Classic American West Coast Boxing

[dagosd2000]

SAAD
I saw Jesse Burnett fight one of the strangest fights against one of the strangest dudes,Ray"Windmill " White. White was swinging his arms like a windmill and throwing punches from around his back. Everytime Burnett hit him White would fall and then leap up like a jack in the box at the count of nine. Finally the ref waived it off. White leaps out of the ring with his gloves on,followed by his wierd manager,Baron Von Stumme,and they run out onto the street.

Also I was looking at the Boxrec records. They have Mike Quarry bring stopped in San Dirgo by Pete McIntyre. I was there that night. I swear Mike lost to Jesse Burnett.

Rick,can you get the straight info on that? Rog

Rog, to be honest, I dunno? Proably not. Mike's dead, and he'd BS me if he wasn't. Mickey Davies is dead, and he'd be the only reliable voice. You'll have to visit a connected para-psychologist who can guide you thru to the right spirits.
Make sure they ain't Irish.

You could go down to the San Diego Public Library and pull the San Diego newspapers for the fight. I checked on newspaperarchive.com but nothing came up.

Good thinking Tom,but the papers down here treated boxing like it was Typhoid Mary. With the exception of Norton's bout with Ali, and Saad Muhammad and Mwale, there wasn't much in the news. I suppose the 50's were different,but San Diego became a yuppie sports town. Give 'em golf,the Chargers,and the Padres.After that it's The America's Cup and tennis.

[dagosd2000]

Triple Championship...Weigh-In

(l.to r. Sugar Ramos, Roberto Cruz, Luis Rodriguez, Emile Griffith, Battling Torres and Davey Moore)

March 21, 1963, Los Angeles

THE NOSE AND OTHER NOSTRILS

Luis Rodriguez may have had the distinction of being the most succesfull welter of the 60's if he hadn't fought Emile Griffith. I remember when Luis was in town to fight Rafa Gutierrez in a middle weight go. The winner to fight Benvenuti. All Luis could talk to the press about was how he got robbed against Emile. I saw those fights on TV when I was a teenager. They were all close. They were two brilliant technicians. The fights were fast and exciting. Luis may have won them all. The time I thought he looked the worse is when he won the championship.

Luis held the belt for three months. Shortest reign in welter history. Emile won it back in a close decision. Later both boys moved up in weight. But it was a marvelous division. The Nose and Emile. There was Denny and Gaspar. Paret and Charley Scott. Federico Thompson,Curtis Cokes,Manny Gonzalez,Florentino Fernandez,Ralph Dupas,Isaac Logart,and Brian Curvis. The welters were deep. They were artists in their own right.

I would have liked to have seen Rodriguez at least get a split with Emile with their fights. Luis is gone now. I wonder if Emile even remembers him after the last time I saw Griffith at the World Boxing Hall Of Fame Banquet? I wonder if Emile knows how great he was? How wonderfull that dividion was? When I saw Emile,he was about to pick a fight with George Chuvalo over a ball point pen.

[El Gato]

Rick,

Thank you so much for writing about my consecutive knockout record. You are right about saying that I had no idea who I was fighting in those days. My manager, Angel Casillas, would just say, don't worry about your opponent--he is only a four round fighter. But I was fighting him in a 10 round fight. I belived my manager so I didn't worry about it. Some of those fighters were very smart and could punch hard.

One time in 1960 I fought this guy by the name of Seferino Garcia in Jiquilpan. My manager told me this guy was a four round fighter. I finally knocked him out in the 4th round, but what a war. I was only 14 and he was at least 25. This fighter was not a push over.

I am very thankful to Rick Farris and Dan Hanley for discovering the quality of fighters I was fighting.

El Gato

[Expug]

Joe Lee.
Tonight at work,A Chicago Bulls-Indiana Pacers game I ran into long long time Bulls equipment manager Joe Lee.
Joe is an old friend of Spider Webb.
I told him that Spider was being considered for the WBHOF.
Joe was touched by this. He paused for quite awhile. The look on his face said it all.
After the pause, he said it was great and Spider belonged with some of the best.I could tell this really stirred up some memories for Joe who must be in his seventies.He was a little emotional about it I think.In a good way.
I think that honoring Spider honors his old pals as well. Its that way with the great old fighters.Remembering them always takes us back to better days.

[kikibalt]

"Art Laboe's Memories of El Monte"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM6z3T8ZruU

[bennie]

Triple Championship...Weigh-In

(l.to r. Sugar Ramos, Roberto Cruz, Luis Rodriguez, Emile Griffith, Battling Torres and Davey Moore)

March 21, 1963, Los Angeles

I shouldn't make light of a show involving the Davey Moore tragedy, but the big guy on one knee seems to be saying, "now, make sure you are all good boys."

[raylawpc]

Rog, to be honest, I dunno? Proably not. Mike's dead, and he'd BS me if he wasn't. Mickey Davies is dead, and he'd be the only reliable voice. You'll have to visit a connected para-psychologist who can guide you thru to the right spirits.
Make sure they ain't Irish.

You could go down to the San Diego Public Library and pull the San Diego newspapers for the fight. I checked on newspaperarchive.com but nothing came up.

Good thinking Tom,but the papers down here treated boxing like it was Typhoid Mary. With the exception of Norton's bout with Ali, and Saad Muhammad and Mwale, there wasn't much in the news. I suppose the 50's were different,but San Diego became a yuppie sports town. Give 'em golf,the Chargers,and the Padres.After that it's The America's Cup and tennis.

We had the same problem in Oklahoma City - if it wasn't OU football, forget it. But one would think that the newspapers would have reported the result of the local fights and at least gotten the names of the fighters correct. That way, you'd know if boxrec got it right, or whether your memory is getting as bad as mine!

[dagosd2000]

Triple Championship...Weigh-In

(l.to r. Sugar Ramos, Roberto Cruz, Luis Rodriguez, Emile Griffith, Battling Torres and Davey Moore)

March 21, 1963, Los Angeles

I shouldn't make light of a show involving the Davey Moore tragedy, but the big guy on one knee seems to be saying, "now, make sure you are all good boys."

When I see that picture,I look at Battling Torres peeking at Roberto Cruz as if thinking,"I wonder what this guy has in store for me?"

A good ass wupin'

[kikibalt]

Triple Championship...Weigh-In

(l.to r. Sugar Ramos, Roberto Cruz, Luis Rodriguez, Emile Griffith, Battling Torres and Davey Moore)

March 21, 1963, Los Angeles

I shouldn't make light of a show involving the Davey Moore tragedy, but the big guy on one knee seems to be saying, "now, make sure you are all good boys."

That big guy was Clayton Fry from the Calif. Boxing Commission

[THEHAMMER321]

I was thinking about boxing writer Linda Platt I don't know if she was just local here in Vegas or if she was nation wide,have not read anything by her or heard about her in 20 years any info thanx

[THEHAMMER321]

Incidentally, nobody answered my question about Jose Torres. How good was he?

Bennie have you heard about when Torres fought Charlie "Devil"
Green at Madison Square Garden.
Torres was scheduled to fight somebody else, but the opponnent didnt show.
Matchmaker Teddy Brenner found Green sitting in the audience eating a hotdog and asked him if he would fight Jose.
Green said ok and jumped in with Torres and had him on the deck once or twice in the first round before getting stopped.
When Green got paid after the fight, he wanted an extra 1.50 for the hotdog he didnt get to finish.

Speaking of funny things that fighters say I always remember the time fat heavy James ''Broad A-- '' Broad was fighting on ESPN back in the 1980s he got staggered by his opponent he stumbles back to his corner at the end of the round the referee follows him back to the corner he asks James ''do you know where youre at'',James responds ''I'm in a helluva fight''
--

[THEHAMMER321]

Here's one for Tom & Diego to fight over.

I think she would make a great heavy equipment operator

[dagosd2000]

Here's one for Tom & Diego to fight over.

I think she would make a great heavy equipment operator

Paul
I think I remember how I responded to that. I don't fight over women except my wife and the females of my family. There are too many fish in the sea to go around for everybody.

[kikibalt]

I was thinking about boxing writer Linda Platt I don't know if she was just local here in Vegas or if she was nation wide,have not read anything by her or heard about her in 20 years any info thanx

I remember Linda Platt, think she was just a local (L.V.) writer, she wrote a story or two on Tony.

[THEHAMMER321]

I was thinking about boxing writer Linda Platt I don't know if she was just local here in Vegas or if she was nation wide,have not read anything by her or heard about her in 20 years any info thanx

I remember Linda Platt, think she was just a local (L.V.) writer, she wrote a story or two on Tony.

I figured you would know because I remember her writing about Tony

[scartissue]

Guys, some sad news. El Gato phoned me a little while ago and told me his old stablemate former flyweight champion of the world Efren 'Alacran' Torres just passed away. RIP.

Scartissue

[Rick Farris]

Guys, some sad news. El Gato phoned me a little while ago and told me his old stablemate former flyweight champion of the world Efren 'Alacran' Torres just passed away. RIP.

Scartissue

God bless a great champion and Hall of Famer. May he rest in peace.

-Rick Farris

[dagosd2000]

Guys, some sad news. El Gato phoned me a little while ago and told me his old stablemate former flyweight champion of the world Efren 'Alacran' Torres just passed away. RIP.

Scartissue

God bless a great champion and Hall of Famer. May he rest in peace.

-Rick Farris

Another great fighter who fought when the division was very deep in talent. Sorry to hear about his passing.

[El Gato]

To all Boxrec readers and writers,

Today has been a sad day for my hometown Guadalajara and for the whole country of Mexico.
My friend and stablemate Efren "Alacran" Torres died this morning. He and I started training on the same day at the Police Station in the City of San Andres, about twenty miles south of downtown Guadalajara in July of 1959. My cousin, Jose Becerra taught us both the left hook to the liver and all the classic boxing moves he knew. What he taught us was enough for me and Alacran Torres to start winning fights. The two of us were racing to see who could win more knockouts in a row.
In my opinion Alacran was one of the best Flyweight World Champions that Mexico has ever had.
Perhaps many of you remember his fights against Susumu Hanagata and Chartchai Chionoi. Those were outstanding fights. Fights like that you don't see anymore.

I just saw Alacran Torres in Guadalajara in November, 2009 where they placed our pictures and a star in the beautiful sports museum. He was so happy and seemed to be in good shape. He was just a little older than me. May God rest his soul.

El Gato

[kikibalt]

Sorry to hear about Torres passing, may he rest in peace....

[wsbuf]

I have some 1932 photos of Tommy Paul a Dempsey's Gym in L.A. Anyone tell me where that was located?

[raylawpc]

"Jack Dempsey's Manhattan Gym" was located in the original Spring Arcade Building on Spring Street, between 5th and 6th streets, in downtown L.A. When boxing was legalized in California in 1925, Jack Dempsey bought the old Western Athletic Club, refurbished it, and re-opened it as the Manhattan. Jack’s brother Bernie ran the Gym.

[wsbuf]

[kikibalt]

"Jack Dempsey's Manhattan Gym" was located in the original Spring Arcade Building on Spring Street, between 5th and 6th streets, in downtown L.A. When boxing was legalized in California in 1925, Jack Dempsey bought the old Western Athletic Club, refurbished it, and re-opened it as the Manhattan. Jack’s brother Bernie ran the Gym.

The CSAC had their offices in the Arcade Building, I remember going there in the 1950's-60's for weight-ins.

[raylawpc]

Did the CSAC occpy the same space as the old gym?