, recovery, etc. Boyd was the guy who kidnapped singer Witney Huston and who helped get her clean.
I'd see the singer on stage several times during our 4 1/2 month shooting schedule. She'd come to check in with her sponsor.
Warren learned from the director of photography that I had been a boxer, and this inspired him to talk with me. We discussed a possible script relating to boxing and addiction.
The cameraman, as a child growing up in San Pedro, used to deliver papers to the home of MAndo Ramos. Of course, Mando and I knew each other and were in contact.
Danny and Warren listened to all the Mando Ramos adventures and I was asked if I could have them visit the set. Warren wanted to talk with Mando.

I called Mando, put him on the phone with Warren, who also wanted Rodolfo Gonzalez to come after speaking with El Gato. The two would come a few days later.
Who better than Mando Ramos to share drug addiction "war stories", I mean, the guy woke up from a heroin haze to find his older brother dead. OD
Mando was a legend in the making. He was the one that Warren needed to talk to. I was glad it was going to happen.
I envisioned a more realistic boxing script than usual, and a cameo role for Mando and El Gato.

A few days later, the boxers and their ladies, Sylvia and Barbara, are scheduled to meet the production company on stage 9 of the CBS Studio Center.
About 8am I get a call from Rodolfo, who informs me that he'd be coming alone. Mando is sick. Barb is closing a real estate deal. It'll just be El Gato.
I call to see how Mando was feeling and he didn't sound good. I invited him to come whenever he felt better, the producer wanted to talk with him.

A few days later he was dead. There was no script discussed, it kind of died with Mando. The following season they did attempt a boxing piece, but it missed.
Mando loved the studio, and the studio people loved him. He was always the biggest star on the film sets he visited that I was involved with.
The guys on the set who had the pleasure of watching Mando fight would tell the younger guys who he was. Mando loved the attention.


-Rick Farris

Rick
Be sure to add this story.

[Rick Farris]

Who better than Mando? . . .

June, 2008-
We are two months into the production of "The Cleaner", a one hour TV drama for the A&E Network.
We've six weeks left on the first season's shooting schedule. The first episode would debut in July.
The script focused on a real life charactor portrayed by actor Benjamin Bratt, who's charactor William Banks, was in real life that of Exec. Producer and Creator, Warren Boyd.

Warren Boyd had made a name for himself in the world of drug addiction, recovery, etc. Boyd was the guy who kidnapped singer Witney Huston and who helped get her clean.
I'd see the singer on stage several times during our 4 1/2 month shooting schedule. She'd come to check in with her sponsor.
Warren learned from the director of photography that I had been a boxer, and this inspired him to talk with me. We discussed a possible script relating to boxing and addiction.
The cameraman, as a child growing up in San Pedro, used to deliver papers to the home of MAndo Ramos. Of course, Mando and I knew each other and were in contact.
Danny and Warren listened to all the Mando Ramos adventures and I was asked if I could have them visit the set. Warren wanted to talk with Mando.

I called Mando, put him on the phone with Warren, who also wanted Rodolfo Gonzalez to come after speaking with El Gato. The two would come a few days later.
Who better than Mando Ramos to share drug addiction "war stories", I mean, the guy woke up from a heroin haze to find his older brother dead. OD
Mando was a legend in the making. He was the one that Warren needed to talk to. I was glad it was going to happen.
I envisioned a more realistic boxing script than usual, and a cameo role for Mando and El Gato.

A few days later, the boxers and their ladies, Sylvia and Barbara, are scheduled to meet the production company on stage 9 of the CBS Studio Center.
About 8am I get a call from Rodolfo, who informs me that he'd be coming alone. Mando is sick. Barb is closing a real estate deal. It'll just be El Gato.
I call to see how Mando was feeling and he didn't sound good. I invited him to come whenever he felt better, the producer wanted to talk with him.

A few days later he was dead. There was no script discussed, it kind of died with Mando. The following season they did attempt a boxing piece, but it missed.
Mando loved the studio, and the studio people loved him. He was always the biggest star on the film sets he visited that I was involved with.
The guys on the set who had the pleasure of watching Mando fight would tell the younger guys who he was. Mando loved the attention.


-Rick Farris

Rick
Be sure to add this story.

Rog, it's part of what I'm re-working for the Mando story. I won't write much more here, story wise that is.

[kikibalt]

Who will be crowned 'King of the Blues'?
Nov 3 2009



Who knows what kind of deal with the devil the top five contestants in the Guitar Center-sponsored "King of the Blues" contest have rigged up, but who wouldn't sell their soul for a title like that? Not to mention the $25,000 in cash, a reissue of a vintage '59 Les Paul guitar, a distribution deal through iTunes and all manner of musical product endorsement deals? Aaron Loesch, 2007's winner even got to perform onstage at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival in front of 25,000 people. Now that is a perk, if you ask me...

Over 5,000 guitarists competed for this coveted title, and this year's winner will be chosen from the finalists on Nov. 12 in a concert/contest to be held at the House of Blues, 8430 W Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Blues guitar icon Joe Bonamassa and Grammy-winning producer/guitarist Pete Anderson will also perform that evening.

-- Richard Metzger

Photo: Blues great Robert Johnson.

[kikibalt]

Yesterday, our son James invited us, (Connie and I) to go with him, his daughters and girlfriend, Ronny to take Chata to the dog park, (San Dimas Park), below are some photos that I shot of the the doggies in the park, hope you enjoy them.

[kikibalt]

This is Jack, a low walking dude....

[kikibalt]

This is Mr Magoo

[kikibalt]

Chata

[Rick Farris]

Frank . . . Is Chata still a UCLA fan? USC is shakey this year. They got past Notre Dame and Ohio State, but if they lose to UCLA, it'll ruin the season for Charlie & I.