Classic American West Coast Boxing

[kikibalt]

Jack Dempsey

[Cholo]

Paul, this was very close fight, a fight that could have gone either way. I thought and still do think that Art won, but of course I am bias. I was one of the few Mexican-American's that liked Art, most Mexican-American's hated Art. That was because he would go on radio and denial he was one of us... They would fill up the joint hoping to see him get an ass kiking, but he would get the last laugh as he would go crying all the way to the bank..... ....Art to Lauro Salas: " F*cking Mexican", that's why they got into that bar fight....

Didn't he used to claim he was of Greek descent? I seem to recall reading that years ago.

Never heard that Tom...He did at times claim to be part Italian and part Spanish....Been from New Mexico and the fact he was light complexion makes me think he was more Spanish than Indian. Most Mexican's/Mexican-American's are a mixture of Spanish and Indian. But In New Mexico there is some people from Spanish descent that didn't mixed with the Indians, he could have been one of those Spaniard. My son James ex-wife is one of those Spaniard from New Mexico.

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon
"When I first came from New Mexico, they said 'You're Mexican, right?' And I said, 'No, I'm Spanish. We were Spanish. All our people come from Italy [and Spain] So [they thought] I was a goddam spic denying I was a Mexican." "So that made 'em mad to begin with." "Later I said 'Viva Mexico!' but it was too late."

[Cholo]

Jack Dempsey

Frank, Some great photos of Dempsey..

[kikibalt]

Didn't he used to claim he was of Greek descent? I seem to recall reading that years ago.

Never heard that Tom...He did at times claim to be part Italian and part Spanish....Been from New Mexico and the fact he was light complexion makes me think he was more Spanish than Indian. Most Mexican's/Mexican-American's are a mixture of Spanish and Indian. But In New Mexico there is some people from Spanish descent that didn't mixed with the Indians, he could have been one of those Spaniard. My son James ex-wife is one of those Spaniard from New Mexico.

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon
"When I first came from New Mexico, they said 'You're Mexican, right?' And I said, 'No, I'm Spanish. We were Spanish. All our people come from Italy [and Spain] So [they thought] I was a goddam spic denying I was a Mexican." "So that made 'em mad to begin with." "Later I said 'Viva Mexico!' but it was too late."

That was Art Aragon!!....

[Cholo]

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon
"Somebody asked me, 'What's the first thing you do in a fight?' I bleed!" Reminiscing about his fight with Carmen Basilio, "The bell rings for the first round. I ran to the centre of the ring. I threw a hard left hook, an uppercut, two right hands and another left hook. Then he came to the centre of the ring!" "Basilio, what a guy . He was so tough. I was a lightweight and he was a middleweight champion. But I was the Golden Boy, and the Golden Boy was supposed to do things, Unheard of, I couldn't do this. So I hit him with my best shot, right on the chin. Whack! He just smiles at me. My best shot, and he smiles. Thank god he went easy on me!"..

[kikibalt]

Thanks for all the Art Aragon quotes Paul, keep'em coming....

[Cholo]

Never heard that Tom...He did at times claim to be part Italian and part Spanish....Been from New Mexico and the fact he was light complexion makes me think he was more Spanish than Indian. Most Mexican's/Mexican-American's are a mixture of Spanish and Indian. But In New Mexico there is some people from Spanish descent that didn't mixed with the Indians, he could have been one of those Spaniard. My son James ex-wife is one of those Spaniard from New Mexico.

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon
"When I first came from New Mexico, they said 'You're Mexican, right?' And I said, 'No, I'm Spanish. We were Spanish. All our people come from Italy [and Spain] So [they thought] I was a goddam spic denying I was a Mexican." "So that made 'em mad to begin with." "Later I said 'Viva Mexico!' but it was too late."

That was Art Aragon!!....

What unquestionably set Aragon apart from his pugilistic brethren was his quick wit and bodaciousness, they say he was the Henry Youngman of boxing..

[Cholo]

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon
"I could have fought Shirley Temple or Joe Louis. I was the drawing card. I could have fought a dog and it [would have been a sell out]. A boxer!" "One important rule I always followed," said Art, "was to abstain from sex-up until two minutes before the fight. I ate everything I wanted. But never swallowed."

[Randyman]

Jack Dempsey

Great photos Frank, in my opinion Jack Dempsey is still the opinion of a heavyweight champion or as Mel Epstein would say Champeen"

[kikibalt]

Jack Dempsey

[Rick Farris]

Jack Dempsey

[Rick Farris]

Dempsey & The Golden Boy . . .

Frank, thanks for the great pictures of Jack Dempsey!
Paul, as always your posts covering Aragon's fights are great.
It has made it very easy for us to tap into his individual bouts and relive them.

[Rick Farris]

"Gossip Girl" . . .

Is a CW TV series that films in New York but will be filming in LA for a little over a week.
The bastids were too cheap to bring their regular camera crew so they've picked one up here in L.A. and I'll light it.
It's mainly beautiful young women, filming on Yachts, in a Hollywood Hills mansion, the Marina and Warner Bros.
I was able to bring in my own lighting crew and which is great. It will also be great for me to do glamour lighting again.
I'm not opposed to working with beautiful young women.

[kikibalt]

Connie and Marshmallow

[kikibalt]

"Gossip Girl" . . .

Is a CW TV series that films in New York but will be filming in LA for a little over a week.
The bastids were too cheap to bring their regular camera crew so they've picked one up here in L.A. and I'll light it.
It's mainly beautiful young women, filming on Yachts, in a Hollywood Hills mansion, the Marina and Warner Bros.
I was able to bring in my own lighting crew and which is great. It will also be great for me to do glamour lighting again.
I'm not opposed to working with beautiful young women.

[Rick Farris]

Connie and Marshmallow

Great photo! Is this a new pup, or have you had her for awhile?
BTW, how's Charlie doing? Charlie is the man!
Tell Connie I said "hello".

[kikibalt]

Connie and Marshmallow

Great photo! Is this a new pup, or have you had her for awhile?
BTW, how's Charlie doing? Charlie is the man!
Tell Connie I said "hello".

Rick, we found Marshmallow on the street a year this past July 4th.

Charlie?, Charlie is still the Jefe of Jefes. Btw, Charlie is doing good, has stayed out of the joint; but only because he like me is just too old to run the streets anymore....

Connie said back to you...

[Cholo]

"Gossip Girl" . . .

Is a CW TV series that films in New York but will be filming in LA for a little over a week.
The bastids were too cheap to bring their regular camera crew so they've picked one up here in L.A. and I'll light it.
It's mainly beautiful young women, filming on Yachts, in a Hollywood Hills mansion, the Marina and Warner Bros.
I was able to bring in my own lighting crew and which is great. It will also be great for me to do glamour lighting again.
I'm not opposed to working with beautiful young women.

Rick, You get all the good jobs..

[scartissue]

I just watched a couple of new posts on youtube. The Jimmy Robertson-Shinichi Kadota fight and the Sho Saijo-Jose Luis Pimental title fight. Poor Joe got nailed in the 1st round and simply did not recover. It was funny after all these years seeing Harry Kabakoff, Howie Steindler and twin bro Jesus in his corner. As for Robertson-Kadota, perhaps some of you guys that saw more of Jimmy can enlighten me. This is the 3rd fight I've seen of him. I saw his fight with Duran, the second Baby Cassius fight and now this. I know Jimmy was at the end of the road by this time, but was he always so awkward or was it because he was fighting a southpaw? He seemed to lunge in an uncoordinated fashion and his chin was so inviting when he did. He could not get out of the way of Kadota's sharp right. Interested to know what you guys thought of him in his prime. Given what I saw of him in this bout, he certainly doesn't look like a guy who could have duked it out with Gonzalez, Carmona, Navarro and Sugar Ramos, so I'm leaning towards end of the career weary.

Scartissue

[kikibalt]

I just watched a couple of new posts on youtube. The Jimmy Robertson-Shinichi Kadota fight and the Sho Saijo-Jose Luis Pimental title fight. Poor Joe got nailed in the 1st round and simply did not recover. It was funny after all these years seeing Harry Kabakoff, Howie Steindler and twin bro Jesus in his corner. As for Robertson-Kadota, perhaps some of you guys that saw more of Jimmy can enlighten me. This is the 3rd fight I've seen of him. I saw his fight with Duran, the second Baby Cassius fight and now this. I know Jimmy was at the end of the road by this time, but was he always so awkward or was it because he was fighting a southpaw? He seemed to lunge in an uncoordinated fashion and his chin was so inviting when he did. He could not get out of the way of Kadota's sharp right. Interested to know what you guys thought of him in his prime. Given what I saw of him in this bout, he certainly doesn't look like a guy who could have duked it out with Gonzalez, Carmona, Navarro and Sugar Ramos, so I'm leaning towards end of the career weary.

Scartissue

Jimmy Robertson did all of the above even in his prime. I never could understand how he could hang with the top LA. lightweights of the time; much less beat some of them....

[Rick Farris]

"Gossip Girl" . . .

Is a CW TV series that films in New York but will be filming in LA for a little over a week.
The bastids were too cheap to bring their regular camera crew so they've picked one up here in L.A. and I'll light it.
It's mainly beautiful young women, filming on Yachts, in a Hollywood Hills mansion, the Marina and Warner Bros.
I was able to bring in my own lighting crew and which is great. It will also be great for me to do glamour lighting again.
I'm not opposed to working with beautiful young women.

Rick, You get all the good jobs..

Paul, I'm just grateful to have a job in times when things aren't going well in the world.
I make it sound good, and at times it's great, but basically it's just a lot of hard work.
The film industry is like boxing, it's not the same as it once was.
A lot of people do not know what they are doing which makes for a lot of confusion and a waste of money.
But it's work, and it pays my rate, so the bills will be paid.
Two places I feel at home are in a boxing gym, and on a film set.
I just wish more people in both professions were still professionals.

[raylawpc]

Jack Dempsey

I don't know if Jack Dempsey was the "greatest," in terms of ability or resume - although he was certainly an ATG! - but he was certainly the "greatest" in terms of his impact on the sport of boxing, and his impact on history in general.

[Rick Farris]

I just watched a couple of new posts on youtube. The Jimmy Robertson-Shinichi Kadota fight and the Sho Saijo-Jose Luis Pimental title fight. Poor Joe got nailed in the 1st round and simply did not recover. It was funny after all these years seeing Harry Kabakoff, Howie Steindler and twin bro Jesus in his corner. As for Robertson-Kadota, perhaps some of you guys that saw more of Jimmy can enlighten me. This is the 3rd fight I've seen of him. I saw his fight with Duran, the second Baby Cassius fight and now this. I know Jimmy was at the end of the road by this time, but was he always so awkward or was it because he was fighting a southpaw? He seemed to lunge in an uncoordinated fashion and his chin was so inviting when he did. He could not get out of the way of Kadota's sharp right. Interested to know what you guys thought of him in his prime. Given what I saw of him in this bout, he certainly doesn't look like a guy who could have duked it out with Gonzalez, Carmona, Navarro and Sugar Ramos, so I'm leaning towards end of the career weary.

Scartissue

Jimmy Robertson did all of the above even in his prime. I never could understand how he could hang with the top LA. lightweights of the time; much less beat some of them....

"Irish" Jimmy Robertson . . .

Dan, I agree with Frank. I remember when Jimmy started fighting on the televised amateur part of the Olympic's pro cards.
He was rough and tough as hell, but no real style or class, awkward. As for Kadota, he was a helluva fighter.
I remember Jimmy's manager, Gordon Shaw. Shaw had money, he owned a Marine & Boat dealership in the South Bay.
Behind the dealership was his gym. There was a sign on the wall, "Mr. Shaw provides everything but the guts & gas."
I was a stabemate of Ruben Navarro, and didn't know Jimmy until after I'd quit.
Ruben had big trouble with Robertson. The first fight Jimmy was ahead when stopped on a cut. I fought on the undercard of the rematch, which was one month after Navarro had lost to Ken Buchanan in '71. It was all Robertson for ten rounds, I was disappointed.
In the mid-70's, after I'd quit, actor Reb Brown, John Leicty, Jimmy Robertson & myself all worked as bouncers briefly at a club in the South Bay.
I was living in Manhatten Beach and would workout at Shaw's Gym to stay in shape. I'd box with his amateurs, etc. This is where I met Jimmy.
Robertson had retired and needed some extra cash so I asked if he'd want to work the door at Brennan's Pub with us on St. Patrick's day?
That was a wild night, and we had to toss a few wanna-be Bogtrotters out the door.
Robertson had two of his front teeth knocked out in the Duran title fight, so he had two false teeth in front.
When he'd take his teeth out, he'd smile and look like a vampire. Of course, I'd be chatting up the ladies and tell them Jimmy was a vampire.
We had fun that night, and no trouble keeping the place under control.

[kikibalt]

I just watched a couple of new posts on youtube. The Jimmy Robertson-Shinichi Kadota fight and the Sho Saijo-Jose Luis Pimental title fight. Poor Joe got nailed in the 1st round and simply did not recover. It was funny after all these years seeing Harry Kabakoff, Howie Steindler and twin bro Jesus in his corner. As for Robertson-Kadota, perhaps some of you guys that saw more of Jimmy can enlighten me. This is the 3rd fight I've seen of him. I saw his fight with Duran, the second Baby Cassius fight and now this. I know Jimmy was at the end of the road by this time, but was he always so awkward or was it because he was fighting a southpaw? He seemed to lunge in an uncoordinated fashion and his chin was so inviting when he did. He could not get out of the way of Kadota's sharp right. Interested to know what you guys thought of him in his prime. Given what I saw of him in this bout, he certainly doesn't look like a guy who could have duked it out with Gonzalez, Carmona, Navarro and Sugar Ramos, so I'm leaning towards end of the career weary.

Scartissue

Jimmy Robertson did all of the above even in his prime. I never could understand how he could hang with the top LA. lightweights of the time; much less beat some of them....

"Irish" Jimmy Robertson . . .

Dan, I agree with Frank. I remember when Jimmy started fighting on the televised amateur part of the Olympic's pro cards.
He was rough and tough as hell, but no real style or class, awkward. As for Kadota, he was a helluva fighter.
I remember Jimmy's manager, Gordon Shaw. Shaw had money, he owned a Marine & Boat dealership in the South Bay.
Behind the dealership was his gym. There was a sign on the wall, "Mr. Shaw provides everything but the guts & gas."
I was a stabemate of Ruben Navarro, and didn't know Jimmy until after I'd quit.
Ruben had big trouble with Robertson. The first fight Jimmy was ahead when stopped on a cut. I fought on the undercard of the rematch, which was one month after Navarro had lost to Ken Buchanan in '71. It was all Robertson for ten rounds, I was disappointed.
In the mid-70's, after I'd quit, actor Reb Brown, John Leicty, Jimmy Robertson & myself all worked as bouncers briefly at a club in the South Bay.
I was living in Manhatten Beach and would workout at Shaw's Gym to stay in shape. I'd box with his amateurs, etc. This is where I met Jimmy.
Robertson had retired and needed some extra cash so I asked if he'd want to work the door at Brennan's Pub with us on St. Patrick's day?
That was a wild night, and we had to toss a few wanna-be Bogtrotters out the door.
Robertson had two of his front teeth knocked out in the Duran title fight, so he had two false teeth in front.
When he'd take his teeth out, he'd smile and look like a vampire. Of course, I'd be chatting up the ladies and tell them Jimmy was a vampire.
We had fun that night, and no trouble keeping the place under control.

Wild times, huh? Rick

[Rick Farris]

Jimmy Robertson did all of the above even in his prime. I never could understand how he could hang with the top LA. lightweights of the time; much less beat some of them....
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Frank, I understand what you're talking about. All I can say is there is something about these awkward guys, the one's who are tough and not afraid to take a chance. Robertson was a pretty good puncher, one of those guys who bruises you when he lands, you feel his crack. This is what I got from a friend of mine that Jimmy KOed early in his career. And he's always ready to jump on you. Like you, I was surprised when he started shooting down contenders. However, he was the unfortunate candidate to be Roberto Duran's first lightweight title defense. Although videos reveal something a little different, what Jimmy told me was that he and Duran exchanged right hands, Duran's landed. "I don't remember anything except the hospital, where I learned I'd had my front teeth knocked out." Jimmy worked as a mechanic at Gordon Shaw's Boat dealership, before, during and after his boxing career. Don't know what's become of him? Shaw has been dead for years.