Classic American West Coast Boxing

[kikibalt]

What once was . . .

Charlie . . . We get a few shows in L.A. during a year, but nothing like we are used to.
The Staples Center will get a show on occasion, but the feeling and atmosphere of "Fight Night" is dead.
I can recall reading of all the NYC clubs when I was a kid, Eastern Parkway Arena, Sunnyside Gardens, etc. and of course you had the Garden for the big ones.
It was once possible to attend a fight card in L.A. several nights a week.
As I grew up, the Olympic was a Thursday night institution in L.A. and if we couldn't make it to the 18th & Grand arena, we could watch on TV.
I do like Wildcard Gym, as it is the only gym around that has that real fight gym feeling.
Freddie Roach has an "old school" nature and personality, and his gym reflects that.
The only thing that would have irritated Randy's and my old trainer, Mel Epstein, was all the women hanging around. DD
Epstein would have bitched to Freddie, "You gotta get rid of the broads!"
I haven't got the interest to get in my car and drive a couple hours into the desert to watch a card at some Indian Casino.
The Native American casinos are able to provide tax breaks for fight promoters that are normally not possible.
Let the promoters get their break, but I won't be inconvenienced.
I got used to the atmosphere of a true fight arena thanks to the Olympic Auditorium.
Now that the legendary Olympic has been transformed into a Korean Church, arena boxing is dead in L.A.
Boxing as we know it, is pretty much nonexistant.
By the way, it must have been great visiting those gyms with your dad.

In the early '50's we had fights just about every night of the week, the Olympic and the Hollywood Legion fights were on TV, plus the South Gate Arena amateur fights were also on TV, I got to see lots of fighters who became pro main event fighters as amateurs fighting at SGA on TV.

[Rick Farris]

What once was . . .

Charlie . . . We get a few shows in L.A. during a year, but nothing like we are used to.
The Staples Center will get a show on occasion, but the feeling and atmosphere of "Fight Night" is dead.
I can recall reading of all the NYC clubs when I was a kid, Eastern Parkway Arena, Sunnyside Gardens, etc. and of course you had the Garden for the big ones.
It was once possible to attend a fight card in L.A. several nights a week.
As I grew up, the Olympic was a Thursday night institution in L.A. and if we couldn't make it to the 18th & Grand arena, we could watch on TV.
I do like Wildcard Gym, as it is the only gym around that has that real fight gym feeling.
Freddie Roach has an "old school" nature and personality, and his gym reflects that.
The only thing that would have irritated Randy's and my old trainer, Mel Epstein, was all the women hanging around. DD
Epstein would have bitched to Freddie, "You gotta get rid of the broads!"
I haven't got the interest to get in my car and drive a couple hours into the desert to watch a card at some Indian Casino.
The Native American casinos are able to provide tax breaks for fight promoters that are normally not possible.
Let the promoters get their break, but I won't be inconvenienced.
I got used to the atmosphere of a true fight arena thanks to the Olympic Auditorium.
Now that the legendary Olympic has been transformed into a Korean Church, arena boxing is dead in L.A.
Boxing as we know it, is pretty much nonexistant.
By the way, it must have been great visiting those gyms with your dad.

In the early '50's we had fights just about every night of the week, the Olympic and the Hollywood Legion fights were on TV, plus the South Gate Arena amateur fights were also on TV, I got to see lots of fighters who became pro main event fighters as amateurs fighting at SGA on TV.

R.I.P.

Frank, I was hoping you'd take it back beyond my experience in the 60's. Thank you.
I would hear about the days when you could find boxing just about every night of the week in the L.A. area.
The days of the Olympic, Hollywood Legion, Ocean Park, etc.
Today, I feel empty when it comes to boxing events locally. I can imagine how you must feel, having come in during L.A.'s Golden Era of boxing.
By the way, those amateur fights were great back then. They let you fight. Today amateur boxing is boring.

[Rick Farris]

By the way . . .

Fritzie Zivic will be inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame on June 25th . . .

The ghost of Mr. Zivic has reserved seats for Remy, Brian, and their guests for the event.
Brian Higgins (ExPug) will likely accept this posthumous award on behalf of the former welterweight champ and boxing legend.

Sounds like all the ingredients for a Classic American West Coast Boxing reunion.

[THEHAMMER321]

Good afternoon everyone, been pretty cold out here in ''The desert'' last couple of days, I personally have never liked amateur boxing, for one thing it favors pitty pat punching over the more solid punching, that is why guys like Howard Davis were such ''great'' amateurs, I like the pro's and don't really watch much of that anymore, call me a ''classic American west coast'' boxing fan.

[kikibalt]

Good afternoon everyone, been pretty cold out here in ''The desert'' last couple of days, I personally have never liked amateur boxing, for one thing it favors pitty pat punching over the more solid punching, that is why guys like Howard Davis were such ''great'' amateurs, I like the pro's and don't really watch much of that anymore, call me a ''classic American west coast'' boxing fan.

Paul, back in our day, amateurs in Cali fought like pros, much the same rules, no head gear, no t shirt, just like pros...

[kikibalt]

Paul, that Angle is a piece of work.....

[THEHAMMER321]

Good afternoon everyone, been pretty cold out here in ''The desert'' last couple of days, I personally have never liked amateur boxing, for one thing it favors pitty pat punching over the more solid punching, that is why guys like Howard Davis were such ''great'' amateurs, I like the pro's and don't really watch much of that anymore, call me a ''classic American west coast'' boxing fan.

Paul, back in our day, amateurs in Cali fought like pros, much the same rules, no head gear, no t shirt, just like pros...

I don't know how long the amateurs have been using big gloves and headgear, but it has to go back to at least to the early 1970s.

[THEHAMMER321]

Paul, that Angle is a piece of work.....

what angle.

[kikibalt]

Paul, that Angle is a piece of work.....

what angle.

Are you voting for her Paul??....

[THEHAMMER321]

Paul, that Angle is a piece of work.....

what angle.

Are you voting for her Paul??....

oh that Angle, Frank like all people in politics as long as there mouths are moving, they are lying.
.

[kikibalt]

what angle.

Are you voting for her Paul??....

oh that Angle, Frank like all people in politics as long as there mouths are moving, they are lying.
.

[Rick Farris]

Close to 30,000 posts!

[Randyman]

This is the Mando Ramos that L.A. fell in love with in the mid-60's.
Just a teen, 17-18yrs old in these clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTw3y2A_ ... re=related

This is some of the best of Classic American West Coast Boxing!

Quintessential Classic West Coast Boxing, no doubt about it. Mando could sometimes get a little reckless but he was a great finisher and an underrated counter puncher. He really was exciting to watch.

I saw him many times on TV but I only saw him live once, at the Olympic. He was seventeen at the time and I was in Jr high at the time. I was with my father. I can't recall who he was fighting that night. I met him during the filming of Rocky. He was about 160 at the time and was planning on a comeback. It never happened.

We just happen to be sitting directly behind the Quarry family that night. I was sitting right behind Mike. The mother was there too. Everyone seemed to be behaving.

Thanks for posting that Rick
and thanks for the memories Mando!

Randy

[Randyman]

Close to 30,000 posts!

[Randyman]

what angle.

Are you voting for her Paul??....

oh that Angle, Frank like all people in politics as long as there mouths are moving, they are lying.
.

Ain't that the truth!

[Randyman]

By the way . . .

Fritzie Zivic will be inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame on June 25th . . .

The ghost of Mr. Zivic has reserved seats for Remy, Brian, and their guests for the event.
Brian Higgins (ExPug) will likely accept this posthumous award on behalf of the former welterweight champ and boxing legend.

Sounds like all the ingredients for a Classic American West Coast Boxing reunion.

It's going to be a great night if we can get everyone there. You guys will meet my cousins Louie and Rocky Burke this year. Louie Burke is being inducted into the CBHOF next year. My thanks and my family's thanks to Frank Baltazar Sr.!

By the way Chuck, you and Louie have something in common. He's a Fireman too, in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

[Randyman]

What once was . . .

Charlie . . . We get a few shows in L.A. during a year, but nothing like we are used to.
The Staples Center will get a show on occasion, but the feeling and atmosphere of "Fight Night" is dead.
I can recall reading of all the NYC clubs when I was a kid, Eastern Parkway Arena, Sunnyside Gardens, etc. and of course you had the Garden for the big ones.
It was once possible to attend a fight card in L.A. several nights a week.
As I grew up, the Olympic was a Thursday night institution in L.A. and if we couldn't make it to the 18th & Grand arena, we could watch on TV.
I do like Wildcard Gym, as it is the only gym around that has that real fight gym feeling.
Freddie Roach has an "old school" nature and personality, and his gym reflects that.
The only thing that would have irritated Randy's and my old trainer, Mel Epstein, was all the women hanging around. DD
Epstein would have bitched to Freddie, "You gotta get rid of the broads!"
I haven't got the interest to get in my car and drive a couple hours into the desert to watch a card at some Indian Casino.
The Native American casinos are able to provide tax breaks for fight promoters that are normally not possible.
Let the promoters get their break, but I won't be inconvenienced.
I got used to the atmosphere of a true fight arena thanks to the Olympic Auditorium.
Now that the legendary Olympic has been transformed into a Korean Church, arena boxing is dead in L.A.
Boxing as we know it, is pretty much nonexistant.
By the way, it must have been great visiting those gyms with your dad.

Rick, you are so right. He didn't pull any punches when it came to the dames. Mel was a diehard, unrepentant misogynist. You and I know that on that subject, he was pretty hard to take. He would have told Freddie to cut his f*cking hair too.

I hope and pray for L.A. to make a comeback as a great fight town. They have a Monthly or bimonthly show at the Nokia Theater in downtown at the L.A. Live complex. I think it's too high fuluting for me but maybe I'll give it a try someday. Still, it's not the same. :(

Randy

[Randyman]

Rick, maybe you can speak with Freddie about attending the CBHOF next year. Freddie and Louie were big rivals in the 80's. It would be nice to get them together. I'll take care of his tickets.

Randy

[Randyman]

If you have a copy of Pete Heller's book, In This Corner . . ., it contains an interview of Fritzie Zivic. It is a very interesting interview. He admits that he always fought dirty, but denies that he ever thumbed anyone deliberately. Interesting, too, he makes the same point as you that he was never disqualified. If you don't have Heller's book, you should try to get it. It has interviews with champs going back to the days of Willie Ritchie and Gunboat Smith. Very interesting reading. I have the old edition from the 1970s, but I understand Heller updated it a few years back and it now includes interviews woth Arguello and Duran.

Tom, I have the book , but forgot the story. Thanks for the reminder, I'll read it again today.

Heller asks Zivic for his opinion on the newest crop of fighters in the book.
"These young kids are so inexperienced," says Zivic, glumly. "They think the laces are for tying up the gloves."

I have that book somewhere in an unmarked box stored away. I'll have to look for it.

[THEHAMMER321]

Rick, maybe you can speak with Freddie about attending the CBHOF next year. Freddie and Louie were big rivals in the 80's. It would be nice to get them together. I'll take care of his tickets.

Randy

Randy I saw there fights back then, at one time Freddie had more appearances on ESPN than anybody until Terrance Ali, that was a time when I never missed a fight.

[kikibalt]

Trainer not happy with Manny Pacquiao's work

Freddie Roach calls preparation for fight against Antonio Margarito the 'worst camp ever.' Pacquiao says he's ready.

By Lance Pugmire

October 27, 2010

The theory that Manny Pacquiao is so good he can afford to back off in training camp is about to be tested.

"Worst camp ever," Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said Wednesday, 18 days before the first-term Philippine congressman seeks a record eighth weight-class world title in a junior-middleweight bout against Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas.

Pacquiao's conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, complained his fighter routinely found excuses in the Philippines to avoid the strength training to pack on extra pounds of muscle against Margarito, who could weigh close to 160 pounds on fight night Nov. 13.

"I don't believe in waiting until the last two weeks and then trying to push it," Ariza said. "The things I wanted to do to make him a finished product, we didn't do. Chance favors the prepared, and we're not prepared. That's why we have a weight problem. [Pacquiao] is at 146 pounds right now, so we'll just get him as strong as possible at 146."

Pacquiao (51-3-2, 39 knockouts) is more than an 8-to-1 favorite to beat Margarito.

However, the Filipino star missed a training session to meet with the president of the Philippines, made exhausting five-hour car rides to Manila on nontraining Sundays, and has irked Roach by goofing off in the ring and saying he missed his job in congress.

"This training camp, there have been some problems," Pacquiao said. "I'm pushing myself, focusing, studying [Margarito's] style, running, sparring. Right now, I feel ready for the fight. It's easy for me. I'll do my best to make the people impressed."

Pacquiao also knows that Roach has previously derided Margarito's footwork as "horrible," and the trainer thinks Margarito has no punching power without plaster inserts in his gloves.

On the 15-hour flight to Los Angeles this past weekend, Roach told Pacquiao, "We're not where we're supposed to be," part of what the trainer described as a "stern conversation … I did all the talking, he did all the listening. His mind's been off the fight."

[email protected]

[telboy66]

I'm begin to wish I could get my money back from the bookie,Unless of course this is all part of Roach's pre fight strategy

[kikibalt]

I'm begin to wish I could get my money back from the bookie,Unless of course this is all part of Roach's pre fight strategy

I was thinking the same thing "pre fight strategy"

[bennie]

You have to say that Roach is smart. He is probably the best strategist out there, not that he has much competition these days.

[CNorkusJr]

There is always that pre-fight strategy, but I would like to think that Pac-man is ready at this point.
He's been pretty active for a fighter in these days and if he is in shape, 2-3 weeks could peak him out at fight time. I am bothered by his political aspirations though- as his head might not be in the game as it should.

I wouldn't put money on this fight, something about it smells. Regardless who wins, if the fighters have a rematch clause and the 2nd fight goes the other way. Oh Boy.
If Margarito loses-he should seriously consider hanging them up.
Right now-with Mayweather not coming to the table- this is the biggest money bout going.
Things have a way of not showing up at fight time, but Manny saying he is ready and Roach says he is not at this point- I think the cat is out of the bag.
Manny should be all over this guy when it comes off.Lets see what happens.

Randy,God Bless your cousin Louie Burke. He sounds from your posts as a sincere, smart guy and I am glad to hear he is being honored. Well chosen.