Fidel LaBarba...

[Tinnie]

I've had a perticular interest in Fidel's career of late, by all accounts he's considered one of the greats of the flyweight division. Gold medalist at the Paris Olympics. A tough 15 round loss to Battling Batallino. 3 hard fought battles against Kid Chocolate, the third fight with less than 50% vision in one eye due to a detached retina (an injury suffered during training for the fight). He eventually completely lost the eye and was forced to end his career.

Unfortunately i cant seem to find any more info other than short/vague 5-6 paragraph biographies on the man. I am aware he became a sports journalist after he retired from the ring and published articles on his career, but i havent stumbled across anything he's written.

So can anyone enlighten me on this man? Has anyone had the pleasure of seeing him in action or heard accounts of those that fought him? (I have only seen a short clip of LaBarba/Kid Chocolate II)

Thank you.

[granberry]

A great, great fighter.

I have a film of him beating Kid Chocolate, a great fighter in his own right, and BIGGER than LaBarba.

In this fight LaBarba beats Chocolate with a RELENTLESS, devastating body attack.

[TheGreatA]

He certainly didn't waste any time starting his pro career. By his 11th fight he had already fought the likes of Frankie Genaro, Jimmy McLarnin and Newsboy Brown.

Here's the LaBarba - Kid Chocolate fight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEh3IBo_RIg

[granberry]

Film studio head Darryl Zanuck during his daily boxing bout w. Fidel La Barba, one-time bantamweight champion, who is hired by Zanuck for this purpose.



How long would LaBarba on the left have kept his job if he did other than play with his 'opponent' here?

What some people will do for their own ego. Zanuck is so proud he hired LaBarba to play with him that he arranged for Life magazine to publicize him here.

What a man! Even more manly than those who post on internet boxing sites.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l? ... 0%26um%3D1

[wsbuf]

He wrote a daily sports column for a Los Angeles paper in the 1950's.
Tommy Paul called him the smartest fighter he ever fought. They fought 4 close battles.

[granberry]

Anybody know of any more films ot LaBarba in addition to the Chocolate fight?

Would be great to see him fighting Battalino.

[Goodnight, Irene]

I was going over his handiwork about four or five years ago. One of the more interesting fighters you hear relatively little about.

[Ambling Alp]

I've had a perticular interest in Fidel's career of late, by all accounts he's considered one of the greats of the flyweight division. Gold medalist at the Paris Olympics. A tough 15 round loss to Battling Batallino. 3 hard fought battles against Kid Chocolate, the third fight with less than 50% vision in one eye due to a detached retina (an injury suffered during training for the fight). He eventually completely lost the eye and was forced to end his career.

Unfortunately i cant seem to find any more info other than short/vague 5-6 paragraph biographies on the man. I am aware he became a sports journalist after he retired from the ring and published articles on his career, but i havent stumbled across anything he's written.

So can anyone enlighten me on this man? Has anyone had the pleasure of seeing him in action or heard accounts of those that fought him? (I have only seen a short clip of LaBarba/Kid Chocolate II)

Thank you.

Tinnie,
You may be interested in reading the book "In This Corner" by Peter Heller. Dfferent former champions tell their story themselves. La Barba is in it. Jackie Fields and Battling Battalino are also in the book and both seemed to think highly of LaBarba.

[Tinnie]

I've had a perticular interest in Fidel's career of late, by all accounts he's considered one of the greats of the flyweight division. Gold medalist at the Paris Olympics. A tough 15 round loss to Battling Batallino. 3 hard fought battles against Kid Chocolate, the third fight with less than 50% vision in one eye due to a detached retina (an injury suffered during training for the fight). He eventually completely lost the eye and was forced to end his career.

Unfortunately i cant seem to find any more info other than short/vague 5-6 paragraph biographies on the man. I am aware he became a sports journalist after he retired from the ring and published articles on his career, but i havent stumbled across anything he's written.

So can anyone enlighten me on this man? Has anyone had the pleasure of seeing him in action or heard accounts of those that fought him? (I have only seen a short clip of LaBarba/Kid Chocolate II)

Thank you.

Tinnie,
You may be interested in reading the book "In This Corner" by Peter Heller. Dfferent former champions tell their story themselves. La Barba is in it. Jackie Fields and Battling Battalino are also in the book and both seemed to think highly of LaBarba.

Thank you for the recommendation AA, just got this in the other day and is quite an interesting read, im looking forward to the rest of the book. I really love reading first hand accounts of fighters. Fidel gives an eerie description of his retina continuing to tear as he is fighting Kid Chocolate, at one point during that fight he became completely blind in that eye. He quietly mentions that he thought he did enough to win that fight.

He certainly didn't waste any time starting his pro career. By his 11th fight he had already fought the likes of Frankie Genaro, Jimmy McLarnin and Newsboy Brown.

Here's the LaBarba - Kid Chocolate fight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEh3IBo_RIg

Thank you for the video TGA, i very much appreciate the work you put in to share your collection with everyone. As Granberry mentioned it really was a relentless attack, LaBarba even seemed to out muscle the much bigger KC in the clinch. Very enjoyable viewing.

Anybody know of any more films ot LaBarba in addition to the Chocolate fight?

Would be great to see him fighting Battalino.

That would be a gem. Battalino said the morning after that fight he woke up in his bathtub, he had to find his wife to explain to him what happened, LaBarba had hit him so hard he couldnt remember anything from the night before.

[Collins2000]

Gran, this is Kid Chocolate (not his real name in case you didn't know)



Just in case you didn't know who was who in that fight.

LOL

[Expug]

Labarba was a great fighter.
Olympic Champ
Pro title
And a college graduate.
The man was a winner.

[Collins2000]

Labarba was a great fighter.
Olympic Champ
Pro title
And a college graduate.
The man was a winner.

Absolutely! We need more like him in the game today.

[Chuck1052]

I don't know if Fidel LaBarba graduated from college, but he did attend Stanford University for awhile before returning to boxing.

- Chuck Johnston

[granberry]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 92,4568234


http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2 ... 90,4253305

[granberry]

Fidel LaBarba was still a high school kid when he won the gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in Paris as a flyweight, a division seldom dominated by American fighters. In the following year, LaBarba turned pro and beat Frankie Genaro for the U.S. flyweight crown. In 1927, he took the world flyweight crown from Elky Clark, knocking him down five times and winning every round.
LaBarba retired seven months after becoming world champ and enrolled at Stanford University, determined to make something of himself outside the prize ring. But he returned to the ring a year later as a featherweight. In 1931, he failed in a bid for the world title against Battling Battalino. In 1932, fighting with a detached retina suffered in training, he lost a decision to boxing legend Kid Chocolate, whom he had beaten before. Corrective surgery on his eye failed and he eventually lost the eye. He retired again and this time earned a journalism degree from Stanford, became a popular sportswriter, wrote screenplays and served as a technical advisor for boxing movies. His overall record: 72-15-7.

http://www.thecolumnists.com/miller/miller691.html

[granberry]

Fidel LaBarba

Date of Birth: 29 September 1905
Height: 5′ 3″

Mini Biography:
http://www.moviemire.com/index.php/fidel-labarba.html

Fidel LaBarba was born on September 29th, Bronx New York. Named after St. Fidelis, commonly referred to as “Semper Fidelis” or always faithful in the Catholic religion. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1910 to pursue more gainful employment and to be near relatives.

At age nine, Fidel and his two younger brothers were living mostly on the streets, due to the untimely death of their 42-year-old mother. It was during this time that Fidel started picking up his fighting skills. While working for The Los Angels Express as a paperboy, little Fidel was used in establishing street corner domination from rival newspapers.They would drop him off on a corner where the Herald or the Times was being peddled. Crowding in as potential customers approached, a pushing match ultimately resulted with Fidel punching the other peddler (usually a taller boy), knocking him down. “After that, the guy would leave us alone.” Fidel often said.

By age 12 he was fighting in little amateur cards (AKA “Smokers”) held weekly at the Elks club, and other small establishments. Bob Howard, the boxing instructor at Central Junior High saw Fidel’s potential. It wasn’t long before he met life long friend & manager George Blake.Fidel was naturally left handed, (AKA: “South Paw”) but was forced to learn boxing in a right hand stance. This gave him a somewhat different weaving style of fighting, and was why his left jab was his most powerful punch. He was fast, accurate, and great at defense. Ultimately it was referee and manager Blake that got him to the 1924 Olympic games in Paris, France. Fidel had lost only one out of over 30 fights as an amateur. This string of victories continued as he not only won the Gold Metal, but his winning match brought home the Gold Metal for the US boxing team on July 15th, 1924.

Returning from the games, he decided to defer his college education and turn professional. Fighting against top names of the day, it took 26 professional bouts and close to two and one half years for him to realize his dream. On January 21, 1927, he won the Flyweight Championship of the world by defeating Elky Clark of England.Fidel fought 12 more non-title fights and then stunned the boxing world when he renounced his title to attend Stanford University. After successfully completing his freshman year, he returned to Los Angeles to help with the burial of his father. He then returned to the ring for six more years.

Fighting 58 fights, beating such boxing greats as Bud Taylor, Kid Chocolate, Kid Francis, and Bushy Graham.Fidel was known as a clean, honorable, gentleman of the ring. A role model for the Italian Americans in the late 1920s and early 1930s. This was during a time when the media portrayed most Italians as gangsters. Ironically, it was this very thing that inspired underworld king pin Al Capone to offer and provide limousine service from the hotel to the arena during one of Fidel’s two 1930s Chicago fights. The “ride” consisted of a motorcade of mob owned vehicles which was said to have included Capone’s own 1930 armor plated Cadillac.

Fidel was never knocked out during his fighting career

Then on December 6, 1932 fate virtually ended his boxing career. While training for the title fight against Kid Chocolate, an elbow to the eye detached his retina, ultimately causing removal of the eye. Against the wishes of both his manager and doctor, Fidel fought the title fight three days later, concealing his injury by the use of continual hot and cold compresses. With over 50% loss to his left eye, Fidel fought a convincing 15 rounds losing the decision to Chocolate. But according to the New York Times, “the majority of the 14,000 who witnessed the battle disagreed.”

After three more fights with his impaired vision, Fidel threw in the towel. He fell back on a second career he had already started while boxing, writing. One of his earliest published articles was for the July 1926 Ring Magazine titled “LaBarba’s Hardest Fights”. In 1928 he was published in Coilers Magazine.After a chance meeting on the polo fields of LA, Fidel secured a career working under studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck in the early 1930s.

During his stay at 20th Century Fox Studios; Fidel co-wrote the stories for two films. ‘Susannah of the Mounties’ (1939) starring Shirley Temple and Randolph Scott, and ‘Footlight Serenade’ (1942) starring Betty Grable, Victor Mature, and Phil Silvers. The latter coming from a story named “Kid Dynamite” loosely based on Fidel’s own life.Fidel’s final writing career was as a sports writer for the Outlook newspaper, located in Santa Monica, California.

One of his most notable articles was for the November 1957 Boxing and Wrestling magazine titled “My toughest Fight” where he wrote about the torment a fighter goes through hours before the match, and a brutal bout he fought with Filipino fighter Pedro Villa.Fidel was forced to retire from his final job working for the California State Athletic Commission due to poor health in 1966.

[Seamus]

LaBarba was also friends with Chicago bootlegger Spike O'Donnell. On at least one occasion he gave his gloves to Spike's son Patrick. Seemed like a good guy.

[1660659]

I appreciate all that is being shared here about Mr. LaBarba. My grandpa, Mike Cosentino, lived in Chicago, S. side, had a framed photo of Mr. LaBarba. Autographed, "To my friend". I never met my grandpa, but my dad told me my grandpa did some boxing, but my family also had some connections to the mob, and my Great Uncle, Tony Pistilli, was an alderman. I'm just trying to better understand the Chicago connection for Mr. LaBarba, and how he met my grandpa. I'm not giving up my photo, as I never got to meet my grandpa, his life, sadly, ended too soon. I have the framed photo if you want me to share it here, just not sure how to upload photos.

[elmersalsa]

I did a study about Fidel La Barba's career, months ago. He is definitely a top 100 pound per pound all time great fighter

I have him in position #62.

[1660659]

I will pay to purchase a copy of the magazine that has his article, "My Toughest Fight" and share here if anyone is interested. I attempted to purchase it online, but only received one page of the article, so will try again. This fighter reminds me of a Jack London or Stephen Crane or Hemingway writer, that he actually put the gloves on and did battle, then went to Stanford, and became a journalist? Sounds like quite the character!