Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Rick Farris]

A Fantasy match I'd love to see . . .

Prince Naseem Hamed vs. Dwight "The Hawk" Hawkins

No contest, the Hawk by ko.....

I agree, Frank. Dwight would have buried a gancho in that joker's belly and it would have been all over.

[Rick Farris]

Art Aragon vs Teddy "Red Top" Davis
A fight I didn't see

Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California - 5/22/1951

Art Aragon W Teddy Davis UD 10 10
Tommy Umeda W Oscar Torres SD 6 6
Charley Green W Morrie McFarland TKO 2 4
Manuel Maldonado W Johnny Malloy PTS 4 4
Bobby Romo W George Cramer PTS 4 4
Joey Maldonado W Eddie Beltram PTS 4 4

[kikibalt]

Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California - 5/22/1951

Art Aragon W Teddy Davis UD 10 10
Tommy Umeda W Oscar Torres SD 6 6
Charley Green W Morrie McFarland TKO 2 4
Manuel Maldonado W Johnny Malloy PTS 4 4
Bobby Romo W George Cramer PTS 4 4
Joey Maldonado W Eddie Beltram PTS 4 4

The Manuel Maldonado (L) vs Johnny Malloy preliminary fight.

Referee, Dynamite Jackson

[BoxBuzz]

amazing pics! Look at all those fans!

[kikibalt]

I was at this fight, but I didn't get to see too much, as I was sitting about a mile away....

[THEHAMMER321]

Hello everyone, I know most of us on here including myself is partial to the fighters of yesteryear, but I was thinking and can't think of many who were as effective at an advanced age as Bernard Hopkins still is, can anyone name a few that were among the top 5 contenders in there respective weight classes when they were over 40.

[kikibalt]

Hello everyone, I know most of us on here including myself is partial to the fighters of yesteryear, but I was thinking and can't think of many who were as effective at an advanced age as Bernard Hopkins still is, can anyone name a few that were among the top 5 contenders in there respective weight classes when they were over 40.

He only is Paul, because of the era he is fighting in, in the era of one champion per weight class, he won't be rank in the top 5....

[Panzerfaust]

Hello everyone, I know most of us on here including myself is partial to the fighters of yesteryear, but I was thinking and can't think of many who were as effective at an advanced age as Bernard Hopkins still is, can anyone name a few that were among the top 5 contenders in there respective weight classes when they were over 40.

Archie Moore
George Foreman.
Bob Fitzsimmons

im sure there are more

[Rick Farris]

Hello everyone, I know most of us on here including myself is partial to the fighters of yesteryear, but I was thinking and can't think of many who were as effective at an advanced age as Bernard Hopkins still is, can anyone name a few that were among the top 5 contenders in there respective weight classes when they were over 40.

Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep (floated in & out). Eddie Cotton, light heavy contender (who whipped Jose Torres over age 40, but was robbed in title fight), Archie Moore, Roberto Duran still cracked a few top ten lists past four decades. There are more, not common, of course. But Hopkins is not unique, and he didn't have as many ring contests as most I named. These guys fought often to put food on the table.

[Rick Farris]

Sandy . . .

Watching one of my favorites, Sandra Bullock, in "Hope Floats."
Sandra is one of a short list of true Hollywood class & talent.
Too bad she hooked up with a loser. We on her film crews love her.

[kikibalt]

Sandy . . .

Watching one of my favorites, Sandra Bullock, in "Hope Floats."
Sandra is one of a short list of true Hollywood class & talent.
Too bad she hooked up with a loser. We on her film crews love her.

[Rick Farris]

Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California - 5/22/1951

Art Aragon W Teddy Davis UD 10 10
Tommy Umeda W Oscar Torres SD 6 6
Charley Green W Morrie McFarland TKO 2 4
Manuel Maldonado W Johnny Malloy PTS 4 4
Bobby Romo W George Cramer PTS 4 4
Joey Maldonado W Eddie Beltram PTS 4 4

The Manuel Maldonado (L) vs Johnny Malloy preliminary fight.

Referee, Dynamite Jackson

Frank, great find! The main event was one thing, but this adds more life to the memory.
And what a great shot. Look at the guy standing, old school prizefighter.
And Cal Boxing Hall of Famer, Dynamite Jackson, is 3rd man in ring.

[kikibalt]

Jose Toluco Lopez vs Billy Peacock. This fight was held at Wrigley Field on the Pajarito Moreno vs Hogan Kid Bassey card on April 1,1958. Our friend Danny Valdez also fought on the card. I was there that nite....

[Rick Farris]

What a great card! It was great then, impossible today.

[kikibalt]

Jose Luis otero wit the first light heavyweight champion, Jack Root




Jose Luis Cotero, Sam Schmitzer & Jack Root

[kikibalt]

What a great card! It was great then, impossible today.

Wrigley Field, Los Angeles, California, United States

Ricardo Pajarito Moreno L Hogan (Kid) Bassey KO 3 15

Jose Toluco Lopez W Billy Peacock TKO 11 12

Danny Valdez W Paul Shea KO 4 4

Jim Norris W Joe White PTS 4 4


Not enough fighters of Toluco Lopez, Danny Valdez caliber around now-days to put a card together of the magnitude of the cards of the "50's & '60's

Another great card

Wrigley Field, Los Angeles, California, United States view

Carmen Basilio W Art Aragon TKO 8 10

Jose Becerra W Little Cezar TKO 4 10

Dwight Hawkins W Danny Valdez SD 8 8

Willie Dillon W DeWitt Lewis TKO 1 4

[Rick Farris]

What a great card! It was great then, impossible today.

Wrigley Field, Los Angeles, California, United States

Ricardo Pajarito Moreno L Hogan (Kid) Bassey KO 3 15

Jose Toluco Lopez W Billy Peacock TKO 11 12

Danny Valdez W Paul Shea KO 4 4

Jim Norris W Joe White PTS 4 4


Not enough fighters of Toluco Lopez, Danny Valdez caliber around now-days to put a card together of the magnitude of the cards of the "50's & '60's

There aren't enough exciting fighters in the world to fill out a single card with the quality we were brought up on.
Not just one great fight, but several. Go back to 1963, a tragic card at Dodger Stadium, but three major world title fights. . .
Davey Moore vs. Sugar Ramos, Emile Griffith vs. Luis Rodriguez and Roberto Cruz vs. Battling Torres. That was Eaton & Parnassus. Individually or together, L.A. promoters of that era gave the fans what they wanted, a great night of boxing.
The sport of boxing is more dangerous today than ever. The officials are not always experienced, unable to detect when a boxer who is seriously hurt is fighting beyong his best interests. That's what real fighters do, they don't stop when they're bodies tell them to do so. Amateur boxing is not only responsible for taking the excitment out of boxing, but putting it's participants in real danger when they move up to pro boxing. What we as fans end up with is a group of boxers not versed in body punching, etc. Today there are fewer boxers, fewer good fights, but just as many individuals retiring with slurred speech, just as many young men carried out of the ring on a stretcher never to wake-up. Boxing (as we knew it) is dead. However, a lot of our best fighters are very much still alive and we are going talk with them.

[Panzerfaust]

Im acctually pretty optimistic about boxings future (on the professional side) from 1990 there has been a 83%(or so) rise in the numbers of active profesionals, when more people do it the more experience are re-injected into the sport... so hopefully in my lifetime there will be another slightly golden age......somewhere in asia

[Rick Farris]

Im acctually pretty optimistic about boxings future (on the professional side) from 1990 there has been a 83%(or so) rise in the numbers of active profesionals, when more people do it the more experience are re-injected into the sport... so hopefully in my lifetime there will be another slightly golden age......somewhere in asia

Change . . .

Remy, there is nothing worse than a negative old fart like myself painting a bad picture of boxing to come.
That fact is, life never stops and things are in a constant state of change. Sometimes as life changes, it changes what we have come to love. Boxing does not change, people change, and then they change boxing. I used to hate it when my old school manager constantly criticized the state of boxing and the boxers who fought during my eras. He'd occasionally point out a Danny Lopez, for example, as something he could relate to from days gone by, but for the most part, he was a pain-in-the-ass with all his bitching an moaning. What we had was all I knew (seasoned by a lot of great stories from the past from the gym touts, etc.) so it was fine by me. I didn't have Ezzard Charles, but we had Bob Foster, which was pretty good. I didn't have Suagr Ray Robinson, but we had Jose Napoles and Emile Griffith, etc. Ike Williams was long retired but there was this guy named Duran, and a local kid named Mando Ramos. Now that these guys are gone, I've turned into a modern day Mel Epstein, and although I have a lot of respect for my former handler, he was basicly an obnoxious bore when it came to any recognition of talent during my era. But I can see what I'm becoming and I choose to take an alternate path. Since I regard the former champs with such high esteem, I'm going to wring a little more pleasure out of their tired bodies. I'm going to sit them down in front of a camera and let them tell THEIR story. We can easily review any of their career in tapes or DVD's. We can keep what we liked alive, and maybe provide a little balance in a changing world.

[Chuck1052]

After watching the tape of the bout between Vitali Klitschko and Shannon Briggs today, I feel that the corner of Briggs should have intervened to get the bout stopped far earlier than the 12th round because Briggs was taking a beating while not being competitive at any time. To be sure, Briggs kept on trying throughout the bout, but that doesn't mean that he should have taken a gratuitous beating. I have read that Briggs was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition.

- Chuck Johnston

[kikibalt]

Art Aragon vs Johnny Gonsalves



I was at the Olympic for this 1951 fight and I can still clearly hear the roar of the crowd as Aragon was pounding Gonsalves against the ropes.



Johnny Gonsalves vs Art Aragon

[kikibalt]

After watching the tape of the bout between Vitali Klitschko and Shannon Briggs today, I feel that the corner of Briggs should have intervened to get the bout stopped far earlier than the 12th round because Briggs was taking a beating while not being competitive at any time. To be sure, Briggs kept on trying throughout the bout, but that doesn't mean that he should have taken a gratuitous beating. I have read that Briggs was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition.

- Chuck Johnston

Thanks Chuck for the info. Hope that Briggs come through okay, will keep him in my prayers

[iskigoe]

The Igoe name back in print.

[Chuck1052]

According to an article by Dan Rafael, it does appear that Shannon Briggs sustained some serious injures in his bout with Vitali Klitschko, but they are not life-threatening. Moreover, his CT scan didn't show a serious brain injury. What a relief!

- Chuck Johnston

[kikibalt]

The Igoe name back in print.

Kevin, did your nine year old daughter write a book?, if she did; congrats to her....