Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Rick Farris]

I thought you were gonna say that Mel wanted to wear the watch on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesday mornings as his cut of the purse.

Tom, if I handed the watch to Mel as a gift, he'd have tossed it in the garbage. He'd have no part of it.
By the way, I still remember the purse and my cut. A Mando Muniz main event, I was in the semi-main.
6 rds- $150. I got $90. Mel got $45. Johnny Villaflore got $15. Mel spent more than $45 on me before a fight, he just did it. I never asked for anything, but he wanted things his way and would pay for that control. What to eat, etc. Her never made a dime on me, his cut never covered what I knew he spent. Mel was a highly evolved personality, when he died I know he could look anybody in the eye, God himself.

Rick, well said, Mel bought almost all of my equipment for me; robe, trunks, handwraps, etc and meals. He loved to bitch and moan but it was almost always with a wink. I didn't have much money back then, so he would make sure I either had gas money or bus money. No, he never made a dime off of us but I have no doubt the late, great Mel Epstein got his rewards.

Like you Rick, I try to pass on that generosity. It's the only way to payback someone like Mel. His character was beyond reproach.

I remember Mel would call a $5 bill a "Fin".
My responsibility was to drive him, pick him up, take him home. He'd usually meet me at the gym, I'd work until 5pm at the L.A. TImes Bldg. at 2nd & Spring, right around the corner from Main street Gym. I'd meet Mel at the Gym, I'd workout, drive he and I to his place or stop somewhere to eat.

[kikibalt]

Mickey Cohen's home bombed
PHOTO BY: John Malmin / Los Angeles Times

By: Scott Harrison

Feb. 6, 1950: A slipper belonging to Mickey Cohen lies on the ground, blown out of his home by the force of a bomb that destroyed part of the West Los Angeles structure.

In a Page 1 article, the Los Angeles Times reported the next morning:

Two men seen driving a dark automobile in the vicinity of Mickey Cohen’s West Los Angeles home, at about the time a terrific dynamite blast shattered one room of the gambler’s house and rocked the neighborhood, were hunted last night.

No one was hurt in the blast which shattered windows, damaged roofs and imperiled a score of sleeping adults and children in home along Moreno Ave., just off San Vincente Blvd.

Cohen, his wife LaVonne and their maid were in other rooms in the house when the explosion occurred at 4:15 a.m. The shock was felt as far away as seven miles.

The 1950 bombing was one of several attempts on the gangster’s life. After avoiding jail for years, Cohen was convicted of tax evasion in 1951 and again in 1961. Cohen died at age 62 on July 26, 1976.

Below are two additional photos published in the Feb. 7, 1950, Los Angeles Times. The photo of Mickey Cohen, below was published on Page 1. The bottom image of Cohen’s neighbors, was published on page 3 along with the slipper photo.



Mickey Cohen looks over what remains of his large wardrobe after a bomb shattered part of his West Los Angeles home. This photo was published on Page 1 on Feb. 7, 1950. Credit: Schuyler A. Hixson Jr. / Los Angeles Times



Original published caption: “In their home across the street from Mickey Cohen’s house Mrs. William Gude and daughter Wendy look through a shattered window. The little girl was showered with glass particles and frightened into hysterics when dynamite exploded.” Credit: Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive / UCLA

[Rick Farris]

By himself, but not alone . . .

All of the Mel Epstein talk brought back a lot of thoughts & feelings about Randy's and my former manager & trainer.
Mel was nearly 71 when we first hooked up. I've told the story before, how Suey Welch recommended Mel as a trainer.
I wasn't sure about Mel, and he wasn't sure about me. I knew him as Mike Nixon's manager, and I was never impressed with Mike Nixon.
Johnny Flores was good at teaching basics, but he was not a great coach like a Jackie McCoy, or Joe Ponce.
Johnny was a great cornerman, he brought a lot of strength to the corner, I knew I was part of a world class stable.
With Mel I never had that confidence in my camp that I felt with Johnny. And I was no longer the "dedicated" prospect I had once been.

Mel saw something in me, but he couldn't tap into it because I wouldn't let him. My mind was elsewhere, and it usually involved "some broad" as Mel would say. There was only one "broad" and that was my Karla, whom Mel liked.
However, I put in more than four years with Mel and he became more than a trainer, he was a friend. My family loved him.
I was in my early 20's, surrounded by a lot of celebrites and athletes due to my relationship with the Nelson family.
Mel was a bit surprised by the people he'd meet through my friends, which included Olympic Pole Vault champ, Bob Seagren.
My girlfriend's sister was the host of a popular LA TV show, kind of like a local "American Bandstand" on KHL-TV Ch-9. Kam was beautiful and she and Seagren always enjoyed Mel. He was always a gentleman, and always a charactor.

At the time Bob was not only an Olympic Gold Medalist and world record holder in the pole vault, but he was training for ABC's first "Superstars" event in which he would defeat the best athletes of every sport in America for his ever major cash win, and establish himself one of, if not the best, athlete in the world.

I remember after Bob won the competition, it was broadcast on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" the following week. The Nelson & Seagren families were going to get together and watch the broadcast at the Nelson home in Monterey Park, and my girl Karla and I drove to pick-up Mel so he could join us.

Bob Seagren was Mel's type of athlete, confident, humble, a total gentleman. Bob's hair was a little shaggy but I don't think to the point where Mel took offense, as he never had anything to say but complimentary things about my him.

I remember Bob and Mel discussing Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez and Danny, whom I'd introduced to Bob at the Olympic one thursday. However, when Bob brought up the name Jerry Quarry, I saw Mel's face sour. Bob had met Jerry, and he didn't know that Mel hated the Quarrys. Mel held back his normal words on the subject of the Quarrys that day, he was having a good time.

My friends didn't ignore Mel, they put him at the head of the table, always went out of their way to ask his opinion, introduce him to everybody. On this day that we'd watch Seagren win enough money to buy he & Kam their first house, Mel was treated as special in the world of sports as was the guy we'd come to watch. Regardless of the conversation Mel could hold his own and had a charm that people appreciated.

Mel liked Seagren and on the way home couldn't believe that such a great athlete was unable to make money in sports due to Track & Field being an amateur competition. We laughed at Joe Frazier, as he almost drown during the swimming competion. At the time, Seagren revealed to Mel a plan that he and many legendary track athlete's such as Jim Ryan, Kip Kieno, Perry O'Brian, Steve Prefontaine, Brian Oldfield, Barbara Farrell, etc were going to establish a professional track organization. They did, and it lasted two seasons, then fell apart.

Mel would join us at Seagren's track meets, at least two that is. He joined us for the L.A. Times Indoor meet at the Forum, as well as the Sunkist Invitational at the Sports Arena. Seagren had broken the world record again during the '72 Olympic Trials. Normally a pole vault record is broken by a fraction of an inch. Bob flew over 18'-6", breaking the record by nearly five inches, an all-time first.

When it came to me, Mel would often criticize, condemn and complain, but he truly liked my family, and the Nelson/Seagren family. He wasn't just a guest, he was a part of of our family, and he appreciated it. This included some Xmas & Thanksgiving days, as well.

I'm happy for that, I value the memory.

[kikibalt]

http://www.garbell.com/rhs/KamNelson/KamNelson.htm

Kam Nelson

[kikibalt]

Pete Vital

birth date 1951-05-26

division lightweight

country United States
residence Los Angeles, California, United States
birth place Los Angeles, California, United States

won 19 (KO 4) + lost 10 (KO 1) + drawn 4 = 33
rounds boxed 205 KO% 12.12


1975-08-29 140 Rogelio Castaneda 138 1-2-1
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L PTS 6 6

1974-09-12 137 Ray Lampkin 138 25-3-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L KO 1 10
time: 2:42 | referee: Larry Rozadilla
Vital was knocked down twice.

1974-05-01 Arturo Leon 4-2-0
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L PTS 10 10

1973-09-20 135 Moses Carbin 135½ 6-2-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States D PTS 10 10
referee: Frank Rustich 4-5 | judge: Abe Cohen 6-2 | judge: Richard Steele 4-4

1973-05-23 135 Ray Lunny III 134½ 11-0-1
Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1973-04-06 136 Cesar Sinda 133½ 7-5-2
Arena, San Bernardino, California, United States W PTS 10 10

1973-03-16 Tony Romero 12-7-0
San Bernardino, California, United States W KO 6

1973-02-08 137 Rudy Barro 137 7-4-0
Stockton, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1972-12-14 136 Ken Brooks 135 9-0-3
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-12-06 David Herrera 6-7-0
San Diego, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-11-08 135 Les Baker 134 9-1-0
Coliseum, San Diego, California, United States L PTS 8 8

1972-06-26 134 David Diaz 133 15-1-2
Forum, Inglewood, California, United States L UD 10 10
referee: Rudy Jordan 2-7 | judge: Bob Dossey 2-8 | judge: Abe Cohen 3-7

1972-04-17 138 Chi Chi Ontiveros 137 4-14-1
Forum, Inglewood, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-03-18 134 Gabriel Vega 135½ 4-5-1
Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-03-04 133½ Danny Castro 139
Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-09-23 134 Carlos Barragan Vasquez 133 16-5-2
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1971-06-19 135 Manuel Leal 135 1-1-2
County Fairgrounds, Ventura, California, United States W SD 6 6

1971-06-03 135 Manuel Leal 136 1-1-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-05-06 136 Sal Luna 135 0-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1971-03-29 135½ Gabriel Vega 135 1-2-0
Club 21, National City, California, United States W PTS 8 8

1971-03-13 Cesar Sinda 2-2-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-02-27 136 Myron Robinson 136 1-1-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-11-13 136 Tommy Coulson 135 1-4-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-10-23 134 Maclovio Medina 136½ 6-7-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1969-10-09 135½ Francisco Valenzuela 135 2-6-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 2 6

1969-09-18 134 Sammy Alvarez 134 1-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-08-15 133 Tommy Coulson 135 0-1-0
Arena, San Bernardino, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-08-07 133 Arturo Ornelas 136 1-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 2 6

1969-07-29 133 Jimmy Ligons 131½ 2-4-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States W PTS 4 4

1969-07-01 132 David Garza 135 2-1-0
Sacramento, California, United States W PTS 5 5

1969-06-19 130 Jerry Williams 130 2-6-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1969-05-27 127 Baby Corona 123
Auditorium, Oakland, California, United States W KO 2 4

1969-05-15 133 Roberto Llamas 128 1-0-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 5 5

[Rick Farris]

d

[Rick Farris]

Pete Vital?
You're setting me up, Frank

I'll be back, I'd love to talk about Pete Vital!

[kikibalt]

Pete Vital?
You're setting me up, Frank

I'll be back, I'd love to talk about Pete Vital!

[bennie]

Pete Vital

birth date 1951-05-26

division lightweight

country United States
residence Los Angeles, California, United States
birth place Los Angeles, California, United States

won 19 (KO 4) + lost 10 (KO 1) + drawn 4 = 33
rounds boxed 205 KO% 12.12


1975-08-29 140 Rogelio Castaneda 138 1-2-1
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L PTS 6 6

1974-09-12 137 Ray Lampkin 138 25-3-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L KO 1 10
time: 2:42 | referee: Larry Rozadilla
Vital was knocked down twice.

1974-05-01 Arturo Leon 4-2-0
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L PTS 10 10

1973-09-20 135 Moses Carbin 135½ 6-2-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States D PTS 10 10
referee: Frank Rustich 4-5 | judge: Abe Cohen 6-2 | judge: Richard Steele 4-4

1973-05-23 135 Ray Lunny III 134½ 11-0-1
Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1973-04-06 136 Cesar Sinda 133½ 7-5-2
Arena, San Bernardino, California, United States W PTS 10 10

1973-03-16 Tony Romero 12-7-0
San Bernardino, California, United States W KO 6

1973-02-08 137 Rudy Barro 137 7-4-0
Stockton, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1972-12-14 136 Ken Brooks 135 9-0-3
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-12-06 David Herrera 6-7-0
San Diego, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-11-08 135 Les Baker 134 9-1-0
Coliseum, San Diego, California, United States L PTS 8 8

1972-06-26 134 David Diaz 133 15-1-2
Forum, Inglewood, California, United States L UD 10 10
referee: Rudy Jordan 2-7 | judge: Bob Dossey 2-8 | judge: Abe Cohen 3-7

1972-04-17 138 Chi Chi Ontiveros 137 4-14-1
Forum, Inglewood, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-03-18 134 Gabriel Vega 135½ 4-5-1
Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-03-04 133½ Danny Castro 139
Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-09-23 134 Carlos Barragan Vasquez 133 16-5-2
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1971-06-19 135 Manuel Leal 135 1-1-2
County Fairgrounds, Ventura, California, United States W SD 6 6

1971-06-03 135 Manuel Leal 136 1-1-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-05-06 136 Sal Luna 135 0-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1971-03-29 135½ Gabriel Vega 135 1-2-0
Club 21, National City, California, United States W PTS 8 8

1971-03-13 Cesar Sinda 2-2-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-02-27 136 Myron Robinson 136 1-1-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-11-13 136 Tommy Coulson 135 1-4-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-10-23 134 Maclovio Medina 136½ 6-7-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1969-10-09 135½ Francisco Valenzuela 135 2-6-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 2 6

1969-09-18 134 Sammy Alvarez 134 1-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-08-15 133 Tommy Coulson 135 0-1-0
Arena, San Bernardino, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-08-07 133 Arturo Ornelas 136 1-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 2 6

1969-07-29 133 Jimmy Ligons 131½ 2-4-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States W PTS 4 4

1969-07-01 132 David Garza 135 2-1-0
Sacramento, California, United States W PTS 5 5

1969-06-19 130 Jerry Williams 130 2-6-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1969-05-27 127 Baby Corona 123
Auditorium, Oakland, California, United States W KO 2 4

1969-05-15 133 Roberto Llamas 128 1-0-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 5 5

Rudy Barro pops up on everyone's record. DD

[Rick Farris]

Pete Vital

birth date 1951-05-26

division lightweight

country United States
residence Los Angeles, California, United States
birth place Los Angeles, California, United States

won 19 (KO 4) + lost 10 (KO 1) + drawn 4 = 33
rounds boxed 205 KO% 12.12


1975-08-29 140 Rogelio Castaneda 138 1-2-1
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L PTS 6 6

1974-09-12 137 Ray Lampkin 138 25-3-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L KO 1 10
time: 2:42 | referee: Larry Rozadilla
Vital was knocked down twice.

1974-05-01 Arturo Leon 4-2-0
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L PTS 10 10

1973-09-20 135 Moses Carbin 135½ 6-2-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States D PTS 10 10
referee: Frank Rustich 4-5 | judge: Abe Cohen 6-2 | judge: Richard Steele 4-4

1973-05-23 135 Ray Lunny III 134½ 11-0-1
Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1973-04-06 136 Cesar Sinda 133½ 7-5-2
Arena, San Bernardino, California, United States W PTS 10 10

1973-03-16 Tony Romero 12-7-0
San Bernardino, California, United States W KO 6

1973-02-08 137 Rudy Barro 137 7-4-0
Stockton, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1972-12-14 136 Ken Brooks 135 9-0-3
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-12-06 David Herrera 6-7-0
San Diego, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-11-08 135 Les Baker 134 9-1-0
Coliseum, San Diego, California, United States L PTS 8 8

1972-06-26 134 David Diaz 133 15-1-2
Forum, Inglewood, California, United States L UD 10 10
referee: Rudy Jordan 2-7 | judge: Bob Dossey 2-8 | judge: Abe Cohen 3-7

1972-04-17 138 Chi Chi Ontiveros 137 4-14-1
Forum, Inglewood, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-03-18 134 Gabriel Vega 135½ 4-5-1
Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-03-04 133½ Danny Castro 139
Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-09-23 134 Carlos Barragan Vasquez 133 16-5-2
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1971-06-19 135 Manuel Leal 135 1-1-2
County Fairgrounds, Ventura, California, United States W SD 6 6

1971-06-03 135 Manuel Leal 136 1-1-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-05-06 136 Sal Luna 135 0-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1971-03-29 135½ Gabriel Vega 135 1-2-0
Club 21, National City, California, United States W PTS 8 8

1971-03-13 Cesar Sinda 2-2-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-02-27 136 Myron Robinson 136 1-1-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-11-13 136 Tommy Coulson 135 1-4-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-10-23 134 Maclovio Medina 136½ 6-7-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1969-10-09 135½ Francisco Valenzuela 135 2-6-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 2 6

1969-09-18 134 Sammy Alvarez 134 1-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-08-15 133 Tommy Coulson 135 0-1-0
Arena, San Bernardino, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-08-07 133 Arturo Ornelas 136 1-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 2 6

1969-07-29 133 Jimmy Ligons 131½ 2-4-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States W PTS 4 4

1969-07-01 132 David Garza 135 2-1-0
Sacramento, California, United States W PTS 5 5

1969-06-19 130 Jerry Williams 130 2-6-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1969-05-27 127 Baby Corona 123
Auditorium, Oakland, California, United States W KO 2 4

1969-05-15 133 Roberto Llamas 128 1-0-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 5 5

Rudy Barro pops up on everyone's record. DD

You're right, Bennie. He was a spoiler too. A rough bastid!

[Rick Farris]

Petey Vital . . .

Pete and I weren't close friends, but we knew each other pretty well for more than ten years.
Pete was about a year older than me and was already well into his Junior Golden Gloves career when I started out.
I'd see him every weekend training at the Main Street Gym. He was trained by his dad, Pete Vital Sr.
Pete had a good height for a lightweight, and was a pretty slick boxer.
I recall that in 1968, Pete got his amateur license and began appearing regularly on local amateur cards promoted by Sammy Saunders.
Sammy put on shows all over L.A. and in 1967 was using a venue on Pico near Vermont, the "Victoria Hall".
Some of the headliners on Sammy's cards were guys like Clay Hodges, Armando Muniz, Jimmy Robertson, Irish Mike Flynn, Danny Alameda and Pete Vital.
Almost immediatly a rivalry came between Vital and Alameda. Danny Alameda was a top prospect, trained by Bill Slayton.
By the time they finally matched these two, Saunders had changed his venue to the El Monte Legion Stadium.
I'd fight at the Legion a number of times against guys like Andy "The Hawk" Price, Frankie Santillian, Florentino Ramirez, and others.
Of all the top amateurs that appeared at El Monte, Pete Vital was a favorite.
Pete was a local kid, from nearby Baldwin Park and when he fought the locals came out to watch. He got a lot of local press coverage.
When he fought Danny Alameda, I knew Pete was in deep, but he cooly outboxed the aggressive Alameda and the local fans loved it.
In 1969, Pete and I would both win Western Region Golden Gloves titles and would travel to Kansas City for the Nationals with the L.A. team.
We both lost in the Nationals, in fact, the only LA guy to win a 1969 National GG's title that year was heavyweight Walter Moore.
The following month, Vital once again whips Danny Alameda in the Southern Pacific AAU finals. I also won so we'd once again be team mates on the LA team that traveled to the AAU Nationals in San Diego.
A few days before we left, Vital pulled out of the tournament along with Mike Quarry, both were scheduled to make their pro debuts on the undercard of the first Jose Napoles-Curtis Cokes welter title fight at The Forum.

As it turns out Pete's match fell thru, and he'd have his first pro fight the following month. Pete started out good, whipped some of our local prelim guys, but when the level of opposition increased, Pete's winning ways decreased. His record pretty much tells the story.

In his second to last fight, Pete lost in one round to lightweight contender Ray Lampkin. I know that Vital took the loss hard and didn't fight again until the following year, and again, another loss. Shortly afterwards, Pete was working at his day job in a machine shop. There was an accident and Pete lost a hand, his boxing career, and his life as he knew it.

After that I didn't hear about Pete for years. I know he's still in the San Gabriel Valley. We have a mutual friend, maybe I'll try to look him up?

[raylawpc]

Pete Vital

birth date 1951-05-26

division lightweight

country United States
residence Los Angeles, California, United States
birth place Los Angeles, California, United States

won 19 (KO 4) + lost 10 (KO 1) + drawn 4 = 33
rounds boxed 205 KO% 12.12


1975-08-29 140 Rogelio Castaneda 138 1-2-1
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L PTS 6 6

1974-09-12 137 Ray Lampkin 138 25-3-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L KO 1 10
time: 2:42 | referee: Larry Rozadilla
Vital was knocked down twice.

1974-05-01 Arturo Leon 4-2-0
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L PTS 10 10

1973-09-20 135 Moses Carbin 135½ 6-2-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States D PTS 10 10
referee: Frank Rustich 4-5 | judge: Abe Cohen 6-2 | judge: Richard Steele 4-4

1973-05-23 135 Ray Lunny III 134½ 11-0-1
Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1973-04-06 136 Cesar Sinda 133½ 7-5-2
Arena, San Bernardino, California, United States W PTS 10 10

1973-03-16 Tony Romero 12-7-0
San Bernardino, California, United States W KO 6

1973-02-08 137 Rudy Barro 137 7-4-0
Stockton, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1972-12-14 136 Ken Brooks 135 9-0-3
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-12-06 David Herrera 6-7-0
San Diego, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-11-08 135 Les Baker 134 9-1-0
Coliseum, San Diego, California, United States L PTS 8 8

1972-06-26 134 David Diaz 133 15-1-2
Forum, Inglewood, California, United States L UD 10 10
referee: Rudy Jordan 2-7 | judge: Bob Dossey 2-8 | judge: Abe Cohen 3-7

1972-04-17 138 Chi Chi Ontiveros 137 4-14-1
Forum, Inglewood, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-03-18 134 Gabriel Vega 135½ 4-5-1
Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1972-03-04 133½ Danny Castro 139
Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-09-23 134 Carlos Barragan Vasquez 133 16-5-2
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1971-06-19 135 Manuel Leal 135 1-1-2
County Fairgrounds, Ventura, California, United States W SD 6 6

1971-06-03 135 Manuel Leal 136 1-1-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-05-06 136 Sal Luna 135 0-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1971-03-29 135½ Gabriel Vega 135 1-2-0
Club 21, National City, California, United States W PTS 8 8

1971-03-13 Cesar Sinda 2-2-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States D PTS 6 6

1971-02-27 136 Myron Robinson 136 1-1-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-11-13 136 Tommy Coulson 135 1-4-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-10-23 134 Maclovio Medina 136½ 6-7-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1969-10-09 135½ Francisco Valenzuela 135 2-6-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 2 6

1969-09-18 134 Sammy Alvarez 134 1-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-08-15 133 Tommy Coulson 135 0-1-0
Arena, San Bernardino, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1969-08-07 133 Arturo Ornelas 136 1-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 2 6

1969-07-29 133 Jimmy Ligons 131½ 2-4-0
Valley Music Theatre, Woodland Hills, California, United States W PTS 4 4

1969-07-01 132 David Garza 135 2-1-0
Sacramento, California, United States W PTS 5 5

1969-06-19 130 Jerry Williams 130 2-6-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L PTS 6 6

1969-05-27 127 Baby Corona 123
Auditorium, Oakland, California, United States W KO 2 4

1969-05-15 133 Roberto Llamas 128 1-0-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 5 5

Rudy Barro pops up on everyone's record. DD

You're right, Bennie. He was a spoiler too. A rough bastid!

He sure spoiled things for Jimmy Heair. I remember reading in Ring and BI magazines that Heair was supposed to be the next big thing out of Southern California. Then he lost to Barro and quickly became a journeyman.

Heair fought for O'Grady in his first fight after the Barro fight. I don't recall much about the fight (I wasn't overly impressed with Heair), but I recall that Heair brought his wife along, and she was a real cute little thing.

[Rick Farris]

BOXING UPDATE MAGAZINE JUNE 1996: DEATH OF A BOXING SCOUNDREL


-Frank Blinky Palermo died a month ago at 91 but it was 50-60 years too late for boxing. The convicted extortionist who, along with Frankie Carbo and three other less lights, went to Federal prison in the mid 50s, passed away in Philadelphia, his long time fief. Hardly anybody realized he was still living let alone dying and the list of mourners was blank. Those who found out later did not shed a tear.

Plain and simple, Palermo was an undercover fight manager, a fight fixer and gangland figure who got rich directing the careers of such as Ike Williams, Johnny Saxton, Coley Wallace, Virgil Akins, Billy Fox, Clarence Henry, Dan Bucceroni, in between operating the biggest numbers (illegal lottery) game in Philadelphia. With Carbo (allegedly the brains of the fight fixing practice) Blinkys stable of fighters would win or lose on command and the payoffs in betting were astronomical. And of course, there was the almost always mandatory rematch fight with surprising results. Blinkys biggest heist was the importation of his undefeated middleweight Blackjack Billy Fox from Philly into Madison Square Garden and subsequent knockout of Jake LaMotta in 1947.

LaMotta was popularly known as “king of the middleweights and was a heavy early betting favorite. But shortly before the bell the air of a fix was in the air and the bookmakers refused to take any more bets. In the ring, Jake permitted himself to absorb countless punches from Fox without any retaliation. The referee stopped the bout with the customers convinced they had witnessed a fraud.

Years later, in front of a Congressional hearing into the evils of boxing, LaMotta admitted he took a dive. In the same hearing, former great lightweight champion Williams testified that Palermo had given him a short count on the purses and the fighter was barely getting existing on welfare checks.

While the Fox fight may have been Blinkys biggest coup, his failed attempt as one of five extortionists in 1959 to steal away welterweight champion Don Jordan from his legal manager in Los Angeles was his biggest mistake. Truman Gibson Jr., a vice president and lawyer for the reigning International Boxing Club monopoly, and two Los Angeles strong-arm guys Joe Di Sica and Louis Dragna were in on the plot together with Palermo and Carbo.

The FBI handled the case which involved beating of witnesses. All five were indicted, convicted, and sentenced to Federal prison. Blinky did seven and a half years and Carbo 15 years of a 25-year sentence, dying in jail. Their power had run out, but too many years too late.

[Rick Farris]

Rudy Barro pops up on everyone's record. DD

You're right, Bennie. He was a spoiler too. A rough bastid!

He sure spoiled things for Jimmy Heair. I remember reading in Ring and BI magazines that Heair was supposed to be the next big thing out of Southern California. Then he lost to Barro and quickly became a journeyman.

Heair fought for O'Grady in his first fight after the Barro fight. I don't recall much about the fight (I wasn't overly impressed with Heair), but I recall that Heair brought his wife along, and she was a real cute little thing.

I was never was impressed with Jimmy Heair. He stayed very busy right about the time I was fighting. I remember he once fought three prelims one week in LA, then another one out of town in Las Vegas. He also kept himself in good shape which I believe was his edge, not to mention an aggressive style and a lot of heart. He fought well over a hundred fights, and I've heard that this took it's toll on the fighter. Last heard he was living in Alabama?

[raylawpc]

You're right, Bennie. He was a spoiler too. A rough bastid!

He sure spoiled things for Jimmy Heair. I remember reading in Ring and BI magazines that Heair was supposed to be the next big thing out of Southern California. Then he lost to Barro and quickly became a journeyman.

Heair fought for O'Grady in his first fight after the Barro fight. I don't recall much about the fight (I wasn't overly impressed with Heair), but I recall that Heair brought his wife along, and she was a real cute little thing.

I was never was impressed with Jimmy Heair. He stayed very busy right about the time I was fighting. I remember he once fought three prelims one week in LA, then another one out of town in Las Vegas. He also kept himself in good shape which I believe was his edge, not to mention an aggressive style and a lot of heart. He fought well over a hundred fights, and I've heard that this took it's toll on the fighter. Last heard he was living in Alabama?

Yeah, I was much more impressed with his wife's legs than his ability as a fighter . . . Last I heard, he was in Tennessee, but that information is years old.

[Rick Farris]

Rudy Barro

light welterweight
Stockton, California, United States
birth place Philippines
won 29 (KO 10) + lost 38 (KO 21) + drawn 2 = 69
rounds boxed 501


1983-07-28 155 Tony Thomas 154 5-1-0
Marriott Hotel, Portland, Oregon, United States L KO 3
1982-02-09 151¼ Rocky Mattioli 155½ 60-7-2
Showboat Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L TKO 2 10
1982-01-20 Ricci Wynne 9-2-1
San Jose, California, United States L PTS 10 10
1981-10-06 John Herbert 8-1-0
Seattle, Washington, United States L PTS 10 10
1981-09-04 Bobby Howard 11-9-3
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada W PTS 8 8
1981-07-21 Bert Lee 19-5-4
San Diego, California, United States L KO 4
1981-05-15 Andy Price 29-6-3
San Carlos, California, United States L KO 10
1981-03-08 151 Pablo Baez 149½ 10-9-1
Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, United States D TD 2
1980-10-23 148 Lenny Hahn 148½ 9-1-2
Kennedy Pavilion, Spokane, Washington, United States L UD 10 10
judge: Joey Dolan 94-98 | judge: Joey August 91-98 | judge: Vic Felice 93-100

1980-07-29 Armando Ramirez 7-4-0
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States L KO 7
1980-04-21 Chico Salinas 5-0-0
Bakersfield, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1980-01-17 152 Victor Martinez 150 19-4-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L TKO 2 10
time: 2:03 | referee: Armando Muniz

1979-10-25 Darryl Penn 14-12-1
Portland, Oregon, United States L KO 5
1979-06-10 149 Darryl Penn 153 13-10-1
Stockton, California, United States L SD 10 10
1979-03-17 154 Jerry Cheatham 148 18-3-1
Tucson, Arizona, United States L KO 5
1978-12-09 Thomas Hearns 147 13-0-0
Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan, United States L KO 4 10
1978-11-08 145 Mario Mendez 143½ 3-10-0
Stockton, California, United States W KO 5
1978-09-26 145 Pablo Baez 144¾ 7-6-0
Sports Arena, Pico Rivera, California, United States W SD 10 10
1978-08-31 147 Victor Abraham 146 16-8-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W SD 10 10
1978-08-05 144½ Darryl Penn 144 11-6-1
Elko, Nevada, United States W UD 10 10
referee: Norm Budden

1978-07-18 141 Zeferino Gonzalez 147 13-2-1
Arena, Pico Rivera, California, United States L UD 10 10
1978-07-02 145 Ruben Vazquez Zamora 146½ 11-17-0
Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, United States W KO 3 10
1978-03-18 Kevin Morgan 16-6-0
Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, United States L KO 3
1978-02-11 146 Jimmy Jackson 148 18-15-2
Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L TKO 5 6
1978-01-19 146 Victor Abraham 143 13-8-0
Stockton, California, United States L PTS 10 10
1977-12-06 Colin Powers 17-1-1
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, United Kingdom L PTS 10 10x3
1977-11-10 145 Babilah McCarthy 147¾ 6-7-2
Sacramento, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1977-09-06 Babilah McCarthy 6-7-1
Stateline, Nevada, United States D PTS 10 10
1977-07-30 Andy Price 23-4-3
Coliseum, El Paso, Texas, United States L TKO 6 10
1977-05-25 Bruce Curry 11-0-0
Stockton, California, United States L KO 8
1977-04-06 Pancho del Toro 2-2-0
Stockton, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1977-03-01 146 Javier Ayala 148 22-17-1
Hyatt Tahoe, Incline Village, Nevada, United States W TKO 3 10
1977-02-15 Adolfo Viruet 14-1-0
Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1977-01-19 145½ Andy Price 148¾ 21-3-3
Silver Slipper, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L PTS 10 10
1976-12-16 145½ Mario Mendez 142 1-5-0
Sahara Tahoe Hotel, Stateline, Nevada, United States W TKO 6 10
1976-09-14 147 Pete Ranzany 148 26-1-0
Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California, United States L KO 2 10
1976-08-18 141 Leroy Haley 141 26-1-0
Silver Slipper, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States L UD 10 10
judge: Art Lurie 41-51 | judge: Bill Kipp 41-51 | 42-48

1976-07-29 Monroe Brooks 31-2-3
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States L PTS 10 10
1976-04-21 141 Rudy Hernandez 142 23-1-0
Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, United States L PTS 10 10
1976-03-26 Jorge Ramirez
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States W KO 3 10
1976-03-18 Miguel Mayan 37-31-5
Stockton, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1976-01-29 144 Andy Price 145½ 18-1-3
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L UD 10 10
1975-10-11 Esteban De Jesus 45-3-0
Roberto Clemente Coliseum, San Juan, Puerto Rico L TKO 5
1975-07-07 Hector Thompson 51-4-2
Festival Hall, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia L KO 6 15
referee: Des Crabbe

1975-06-21 140 Alfonso Frazer 140 36-10-1
Gimnasio Nuevo Panama, Panama City, Panama L UD 10 10
referee: Servio Tulio Lay

1975-01-25 135 Jimmy Noel 135 12-8-1
Rizal Open Arena, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines W TKO 2 10
1974-11-16 Saensak Muangsurin
Bangkok, Thailand L KO 1
1974-07-31 138 Miguel Mayan 137 26-21-5
Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1974-05-09 138 Jimmy Heair 136¾ 33-0-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W SD 10 10
1974-03-07 141 Quincy Daniels 145 11-1-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W TKO 9 10
referee: George Latka

1974-02-07 143 Andy Price 141½ 12-0-3
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W KO 2 10
time: 1:00 | referee: Rudy Jordan

1973-11-07 Hedgemon Lewis 47-4-0
Sacramento, California, United States L KO 3 10
1973-10-23 140 Monroe Brooks 138½ 13-0-2
Sacramento, California, United States L UD 12 12
1973-06-14 144 Felipe Vaca 144 8-2-0
Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, United States L PTS 10 10
1973-05-03 142½ Agapito Villegas 142½ 15-21-4
Stockton, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1973-03-26 Greg Potter 12-4-2
Lane County Fairgrounds, Eugene, Oregon, United States L PTS 10 10
1973-03-01 138 Nacho Del Rio 138 0-2-0
Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1973-02-08 137 Pete Vital 137 17-5-3
Stockton, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1973-01-16 136½ Enrique Jana 137 44-13-11
Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, United States W PTS 10 10
1972-12-11 Tommy Coulson 3-12-1
Lane County Fairgrounds, Eugene, Oregon, United States W UD 10 10
1972-11-29 136 Jesus Chuchu Mariscal 136 2-8-3
Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, United States W KO 2 10
1972-11-06 Jesus Chuchu Mariscal 2-7-3
Lane County Fairgrounds, Eugene, Oregon, United States W UD 6 6
59-55 | 59-55 | 59-55

1972-07-21 131 Eiichi Nishimata 137 2-0-0
Agana, Guam L KO 1 10
time: 1:50

1972-06-23 Yutaka Kuniyoshi 1-0-0
Agana, Guam W PTS 10 10
1972-04-28 Shinichi Kadota 26-6-0
Tokyo, Japan L TKO 7 10
1971-11-13 Shinichi Kadota 25-5-0
Tokyo, Japan L KO 3 12
time: 1:50
OPBF lightweight title

1971-06-11 134 Jimmy Noel 135½ 9-5-1
Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines L PTS 10 10
1971-04-11 138½ Shingo Kitano 136½ 11-13-1
Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines W TKO 6 10
1971-02-12 Moises Cantoja 8-1-1
Rizal Memorial Coliseum, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines W PTS 10 10

[Chuck1052]

During the early 1970s, Pete Vital fought in a prelim bout on a boxing card headlined by a a ten-round main event between Lonnie Bennett and Ray "Windmill" White at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, California. It was the first time that I saw a professional boxing card in person.

I remember seeing Jimmy Heair fighting Rudy Barro on television and Rudy Hernandez (not Genaro's brother) in person at the Olympic. Heair took a real beating from Barro and won a close decision over Hernandez, who boxed beautifully and gave Heair fits. It is fortunate for Heair that Hernandez was down once in the bout. In a rematch, Heair stopped him.

- Chuck Johnston

[Rick Farris]

Art's Deli will be on KTLA Ch-5 tomorrow morning.

[Rick Farris]

Report: Hatton to retire

The Manchester Evening News has reported that former world champion Ricky Hatton is set to officially announce his retirement later today. He has not fought since being kayoed by Manny Pacquiao in 2009. He had planned a ring return last year, but it never came to fruition. Later he had some highly publicized personal problems and lost his boxing license. Hatton will now focus on his promotional company Hatton Promotions.

[CNorkusJr]

BOXING UPDATE MAGAZINE JUNE 1996: DEATH OF A BOXING SCOUNDREL


-Frank Blinky Palermo died a month ago at 91 but it was 50-60 years too late for boxing. The convicted extortionist who, along with Frankie Carbo and three other less lights, went to Federal prison in the mid 50s, passed away in Philadelphia, his long time fief. Hardly anybody realized he was still living let alone dying and the list of mourners was blank. Those who found out later did not shed a tear.

Plain and simple, Palermo was an undercover fight manager, a fight fixer and gangland figure who got rich directing the careers of such as Ike Williams, Johnny Saxton, Coley Wallace, Virgil Akins, Billy Fox, Clarence Henry, Dan Bucceroni, in between operating the biggest numbers (illegal lottery) game in Philadelphia. With Carbo (allegedly the brains of the fight fixing practice) Blinkys stable of fighters would win or lose on command and the payoffs in betting were astronomical. And of course, there was the almost always mandatory rematch fight with surprising results. Blinkys biggest heist was the importation of his undefeated middleweight Blackjack Billy Fox from Philly into Madison Square Garden and subsequent knockout of Jake LaMotta in 1947.

LaMotta was popularly known as “king of the middleweights and was a heavy early betting favorite. But shortly before the bell the air of a fix was in the air and the bookmakers refused to take any more bets. In the ring, Jake permitted himself to absorb countless punches from Fox without any retaliation. The referee stopped the bout with the customers convinced they had witnessed a fraud.

Years later, in front of a Congressional hearing into the evils of boxing, LaMotta admitted he took a dive. In the same hearing, former great lightweight champion Williams testified that Palermo had given him a short count on the purses and the fighter was barely getting existing on welfare checks.

While the Fox fight may have been Blinkys biggest coup, his failed attempt as one of five extortionists in 1959 to steal away welterweight champion Don Jordan from his legal manager in Los Angeles was his biggest mistake. Truman Gibson Jr., a vice president and lawyer for the reigning International Boxing Club monopoly, and two Los Angeles strong-arm guys Joe Di Sica and Louis Dragna were in on the plot together with Palermo and Carbo.

The FBI handled the case which involved beating of witnesses. All five were indicted, convicted, and sentenced to Federal prison. Blinky did seven and a half years and Carbo 15 years of a 25-year sentence, dying in jail. Their power had run out, but too many years too late.

Interesting Rick. The Fixed Boxing Scandals of that time were much more involved than the names mentioned above. Its power ran much more deeper and bigger consuming much of the game than what you read about in texts. What you have in Palermo and Carbo, were just the two lead characters that were easy to nab because they put themselves out there on the front line (or I should say "the front row"as both attended matches and can be readily seen around the fight game ,but not in fight gyms).Correction-Palermo held a managers license I believe.You can thank Jim Norris, pres of IBC for that gift.

Virtually every big name who was involved in the sport in the fifties was involved in some kind of way earning money for the mob. Managers were just pawns in this too.
A fighter did not have to take a dive,or even know he was in a fixed fight to be involved in one. A fighter just had to be carried the distance for the mob to clean up on some fights.

A name that was never hardly mentioned in the fight fix game was that of Harry "Champ" Segal.
One of the original boys that associated with "Murder Inc" and its infamous rep. He was money that backed alot of the payouts before the admission gate was collected. He was behind the curtain at all times in New York, pushing Carbo & Palermo as the front men. They never gave Segal up. The man who probably had the most devasting effect on the game was where the mob made its money, the actual green stuff. It wasnt the punches or the end result of the fights. It was the illegal "casino" that operated that was going to win no matter what the result- the gambling. Frank Costello help set the odds. He then sent it down the line to guys like Capo Jimmy Napoli who enforced the pay/collection route in New York. I'm sure LA and other cities had their names as well.

The fighter who most likely to win with skills in the ring was usually the underdog in the fight.Unless you read boxers like the ponies at horse racing, the mob always bet heavily on the underdogs which paid handsomly.That was on most of the un-fixed fights.
Sometimes to throw the watchdogs off, they set beginning odds in favor of the eventual winner and change them up as fight time approches, which when detected can be taken as a sign of what was about to happen. This occurred in my fathers fight with Kurt Kennedy which was chronicled in Teddy Brenner's book "Only The Ring Was Square".Teddy's taken opinion on the fight was wrong and I explained it on my fathers forum room site.(pg 3)

Then you take the LaMotta-Fox fight, LaMotta is heavy favorite and convince him to fall
with heavy Fox money- you have the same result only in reverse.
Being carried the distance left to judges and referees to being the decided winners.
The fighters hardly knew what him them-only that they got paid for their attendance and TV money -not part of the mobs take. The mob thought that would be illegal.
The fighters payout from the mob was another big money fight that the people wanted to see and of course the gambling action that it produced at the time. Return matches were a great ploy by the mob. Reversing previous decisions were always interesting.

Today is no different-only that casino in Vegas do the exact same thing by laying ridiculous but believable odds-but I'm not too sure if they get the fighters to fall down like they use to. Does a casino ever lose money at the fights? Neither with the mob of the 30's-50's.

[kikibalt]

Rios is a 2-fisted transformer

Unbeaten Oxnard fighter goes from a jail cell to a world championship in just two years.

By Robert Morales, Staff Writer
SGVT
07/07/2011

Brandon Rios stood outside Fortune Boxing Gym on Tuesday. He appeared relaxed and loose, the picture of contentment.

And why not? He went from wearing jail jumpsuits in Kansas just two years ago to a lightweight world championship belt in February, courtesy of his 10th-round stoppage of Miguel Acosta of Venezuela at The Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

Oxnard's Rios, who Saturday will make his first defense against Urbano Antillon (28-2, 20 KOs) of Maywood at Home Depot Center (on Showtime), told this newspaper ahead of the Acosta fight that meeting and marrying his wife went a long way in turning around his life, which had been filled with too many short stints in jail.

Rios reiterated that Tuesday. But that wasn't his first thought in the moments following his stoppage of Acosta.

"I was happy because I made my dad's dream come true," said Rios, who decked Acosta three times. "Ever since I was a little kid, I always told my dad (Manuel) I was going to become a world champion. I told my dad all the time. Everybody didn't believe me, but my dad. My dad was the only one that believed me.

"When I became world champion, when I knocked out Acosta, that's what mostly got me."

Rios isn't the only one feeling proud as a peacock about his metamorphosis. His Hall of Fame promoter, Bob Arum, is equally stoked that Rios has gone from the outhouse to the penthouse.

"We tend to forget how young these guys are and a lot of
Advertisement
it has to do with maturity," said Arum, who was wearing dressy shorts inside of the oven that is most boxing gyms. "When they're young kids and they're very hyper, usually, sometimes they're uncontrollable.

"Once they get older, the smarter ones, the fortunate ones, develop maturity and they realize that they can't conduct their lives in that irresponsible way. ... So while he's as ferocious as he ever was in the ring, he's a lot more grounded now than he was before."

Street fights were what got Rios in the most trouble. One resulted in a two-month stint in the slammer. His trainer, Robert Garcia, had difficulty keeping Rios in Oxnard, where Rios had moved from Kansas to train with Garcia. But when things got to a point where Garcia wasn't sure if they would turn around, he and Rios' manager Cameron Dunkin stepped in.

"We brought him in and took over his career," Garcia said. "And I told myself and Cameron Dunkin, `Let's keep giving him a chance, let's keep going, because he's got a great heart and tremendous talent.' We didn't give up and now we're in good position."

To Rios, the victory over a champion like Acosta was the ultimate climax completing his turn-around.

"In the Miguel Acosta fight, I think I showed the world that I have a lot of heart and that I love boxing a lot and that I love the business," said Rios, 25. "After the first couple of rounds, the way Acosta was doing his job, I kept to my game plan and I overcame it and I knocked him out.

"I think I impressed a lot of people."

As Garcia said, Rios is now in good position. At 27-0-1 and 20 knockouts, he is an outstanding fighter who has the opportunity to make an indelible mark on boxing.

"There are just so many things out there that Bob Arum could do (for Rios)," Garcia said. "I've talked to Cameron Dunkin and there are just so many things. Especially in his weight division, then moving up to 140 in the future, there are so many fights out there that are possible and that I know Bob Arum can make happen.

"Brandon knows how important this is. He knows the importance of winning this fight and what can come after that."

Rios could cash in quite nicely. But Arum cautioned that because of the way Rios fights - toe-to-toe - his window may not be open as long as others.

"He's always going to be in a tough fight, which means that his career will be shorter rather than longer because there's a limit to what you can keep absorbing," Arum said. "I believe that he can earn a lot of money, which is the name of the game."

He won't have to use any of it for bail, either.

[Rick Farris]

BOXING UPDATE MAGAZINE JUNE 1996: DEATH OF A BOXING SCOUNDREL


-Frank Blinky Palermo died a month ago at 91 but it was 50-60 years too late for boxing. The convicted extortionist who, along with Frankie Carbo and three other less lights, went to Federal prison in the mid 50s, passed away in Philadelphia, his long time fief. Hardly anybody realized he was still living let alone dying and the list of mourners was blank. Those who found out later did not shed a tear.

Plain and simple, Palermo was an undercover fight manager, a fight fixer and gangland figure who got rich directing the careers of such as Ike Williams, Johnny Saxton, Coley Wallace, Virgil Akins, Billy Fox, Clarence Henry, Dan Bucceroni, in between operating the biggest numbers (illegal lottery) game in Philadelphia. With Carbo (allegedly the brains of the fight fixing practice) Blinkys stable of fighters would win or lose on command and the payoffs in betting were astronomical. And of course, there was the almost always mandatory rematch fight with surprising results. Blinkys biggest heist was the importation of his undefeated middleweight Blackjack Billy Fox from Philly into Madison Square Garden and subsequent knockout of Jake LaMotta in 1947.

LaMotta was popularly known as “king of the middleweights and was a heavy early betting favorite. But shortly before the bell the air of a fix was in the air and the bookmakers refused to take any more bets. In the ring, Jake permitted himself to absorb countless punches from Fox without any retaliation. The referee stopped the bout with the customers convinced they had witnessed a fraud.

Years later, in front of a Congressional hearing into the evils of boxing, LaMotta admitted he took a dive. In the same hearing, former great lightweight champion Williams testified that Palermo had given him a short count on the purses and the fighter was barely getting existing on welfare checks.

While the Fox fight may have been Blinkys biggest coup, his failed attempt as one of five extortionists in 1959 to steal away welterweight champion Don Jordan from his legal manager in Los Angeles was his biggest mistake. Truman Gibson Jr., a vice president and lawyer for the reigning International Boxing Club monopoly, and two Los Angeles strong-arm guys Joe Di Sica and Louis Dragna were in on the plot together with Palermo and Carbo.

The FBI handled the case which involved beating of witnesses. All five were indicted, convicted, and sentenced to Federal prison. Blinky did seven and a half years and Carbo 15 years of a 25-year sentence, dying in jail. Their power had run out, but too many years too late.

Interesting Rick. The Fixed Boxing Scandals of that time were much more involved than the names mentioned above. Its power ran much more deeper and bigger consuming much of the game than what you read about in texts. What you have in Palermo and Carbo, were just the two lead characters that were easy to nab because they put themselves out there on the front line (or I should say "the front row"as both attended matches and can be readily seen around the fight game ,but not in fight gyms).Correction-Palermo held a managers license I believe.You can thank Jim Norris, pres of IBC for that gift.

Virtually every big name who was involved in the sport in the fifties was involved in some kind of way earning money for the mob. Managers were just pawns in this too.
A fighter did not have to take a dive,or even know he was in a fixed fight to be involved in one. A fighter just had to be carried the distance for the mob to clean up on some fights.

A name that was never hardly mentioned in the fight fix game was that of Harry "Champ" Segal.
One of the original boys that associated with "Murder Inc" and its infamous rep. He was money that backed alot of the payouts before the admission gate was collected. He was behind the curtain at all times in New York, pushing Carbo & Palermo as the front men. They never gave Segal up. The man who probably had the most devasting effect on the game was where the mob made its money, the actual green stuff. It wasnt the punches or the end result of the fights. It was the illegal "casino" that operated that was going to win no matter what the result- the gambling. Frank Costello help set the odds. He then sent it down the line to guys like Capo Jimmy Napoli who enforced the pay/collection route in New York. I'm sure LA and other cities had their names as well.

The fighter who most likely to win with skills in the ring was usually the underdog in the fight.Unless you read boxers like the ponies at horse racing, the mob always bet heavily on the underdogs which paid handsomly.That was on most of the un-fixed fights.
Sometimes to throw the watchdogs off, they set beginning odds in favor of the eventual winner and change them up as fight time approches, which when detected can be taken as a sign of what was about to happen. This occurred in my fathers fight with Kurt Kennedy which was chronicled in Teddy Brenner's book "Only The Ring Was Square".Teddy's taken opinion on the fight was wrong and I explained it on my fathers forum room site.(pg 3)

Then you take the LaMotta-Fox fight, LaMotta is heavy favorite and convince him to fall
with heavy Fox money- you have the same result only in reverse.
Being carried the distance left to judges and referees to being the decided winners.
The fighters hardly knew what him them-only that they got paid for their attendance and TV money -not part of the mobs take. The mob thought that would be illegal.
The fighters payout from the mob was another big money fight that the people wanted to see and of course the gambling action that it produced at the time. Return matches were a great ploy by the mob. Reversing previous decisions were always interesting.

Today is no different-only that casino in Vegas do the exact same thing by laying ridiculous but believable odds-but I'm not too sure if they get the fighters to fall down like they use to. Does a casino ever lose money at the fights? Neither with the mob of the 30's-50's.

Charie . . . thanks for this great post. Appreciate your detailing how things worked.

[kikibalt]

George Kimball fought to give voice to boxing
Former Herald columnist, 67, dies

By Michael Gee
Friday, July 8, 2011

Some months ago, as it was getting close to the end and my friend George Kimball was very, very sick, he came up from New York to give a book reading. It was at an Irish pub (of course), downtown, to publicize, “The Fighter Still Remains,” an anthology of boxing writing he edited with John Schulian. Except George couldn’t do the reading. He could answer questions, and did, but the cancer made prolonged speech impossible, and even George knew it.

Instead of a live reading, the audience was treated to a recorded reading. The folk musician, Tom Paxton, read a Jimmy Cannon column on Archie Moore. A celebrated American musician gave voice to a great American sportswriter who had given his voice to the life and skills of a great American boxer. Our culture did itself proud in those five or six minutes.

George died Wednesday night at age 67, and of all the time we shared over more than 30 years, that reading is the most vivid illustration of his life and sportswriting I can share here. He loved sports — boxing most of all — he loved fine prose, occasionally even his own, and he was going to make the most of those loves come what may.

George was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, about four months after he retired from the Herald. From then until now, he had five books published as an author and editor. Two of them were collections of columns, one from The Irish Times, the other taken from his post-2005 work for a variety of boxing Web sites unknown outside the boxing world itself. And George continued to write pieces on boxing and golf for the Herald as well.

In other words, after retirement, and after being diagnosed with an evil illness, George didn’t do less work, he took on more than he might have before he retired. George didn’t “fight” cancer, as is the meaningless cliche. He did something better. He ignored it. George had something to say about boxing, and was going to keep on saying it.

The voice of Tom Paxton at the reading symbolizes the other notable aspect of George Kimball’s career — the large number and extraordinary nature of the social circles it contained. Angry Young Man to Grand Old Man is the most-worn career path in American letters, but a career arc of ’60s Radical Poet and Activist to Dean of Boxing Writers must be its most singular variation.

There was one other professional love of George’s life: You’re looking at it. The Herald meant more to him than he ever let on, especially to his employers and superiors. George was a columnist here from 1980 to 2005, a quarter of a century. Here is where he made the transition from Angry Young to Grand Old. Here is where he got to have the most fun there is, being a big-city tabloid sports columnist. Here is where he found professional true love No. 2: boxing writing.

He expressed his gratitude by trying to make reading as enjoyable as he found writing. A series of shared misadventures — too long for newspaper space allows me to state — illustrates that one of George’s dominant personality traits was a love of mischief. That’s a very good attribute for sportswriters, and a better one for their readers.

Those shared misadventures and all the other experiences I shared with George were my cherished privilege. And I do not leave out this one: The night in Dublin when we drove down a one-way street the wrong way that just happened to be in front of the Dail (their Congress) building, with some guy I’d never seen before in the back seat who really wanted to avoid contact with the police because of his considerable contact with the IRA. We got out of that scrape when George put on a display of confused American tourist jabber that Chevy Chase must’ve stolen for “European Vacation.”

But in a fundamental way, I think his readers, all of them, knew him just as well, if not better. They knew the ferocious regard for facts. They were shown the vivid people and ugly, addictive drama that make up boxing and why George loved it. They were treated to George’s conviction that sports was a fit topic for an old-fashioned man of letters. They were lucky, just as I was.

George Kimball is survived by his wife, Marge Marash, his children, Darcy and Teddy, his mother, brothers, sisters and a vast number of friends. He is also survived by the sport of boxing and the idea that sportswriting and literature can be peers.

The two most fitting tributes to his memory would be this: Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather would get off the dime and fight each other and millions and millions of people would read all about it. Then those millions would keep on reading about sports, each and every day.

[Rick Farris]

The kinda fights we remember . . .

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

[kikibalt]

Ernie Rios

division heavyweight
alias Rocky Rios

country Mexico
residence Los Angeles, California, United States
birth name Ernest Rios

won 17 (KO 5) + lost 19 (KO 12) + drawn 4 = 40
rounds boxed 257 KO% 12.5


1948-06-22 185½ Jimmy Curl 164½ 31-8-0
Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio, Texas, United States L KO 7 10
time: 1:26 | referee: Ernie Taylor

1948-06-15 190 Lloyd Marshall 189 61-16-3
Sacramento, California, United States L TKO 3 10

1948-05-17 186½ Tommy Garland 184 43-13-5
Ocean Park Arena, Santa Monica, California, United States L UD 10 10

1948-04-12 181 Dolph Quijano 171 38-4-0
El Paso, Texas, United States L KO 6

1948-02-20 184 Rusty Payne 184 28-9-1
San Diego, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1948-02-02 185 Ben Johnson 183 40-6-1
Ocean Park Arena, Santa Monica, California, United States W TKO 5 10
referee: Tommy Herman
A cut right eye suffered by Johnson, ended the bout.

1948-01-05 184 Ben Johnson 180 40-5-1
Ocean Park Arena, Santa Monica, California, United States W SD 10 10

1947-12-08 Francisco de la Cruz 15-11-4
El Paso, Texas, United States L PTS 10 10

1947-11-17 188 Sonny Andrews 180 2-1-0
Ocean Park Arena, Santa Monica, California, United States W UD 10 10
referee: Tommy Herman

1947-09-12 183½ Freddie Beshore 196 18-3-1
Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California, United States L TKO 6 10
Rios was knocked down in the 5th round. The bout was stopped after the 6th round, as Rios was bleeding badly from the
nose.

1947-06-29 183 Tony Martin 207 12-5-3
Softball Park, Phoenix, Arizona, United States W PTS 10 10
Date approx.The Ring,Sept 1947

1947-05-22 Francisco de la Cruz 13-8-4
Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona, United States W PTS 10 10

1947-05-05 182 Jerry McSwain 188 12-1-0
Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, California, United States L TKO 9 10

1947-03-17 185 Freddie Beshore 197 15-2-1
Ocean Park Arena, Santa Monica, California, United States L PTS 10 10

1947-03-04 183 Pat Valentino 186 36-8-1
Civic Auditorium, San Jose, California, United States L UD 10 10
referee: Frank Bramhall 51-59 | judge: Charley Rose 52½-57½ | judge: Ray Flores 49-61

1946-05-17 181 Jackie Cranford 184 18-3-2
Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, United States L TKO 4 6
time: 2:18

1946-04-22 182 Omelio Agramonte 177 9-3-0
St. Nicholas Arena, New York, New York, United States L TKO 7 10

1946-02-25 Jimmy Reeves 28-15-0
Sports Arena, Rochester, New York, United States W TKO 7
Reeves suffered a fractured right collar bone and couldn't come out for 8th.

1946-01-08 176½ Fitzie Fitzpatrick 170 30-5-0
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L TKO 1 10
time: 0:29 | referee: Charley Randolph

1945-12-04 177 Charley Johnson 210 3-12-3
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W UD 6 6

1945-11-22 Charley Johnson 3-12-2
Auditorium, Oakland, California, United States D PTS 8 8

1944-10-21 Bobby Ice Cream Williams 2-9-2
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States L PTS 4 4

1944-08-13 Pete Louthis 10-1-0
Civic Auditorium, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States W PTS 4 4

1944-07-30 181 Johnny Green 188 4-8-2
Civic Auditorium, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States W PTS 4
Rios knocked down for a nine-count in the firts. Green knocked down in the fourth.

1944-05-21 Lowell Strong 1-0-0
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States L PTS ?

1944-04-09 Frankie Thomas 1-5-0
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States L TKO 4
time: 1:30 | referee: Walter Cho

1943-12-07 180 Watson Jones 175 26-11-4
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States D PTS 10 10
referee: Abe Roth

1943-11-12 180 Elmer Ray 196½ 29-12-5
Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California, United States L TKO 5 10
time: 2:40 | referee: Mushy Callahan

1943-09-28 182 Watson Jones 173 24-10-4
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 10 10
referee: Reggie Gilmore 60½-49½

1943-09-07 180 Watson Jones 173 23-10-4
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States L TKO 6 10
referee: Johnny Indrisano
Rios could not continue, as his left eye was swollen shut. Rios was down in the 1st round.

1943-08-25 Bob Ford 13-16-3
Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States W KO 8 10

1943-07-23 181½ Gaston Miller 170 4-1-1
Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California, United States W TKO 5 6

1943-06-23 Tommy Cornwall 10-5-2
Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States L TKO 5 10

1943-06-04 183½ Willis Johnson 172 4-6-4
Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1943-04-05 180 Willis Johnson 170 4-4-4
Ocean Park Arena, Santa Monica, California, United States W PTS 6 6

1943-03-26 187 Tommy Cornwall 181 5-3-1
Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California, United States W PTS 4 4

1943-03-09 188 Tommy Cornwall 178 5-2-1
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W PTS 4 4

1943-01-11 182 Willis Johnson 177 4-3-3
Ocean Park Arena, Santa Monica, California, United States D PTS 6 6
Both boxers were knocked down three times.

1942-08-14 180 Willis Johnson 172 1-2-1
Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California, United States D PTS 4 4

1942-07-21 187 Bud Jensen 177 20-16-2
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, United States W TKO 3 5