Classic American West Coast Boxing

[iskigoe]

Thanks Frank,

Very fitting considering how good of friends Corbett and Hype were and how close I grew up from where Corbett lived [Corbett rd].
I was afraid you might have come up with something like "Hypeless Igoe" or "Kevin the Bayside Assassin" or "the man who would not stop Hyping Hype".

My car dealearship is called Easystreet Auto Sales. I named it that because I live on Easy street [not really], but in Aiken SC we have a famed intersection with the names Easy street and Whiskey road. The Guys at auctions have taken to calling me Mr. Easy. I like to think I am the walking mans friend. No one walks away from Easy st --they drive away. But the quickest way to get back on your feet is to miss a car payment with me. Just a little car humor.

I have also been branded with nicknames like "The Snake" for stealing other salesmans customers, "old Iron Hands" for being a little old fasion when jumping my horses and snatching them off the ground by pluncking them in the mouth with a tug on the reins, but the old standard is "you go Igoe".

You know Hype takes credit for many monikers including "The Michagan Assassin". I will have to research a little to see if Ketchel was the first to be branded an assassin.

Thanks again Frank I will wear my new moniker with pride.

KI

[kikibalt]

Thanks Frank,

Very fitting considering how good of friends Corbett and Hype were and how close I grew up from where Corbett lived [Corbett rd].
I was afraid you might have come up with something like "Hypeless Igoe" or "Kevin the Bayside Assassin" or "the man who would not stop Hyping Hype".

My car dealearship is called Easystreet Auto Sales. I named it that because I live on Easy street [not really], but in Aiken SC we have a famed intersection with the names Easy street and Whiskey road. The Guys at auctions have taken to calling me Mr. Easy. I like to think I am the walking mans friend. No one walks away from Easy st --they drive away. But the quickest way to get back on your feet is to miss a car payment with me. Just a little car humor.

I have also been branded with nicknames like "The Snake" for stealing other salesmans customers, "old Iron Hands" for being a little old fasion when jumping my horses and snatching them off the ground by pluncking them in the mouth with a tug on the reins, but the old standard is "you go Igoe".

You know Hype takes credit for many monikers including "The Michagan Assassin". I will have to research a little to see if Ketchel was the first to be branded an assassin.

Thanks again Frank I will wear my new moniker with pride.

KI

Kevin, that was Tom Ray who hung that moniker on you, mine moniker for you would be "Kevin The Hype"

[iskigoe]

Well thanks Tom,

Sorry too many Bud Lights. I did not look up and to the left.

[iskigoe]

welterweight --- Young Corbett III. Just my weight class. If only I did not have a glass jaw.
I could have been a contender.

[Rick Farris]

Hey, Frank let's turn back the clock a bit, to a fight that took place a few months before I was born.
This was Hap Navarro's work, you might have been there, I wish I was . . .

Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California, United States

Manny Madrid D Enrique Bolanos PTS 10 10
Reuben Torres D LeRoy Richards PTS 6 6
Keeny Teran W Armando Felix PTS 4 4
Loren Pro D Petey Alvarez PTS 4 4
Aaron Junior D George Cramer PTS 4 4
Edgar Flowers W Johnny Vega

[Randyman]

Lucky

Regarding Lucky: Thank you all for the kind words. We're at peace with our decision. We miss here but she is no longer suffering. She was a funny dog. We've been remembering the times she made us laugh.

Anybody passing by the house would think Lucky was a ferocious guard dog, but the truth is, despite her huge bark, she was timid. One day the cops were chasing some guy in a car, the car pulls up in front of my house and the guy runs out and towards my house. Lucky goes crazy and starts barking like crazy. The guy decides to chance it and jumps the fence into my backyard. When he lands Lucky takes off screaming, literally screaming, and hides. The cop follows the guy and lucky just watches from her hiding place. Some guard dog. My daughter Savannah was watching from the window. As dangerous as it might have been for her she just couldn't stop laughing.

Another time I came home from work and went to the backyard. Lucky was all the way in the back barking at the neighbor that lived behind us. I walked up to her, not realizing that she hadn't seen me. I yelled out "Lucky! Shut up!" She jumped up about a foot and screamed like a human being. I'm serious. She let out a scream like a woman. Then she took off running. When she turned around and saw that it was me she had a look of embarrassment on her face. If I had video taped it I might have won a $100,000 on America' Funniest Videos.

Some neighbor down the street had a rooster. That son of a gun was huge. It had the habit of walking on the back fence and stopping at our yard. It stayed on the fence but it would crow like crazy. Lucky was fierce as long as the rooster stayed on the fence. One day the rooster jumped the fence and and Lucky ran for her life. That damned rooster was chasing her all over the yard. Again, no video camera.

[Randyman]

Hey, Frank let's turn back the clock a bit, to a fight that took place a few months before I was born.
This was Hap Navarro's work, you might have been there, I wish I was . . .

Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California, United States

Manny Madrid D Enrique Bolanos PTS 10 10
Reuben Torres D LeRoy Richards PTS 6 6
Keeny Teran W Armando Felix PTS 4 4
Loren Pro D Petey Alvarez PTS 4 4
Aaron Junior D George Cramer PTS 4 4
Edgar Flowers W Johnny Vega

I would have liked to have been there just to see Keeny! What an era.

Randy

[Randyman]

Randy, the place is like a small town coffee shop, where everybody knows everybody, old guys just sit on the counter, drink coffee and talk bull....word to the wise...cash only...

I think I might check this out this weekend, if I don't go to work.

[Rick Farris]

Randy, here's one we'd have liked. I was just a couple months old:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States

Tommy Umeda L Keeny Teran UD 10 10
Donald Haynes W Louis Williams SD 6 6
Willie Vaughn W Everett Vasquez PTS 4 4
Sheik Thompson W Ray Louis PTS 4 4
Pete Janke W Maurice Noble PTS 4 4
Dick Van Pool W Satchel Porter

[Rick Farris]

Boxing In Los Angeles . . . My memories to notes

For me, it was all about the Olympic Auditorium.
TV allowed me to peak inside the big, cement auditorium at 18th & Grand, with Dempsey's mural above the marquee.
Every thursday night I'd watch Boxing from the Olympic on KTLA-Ch. 5, 8-10pm.
During the two-hour broadcast, you'd start with two hot amateur bouts, four top local amateurs, some on their way to championship professional careers. You'd then see a six-rounder, a brief intermission with TV interviews, etc.
Then a great ten rounder. I'd say that three-out-of-four matches we'd see would be good quality boxing of the era.
Often there would be a "non-televised" event that would be held shortly after the TV sign-off at 10pm.
World title fights, Mando Ramos fights, Quarry fights, Indian Red Lopez, Hedge Lewis, we had Rojas, Crawford, Navarro . . .
Of course, guys like Liston, Patterson, London, Machen, and dozen's of top heavyweight talent, old and young, headlined.
To stay true to her claim of the Olympic being the "Home of the Heavyweights", Mrs. Eaton featured local boys and some vets.
I recall a former contender, Billy Stephan fighting Joey Orbillo, we had a guy named Matt Blow, and Ski Goldstein.
Not all the names were big, but the talent was big and so were the fighters. We had willing heavyweights, tough guys.
None was tougher than California Boxing Hall of Famer, the late Jimmy Harriman.
Harriman was a long shoreman, a reputed street fighter who'd enter the Olympic ring wearing high-top tennis shoes.
Sneakers worked for him in the street, why not in the ring?
Jimmy fought some good ones, and won his share, but he wasn't the creme of the local crop. Jerry Quarry was the man.
Joey Orbillo was a good one, fast, boxing skills, good punch, but too small. He'd have never survived the era of Ali & Frazier.
Manuel Ramos was OK, scored an upset over a less than fit Eddie Machen, and then excited the crowd when he fought Frazier.
Ramos had one good combo that landed, did no damage, but looked good. People suggest that he almost KOed Frazier. No way, Ramos was blasted out in round two. We had a Liston sparring partner and opponent, Amos "Big Train" Lincoln. Jimmy "King" Fletcher was a dangerous puncher.
And their was the legendary George "Scrap Iron" Johnson. Canto Robledo managed a big heavy from Pasadena in Wayne Kindred. I liked Wayne personally, was sad to see him flattened by Venezuelan, Jose Luis Garcia. No shame losing to Garcia, who had also recently flattened an unbeaten, Ken Norton. Chuck Leslie was a blown-up light heavy who fought the big boys, including Smokin Joe Frazier in Joe's LA debut in '66. Leslie was seen a number of times on Thursday night cards from the Olympic. A good action heavyweight. We had a National Golden Gloves Champ in Henry "Bunky" Akins, who didn't go far, had mega talent. Became an Ali sparring partner. And speaking of sparring partners, Jerry Quarry's most loyal punching bag, Big Dave Centi, would occasionally headline an Olympic semi-main. Centi made one helluva spaghetti dinner at training camp, I was told. Another Quarry sparring partner circa 1967 was Joe "Shotgun" Shelton. Shelton's claim to fame was ending the career of Louisville's Tunney Husaker. Hunsaker was the initial professional opponent of Cassius Clay, about fifty years ago. Shelton KOed Hunsaker, who went into a coma and survived after brain surgery. Shelton was a cagey, small heavyweight that could keep Jerry honest with slick boxing moves. However, bloody Jerry's nose and your gunna pay. I never saw Jerry floor Joe, but man did he slam the body. I could see Shelton wince as Jerry hooks landed against body with a thud.
Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez, a natural welter, would go toe-to-toe with Quarry. Those were some great memories.


-Rick Farris

[Rick Farris]

Watching a Six Round Fighter School a World Champ . . .

The World Champ was a dangerous puncher, one who had flattened featherweight contender Bobby Valdez with one punch.
The champ was Hiroshi Kobayashi, of Japan.

The six-round fighter was my stablemate, a guy who had once fought tens.
Those main events took place years before, before an opponent died after their bout, before he walked away in the early 60's.
My stablemate was Rod Contreras, a guy who fought on a par with the young Ramos, Navarro, Gonzalez early on.
But his heart was never really in boxing after an opponent died. He hesitated, when he could have finished the job.

This may have prevented Rod Contreras from moving up in the ratings, but it didn't prevent him from handing an ass-whipping to a champ.
It took place on a saturday morning at the Main Street Gym. I've told the story before, and surely will do so again.

When the bell rang, opening the first round of boxing, Kobayashi puts the pressure on right away.
He thows a short, inside combo to the body and lets fly with a hook to the head that Rod slips under.
The punch looked like it might have taken off his head. Rod just let it fly over his head, spun Kobayashi and put him in the corner.
He then rattled off some jolting combos, then moved away. The Japanses fighter attacked, wild, missed, and Rod countered.
Cracking left jabs, it was beautiful, and you should have seen Johnny & Julio Flores smiling in the corner.
Everytime Kobayashi would charge in he'd catch a jab in the face. His nose bled almost immediatly.
This went on for three rounds, then Kobayashi climbed out. He was done for the day.
I remember blood on Rod's white gym shirt. It wasn't his blood.

That was one pissed off Jap that stepped out of the ring that morning!


-Rick Farris

[Rick Farris]

Here's a great card from 1956 . . . (What could be better, Fuentes beats Gavilan, Hawkins by KO, Northrup & Jordan?)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States

Mickey Northrup L Rudy Jordan UD 10 10
Kid Gavilan L Ramon Fuentes SD 10 10
Dwight Hawkins W Leo Carter TKO 1 6
Alvin Moore D Buddy Ford PTS 4 4
Benny Robledo W Bill Garrett PTS 4

[Expug]

Real sorry about your pup Randy.
Losing Lucky is tough I know.

[Panzerfaust]

L.A is so freakin huge!!!!! its almost intimidating.. And the imigration counter in Philly, that was one scary lady!!! But now im of to sleep... 24 hours since i left home.

[kikibalt]

Randy, here's one we'd have liked. I was just a couple months old:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States

Tommy Umeda L Keeny Teran UD 10 10
Donald Haynes W Louis Williams SD 6 6
Willie Vaughn W Everett Vasquez PTS 4 4
Sheik Thompson W Ray Louis PTS 4 4
Pete Janke W Maurice Noble PTS 4 4
Dick Van Pool W Satchel Porter

Rick...I seen this card live. I seen all 3 fights Teran/Umeda fights live. Umeda was a WWII vet, he was with 442th Regimental, his boxing robe had the 442th's insignia "Go For Broke" on the back.....

[kikibalt]

Hey, Frank let's turn back the clock a bit, to a fight that took place a few months before I was born.
This was Hap Navarro's work, you might have been there, I wish I was . . .

Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California, United States

Manny Madrid D Enrique Bolanos PTS 10 10
Reuben Torres D LeRoy Richards PTS 6 6
Keeny Teran W Armando Felix PTS 4 4
Loren Pro D Petey Alvarez PTS 4 4
Aaron Junior D George Cramer PTS 4 4
Edgar Flowers W Johnny Vega

Bolanos and Madrid fought 2-3 times, I know I seen this one live because Keeny was on the card and I didn't miss Keeny's fights. did you know that Don Fraser and George Latka manage Madrid at one time?

[kikibalt]

Tommy Umeda

http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_umeda_0401.htm

[kikibalt]

Randy, the place is like a small town coffee shop, where everybody knows everybody, old guys just sit on the counter, drink coffee and talk bull....word to the wise...cash only...

I think I might check this out this weekend, if I don't go to work.

Go for the hickory ham and eggs.....

[Chuck1052]

According to today's edition of the Ventura County Star, Victor Ortiz is scheduled to fight Vivian Harris at Staples Center on the 18th of September. Like Ortiz's last opponent, Nate Campbell, Harris hasn't been doing well in his last few bouts.

- Chuck Johnston

[kikibalt]

Like Ortiz's last opponent, Nate Campbell, Harris hasn't been doing well in his last few bouts.

- Chuck Johnston

That's why GB is letting Ortiz fight Harris...

[raylawpc]

welterweight --- Young Corbett III. Just my weight class. If only I did not have a glass jaw.
I could have been a contender.

Yeah, I coulda been a great, great fighter too . . . if only I had talent.

[raylawpc]

Trivia question for you LA guys: What is the full name of Los Angeles?

El Pueblo De Nuestra Senora La Reina De Los Angeles

And that's the short version.

Yeah, Frank only gets 1/2 credit. The full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula

[raylawpc]

L.A is so freakin huge!!!!! its almost intimidating.. And the imigration counter in Philly, that was one scary lady!!! But now im of to sleep... 24 hours since i left home.

Seems even bigger when you get caught in a traffic jam on one of those LA freeways.

[raylawpc]

Well thanks Tom,

Sorry too many Bud Lights. I did not look up and to the left.

Since it was Bud Light, I forgive you.

[Rick Farris]

Like Ortiz's last opponent, Nate Campbell, Harris hasn't been doing well in his last few bouts.

- Chuck Johnston

That's why GB is letting Ortiz fight Harris...

A chemical that might make a difference?

I always thought that maybe some boxers need a little more motivation before a fight.
Such as a big vat of acid back in the dressing room area, the kind that disintegrates anything that is dropped inside.
A fighter quits for no reason claiming, "Well I didn't become a boxer to get hit . . . " like Victor Ortiz announced after he quit on HBO one night.
A guy like that must step into the vat, and thus we boxing fans will have one less example of cowardace to think about.
The vat would certainly be a deterrant, don't you think? You can give or take your beating ike a man, or disappear for good.
Nobody is forced into a boxing ring. It's a choice. You make boxing your choice you better fight, or dive into the vat of cowardace.

Why not? Couldn't hurt during these weak times, might even be a marketable side show.
"Watch a bum disappear right before your eyes on PPV".
That's the only thing I'd buy featuring Victor Ortiz.