Classic American West Coast Boxing

[dagosd2000]

Edith Piaf and Marcel Cerdan







Edith Piaf singing L'hymne a L'Amour" written in tribute to Marcel Cerdan

[chrisjs1985]

Here's the piece I've been working on with Jofre. Luckily I was able to get new information and direct contact with Jofre and his family. Google translation was very helpful

Few sports can claim to have such a proud and long history as Boxing and whilst it’s generally been the larger men who’ve captivated the public’s interest, many hardcore fans of the sweet science will tell you it’s the so called “little men” that have consistently provided the most compelling action. Possessing a great balance of speed, power and skill it’s generally been the men featherweight (and under) who have given the audience the most bang for their buck. The bantamweight division is one in particular that has, pound for pound some of the hardest hitters in the history of the sport if you just look through the divisions title lineage dating back to 1894.

For most historians the standard bearer for the division is Brazilian legend Eder Jofre. Jofre, who is the oldest living boxer inductee of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, was a master of the ring. A complete fighter who had a legendary career that stands out for its dominance and longevity. Jofre’s name perhaps isn’t as known as some of the other great Latin fighters of his time like Roberto Duran, Carlos Monzon, Alexis Arguello but in terms of skill, achievement and greatness, Jofre had few equals. Jofre fought somewhat under the radar with the majority of his fights taking place in South America with very limited exposure to American television. In Brazil he is sporting royalty. He once placed third on a list of the most popular and beloved Brazilian athletes of all-time, placing behind only Pele and the late Formula 1 star Aryton Senna.

The footage available of Jofre is unfortunately limited. There have only been four full fights to emerge and highlights of a further twenty one. Unfortunately in the 1980’s the TV station that held all of the archive footage burned down leaving it difficult to find footage on this legendary boxing icon. The fights and highlights available show a complete boxer. He was an excellently proportioned boxer with two fisted power and a wide array of punches. His jab was not so much an authoritative one to sit behind and win round after round but more of a probing one to enable him to land his other more hurtful punches. He possessed an excellent left hook whether he was throwing it as a lead punch or as a counter punch. He would also land it with great affect in the middle of his combinations. He had a superb right hand which was equally concussive thrown straight down the middle or as a cross. His uppercuts with both hands were used intelligently and very accurately and he was a truly great body puncher.

Throughout the footage you can see of him it’s common to see him change the pace and body language of the opponent once he ripped downstairs. When you combine all that technical excellence with a killer instinct his style was very easy on the eye. His longevity enabled by his excellent foundations, defensive ability and supreme ring intelligence. Jofre would fight out of a semi-crouch, moving forward, whilst keeping his chin tucked in and his hands up. He was adept at slipping and blocking punches and had great counter-punching ability and what seemed like perfect timing.

Truly, a fighter built for 15-rounds, the Brazilian was a distance fighter with great endurance and a rock solid chin. If there’s such thing as the “perfect fighter” his name is close to the top of any shortlist.
The rave reviews came from historians and fellow all-time greats. Willie Pep, the legendary former Featherweight world champion said, “I refereed the Eder Jofre-Johnny Caldwell fight. That Jofre is a helluva fighter. A real bang-bang guy but smart, too. They’d love him here in the States if he ever fights here.” The great Barney Ross, former lightweight and welterweight champion also refereed two of Eder’s bouts and said, “I just thrill at that boy’s performance. He is a marvel of boxing perfection. He does things in the ring that I never expected to see again. There is nothing he cannot do.” Considering that between these two legends they fought the likes of Henry Armstrong, Jimmy McLarnin, Tony Canzoneri, Battling Battalino, Sandy Saddler, Sammy Angott, Manuel Ortiz, Chalky Wright and saw the likes of Joe Louis, Charles Burley, Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Sugar Ray Robinson those are very high praises indeed.

The beginning

Eder Jofre was born on March 26th, 1936 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was born in the Rua do Seminario neighborhood of the city inside a boxing gym owned by an ex-boxer from Argentina by the name of Aristides Jofre. Known as “Kid” Jofre, the Argentinean trained boxers from Sao Paulo Football club in the gym located in the north eastern part of the city.

Aristides, whose parents were Spanish and French had moved to Brazil around the time he was 25 and became a Brazilian citizen. “Kid” Jofre was from a boxing family and along with his brothers heavily influential in the amateur boxing scene of Sao Paulo. Argentina was a nation with a deep affection for the sweet science and Aristides imported those teachings over to Brazil.

“Kid” Jofre fought a handful of professional bouts in Argentina before beginning his career as a trainer. In addition to teaching boxing he also taught basketball. Throughout his career he trained a few Brazilian champions, such as, Jorge Sacomã and Paulo Sacomã, Luizão, Kaled Cury, Ralph Zumbano and a South American champion, Pedro Galasso.

It was in Sao Paulo where he met Angelina Zumbano, the daughter of Italian immigrants. The Zumbano clan originated from Calabria, a coastal region in the south of Italy. The family had a heavy involvement in wrestling so you could say that fighting blood ran through Eder’s veins. “Whoever entered the family entered the boxing world”, he said in the documentary “O Grande Campeao”.

Aristides began teaching his son, Eder the basics and fundamentals of boxing at the age of three. Eder grew up poor but insists that “If I came back to this world again I’d come back to Parque Peruche and do it at a time we had no facilities whatsoever”, he said. “This neighborhood was the most wonderful thing I had as a child. I used to play with a stroller - which we used to do -, hide and seek, jump rope ... Things that today's kids do not even know what they are. It was a very good time. And, fortunately, God looked at me and gave me that desire to train and fight in boxing. From a little boy I would put my gloves on with my uncles, the Zumbanos and played with others in the neighborhood. I always did well and beat the guys, because my father was the one who taught me how to fight, to have the correct guard, to release the blows correctly. Not like today, the guys throw punches with the elbow open, the glove open. I do not even know how I watch these fights”, said Eder reminiscing about his childhood.

As a youngster Jofre’s favorite boxers were Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson but like most Brazilians, Jofre had a passion for Football. He played as a left-winger and said he was the highest scorer on his team. Eder’s interest in football disappointed his father who felt his son had what it takes to make something out of boxing. “For me, playing football was fun. But it was of disgust to my father. There was a time when I did not go to the gym and I told him that I thought I was going to be a football player. He was hurt, he was like, 'Eder, you got a way for boxing. You're good; if you were not you I would not allow you to fight’. He encouraged me in this direction and I ended up training again, for real”, said Jofre reflecting on the influence of his father behind his decision to dedicate his sporting efforts into boxing.


Jofre hadn’t fully committed to making boxing his sole profession yet as he was an architecture student. When asked about this, Eder’s son, Marcel had this to say, “The first career he had chosen was that of a draftsman. So much so that even made a course of architectural design in a school that was in the center of the city, the 'Lyceum of Arts and Craft'. Unfortunately, an accident occurred in which the roof of the school fell and all his material was lost. As he did not have the money to buy the material again, he ended up kind of opting for boxing. To be honest, I am thankful everyday for that ceiling dropping", he said, clearly happy that his father would go on to become a great boxer and sporting icon in his country.

Amateur days

It was in his early teens that Jofre had decided that he was going to make a career of boxing and started to enter amateur tournaments. He was very successful winning multiple tournaments the first was Sesi’s Championship in 1952, at the age of 16. He followed that success by winning a tournament hosted by Gazetta Esportiva, he won little league and junior league championships. The fast rising prodigy was two times Sao Paulo champion, two times Brazilian champion, he won Ramon Platero’s cup and the Golden Gloves before qualifying to represent Brazil in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Jofre was unbeaten as an amateur to this point and at the age of 20 went to Melbourne boxing for his country in the flyweight category. He reached the quarter finals and would be defeated by Claudio Barrientos of Chile by decision. Jofre claims this was a balanced fight that he deserved to win but laments the fact that he was unable to perform at his best due to an injury sustained in sparring. The smallest sparring partner available during his time in Melbourne was a lightweight from Rio Di Janeiro by the name of Celestino Pinto and Jofre injured his nose sparring with him which affected his breathing during the Barrientos fight.

Professional career

The professional journey would begin at Ginásio Estadual do Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo on March, 29th 1957 just three days after Eder’s 21st birthday. Jofre entered the paid game with a 4th round knockout of Argentine Raul Lopez. The competition was fairly modest until his 8th fight where he would come face to face with a very talented Argentinean by the name of Ernesto Miranda. Miranda, who would go on to have a very successful career was entering his 20th fight and held a clear advantage in experience. The pair fought two draws in back to back contests putting the first blemishes on the record of the Brazilian up and comer. In those days draws were very common in South American boxing because of a rule which stated that if a fight went the full distance there would only be a victor if one of the contestants had won by four or more points on at least two cards. Jofre led on the cards but not by the necessary amount to keep his 100% winning record intact. The 20 rounds the pair shared together helped tremendously with the development of both young fighters.

Jofre who had been adjudged to be a blue chip prospect by the local media was critiqued slightly for being slightly rough around the edges and lacking top level infighting skills. At the end of his first full year as a professional boxer his record read 10-0-2 and he had already fought 90 rounds whilst showing an increasing ability to adapt and improve his game on a fight to fight basis.

In 1958 he would fight 11 times as he gained even more valuable experience. By this time his punching technique and power was improving as was his opposition. He went to Uruguay and was on the wrong end of a controversial draw in Ruben Caceres’ hometown and would suffer the first knockdown of his career against then unbeaten Jose Smecca. Smecca from Argentina, would go on to have a rather long and successful career on the South American circuit scored a brief flash knockdown in the second round before Jofre caught up to him and knocked him out in the 7th round.

Roberto Castro was by far the most experienced fighter the young Brazilian ace had faced up to this point sporting a record of 56-5-8 with included two decision losses to one Ernesto Miranda, the first being for the bantamweight championship of Argentina, the second being contested for the bantamweight championship of South America. Jofre destroyed Castro in the second round closing out the year with a record of 20-0-3. The following year saw Jofre go from being a hot prospect on the South American scene to a top contender on the world scene. He would enter the ring nine times in 1959 facing some top international fighters in addition to separating himself from other South American talent. He defeated undefeated Uruguayan hopeful Aniceto Pereya and destroyed Caceras in 7 one-sided rounds in a return of their controversial draw on Uruguayan soil.

The international opponents brought over to Brazil included Gianni Zuddas an Italian veteran of 75 fights was dominated over 10 rounds and a pair of Filipino’s Leo Espinosa and Danny Kid lasted the distance but were routed by the fast rising Brazilian. These fights were particularly important because the Filipinos were world ranked and vastly experienced. Kid was the reigning champion of North America (he lived in California) and held wins over Jose Medel, Toluco Lopez, Billy Peacock and Dwight Hawkins. Jofre dropped him three times but credited Kid with being the strongest opponent of his career, “He took a lot; his resistance was incredible. I knocked him down three times during the fight and I won on points”, Jofre would later say in his appraisal of the Filipino.

1960 would prove to be a pivotal one as Jofre set out to make history becoming the first Brazilian fighter to capture a world championship. Before he would face a final elimination Jofre was pitted against two former foes as he sought to clean out the best of what South America had to offer. Ernesto Miranda, now the continents champion and with a record of 40-3-4 had continued to grow his reputation and had his own desires set on becoming world champion. He would meet Jofre on February 19th, 1960 at Jofre’s favorite local venue Ginásio Estadual do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo. This time Jofre would win by a big enough margins on the scorecards to finally defeat Miranda and in the process took his South American championship. As was the case the last time the two fought in 1957, Jofre agreed to face Miranda in his very next fight. There was a bit of a rivalry and Miranda claimed to be unhappy having lost on a decision in Jofre’s hometown though there are no such reports of a controversial nature to the bout simply just a fierce competitor pointing the finger in an attempt to justify a loss. The 4th fight left no doubt whatsoever as to who was the superior boxer as Jofre destroyed Miranda in three one-sided rounds much to the delight of the 20,000 fans packed into Ginásio Estadual do Ibirapuera.

Next was another familiar foe in the shape of Claudio Barrientos, the Chilean who’d defeated Jofre at the Melbourne Olympics of 1956. That defeat was still a thorn in Jofre’s side as he had felt the loss was unjust so he set out to prove who the better fighter was. The professional fight wasn’t much of a contest with Jofre scoring eight knockdowns stopping his helpless opponent inside eight woefully lopsided rounds. Jofre, at this point was a complete boxer entering his peak aged 24 with a record of 34-0-3 having defeated every man he’d faced in dominant fashion. At this point he was making headlines in Brazil and held the hopes of a nation but to North American boxing fans he was more of a curiosity, a fighter who’s name appeared in the rankings and in the win columns but not in their rings or their television screens. This was about to change.

Eder Jofre vs. Jose Medel I, August 18th, 1960, Los Angeles, California

In a final elimination bout to determine the top contender for Jose Becerra’s crown Jofre was pitted against tough Mexican warrior Jose Medel. Medel was already a young veteran of 62 bouts having defeated such top contenders as Eloy Sanchez, Danny Kid, Leo Espinosa, Johnny Sarduy and Toluco Lopez. The bout took place on August 18th, 1960 at the legendary Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. This was Eder’s first bout outside of South America and would perhaps be considered the most entertaining of his career.

Medel was a patient boxer who was an expert counter puncher with damaging power in both fists and that style meshed with Jofre’s to produce one of the classic bantamweight fights. Jofre, started out the faster of the two taking the first couple of rounds as both fighters sized each other up and then in the fifth round a firefight broke out. Jofre hurt Medel badly at the end of the round before the bell stopped and then fought with a bit more caution in the next few rounds preferring to look for counters having felt the power of the Brazilian. In the ninth round the war reached its peak once Jofre hurt Medel and went in for the kill. It seemed Jofre was about to stop Medel when he was countered and hurt by the Mexican, who then proceeded to hammer away at Jofre on the ropes, breaking his nose and taking the momentum of the fight until Jofre landed an expertly timed counter left hook that shook Medel badly but just as happened in the 5th round the bell rang denying Jofre the chance to finish his man.

Words of wisdom from “Kid” Jofre

It was at this moment between rounds where Jofre accredits his father with winning the fight for him, “I went to my corner bleeding, my nose was hurt I couldn’t even breathe right. There was blood going down my throat and my liver was in pain. That’s when my father said, ‘Eder, sit down. How are you feeling? I said I don’t know if I can, he said ‘Yes, you can. You can. Breathe deeply’, he then started fanning me with the towel and massaging my stomach. I started to get better. He cleaned me up and everything and then said, ‘Eder, come down hard on him because he felt your punch. The Brazilian people are cheering for you. Your mother is cheering for you. You can win.’ After feeling such support I went back to the ring very well protected. I came down on him pretty hard using my technique. He didn’t hit me anymore and I was landing punches from above and below. I hit him on the liver and he felt it, I punched him to the ropes and he was going from left to right and then he opened his guard and he hurried and hit him with a straight left to his chin and he fell flat on the floor”.

At this point the bell rang again but this time there was nothing left in Medel as his corner carried him to his stool where he couldn’t fully regain consciousness and the bout was stopped before the 11th round making Jofre a knockout and now the leading contender for the bantamweight world championship.

“It was a very hard fight. I had to lose approximately four pounds on the day of the fight. By the time of the fight I was exhausted but it was the opportunity of a lifetime so I did my best.” When reflecting back on his career Jofre selected Medel as both his hardest fight and his toughest opponent. “He was the most complete fighter I fought. He provided me with the necessary security to become champion of the world”, said Jofre. He said that fight had given him the belief that no matter who was put in front of them he would be victorious.

Eder Jofre vs. Eloy Sanchez, November 18th, 1960, Los Angeles, California

Jofre was back in Los Angeles at the Grand Olympic Auditorium on November 18th to fight for the world bantamweight title against Eloy Sanchez. Jose Becerra had been the champion previously but had recently retired after a knockout defeat to Eloy Sanchez in a non-title affair just 12 days after Jofre had defeated Jose Medel.

Sanchez was a tough competitor but didn’t have Becerra’s profile which it was why it was considered such a big upset when he knocked the champion out in eight rounds. Sanchez however did boast some impressive performances including a win and draw with Ignacio Pina and a split pair of bouts with Medel.

Jofre entered the ring to some hostility from the Mexican fans who shouted to him “Jofre, Sanchez will kill you!”, “Sanchez is going to knock you out!” which affected the visiting fighter not one iota. Jofre feeling invigorated from the Medel fight found Sanchez to be a far easier task the night he became Brazil’s first world champion.

Jofre dominated the action from the start of the contest before an action packed sixth round. In this round sensing that the bout was slipping away from him, Sanchez showed a lot of aggression moving forward and connecting with an uppercut that knocked Jofre’s mouthpiece out. He followed up throwing a flurry of punches but the Brazilian landed a perfect counter right cross that separated the Mexican from his sense. The referee counted Sanchez out and raised Jofre’s arm as his vanquished opponent lay motionless on the canvas.

“He had me bleeding from the nose. I didn’t mind that. A bloody nose was an old story for a guy who begun taking his lumps in our family gym as a little fellow. I just kept looking for an opening for a straight right. The round was almost half over when I saw it. I dropped it in to the jaw, nice and short. He went down hard and it was the finish for him – and the beginning for me as champion” said Jofre when remembering this historical moment.

On a special presentation in 2010 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of this bout a television network in Brazil had Sanchez flown in from Mexico to reunite with Jofre and discuss this bout. Sanchez was very complementary discussing the talents and merits of the Brazilian, “"He was a great champion, very strong, very tough, his technique was perfect and he was a consistent boxer with heavy hands." Sanchez expressed sadness at being unable to win the world title but continued his praise for Jofre, "It's always sad, but the title was in good hands. Eder was a tremendous fighter. I have a lot of affection for him. For sure he was the toughest opponent of my career, in the form of striking and withstanding punches. He fired tremendous punches and eventually knocked me out."

Homecoming

Fresh with his newly acquired world championship belt in tow, Jofre arrived at the International airport in Sao Paulo to a raucous rapport with over 100,000 Brazilians waiting to get a glimpse of their idol. Jofre insisted that the procession pass through Parque Peruche, the neighborhood where he had grown up and learned to box. The new champion wasted no time getting back into the ring to display his talents in front of his people by facing experienced American fighter Billy Beacock in Sao Paulo 28 days removed from the Sanchez fight. Peacock was an experienced fighter who’d fought a who’s who of his era but at this point was well and truly an opponent level fighter made to order. Jofre would dispatch him in the second round sending a warning to division that he was not resting on his laurels and intended to forge an impressive title campaign.

Eder Jofre vs. Piero Rollo, March 25th, 1961, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

The newly crowned champion returned home for his first defense of the title when he faced the vastly experienced and highly skilled Italian Piero Rollo. The homecoming took place at Estádio de General Severiano in Rio De Janeiro and was an impressive one for the champion. Rollo, a veteran of 65 bouts had been the Italian and European champion but was fighting outside of Europe for the first time and also making his maiden world title bid. Throughout his career he’d defeated such fighters as Mimoun Bel Ali, Pierre Cossemyns, Jackie Brown, Alphonse Halmini and Mario D’Agata.

Jofre proved too fast and complete for Rollo as he dominated the contest from the start. Rollo tried to test the young champion early by fighting aggressively from the beginning which proved to be a mistake as Jofre was able to slip and block his attacks and punish Rollo in return. Jofre rocked the challenger twice with left hooks in the fifth round and opened some nasty cuts on the Italians face. Jofre, using his intelligence took a lot of the energy out of his rival by landing multiple hurtful body punches throughout the contest. At the end of the ninth round with blood flowing down the beaten challengers face the commission with the consent of his manager halted the contest declaring Jofre a winner by TKO.

Staying busy

In the time between title defenses Jofre intended to remain active to further enhance his skills and stay sharp. After the Rollo fight he took two non-title bouts, one against a limited Surinamese boxer called Sugar Ray who was dispatched in the second round, with the other coming against a very capable Japanese boxer by the name of Sadao Yaoita. Yaoita had made a name for himself becoming the first fighter to defeat the great Pascual Perez, the dominant flyweight champion of the era. Yaoita had lost decisions in a re-match with Perez and a final eliminator to the highly regarded Ramon Arias.

The Japanese fighter was competitive in this fight, managing to win a few rounds but over the course of the bout Jofre found his range landing his left hook with more frequency until he finished off the bout in the 10th round.

Back on the road: Venezuela

Jofre’s second title defense would come on the road against the aforementioned Arias in Caracas, Venezuela. Just as Yaoita had lost in a title bid to Perez so too had Arias, who’d been the first Venezuelan to ever box for a world title. He had learned a lot from that bout going on an impressive run of victories which included Yaoita, Billy Peacock, Edmundo Esparza, Mimoun Ben Ali and Ramon Calatayud which set him up for the challenge of Jofre’s title.

Ring magazine founder and boxing historian Nat Fleischer travelled to Venezuela as one of the three judges to this bout and waxed lyrical about the performance of Jofre in this bout comparing him to some of the greatest fighters in history, “He is by far the best the division has had in many years. Clever, a powerful left hooker, a stand-up boxer who has learned much of the technique of past masters; Jofre stands out as did Ray Robinson for many years in the welter and middleweight divisions. He can give and take punishment, blocks well, and like Benny Leonard can make his opponent fight the way he wants him to. Watching Jofre against Arias, champion of Venezuela, I was reminded of the days when the bantam class boasted a score of top, hard socking fighters”, said Fleischer in his ringside report for this magazine.

Arias gave a good account of himself in the fight managing to maintain a high pace but ultimately the harder, more accurate blows dished out by Jofre slowed him down and in the 7th round the Brazilian unleashed a painful blow to the body which put the brave challenger on the canvas and out for the count.

A non-title fight against a Portuguese fighter by the name of Fernando Goncalves followed with Jofre winning inside the distance. At this time Jofre was the NBA (now WBA) and lineal bantamweight champion of the world but the BBBC (British Boxing Board of Control) recognized Northern Ireland’s Johnny Caldwell as their champion. Caldwell had beaten former champion Alphonse Halmini in May of 1961 and repeated that victory five months later. Jofre had the recognition of the NBA, EBU (European Boxing Union) and Ring Magazine but still not the full recognition he was looking for.

Eder Jofre vs. Johnny Caldwell, January 18th, 1962, Sao Paulo, Brazil

On January 18th, 1962 Jofre would finally get his chance to eradicate any claim that he was the one true champion in the bantamweight division when he squared off with Johnny Caldwell. Caldwell entered the ring at Ginásio Estadual do Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo with impeccable credentials. He had registered a bronze medal at the same Melbourne Olympics of 1956 which Jofre had competed and he entered the ring with an unblemished 25-0 mark. He had twice defeated former champion (Alphonse) Halmini of France in addition to beating most of the leading bantamweights in Europe.

Caldwell had made some pre-fight remarks that caused Jofre some anger. He had been quoted as saying, “I haven’t come across the Atlantic to lose my title to a bunch of monkeys. I come from the home of Boxing”. Caldwell would come to regret his pre-fight barbs after thrashing for 10 rounds at the hands of the Brazilian. Caldwell performed gallantly but was outgunned suffering a bloodied nose and two knockdowns before his manager threw the towel in during the 10th round. Jofre simply overwhelmed Caldwell with a powerful barrage of stinging left jabs and accurate left hooks. Reflecting back on this fight, Jofre said, “I worked so hard to put Brazil’s name on the map and for this guy to come here talking all that crap? I kicked his butt and I did it on purpose.” Jofre, a proud Brazilian had taken exception to the comments of Caldwell and admitting to prolonging the beating. Caldwell was never quite the same again though still competed in some big fights on the British circuit against Freddie Gilroy and Alan Rudkin.
Years later Caldwell was full of praise for his conqueror, “Eder Jofre was the greatest bantamweight and the hardest hitter for his weight of all time,” he said. “I remember the place was packed to the rafters and there were many thousands locked outside the arena. I just couldn’t get to terms with him on the night, maybe it was the heat of the crowd, but it was an unbelievable occasion which I will never forget. As it turned out, it was my first defeat as a professional and it was very hard for me to take.”

Back to California

Now sitting atop the bantamweight division ruling with an iron fist, Jofre was the universally accepted undisputed ruler of the division. He accepted a title challenge from a Mexican boxer named Herman Marques in a bout which would send the Brazilian back to California. Instead of going back to Los Angeles it was San Francisco this time.
Marques was based out of nearby Stockton and the support of the crowd was largely in his favor. Marques didn’t own a particularly glossy record at 19-8-1 but he had been matched tough from the start of his career and had earned the title shot beating Billy Peacock, Danny Kid, Ignacio Pina and a final eliminator against Carlos Hernandez. The fight proved to be one of the more difficult ones in recent times for the Brazilian as Marques held his own, winning a number of rounds before succumbing to the power punches Jofre unleashed in the 10th round.

Eder Jofre vs. Jose Medel II, September 11th, 1962, Sao Paulo, Brazil

On September 11th, 1962 Jofre would defend his title against Jose Medel in a re-match to their classic encounter two years earlier in Los Angeles. The re-match took place at Ginásio Estadual do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo after Jofre accepted the Mexican’s challenge. “As an athlete I gave him a chance. He asked me for a chance to fight me again and I said alright but this time in Brazil” said Jofre.

Since the first fight Medel had been very impressive going unbeaten in ten fights. He scored a victory over Herman Marques for the North American Bantamweight title and defended his Mexican title with impressive knockout victories over the formidable Toluco Lopez and Ignacio Pina. He’d also beaten such noteworthy foes as Manny Elias, Mitsunori Seki and Sadao Yaoita in preparation for his first attempt at the world title.

Jofre was much more dominant in the re-match scoring a much more straightforward victory than the first bout. After a couple of feel out rounds, Jofre warmed up and took the initiative with a vicious attack using all the punches in his arsenal. Jofre scored a knockdown at the end of the fifth round and halfway through the sixth round the Brazilian expertly ended the fight with a right hand to the chin which sent Medel down for a full count.
Remembering the re-match victory with the Mexican Jofre said, “Poor man. I say that because on the day of the fight he even cried. He saw me up there totally fit. I didn’t have to lose weight. This fight was much easier than the first one”.

Medel, undeterred would continue terrorizing the rest of the bantamweight division scoring some of his biggest career wins against such men as Fighting Harada, Jesus Pimentel, Edmundo Esparza, Ray Asis and Walter McGowan. He was a brilliant fighter in his own right but the Brazilian had no equal in his peak.
Recognition from “The Bible of Boxing”

In 1963 the champion received the honor of being the cover fighter on the 500th issue of The Ring magazine. The recognition was a huge honor for any fighter but especially for a fighter in the bantamweight division. Jofre had gained a reputation as the world’s greatest fighter pound for pound with the cover story asking the question, “The world’s best fighter?”

The article title “A small Sugar”, a reference to the great Sugar Ray Robinson, often tabbed as the greatest boxer of all-time. Nat Loubet wrote the following, “Ever so seldom the ring produces a fighter about whom it is said that he is the greatest in decades for his poundage. Such a standout was Ray Robinson. Now, with Sugar Ray on the wane, there is another spectacular scrapper on whom that “pound-for-pound label” of superiority and domination looks good. That man is Eder Jofre, the Brazilian, who holds the bantamweight championship of the world. There have been bantamweight champions galore since the days of Charley Lynch, who ruled the class as far back as 1856.”

Asian invasion

Jofre’s activity slowed down this year with just two bouts, both title defenses in Asia. The first was against a young Japanese fighter by the name of Katsutoshi Aoki with a record of 33-1-1.Aoki had earned his shot at the title with impressive victories over two previous Jofre victims, Piero Rollo and Leo Espinosa.

Aoki set a frantic pace from the outset of the bet moving from different angles and simply outworking the champion over the first two rounds. According Tony Petronella, one of the judges for the bout Jofre bore a look of discouragement, “sitting glumly in his corner, a puzzled look creasing his face, the usually happy-go-lucky champion half-listened to the barking orders of his cornermen. Jofre, seemed worried. Looking up at the 27-year-old champ from ringside, where I was serving as one of the judges, I noticed a certain tautness about him”, said Petronella.

The third round brought out the best in Jofre after he appeared agitated by some of the rough tactics the Japanese contender employed. Jofre stepped up his pace and started to rein punches from different angles on Aoki before landing a sweeping left hand on the midsection of the aggressive challenger which sent him to the canvas. The brave young fighter got up and received a mandatory eight count before Jofre moved in and landed another crippling left hand which caused Aoki to let out a loud scream before he was counted out. Seemingly in awe of the champion Aoki was gracious in defeat stating he had felt the first knockdown punch, "but I didn't know what hit me the second time. That man has a terrific punch."

Six weeks after the Aoki victory Jofre was back on Asian soil defending his title against another leading contender. Johnny Jamito of the Philippines was given a title fight in front an adoring home crowd and the hometown hero gave a good account of himself presenting the pound for pound marvel with some issues in the early rounds before Jofre took over and began to dominate.

This was a consistent theme with most contenders who challenged Jofre, they were talented and clearly earned their shot at the title but once Jofre warmed up and began turning up the gears few could survive the onslaught. Jamito met his end at the end of the 11th round whilst hopelessly trailing on points he was dropped with a devastating left-right combination and his corner retired him before the 12th round. Jofre credited Jamito with being a talented young fighter worth keeping an eye on, “He (Jamito) is a brainy fighter. He uses his head. I did not expect him to be such a good fighter. It will take a good boxer with a good punch to beat him”, Jofre said after the bout.

Back on the road: Colombia

Eder Jofre vs. Bernardo Caraballo, November 27th, 1964, Bogota, Colombia

On November 27th, 1964 Jofre was coming off of his longest layoff as a professional to date when he went into the hostile territory of Bogota, Colombia to face local favorite Bernardo Caraballo. By this time the champion had been facing a long battle getting down to the bantamweight limit and had a blockbuster fight with the popular Jesus Pimentel cancelled. Jofre vs. Pimentel was initially scheduled for San Antonio, Texas where a lack of local interest led to the promoters cancelling the venue and Pimentel refused to go to Brazil.

Caraballo was an excellent contender who came into the fight with an undefeated record 0f 39-0-1 and boasted victories over Ramon Arias, Pascual Perez, Manny Elias, Piero Rollo, Carlos Miranda, Waldemiro Pinto and Chartchai Chionoi. He was a skilled boxer known more for his smooth skills, intelligence and technical boxing than his punching power.

32,000 fans packed into Plaza de Toros Santamaria to see if their local hero could upset the great champion. It turned out to be one of Jofre’s finest performances as he dominated the bout from the outset. He used his vast experience and intelligence to see what Caraballo had throughout the first four rounds. Jofre would attack and land with ferocity and then move out of range and look to counter the Colombian. Jofre upped the ante in the fifth round satisfied that he knew enough about Caraballo that it was only a matter of time. The champion started to come in more aggressively and mix in more combinations and in the seventh round finished the bout with a hard left hook followed up with two fast rights that dropped the brave challenger for the count.

It was Jofre’s eighth title defense and 17th straight knockout victory after an easier fight than anyone but Jofre had anticipated. "It was an easy fight. I knew I had him when I hurt him with that left hook in the fifth round. I was feeling him out and trying to tire him in the first four rounds. Everything went according to plan. Caraballo is a good fighter, but he has lots to learn” said Jofre after the fight.

Eder Jofre vs. Fighting Harada, May 18th, 1965, Nagoya, Japan

On May 18th, 1965 at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya came face to face with former flyweight word champion Masahiko “Fighting” Harada. Harada had excellent credentials as a former world champion he’d grown into the bantamweight division scoring victories over Ray Asis and Katsotoshi Aoki. A notable common opponent was Jose Medel, the fierce Mexican who’d twice fallen short against Jofre. In a 1963 bout Harada seemed to be having his way with Medel constantly attacking him landing plenty of leather until Medel caught Harada badly in the sixth round and finished Harada off, dropping the hard charging Japanese fighter three times. It was partly this and the fact that Jofre was considered pound for pound the world’s best boxer and nearly unbeatable that the Brazilian was expected to come back from Japan with his world title intact.

Around this time Jofre was 29 which was considered old for this weight class and had been contemplating retirement or a move into the featherweight. He had been having an increasingly difficult time getting down to the bantamweight limit which he had campaigned at since his debut almost a decade earlier.

Prior to the fight Harada was respectful of Jofre claiming that he was “a great fighter”, before adding confidently that he “wasn’t scared of him”. Harada proved to be a worthy foil for the defending champion, moving in from different angles with excellent speed and creativity in his offense. This was not new to Jofre, who’d often look at an opponent for a few rounds, feel them out and then blast them out but this time it was Harada who struck the hardest blow of the contest in the fourth round sending the great champion back to the ropes and hammering away. Jofre was struggling to keep up with the torrid pace of the Japanese dynamo before he got his way back into the fight with his precise punching and superior technique.

Jofre came back well in the fifth round landing some picturesque combinations which stopped Harada in his tracks and he slowly began to chip away at the deficit. After Harada had started to use his jab in the center of the ring to good affect Jofre, now with a major sense of urgency seemed on the verge of a stoppage victory in the 11th round but didn’t quite have the energy to finish his foe off. Perhaps this is partly due to the fact his energy was depleted from the struggle making weight but it also must be noted that Harada was a very determined fighter with a problematic style. He was a truly great fighter worthy of his own chapter in the sports illustrious history.

The bout was closely contested down to the wire and the decision went to the hometown hero by way of split decision. The verdict was deemed controversial and Jofre still feels he was unjustly relieved of his crown. “I won that fight clearly. Japanese people would come up to me and say ‘you won’ which helped me with the pain of losing the title”. Jofre was also critical of the refereeing of Barney Ross claiming that he missed a lot of head butts and failed to penalize the Japanese fighter for what he felt was too much holding. The fight in reality was very much and open for interpretation depending on what you are looking for. Harada, inspired by a partisan crowd definitely set the pace and was the busier of the two whereas Jofre was the superior opponent technically landing the cleaner blows consistently throughout the bout.

No longer champion

In December, 1965 Jofre, now an ex-champion took a fight with a capable American contender by the name of Manny Elias. The bout took place back in Eder’s hometown marking the first fight on Brazilian soil in over three years. Jofre was ahead on all three scorecards but the bout was declared a draw on the South American scoring system. It was noted after this fight that Jofre had began to look like a spent force and the fighter himself had been vocal about seriously contemplating retirement saying, “If it goes on like this, I think the time has come to hang up my gloves."

Eder Jofre vs. Fighting Harada II, May 31st, 1966, Tokyo, Japan

Jofre made the trip back to Japan in an attempt to reclaim the title he’d held so dominantly for so long. The return was set for May 31st, 1966 this time in Tokyo. To ensure that he get back down to the limit of 118lbs, Jofre had a dietitian to his team to help him keep his weight close to the limit up to fight week.

This fight didn’t quite follow the same pattern though there were a number of similarities. Harada, boxing more but also grappling and spoiling more had the superior work rate throughout and Jofre had the more polished technique.
This time it was Jofre who started the faster of the two using his boxing skills to take the majority of the early rounds but Harada began to get his way back into the fight and down the stretch he would sweep the championship rounds.
Jofre looked like an old fighter late in the fight as he lacked the energy to put forth a consistent attack and bled profusely from a cut caused by one of the many head butts Harada connected to him. Harada lost a point on a foul but had closed the gap enough to take another decision victory.

There was less talk of a robbery this time with the general consensus that Jofre had simply emptied the tank and lost fair and square. It was yet again a very close fight very much open for interpretation but Harada felt more certain of this victory after admitting he felt “lucky to win” the first fight, Harada said “I thought he hit a lot harder in Nagoya”.

Once again the officiating was criticized by Jofre’s camp this time manager Abraham Katzenelson taking aim at referee Nick Pope saying, “Without that dirty headwork the result would have been different” in reference to the discomfort Jofre suffered from the head butts of Harada.

Harada would go on to defend his titles a further two times turning back the challenge of former Jofre victims Bernardo Caraballo and Jose Medel in very close matches. The Medel fight was particularly tough with Harada hanging on to avoid a knockout in the last round. He would lose his title on a unanimous decision to the brilliant Lionel Rose after his own mighty struggle with the scale. Harada would be on the wrong end of a hometown decision in 1969 losing a wildly unpopular decision to Australian Johnny Famechon in a bid for his third world title, this time at featherweight. He was knocked out in a return and retired at the age of 27 with a hall of fame record of 55-7-1.

The end of the road (for now)

After the disappointment of the Harada losses and at the age of 30, Jofre was now considered a used up once great prizefighter. 30 was considered ancient for men in those weight classes and with years struggling to get down to the limit of 118 lbs and a lot of mileage from multiple championship bouts Jofre retired from boxing. This decision was basically made upon his arrival back home after the re-match with Harada where he arrived to a lot less fanfare than was the case on previous international conquests.

Jofre would spend more time at home and focus more of his energy on another passion from his youth, artwork. He loved to paint and draw, showing that his artistry wasn’t just limited to the squared circle. He was handy enough with the brush that he even had some works published.

The great champion had maintained his popularity in retirement, constantly being recognized by admirers on the streets or when dropping his children off at school but it wasn’t until his son, Marcel inquired about what his father does for work that he’d thought seriously about returning to the ring to regain some of his former glories. Marcel said to his father “What do you do for work? Do you do anything?” and this is when Jofre committed to coming back stating that he “decided to show him (Marcel) what I was doing (for work)”.

During this time Jofre had been invited to travel with his aunt, Olga Zumbano across the country going to the circus putting on shows for spectators. Jofre’s skills had shined particularly brightly on this tour and he had gotten the appetite back to have another foray into the sport which had brought him such respect and admiration.

Back to the ring

Eder came back to the ring in 1969 this time as a featherweight at the age of 33. The comeback began on August 27th, 1969 at the former champion’s favorite local venue, Ibirapuera Stadium in Sao Paulo in front of an adoring public who welcomed him back tremendous applause. The opponent was a solid one in the form of Rudy Corona, a veteran of 75 fights. Corona was a typical journeyman of those days, facing a plethora of top level fighters, winning some, losing most. Jofre stopped Corona in the sixth round giving the hometown crowd exactly what they wanted from their returning hero.

Jofre would fight four times in 1970 stepping up the level of opposition with victories over a pair of Italian trial horses by the names of Nevio Carbi and Giovanni Girgenti. Jofre, still getting back into the grove of things shook off some rust defeating a Mexican with a losing record and defeating Manny Elias. Elias, as you’ll recall was given a draw (thanks to the South American scoring system) with Jofre back in 1965 but was no match for the Brazilian this time. Jofre, started to look like the Jofre of old, showing his wide array of punches and almost scoring a stoppage. The bell saved Elias, but he lost heavily on the scorecards.

1971 brought four more fights for Jofre as he made up for lost time with a high activity level. In truth the competition faced this year wasn’t quite as challenging as the previous one with the opposition being more of the battle tested variety rather than contender level foes.

In 1972 Jofre, now inching closer to a title shot, stepped up the activity fighting five times, his most since 1961, his maiden year as bantamweight champion of the world. Jose Bisbal, an 85 fight veteran from Spain was dispatched in two swift rounds but the most challenging opponent this year would be Shig Fukuyama. Fukuyama was a popular Japanese fighter on the Los Angeles fight circuit, known for being very aggressive and leaving everything in the ring. This fight was a war with both fighters taking turns in connecting hard shots on each other. Jofre, using his great intelligence and experience realized Fukuyama took an incredible shot to the head so he switched to his body and took the Japanese fighter out in the ninth round of a thrilling contest. Fukuyama would go on to knock out future hall of fame member Danny “Little Red” Lopez the next year whilst for Jofre, even bigger things awaited.

Eder Jofre vs. Jose Legra, May 5th, 1973, Brasilia, Brazil

The magnificent comeback of Jofre had reached its peak on the evening of May 5th, 1973 at Ginasio Presidente Medici in the capital city of Brasilia. His opponent was a formidable one in the shape of Jose Legra. Legra, 30 a Cuban exile fighting out of Spain was in the midst of his second world title reign and sporting a record of 130-9-2 defeating the likes of Howard Winstone, Clemente Sanchez, Evan Armstrong and Tahar Ben Hassen . His nickname was “The pocket Cassius Clay” and he presented the great old fighter with a tall order from a stylistic standpoint. He was unusually tall for a featherweight at 5ft 9, with excellent speed and movement and a tremendous jab.

The bout was a struggle as Jofre initially had a hard time getting inside on Legra who used his long arms and bouncy legs to get around the ring. Jofre suffered a flash knockdown at the end of the third round. “That was only the second time I went down but never did the referee even count to one in any of my fights”, said Jofre on the second knockdown of his career. The knockdown woke him up and forced him into a sense of urgency as he won the fourth round big raking the fight to Legra and banging away at his body and head landing repeated left hooks buckling the champions knees. This round whipped the crowd into frenzy and over the next four rounds the Cuban Spaniard held a slight edge but was noticeably fading under the pressure of the Brazilian’s harder, more accurate punches.
Jofre took control of the fight around the ninth round and moved ahead in the bout entering the 14th round which provided some late drama. Legra landed a hurtful body blow which noticeably stung Jofre who went into retreat briefly after holding his side wincing in pain. One thing that separates the great ones from the mere mortals is the desire and heart of a champion and Jofre showed he had that in spades by digging deep and taking control of the round as Legra once again showed clear signs of fatigue under Jofre’s onslaught. That was often a common trait of Jofre in fights he got hurt or buzzed he’d generally come right back and seize control of the fight and punish the opponent or finish them. In the 15th round he had more left in the tank and won it by two points after Legra lost a point for excessive holding. The scenes were jubilant as soon as the bell ended the bout and the two fighters embraced and when the judge’s verdict of 148-143, 146-141, 143-143 confirmed the Brazilian hero had won the featherweight championship the crowd celebrated wildly.

Jofre, at 37 was champion again and on top of the world. This was a great personal triumph for Jofre who said “The first title was for the Brazilian people. The second was for me”. He would later confirm that Legra was the best featherweight he had encountered during his career.

Champion again

The newly crowned featherweight champion was back on top of the world aged 37, he was to that date the oldest man to ever win a world title in the featherweight division. Keeping busy before his next title assignment Jofre faced a couple of very talented contenders in non-title bouts. First was Godfrey Stevens from Chile, who had an impressive record that read 71-7-3 and includes wins over such notable fighters as Jose Smecca, Kid Pascualito, Don Johnson and some of the top Argentine fighters of that time. He had failed in a world title attempt against Shozo Saijo, losing a decision in Japan and was coming off a decision loss to the legendary Ruben Olivares. The Chilean was no match for Jofre, who made great use of his left jab and body punching to set his foe up for a crunching right hand which ended the fight by knockout.

The next fight would come against another Los Angeles favorite in the form of Frankie Crawford. Crawford, like Stevens had failed to wrestle the title from Saijo, but came much closer, losing two razor thin decisions. Crawford was a fast living, fun loving fighter who took on all comers and could boast of victories over the likes of Mando Ramos and Jose Moreno and had extended Vicente Saldivar the full distance in a recent loss. Jofre, using his expert technical boxing skill completely outboxed the American fighter en-route to winning a decision. Crawford, who wasn’t known for talking well of past opponents was once asked who he’d fought who could be better than Mando Ramos to which Crawford laughed and said “A guy by the name of Eder Jofre, he’s a fornicating master!’

Eder Jofre vs. Vicente Saldivar, October 21st, 1973, Salvador, Brazil

Perhaps the greatest name of Jofre’s record is that of Mexican legend Vicente Saldivar. Saldivar had been the outstanding featherweight of the 1960’s. He’d won the title be dethroning the brilliant Sugar Ramos and his victims list included such outstanding fighters as Howard Winstone (three times), Johnny Famechon, Jose Legra and Ismael Laguna. Saldivar had reigned from 1964-1967 before a brief retirement. He regained his title in 1970 but lost in a stunning upset to Japanese contender Kuniaki Shibata. He rebounded with a win over perennial contender Frankie Crawford before the showdown with Jofre.

The battle of legends took place on October 21st, 1973 at Ginásio de Esportes Antônio Balbino in Salvador and it didn’t turn out to be much of a conquest with Jofre dominating Saldivar before winning on a 4th round KO via a left hook finish. Jofre, then 37 was seven years older than the Mexican but had a lot more in the tank. What’s significant about this bout is that it was the last fight Eder would have his father in his corner. “Kid” Jofre had been suffering with lung cancer and was having a hard time getting up and down from the corner which Eder later said was the reason he expedited the finish. “He was very sick and so pale but wanted to be the one in the corner bringing the stool up every round. I didn’t want to see my father suffering so I tried my best to win that fight by knockout so that he wouldn’t have to endure getting up and down from the ring every round”. After a tactical first two rounds Jofre put his foot on the gas mixing in jabs and hooks before the knockout finish. After the fight Kid Jofre told his son “You’ve achieved everything boxing has to offer. If you want to you can quit right now because this is it. You’ve done everything.”

Heartbreak

It was just a few months after the Saldivar victory when Aristedes “Kid” Jofre passed away at the age of 67 after his battle with lung cancer. This would become a very difficult time for the champion who had idolized his father and still does to this day. He vacated the featherweight title on June 17th, 1974 after failing to meet mandatory challenger Alfredo Marcano of Venezuela. Jofre didn’t fight for over a year and was going through a dispute with his management team around this time.

He came back to fight in December that year with a lackluster win over a journeyman. The great champion made more of an attempt at a genuine comeback in 1976 fighting on six occasions. He scored decisive victories over a couple of top European featherweights named Enzo Farinelli and Jose Antonio Jiminez before rounding out the year beating a pair of excellent Mexican fighters named Juan Antonio Lopez and Octavio Gomez. Gomez had defeated such outstanding fighters as Art Hafey, Danny Lopez, Rafael Herrera and Kid Pascualito but dropped a decision to the Brazilian legend.

The Gomez fight would be Jofre’s last as he announced his retirement in March of 1977 having lost the motivation to keep going. It was very important for Jofre to not just become a steppingstone for up and coming fighters looking to get his legendary name on their resume but in reality his form and technique was such that he perhaps could have gone on longer but there’s very few professions more dangerous sticking around in than Boxing once the fire has gone away.

A large part of this fire burning out was that another tragedy had affected Eder in that his brother Dogalberto, who had been training him, had passed away. “It was a time to think hard, think about it. Now I do not know what was going on in my head at that moment, but it was difficult ... I have a thousand words to praise my father. He gave me his competence, his teachings, and fortunately, as a son, I was able to assimilate everything and become a two-time world champion. Unfortunately he got cancer from so much smoking. After my father passed away, my brother helped me, it was he who took care of the academy. Modesty aside, I knew more than he did, but having my brother's encouragement made the difference. My family fortunately was always united”, Jofre said with regards to this difficult time in his life.

Retirement

In retirement Jofre remained very active both professionally and physically. He had always managed his money very well which is unlike most prizefighters who end up fighting on too long in search for a payday or making multiple failed comeback attempts to recoup squandered funds. Through lessons learned from his father, Jofre was responsible with his spending and didn’t live the type of fast life that required a giant entourage. He was a devoted family man having married his childhood sweetheart Cidinha in 1961. They were married for 52 years until she passed away in 2013. They had two children together, Marcel and Andrea. Eder has four grandchildren in total. Eder has remained in Sao Paulo and moved in with his daughter and her husband in 2012.

As a result of his sensible use of ring earnings Eder was able to devote a lot of time to his family since his retirement from the ring. Over the years he had made some investments such as owning a few supermarkets throughout Sao Paulo and he remained active in boxing training fighters and teaching boxing classes. According to his son Marcel, Eder didn’t train fighters that long confiding “that he did not like to teach but to fight.”

A highlight in the life of Eder and his family was when he got inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York in 1992 and the family made the trip with him. Marcel had the following to say about his father’s induction; “When we had the opportunity to go to Canastota, New York, for him it was like for a kid to go to Disneyland. The reunion with some boxing friends like Carlos Ortiz, Alexis Arguello and Angelo Dundee was special in his life. He also had the chance to play in a mini exhibition with Alexis (Arguello). Particularly for me it was an incredible experience to see my father be recognized in another country, who has always treated him with respect and recognition. My father always liked the American way of life”, said Marcel. That trip to the Hall of Fame was the last time Jofre travelled to America. He has told his children that he would like to go back to visit for the memories but it is difficult to travel that far these days.

He enjoyed a fairly successful career in politics serving as an alderman for the city of Sao Paulo after receiving the necessary votes in 1982. This is a position he would hold until 2000 and during that time he made some major improvements of which he is very proud of. “I did a lot of projects, more than 30. That law on the old people's seats on the buses and the one for the free pass for them is mine. Only when I was not elected again I decided to stop”, he said when talking about the impact he made.

Eder was always the type to care for other people and lend a helping hand saying, “My goodness, you need patience! And you know why? You go out on the street and everyone comes to ask for a house, a help, a little piece. That's awesome.”

Since he ended his political career Jofre has seen some exciting projects come to life. In 2004 there was the release of a special documentary “O grande campeao” (The great champion) which was released on DVD. This was the second major feature documentary released on the ex-champion after “Quebrando a cara” (breaking the face) was released in 1986. That documentary featured multiple interviews and clips with people who knew him from his youth and explained the impact of the Jofre-Zumbano clan on Brazilian boxing.

This year a movie based on his life titled “10 Segundos Para Vencer” (10 seconds to victory) was released in cinemas all across Brazil. Actor Daniel de Oliveira played the role of Eder, with Osmar Prado playing his father, “Kid” Jofre. The movie was created by Thomas Stavros who’d worked passionately for many years making the movie.
The great champion had the following upon the premier of the movie,”Many thought it was impossible, but in all my life, the word ‘impossible’ was never part of my vocabulary. Yesterday was the pre-premiere day of the movie 10 seconds to win, which counts beautifully all my professional and family history until I was 37 years old, when I won once again a world title. I knew it would be exciting, but I never imagined a movie as beautiful as this. Thank you to my family and everyone involved. Daniel De Oliveira made me very handsome in cinema. I could see my father at Osmar Prado, it was amazing. My special thanks to Thomas Stavros, who 15 years ago came to me, promised me that he would write a movie for me and that he would launch in the movies. He fulfilled his promise with much struggle and perseverance, and the result could not be better. It's not a simple boxing film; it's a movie also about family, about love, and above all, about overcoming. And if there's something Brazilian people understand, it's about overcoming.”

In addition to the movie and documentaries there have been three books released. His autobiography, “O Galo de Ouro” (the golden bantam), “Gente: Eder Jofre” (people: Eder Jofre) and “Em 12 rounds” (In 12 rounds), which focuses on the story of the Jofre & Zumbano family.

He has maintained a healthy lifestyle continuing to work out regularly. He has kept to his strict vegetarian diet to this day, “I even feel disgust today when I see people eating meat”, he said. “I eat pasta, rice and beans, boiled potatoes or fried and very sporadically egg. I drink milk, yogurt, curds, and honey”. Eder became a vegetarian at the age of 20 “after reading a book that claimed that meat was extremely harmful to the body, saying that both the human dentition and our gastro system were not appropriate for meat consumption.”

There have been some slight complications with Alzheimer’s in recent years but he still lives a happy and healthy lifestyle. At 82 he is still often seen at local events throughout the city. He remains the only Brazilian boxer in the Hall of Fame and one of only four Brazilian boxers to win a world title. When offering his opinion on the stagnation of Brazilian boxing and lack of interest compared to other sports he had the following to say, “Unfortunately Kid Jofre is dead. He knew how to teach boxing. You must have technique. To know how to play football, the guy needs to know how to dribble.”

In the years since his retirement Jofre really enjoyed the career and style of Mike Tyson due to his many knockouts and the excitement he brought to the sport. “We should applaud Mike Tyson. He was not a boy like me, who had been fighting since he was a kid. Only after many problems did he dedicate himself and was the champion. A phenomenon for boxing that made many people come back to fight, led the public to the gyms. It's these things that make boxing happen. Show me here in Brazil who can do this ... We have good fighters, but they do not show up because they do not have the chance to dedicate to training because of the lack of support”, he said.

Place in history

To understand just how unique Eder Jofre was you have to understand that his era was objectively more different to rule. When he turned pro there were only 10 weight divisions and this was at a time where only one man per division could claim to be a “world champion”. Compare that to the modern era of between four and six titles in each of the 17 divisions and so many promoters and advisors getting their fighters easy title wins across multiple weights.
In reality, few can claim to be really undisputed champions the way they were back in previous generations. Fighters tend to last longer on average these days’ thanks in large part to science and let’s face it assistance that may or may not be legal. That’s sports across the board really.

The fighters had to contend with same day weigh-ins so far less of the “weight bullying” which is commonplace in today’s game and with already less divisions and titles it was much harder to win and rule in other divisions. This is not a knock on modern day fighters who like generations past pour their heart and soul into the game, rather it’s an indicator of just how special some of these men were.

Jofre reigned as the Bantamweight champion from 1960-1965, retired from 1966-1969 and then compiled arguably the greatest comeback in boxing history. In his second career he campaigned as a Featherweight going 25-0 before retiring at the age of 40. He was able to claim his second world championship at the age of 37. His career spanned 19 years in which he fought 78 times, losing to only one man. He contested major bouts in seven different countries scoring victories over formidable local fighters. The four draws on his record are of the South American variety meaning that under any other jurisdiction he would have been the victor but because a fighter had to lead by four (or more) points on at least two cards it was common for a lot of South American fights to be recorded as draws. The two losses as stated earlier were in Harada’s hometown at a stage in his career where he was having an almighty struggle boiling down to the weight limit. The 13 years between his maiden title win and final title win is among one of the widest gaps across all divisions and he is one of the few fighters to start his career with over 50 fights before encountering a loss. When you consider the level of skill he possessed in addition to the dominance he displayed in the ring and the remarkable consistency and longevity of his career he stands out in history as one of the greatest fighters ever pound for pound.

Just how great? Of course, all-time lists are subjective so it’s very hard to put this into perspective. There have been so many special fighters throughout history, many deserving a feature of this length. That means you’ll see cases for differing opinions. Here I will attempt to justify what his place in history is based on the types of lists he would be included.

Bantamweight

Jofre’s bantamweight career ran from 1957-1966 and it is here where he’s regarded to have been at his best. That is logical because it is where he won his first title, had his longest reign and spent his 20’s competing in. He is generally ranked as the greatest fighter the division has ever seen. He was voted as the #1 bantamweight of all-time by the WBC, who put his face next to Carlos Zarate’s on their bantamweight belt. The WBA gave a similar honor, naming their “super” belt after him.

The International Boxing Research Organization voted him as the finest fighter in history of the division. The last time The Ring made an all-time ranking for the bantamweight division was in 1994 and they placed Jofre at the number two spot, behind Zarate. Most all-time lists would generally have Zarate as ranking behind his fellow Mexican legend, the murderous punching Ruben Olivares. I would generally consider Olivares to be the closest to Jofre in the all-time bantamweight list. Olivares was a fine fighter and arguably the greatest ever from Mexico and his explosive best was in the bantamweight division. Olivares is among the most exciting fighters who ever fought, thrilling crowds all over Mexico and the Los Angeles area in his heyday. Some of his vintage performances show a fighter on Jofre’s level as far as fistic perfection goes but he never quite had the dominant reign that Jofre had and it is of my opinion that Jofre was the more consistent and complete fighter and I think he’d have won had the two fought at their peaks. Interestingly the two nearly fought when they were both residing in the featherweight division but it wasn’t to be as issues between managers got in the way.

I think it would be fair to say that Jofre actually didn’t own an official win at bantamweight over what would be described in historical terms as a “great fighter” but that has to be put into context. Many of the other bantamweights typically in the discussion for best ever also do not have this accolade either. Olivares, Zarate, Manuel Ortiz are generally seen as the men closest to Jofre on this list and while they all fought and beat terrific fighters none of their bantamweight victims are enshrined in the hall of fame. This is largely because these men competed in an era with far less weight categories and of course just one champion. Only one man could be champion and when you’ve got a champion who is such a complete fighter, so dominant and consistent it’s really hard for others to make their mark. Julio Cesar Chavez, the great Mexican boxer is unquestionably high up any list of the greatest in history but look through the win column and you won’t see any truly great fighter under it.
I tend to give the benefit of doubt to a fighter so skilled and so dominant for so long that he may have had something to do with that. It also doesn’t help the case of these fighters that much of the coverage wasn’t readily available to TV audiences in the United States or the U.K, the two largest markets. Jofre went by the nickname “The golden bantam” and it is a nickname that suited him well. He was the greatest bantamweight in history.

Featherweight

At featherweight you will generally not see Jofre’s names listed at the top of the pile for the simple fact that the bulk of his career was spent dominating the bantamweight class. The last time The Ring put out an all-time rankings in the division, Jofre’s name was included in the honorable mentions but not inside the top 20. IBRO placed him at number 15 which I think is a more accurate ranking.

Featherweight was not his best weight. He had accumulated over three years of inactivity and entered the division at the age of 33. His reign lasted just one year before vacating the title after just one title defense. That isn’t to say he didn’t put in some quality work at featherweight because he did. He went 25-0, beat a fine champion in Jose Legra and defended against a legend in Vicente Saldivar. Saldivar is generally ranked highly on these lists after being a dominant champion in his prime but it’s also got to be acknowledged that the class between Jofre and Saldivar was past both fighters’ prime years.

Jofre gets extra kudos because not only did this reign go unbeaten but he also fought in the division until he was 40. The comeback he made is arguably the best in the history of the sport and it’s the featherweight run which helps push him up on any mythical all-time pound for pound ranking.

Greatest from South America?

There are six fighters from South America in the IBHOF currently. Jofre is accompanied by the great Antonio Cervantes from Colombia and the Argentinean quartet of Carlos Monzon, Niccolino Locche, Pascual Perez and Victor Galindez. All excellent fighters but the title of best South American fighter can only be between Jofre and Monzon.
The Ring published their top 10 in 2009 with Monzon in first and Jofre in second. Monzon was a special fighter indeed. He was very tall for the middleweight weight class and possessed a very long reach. He was a powerful puncher with an iron chin and had great intelligence in the ring which enabled him to dominate the middleweight division as champion from 1970-1977 making 14 successful defenses before retiring with an impressive 87-3-9-1 record which included 59 knockout victories. Like Jofre, the majority of hid draws came down to the South American scoring though it’s unknown if he led them all. He did defeat all but one man in his 100 fight career with one draw not being avenged.

Monzon took the title from a great fighter in Nino Benvenuti in addition to having some high profile defenses against an aging pair of welterweight greats in Jose Napoles and Emile Griffith and a pair of decision victories with an excellent Colombian champion by the name of Rodrigo Valdez. Since Monzon retired having never lost his title in the ring in addition to reigning longer and defending the title more I think it’s fair to say his exploits as middleweight champion surpass even Jofre’s in the bantamweight class which I think would justify the Ring’s rating. Monzon as noted had more high profile scalps but I wouldn’t necessarily say his competition was a million miles away since a number of his title defenses the opposition was considerably weaker than that of which Jofre faced.
What I personally believe separates Jofre from Monzon was the best South American fighter is the fact that I believe him to be the more talented and skilled boxer of the two and secondly , his work as a featherweight tips his resume over the edge in my view.

Pound for pound

As far as Jofre’s overall standing in history on the mythical pound for pound list he’s been well respected on most of the published lists. In 1996 the Ring rated him number nine of best boxers of the last 50 years (1946-1996) and they placed him number 19 of boxers in the last 80 years in 2002 (1922-2002) in addition to him being rated the best boxer of the 1960’s in their 90th anniversary issue in 2012. When you consider that the 1960’s was an era which featured the likes of Muhammad Ali, Carlos Ortiz, Emile Griffith and Dick Tiger in their primes you sort of get the idea how special one must be to top that generation. This is an accolade which gave Jofre a great amount of pride, “He is aware that Ring Magazine chose him as the best fighter of the 60's and this made him very happy and honored. All recognition of his career made him a completely happy and accomplished man”, said Marcel.
Hall of fame member and celebrity boxing historian Bert Randolph Sugar placed Jofre at number 26 in his book “Boxing’s greatest fighters” in 1988 and placed him two spots lower in 28th in his updated version in 2006. Dan Cuoco, boxing historian and director of the IBRO from 2000-2014 placed Jofre at number 15 on his all-time pound for pound list which I see as being a more accurate placement than that of Sugar.

I think there’s a reasonably strong case that Jofre is one of the 20 greatest boxers in history when everything is factored in. He is generally regarded as the greatest boxer in one of the original eight classes in addition to being one of the most impressive fighters captured on film. As was mentioned earlier he’s very close to being the perfect boxer and the fact that he could fight as often as 78 times spanning 20 years and only lose to one man shows many unique qualities that even fighters who’d rank above him can’t claim.

Jofre was remarkably consistent throughout his career having never really had any low points in his career or ever becoming just an opponent. For fighters of his generation that is a rarity indeed given that the fighters weren’t quite making the millions fighters of modern times do. He was never used as a steppingstone for some young upstart or went through the common end of career routine of winning some and losing some which is testament to his quality and professionalism since he fought past his 40th birthday.

Marcel attributes his father’s consistency to his sheer professionalism, respect for his oppositions and huge confidence in his own ability; “My father was always an athlete very aware of his ability and no adversary put any fear. My respected everyone equally, but always with the certainty of his mental condition focused to win”, he said.

In addition to being a dominant longstanding champion in an era where you seldom had to differentiate belt holders from champions and the legendary featherweight run which stands out as arguably the greatest comeback in the history of the sport everything points to Jofre being one of the top 20 boxers In history pound for pound.

[dagosd2000]

Chris

The most complete piece I've ever read about Eder Jofre. You've been keeping touch with me regarding your contacts with his family. I can tell you spent a lot of time with his story and it has paid off. Thorough and very informative. The personal touches are great.Congratulations again.

[chrisjs1985]

Chris

The most complete piece I've ever read about Eder Jofre. You've been keeping touch with me regarding your contacts with his family. I can tell you spent a lot of time with his story and it has paid off. Thorough and very informative. The personal touches are great.Congratulations again.

Thanks. I appreciate that a lot. I really enjoyed researching it and writing it.

[dagosd2000]

Away From The Farm

When I started working for the County of San Diego Department of Agriculture I was in my mid twenties. I was part of the crew that drove the big spray trucks that sprayed herbicides on the culverts,berms and roadsides to kill the weeds from encroaching on the pavement. We worked in two man crews. One guy would drive and the other guy would stand on the side of the rig and spray the weed killer from the long iron wand. The guy they paired me up with was an old timer who everybody called "Tiz." He was maybe a little younger than my father. He'd been in the big war. Tiz right from the start showed me how to get along with the rest of the spray crews:don't work too hard and never rock the boat. There were eight of us that comprised the spray crews .Our official title was "Agricultural Technician." We'd arrive to work before the suits and ties would get in.We worked out of the warehouse. The college boys were at their desks in their spacious office that was adjacent to our" tin barn." The guys with the degrees went out in the field inspecting growers' fields to see if they had any bad bugs that were breeding in their avocado trees. But these inspectors were disliked intensely by the growers . Our field men had college degrees but if you looked on those diplomas it read something like "Bachelor of Arts In Psychology."
The growers had been in business for generations. They were handed down through the family. These were people with dirt under their fingernails.


I was very happy with my position in the department. We didn't stick our noses into anyone's business and have to write violations. My partner,Tiz,,was a master of clocking out for eight hours on his time card while the reality ,that was invisible,was maybe we sweated spraying on those trucks for less than half the time that the paymaster would record in the books. The first one in the morning made the coffee. The others would trickle in and we'd sit around drinking coffee for a full hour or more and complain that we were overworked and treated like lowlifes. After filling our bladders with coffee we'd get in the rigs and rendezvous at the local breakfast café in the area that we were to work at. We were familiar faces in all those mom and pop joints in rural San Diego County.Since Tiz was the oldest guy that comprised our bunch,We followed his instructions to the letter. I think his role model for work was either Satchel Paige or Stepin Fetchit.


But if Tiz had the "slows" like those two aforementioned black fellas' ,he sure didn't cater to dark folks. I wish I had a dollar for every time he said the "N" word.("I'd never even seen one before until I joined the Army") I don't think Tiz had an ounce of fat on his lightweight frame. He wore a pasty white face that had a wide nose,pursed lips,and pale green eyes. His thin sandy hair was still combed straight back and he was always clean shaved. Everyday he'd come in wearing a knit shirt,corduroy pants,and Hush Puppy shoes. Tiz was an Iowa boy born on the farm and spoke with a Southern drawl. His grandmother gave him that nickname,"Tiz." He never explained that. Harold LaVerne Thomas was his name on his birth certificate, Everyone called him "Tiz" except his wife who called him "Harold." I'll tell of the day we were resting in the cab of the truck eating our lunches that the wives had put together for us. My wife would often make tacos or something else Mexican. Sometimes I'd offer Tiz an extra taco but he'd always pass. Tiz always had a sandwich,mostly ham or roast beef, and a cup of coffee from his thermos.He also had this unusual habit of smoking while he ate. He was smoking cigarettes from the moment he hit the door in the morning until it was clock out time. Most of the time he wouldn't finish his sandwich.
"Me and the wife are not big eaters,"he'd say.

Tiz never talked much about his war experiences. He was at the Operation Torch landing in North Africa.. One time he made a comment.
"We were green. Those Germans were experienced. We didn't know what we were doing."
One day I was over at his house. He was in the backyard smoking a cigarette because his wife wouldn't let him smoke in the house..For some reason she opened a cabinet drawer and pulled out a row medals that were on pillow. They were Tiz's. I recognized one as a Bronze Star.Another was a Purple Heart. I didn't know what the others signified.Tiz's wife put them back before he came back inside. We sat on the couch while his wife went to the kitchen to bring us a couple of cans of beer.
"Irma says I drink too much. Hell.I started smoking when I was nine and had my first drop of liquor when I was ten,"he chuckled..
"Tiz,didn't you tell me that you saw Joe Louis fight once?"
"Our National Guard outfit was at Fort Benning. Before they shipped us out we all got furloughs to visit back home.I didn't want to go to Iowa. I had divorced my first wife and everyone made a big stink about that.They said it was a scandal. So me and another buddy from our outfit went to New York to watch Joe Louis fight big Abe Seemoans."
"Didn't he donate his purse when he fought Abe Simon ?"
"He gave it to the Army Relief Fund.When he fought Buddy Baer he donated his money to the Navy."
"And then the government wanted him to pay back taxes on that?"
"Joe Louis was different than all the rest of his kind that all they wanted to do is sing and dance.He fought for his country."
"But Joe Louis never left the States,"I remarked.
TIz cracked open a pack of cigarettes and lighted up.
"I wonder what's keeping Irma with those beers,"he moaned.



Big Abe Seemoans

[dagosd2000]

Veterans Day

After my father passed away many years ago in the house from a heart attack ,I did I think what most sons do:they reflect back on the life they had with their fathers. My father grew up in the Italian neighborhood of Chicago which was patronized by his father,Diamond Joe Esposito,who oversaw everything that went on in Little Italy. He was the boss. Everyone had to answer to him. You couldn't make a move without his OK. Diamond Joe wasn't a cruel man.When he came over from the old country he had nothing. But he was smart,vigorous,and had foresight. When he was killed by gunmen, just down the street from his house,my father was left devastated.


My father grew up in that life of organized crime and political pull. When you are immersed in that kind of lifestyle,you see things from the inside of looking out. It's like being in the CIA. My father would tell stories aboout J. Edgar Hoover and gangsters,and i wondered how he came to know these things. At first I had my doubts,but when the stories would came out to the public years later, it validated what he had said.


My father never attained the power of Diamond Joe,but because his father had given his underlings like Capone,Nitti,Ricca,and Giancana their starts in "The Life",they would always find something for my father to do. My father was never a soldier who went out and whacked guys.He was an earner.A lot of that was because my father wasn't a greaseball goon. Later.it came to light that my father would work for,let's say as an example,for the liquor commission. Frank LaPorte controlled what the action was in in the bars in burgs like the South Side, Cicero,Melrose Park,and Calumet City. If an owner of a joint wanted to keep slot machines in the backroom,water down his booze,or let the hookers work in his place,he had to pay tribute to Frank LaPaorte.My father worked for the state liquor commission in Chicago that was under the thumb of The Outfit.My father's job was to go into these joints and collect the shakedown money.


My father was living the good life even during the Depression. Then WW 2 came along. Of course Outfit guys got a pass from being drafted into that. My father was no exception. But his kid brother Chuckie(my uncle Chuck),never wanted to be a mob guy. He wanted to fight for his country. The Outfit could have fixed things,but he wanted to join up. He asked his big brother what branch he should enlist in. My father said The Marine Corps. They had the most class. So my uncle Chuck was one of the first to go and first to fight. He hit the beach in the first wave at Guadalcanal.But it was no walk in the park. Things weren't co ordinated correctly. Halsey left the island to chase the Jap ships to the north. Communication was lost with the Marines. There was fear in the Esposito family that Chuckie was missing,maybe a fatality.My father fell from that feverish pedestal of being a mobster into the depths of guilt. To try to make amends my father joined the Marines in 1943. By that time his brother was found to be alive and well.


My father was in the 1st Division 5 Corps B Company.(I always like saying that).He stormed the beaches at Peleliu and Okinawa. After the war was over he was sent to Peking to help disarm the Japanese Kwantung Army. My father fell in love with the Corps. When his hitch was up he wanted to stay in the Marines,but my mother was against it.
"I don't want any of my babies born in China!"
So he returned to Chicago and got back into The Life. He anglicized his name to "Esty" because my mother thought "Esposito" had too many mob connotations.

My father went back to hanging around that old crew who were very proud of him because he had served in the Marine Corps and was in two very horrific battles. But like just about all those characters, their way of existence comes to an end. Either a bullet hole or the law snuffs out either their lives or their lifestyles. It was in court that my father's trade came to an abrupt end. He's lucky he didn't go to jail. He must not have ratted on anyone or they would have killed him. So we packed our bags and moved to California. Not so bad?


But living like he did for so long outside the law,he wouldn't and couldn't be a insurance salesman. He scuffled along.He was always hustling a buck here and a buck there. There was nothing for him in California as far as the Outfit. They stayed on the east side of the Mississippi River. Later they made a move on Las Vegas,but by that time my father's connections with those fellas' was on the telephone.



One day he was watching the television and he saw his old buddy from The Corps,Dick Duffy. Duff was promoting something that had to do with the posh La Valencia Hotel in LaJolla. Duffy it turned out was half owner in the old landmark. Of course my father had to look him up. I guess they'd have lunch from time to time and swap stories about Okinawa. My father never said too much to me about his time in the service. I guess he figured I wouldn't understand,or maybe he just wanted to share that stuff with another Marine who'd been in the Pacific Theater.



When my father passed away,I wanted to find Dick Duffy. I wished I had talked more with my father,especially about his time with the Marines. Duffy could fill a lot of holes. I went to the LaValencia Hotel. He had sold his part of the hotel and was living with his sister at LaJolla Shores in a bungalow. The hotel was nice enough o give me the address. I knocked on the door and the sister answered. I introduced myself.She was very happy to take me to her brother.


Dick Duffy was in a wheel chair by then. He was a little guy with a pleasant expression. He wasn't feeble.His recall was intact.That was important.We hit it off right away. He was free to talk about the Marines and his relationship with my father.
"Your father kept me from getting my ass kicked,"he said in a gleeful voice.
"How was that?"
"We had a lot in common about things besides what GI's talk about. We would discuss politics,history,what was going on in the world. Some of those other guys would pick on me.Your father always stepped in."
"What was it like on those islands? My father never talked to me about it."
"Your father said he wished he had the band aid concession on Okinawa."
"He was on Peleliu also?"
"He was.I wasn't.He didn't have to go to Okinawa after that,but he wanted to. "
"He showed me his souvenirs ."
"Did he hang on to the swords?"
"No, he sold them to the families of the dead soldiers he took them from."
"How about that Obi sash?"
"We still have that. He didn't want to part with that."
"It's made of spun gold."
"He was offered a lot of money for it,but wanted to keep it."
"He got that as a gift from an Okinawan family. We were clearing out a village when we saw this Japanese soldier raping a young girl. He had killed her mother and father and was raping the daughter. Your father couldn't use his Garand in fear of shooting the girl so he pulled the soldier off her and killed him with his bare hands. The girl's family then gave him the sash as a gift of thanks."
"He never mentioned that," I said ruefully.

I would meet with Duffy again off and on .He died a year later. I often think if my father wouldn't have given in to my mother about staying in The Marines. So what if I would have been born in Peking?




Cpl. Joseph Jack Esposito. United States Marine Corps 1st Dividion 5 Corps B Company

[dagosd2000]

The Bigger They Are,The Harder It Is To Find A Good One

Boxing's benchmark has always had an affinity with the heavyweight fighters.What's the old adage?A good big man can beat a good smaller man. A few examples:Jack Johnson and Stanley Ketchel. Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier. Max Schmeling and Mickey WalkerJoe Frazier and Bob Foster. Sometimes the heavyweight champ doesn't have a plentiful array of quality contenders in the division so he picks out a fighter usually from the light heavy ranks.(That was when if you could get on the scale and tip the bar at 175 pounds you were certified as a heavyweight) to fight for his title. There's always been talk that some of the notable heavyweight champions stayed on top because their opposition was not graded USDA Prime. Nat Fleischer,the old seer of Ring Magazine,ranked Jack Johnson as the greatest heavyweight ever. But critics will say that he didn't fight the best, and banished better Black fighters like Langford,McVey,and Jeanette to sit and watch. Jack Dempsey during five years of his reign fought five times. Billy Miske fought Jack and carried with him into the ring a fatal disease. Tunney came along and beat Jack twice winning 19 out of 20 rounds.After a single defense,he retired. Subsequently, there followed Schmeling,Sharkey,Carnera,Baer,and Jimmy Braddock. Then came Joe Louis. Like FDR he seemed to be there forever.He defended his title 25 times.He was never an underdog in a fight. It was a miracle that an opponent challenging for the crown finished the contest on his feet .Louis had such a run that his doubters said he fought "The bum of the month club".


After Tunney, we had five heavyweight champs in five years. Then Louis beat Braddock and held the title for almost 12 years with the 25 defenses. Hypothetical question.What if Joe Louis would have obeyed his mother and took up playing the violin as a way to make a buck? Would all those prior champs after Tunney keep passing the belt aeound? Or would it have been one of those "bums" that Joe had such an easy time with? I can't fathom someone like Tony Musto or Johnny Paycheck roaming through the pantheon halls of the heavyweight champions.


But nowadays the heavyweight championship is an uncertain position comprised of a plethora of names,current and past, that would stump the best contestant on Jeopardy. It's becoming a little more defined now with Joshua and Wilder needing to settle the score,but when I went to the record books to see a list of "heavyweight champions",I got a little sleepy.Bruce Seldon,Michael Bent,Francisco Damiani,Tommy MorrisonTony Tubbs(I could go on)all representing some phantom commission,have some sort of a hybrid piece of leather displayed on the mantel denoting that they were the heavyweight champ..



But that's good,at least for them. Maybe the boxing public wants unification,but for a fighter that wouldn't have had a chance against a Mike Tyson,a Larry Holmes,or a Lennox Lewis can, in the wee small moments of the morning,believe he was the best heavyweight in the world. Too bad Joe louis never had a passion to play the fiddle in Carnegie Hall. I'm sure Al McCoy had a place on his mantel for some sort belt.


Joe Louis

[dagosd2000]

If He Can't Hurt Me,He Can't Beat Me


The biggest upset loss on Muhammad Ali's record was when he lost to Ken Norton in San Diego. If the promotors thought that Norton would have had even a ghost of a chance to win that one they would have matched them up in a bigger venue. Ali,once he got rid of Ken,was going to fight Foreman next with all the world watching. But on that night in San Diego,that little whistle stop burg at the end of the line,it was Kenny Norton's turn to shock the world. (Now Kenny what did you have to do that for?).

It had to be a fluke they said. Ali,well we'll wait until you get your jaw healed up and then you set things straight in the rematch. Six months later(they probably wanted to put the two together before that,but Ali's mouth was being held together with piano wire)the rematch was set to go in LA at the Forum,"the world's most beautiful sports theater." That's what Chick Hearn used to call it when he was at the mike announcing the Laker games.


The second fight started off better for Ali.He was more active in the early going,but by the 6th round he was slowing down. After his return to the ring from the banishment,Ali never was his old self. The bounce in his legs was gone.So when I say he was "slowing down",he just looked slower than before. Ali's punches seemed like BB's bouncing off iron plating. Norton plodded forward arms crossed,the left dropped,draggng his back foot.With all that said he was back into the fight. No doubt he was the better fighter at bell ending the 12th round.My personal slant on something like that is if the fight is 50/50 in rounds won,the stronger finisher is the guy who should get his hand raised.Ali again had this look of bewilderment. . He couldn't figure how a fighter like Ken Norton could make him look so bad. However,Ali's path on the road to Foreman was righted. This time Ali winning the SD.Too much money on the line?


With two impressive showings against Ali,Norton is now thrown into the mix with Muhammad,Joltin' Joe,and Big George,and all the top contending heavyweights.But before Ali can fight George in the Heart of Africa,Norton is matched with Foreman.in another jungle,Venezuela.


There were some that thought Norton had the perseverance and the punch to beat Foreman. But Foreman didn't shoot BB's.He had howitzers inside both gloves . It was a disappointing fight. Norton, after the first barrage, looked shell shocked Foreman recorded his customary two round knockout

Ken Norton was an intriguing fighter. He was very confident fighting Ali. I heard him say in the gym "Ali can't hurt me." If Norton thought that the other guy couldn't rock him, his faith in is ability was undaunted. When a unification fight with Norton going against Holmes was made,I thought Larry would win easily. I even predicted a KO. Norton's defense wasn't his best feature. His opponents' gloves would find him.But evidently Larry's ammo was a similar caliber to Muhammad's Holmes's punches never seriously threatened Norton. In a fight that could gone either way,Kenny was on the end of another split loss

Aside from the two losses to Ali,and Holmes,the four other Norton defeats were devastating. Jose Luis Garcia almost took his head off. Big George pummeled him down hard. Earnie Shavers finished Ken in a round as did "Gentleman" Gerry Cooney who was very rude with Norton in Norton's last fight

But Garcia(at the time when he fought Norton the first time),Big George,Shavers,and "Gentleman" Gerry were big bangers. They could get a guy out of there with one swing. Ken Norton's showings with those guys validated their suddenness of dispatch,and Norton's lack of chin armor against fighters with howitzer hands.


Ken Norton ,early in his career,consulted a hypnotist because he had this problem of running out of petrol in the middle of a fight. After sessions with the medium,Norton's gas tank never ran on fumes again. But this issue with an opponent who could dislodge your head with either hand?.I guess there was no hocus pocus to fix that problem.


Ken Norton

[dagosd2000]

Irish Ire

Nowadays you see a lot of fighters trash talking each other,but you never see them settling anything physically dressed in their street clothes.. The time to see punches is after the bell goes off for the first round. We've seen the times ,at the weigh in or at press conference,when one fighter separates from his people and goes after his foe raging and ranting.But then everyone jumps in to stop the riot.The fighters know that nothing much is going to materialize from all this wind and smoke. It's good for the hype and the fans will go on line and order the Pay Per View package.. Sometimes after the fight is over,and there's a dispute about the outcome,the cornermen will run across the ring at each other looking to throw a cheap shot. The fighters,usually more or less composed, their robes draped over their shoulders,have already spent what they had in their gas tanks. Of course we've seen fighters , when they believe they've been short changed at the end,throw up their hands,maybe stomp a foot, and plead to the referee.But those gestures are usually demonstrated with false conviction.

Mickey Walker and Harry Greb are said to have fought in the back of an alley after a night of socializing together with their dates in a .New York bistro. As Walker told it years later(Harry Greb had died on a hospital bed in 1926 following an operation) the two stepped outside, sans the dames,and got into a beef regarding the night when Mickey lost his middleweight championship to the Pittsburgh Windmill. Mickey's Irish had got the best of him after consuming his fair share of Bushmills. Mickey called Harry a dirty fighter.Harry was well fortified too,but I'm sure his poison wasn't distilled in the land of Erin. Both boys immediately agreed to rematch. Mickey went on to say when Harry was in the process of taking off his coat,he let him have it. Miskey outsoiled Harry with that swipe.Mickey said a cop, brandishing his nightstick,was standing near the two drunk pugs.The cop witnessed the melee and rushed in to save Harry Greb from further abuse.Mickey would gloat about how he got even with Harry the second time around. Remember,this is Walker's tale. But Mickey would say if you don't believe me,just ask the cop who saw the whole thing.By the way,the cop's name was Pat Casey .



Mickey Walker

[dagosd2000]

A Pal But Not A Brother

During the time when I was lending a hand to Archie Moore at his Any Boy Can recreation center,basically a boxing gym,I never appraoched him to gnaw his ear off about boxing. For an old guy he didn't act like one. He was always quoting something he had heard somewhere and would convey it at the appropriate moment, or print a copy of it and post it on the wall. At the end he was an old fighter,but in spirit he could run the young ones onto the other side of the universe. They say the actress Marie Dressler pronounced that "It's not how old you are,but how you act when you're old." Now she came along before Archie Moore,but The Mongoose always was on the alert to file away in his mind good words of wisdom. I know he was open to talk "boxing" with other people in the sport. But it didn't matter if you were a 4 round prelim pug or if Sugar Ray Robinson would drop in to say hello. Then it was a brotherhood that they could empathize. There was no pecking order. If you took your shots you were among brothers.Everyone else outside the ring was a pal to Archie Moore,and that was just as important. Archie Moore wanted extra elements in his composition. The pals provided the intellectual stimulation. But all said and done,it was the fighters that he considered to be brothers.


There was a Mexican light heavyweight fighting out of San Diego. who got into some trouble after his career ended. His name is not important to this story. He shouldn't have been fighting his final few years.He had a pivotal fight that he lost and that seemed to be part of the catalyst that started his skid.After he retired finally,he later was driving his car under the influence and was in an accident that resulted in a fatality.Manslaughter was the charge. It was Archie Moore who started raising money to pay his lawyers.


But Archie Moore was not only the consummate fighter in the ring,but a man that could sit in an easy chair at a Gentlemen's Club and discuss with gusto,abstraction,and accuracy any worldly topic that was filed inside his knowledgeable memory bank. Archie Moore liked holding his own with the academics. Ali was "cute" with the highbrows. He knew he couldn't quote Shakespeare so he disarmed them with his brand of humor. In a way Ali was a genius to keep them off balance.But Archie Moore could recite with any professor. He could walk inside The Louvre and feel he knew Van Gogh and DaVinci. If Dizzy Gillespie was in town blowing his horn Archie Moore would be sitting at The Ambassador Of Jazz's table.After Archie Moore couldn't render an opponent unconscious anymore with his gloves,he'd awake everyday wanting to explore the universe.Everything meant something. If someone thought a grain of sand had no meaning.then he'd say then the stars must be meaningless;and now the dialogue would detonate.

At the end his physical stature had waned,his gray hair was less,,his gait had a hitch;but his mind was lucid and clear and if he thought you were wrong or needed to be educated,he wasn't timid about throwing the first punch.With me he had an ear .He liked jazz and he knew that I could talk the art with assurance. There was a time when he wanted to be a musician. He toured a brief while with Lucky Thompson's group. But he couldn't earn enough scratch playing the bass,and anyway the lifestyle took its toll on a man,not that prizefighting didn't. Red Foxx had a line if h didn't like you.
"I hope your daughter marries a jazz musician."
Besides,Archie Moore wouldn't have won any Down Beat Polls as a result of his musicianship. But if you never knew him and just happened to bump into him in the neighborhood,you wouldn't have thought he was a fighter or see him up on the bandstand. If you got to ta the talking stage, you might have asked him what college he was teaching at.


So I was in the category of being a "pal." Too bad I never had a few fights under my belt. I could have belonged to the brotherhood too.



The Old Mongoose

[dagosd2000]

d

[dagosd2000]

Taking A Little Off The Top

Just Off The Top Of My Head:When Luis Rodriguez was in San Diego in 1969 to fight Rafael Gutierrez,the winner to get a crack at Nino Benvenuti's middleweight crown,he wrapped up his training at The Stardust Hotel in Mission Valley. He used three area middleweights: Charlie "Bad News" Austin,Victor Basilio(who fought on the card),and Johnny Wise as sparring partners.All three were familiar faces at The Coliseum. Austin had taken Carlos Monzon the distance the year before in Buenos Aires. Basilio,undefeated in his first two fights,would ring up a third win fighting on the undercard. Wise had compiled an up and down record.He had just lost three times in a row to Ronnie Wilson (why Sid Flaherty needed to have Wilson fight Wise three straight times made no sense).Rodriguez was dead serious about his fight with Gutierrez. He hadn't fought for a world title in five years since Griffith and the judges picked his pocket in Las Vegas. Time was running out for the Cuban. He was working himself into top condition for one last hurrah. He got good work from Austin and Basilio,but Johnny Wise was,to say the least,a little gun shy about sparring with El Feo. Angelo Dundee had taken the reins off Luis. (Dundee wasn't the primary trainer for Rodriguez. Luis Sarria would spend the entire training camp with him. Dundee would appear the last two weeks before the fight)."Mantequilla" Napoles came down from LA to see how his compadre was doing. Jose was training for his long awaited title fight with Curtis Cokes the following month in April. Getting back to "Hesitant" Johnny. I guess maybe he had been witnessing the intensity of Rodriguez's efforts with the hired help. When it was Johnny's turn to get in there with the Cuban cyclone he asked Rodriguez.very politely,if he could not wear his headgear because he had a rash on his face and if Luis would refrain from landing any punches on his mug.Johnny ,I 'm always guessing with this guy,then proceeded to hand his headgear to Rodriguez. Luis didn't have it in his possession long. He catapulted the leather, with a delivery that would have made Koufax proud,back at Johnny hitting him flush on his "rash."
"Put it on you son of a bitch,"I think that was the English translation.
Wise put on the headgear and got no sympathy from Rodriguez when it was his turn in the barrel.


I drove into Tijuana today with my wife.Driving back I saw something that took me a little by surprise:large coils of razor wire at each entrance before making the return into the States. I think there are 26 lanes. That's a lot of razor wire. I asked the girl who was manning her customs station about the wire.
"Is that what I think it is,razor wire?"
"Well,sir(she seemed a little nervous trying to find the right words).You...never know...I mean they might be dangerous. We don't know who's out there.They...well,they might be dangerous."
"I don't think any of them will try to get through here,"I said wanting to calm her fears.
"Well..I hope not."
"I remember years ago it was a common sight to see herds of Mexicans storm the border crossing into the U.S.But the layout is different now. The crossing lanes are more difficult to get through..The security is beefed up. I've seen this "caravan".They are nothing but a bunch of scared people who want to come to the U.S. to work."
"We don't know if they have kids,"she said.
"They don't. That would be too hard a journey for the kids. If there are any kids some people might have given them their kids thinking it would be easier to come through and then these kids could hook up with a relative,but that's all very unlikely."
"Well...we can't take any chances."
"I used to work down here at a high school years ago,"I said."One of the kids that graduated left to work for Mexican immigration down in Chiapas. I asked him what it was like when people from Central America came up and tried to cross.He told me they would work them over,then take all their money and valuables,and then let them through. What was left over the gangs would take. He told me that many of the women had birth control pills on them because they knew they were going to get raped."
He told me this like he was giving me a weather update.
"And these media people up here try to portray you people as being cruel," said in a huff.
The girl relaxed her shoulders,smiled,and handed back our Sentri passes. She didn't ask us if we were bringing anything back from Mexico.I guess she forgot.


This sign is on the Mexican side of the border just before you get to the customs station. It's a U.S. law firm."Any felonies?No problem." No,I think there is a big problem.

[dagosd2000]

The Champ

There was a time when black fighters and jazz went hand in hand. Regardless of what has been written about musicians like Bix Beiderbecke,Benny Goodman,and George Gershwin,the white musicians who had a hand playing jazz music knew genre originated in the black segregated communities in the South.New Orleans was where the seed was planted by icons such as Buddy Bolden,King Oliver,and Louis Armstrong. Paul Whiteman(appropriately named) leading his orchestra debuted George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" in New York.George had been influenced by the "black" jazz and incorporated the themes in his Rhapsody. Whiteman's segregated group played jazz music without the pathos of that sound.Playing music with the guttural moans of an anguished people would have caused the Park Avenue society to squirm in their seats. The aforementioned Bix,Benny,and George weren't racists. They heard the passion in the music,and wanted to incorporate the sound in their compositions and performances.


But segregation seeped into the music world too .You could say it was a microcosm of American society. Whiteman later wrote a history of jazz after he was recognized by the establishment as "The King Of Jazz."There is not one mention of a black jazz artist between the pages. The particular of his following called him "Pops." He was smug and haughty.Whiteman craved admiration from the café society. The color line was drawn vividly in music. You'd think in the arts that concept wouldn't exist,but it was right out in the open. Goodman was the first big name band leader to invite black musicians to take a solo. Charlie Christian,Lionel Hampton,and Teddy Wilson shared the stage with Goodman's band. But there were other very popular ensembles that had a "Whites Only " sign posted on the bandstand. Glenn Miller,the Dorsey brothers,Bob Crosby,and Guy Lombardo to name some. But those baton wavers wanted to stay away from the improvisors. Creativity would reveal their shortcomings in their musicianship.

When the two most popular black bands,Duke Ellington and Count Basie, heard what the black offspring was experimenting with in the smaller combos in order to create spontaneously shattering through what had been a "thump thump thump " beat behind a few bars of routine riffs,Mr. Basie and Mr. Ellington jumped on the cosmic bandwagon.So did the black athlete. He saw "his" music transpire into a genesis. It changed modern music forever.



The groundbreakers like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were so revolutionary with what they were expressing,that not only were the old white dinosaur players shocked,but a lot of the chitlin' circuit stayed away from that "Chinese music."But black fighters who swung with the sounds of Basie and Ellington got in the groove right away when they heard the songs from the 78's resounding from the music shops in Harlem,the Southside of Chicago,and Vine Street in Kansas City.

It always bothers me when I read about how a lot of creeps tried to make Joe Louis out to be a fool. Yeah,he didn't know a lot of big words. He was just himself. But that humble image lent itself to be some kind of flaw that the creep thought he could use to get one over on Joe Louis. I don't think Louis cared that much. He wouldn't have wanted to lower himself by taking those kind of guys on. Because of his modesty,I always thought Louis was closer to spirituality than most. Joe Louis was also a "hep" cat.I saw a picture of Ezzard Charles,Joe Walcott,and Joe Louis(can't find it on the internet now)dressed to the "nines" at The Royal Roost Club in New York City. They were together to listen to the latest sounds.I don't know who was playing that night,but it had to be one of the "boppers."


Dizzy Gillespie was one of the innovators of the new music. Dizzy was also dizzy about boxing,especially Joe Louis. He wrote a "bop" song as an homage to Louis. He named the song "The Champ." When Marciano finished off Louis's comeback career.Gillespie was heartbroken. When Joe Walcott came close to beating Marciano in Philadelphia,but got caught with Rocky's "Suzy Q" in the hard luck round,a rematch was in order. The second fight was in Chicago. Also on that night Gillespie,Charlie Parker, Bud Powell,Charlie Mingus,and Max Roach(a pantheon of jazz greats)were booked to play a gig at Massey Hall in Toronto. The gate at the concert was a bust because everyone was at home to watch the fight on TV.Gillespir kept walking backstage to listen to the fight on the radio. He had a brief stay. Walcott fell from a cousin to Ali's "anchor punch" and before they could heat up the popcorn the fight was over. Gillespie moped back to the stage with his bent trumpet in hand. I think he waned to bend his horn over Marciano's head if given the opportunity.


But no way would Dizzy retract the song he had composed for his favorite fighter. Like the song ,"The Champ",Joe Louis will always be a champion in black history.


My favorite song version of The Champ. Jimmy Smith tearng it apart on the Hammond B3 organ, kinda' like what Joe Louis would do to his opposition in the ring.



My favorite any version of The Champ

[dagosd2000]

The Most Beautiful Place In The World

During boxing's heyday in the Southland , the 60's through the 80's, ,San Diego only featured one world championship fight. Matthew Saad Muhammad put his title on the line at The San Diego Sports Arena against Lottle Mwale. It wasn't a sellout. The fight was pretty much dominated by Saad Muhammad with a one punch KO of the African in the 4th round.I think at the time the papers had reported that the fight was the first time San Diego was to host a world title fight. I'm scratching my head and,to this day, I can't think of another post title fight in San Diego.

Now San Diego has been home to some pretty good pugs.At the top you have to go with Archie Moore. Although Moore fought a slew of times at The Coliseum and old Lane Field,after beating Joey Maxim to finally getting a chance to put a world title belt around his waist,he never put his crown on the line in San Diego.He was in a few non title fights at the Coliseum and even fought the war horse Howard King in Tijuana,but no championship bouts. Archie lived here. He had that big brick house in Southeast with the swimming pool shaped like a boxing glove, but The Mongoose wanted to swim with the bigger fish when the time came to fight for all the marbles. I'm sure it was his people like Doc Kearns and Charley Johnston who made arrangements for Archie's defenses. Moore had put on the gloves in about all the continents except Antarctica so I'm sure he would have been pleased as punch to punch someone in the ring in San Diego for the title.


Kenny Norton certainly became a star overnight with his jaw breaking performance against Muhammad Ali at The Sports Arena,but when the runner match with Ali was signed,Yankee Stadium sounded a lot more impressive than the San Diego Sports Arena.



Consideruing that Los Angeles is a two hour drive north of San Diego and Tijuana is a 20 minute ride south,you could fill the names of world class fighters names on a postage stamp that have fought in San Diego. Lets see,just off the top of my head some of the fighters who have climbed through the ropes in TJ: Ray Robinson,Davey Moore, Ismael Laguna,Vicente Saldivar,Jose Napoles,Ruben Olivares,Sugar Ramos,Julio Cesar Chavez.Now there's a caravan for you! Those guys fought in LA too.They must have put San Diego on their pay no mind list.

The point I'm trying to make is that the nation's 7th largest city is not much of a sports town. Oh,when it comes to the outdoors stuff San Diego is right at the top.Surfing,rock climbing,triathlete competitions,mountain bikes,parachuting,hand gliding-it's all very popular and healthy. And that's good.But the traditional sports have a tough go of it here where they say the weather is the best in the world. We had couple of NBA teams,but they left. The Rockets went to Houston and the Clippers moved to LA.The San Diego Chargers were our first pro team and we felt they belonged to us. Last year the owner,Spanos,got sore when the voters turned down a bond to build him a new stadium. The Chargers play in(you guessed it)LA. Forget hockey. We have a minor league team that plays at the Sports Arena,but it's like an afterthought.



How about boxing?Well,the cards have dwindled to 6 round main eventers at some of the less swanky hotels. I've been to a few of these.They're Ok. But I don't hear anything anymore about them. Bobby DiFillipis was behind them,but now these type of encounters are held in the bars in TJ.


I mentioned the other day about Luis Rodriguez fighting a title eliminator here. The local scribes wanted a story from him about his fight.I remember one scribbler asked him what he thought of San Diego. All Luis wanted to talk about was how he got bum decisions against Emile Griffith. Luis didn't seem interested in going out to the beach and watching the sunset.



When Ali was here to fight Norton,he was asked if he thought San Diego was beautiful. (Every newcomer that blows into town here is asked if they think San Diego is "beautiful").Ali looked at the guy and gave him a stern look.
"Someone said you have zoo here?"asked Ali.
"Why yes.It's the most famous zoo in the world."answered the reporter sticking out his chest.
"Well, when I get finished with Norton you can put him in cage with the rest of the animals,"retorted Ali.
I don't think Muhammad had any plans to visit the petting zoo and play with the baby rabbits.


Luis Rodriguez

[chrisjs1985]

I think the last world title fight card I can think of in San Diego is the Terry Norris vs. Troy Waters/Felix Trinidad vs. Maurice Blocker doubleheader in the summer of 1993.

I like going to the ballpark there when the Dodgers play in San Diego. Take the Amtrak down, drink on there and get out right downtown and drink some more.

Nice piece and painting of El Feo. I always like to read stuff on him.

The Most Beautiful Place In The World

During boxing's heyday in the Southland , the 60's through the 80's, ,San Diego only featured one world championship fight. Matthew Saad Muhammad put his title on the line at The San Diego Sports Arena against Lottle Mwale. It wasn't a sellout. The fight was pretty much dominated by Saad Muhammad with a one punch KO of the African in the 4th round.I think at the time the papers had reported that the fight was the first time San Diego was to host a world title fight. I'm scratching my head and,to this day, I can't think of another post title fight in San Diego.

Now San Diego has been home to some pretty good pugs.At the top you have to go with Archie Moore. Although Moore fought a slew of times at The Coliseum and old Lane Field,after beating Joey Maxim to finally getting a chance to put a world title belt around his waist,he never put his crown on the line in San Diego.He was in a few non title fights at the Coliseum and even fought the war horse Howard King in Tijuana,but no championship bouts. Archie lived here. He had that big brick house in Southeast with the swimming pool shaped like a boxing glove, but The Mongoose wanted to swim with the bigger fish when the time came to fight for all the marbles. I'm sure it was his people like Doc Kearns and Charley Johnston who made arrangements for Archie's defenses. Moore had put on the gloves in about all the continents except Antarctica so I'm sure he would have been pleased as punch to punch someone in the ring in San Diego for the title.


Kenny Norton certainly became a star overnight with his jaw breaking performance against Muhammad Ali at The Sports Arena,but when the runner match with Ali was signed,Yankee Stadium sounded a lot more impressive than the San Diego Sports Arena.



Consideruing that Los Angeles is a two hour drive north of San Diego and Tijuana is a 20 minute ride south,you could fill the names of world class fighters names on a postage stamp that have fought in San Diego. Lets see,just off the top of my head some of the fighters who have climbed through the ropes in TJ: Ray Robinson,Davey Moore, Ismael Laguna,Vicente Saldivar,Jose Napoles,Ruben Olivares,Sugar Ramos,Julio Cesar Chavez.Now there's a caravan for you! Those guys fought in LA too.They must have put San Diego on their pay no mind list.

The point I'm trying to make is that the nation's 7th largest city is not much of a sports town. Oh,when it comes to the outdoors stuff San Diego is right at the top.Surfing,rock climbing,triathlete competitions,mountain bikes,parachuting,hand gliding-it's all very popular and healthy. And that's good.But the traditional sports have a tough go of it here where they say the weather is the best in the world. We had couple of NBA teams,but they left. The Rockets went to Houston and the Clippers moved to LA.The San Diego Chargers were our first pro team and we felt they belonged to us. Last year the owner,Spanos,got sore when the voters turned down a bond to build him a new stadium. The Chargers play in(you guessed it)LA. Forget hockey. We have a minor league team that plays at the Sports Arena,but it's like an afterthought.



How about boxing?Well,the cards have dwindled to 6 round main eventers at some of the less swanky hotels. I've been to a few of these.They're Ok. But I don't hear anything anymore about them. Bobby DiFillipis was behind them,but now these type of encounters are held in the bars in TJ.


I mentioned the other day about Luis Rodriguez fighting a title eliminator here. The local scribes wanted a story from him about his fight.I remember one scribbler asked him what he thought of San Diego. All Luis wanted to talk about was how he got bum decisions against Emile Griffith. Luis didn't seem interested in going out to the beach and watching the sunset.



When Ali was here to fight Norton,he was asked if he thought San Diego was beautiful. (Every newcomer that blows into town here is asked if they think San Diego is "beautiful").Ali looked at the guy and gave him a stern look.
"Someone said you have zoo here?"asked Ali.
"Why yes.It's the most famous zoo in the world."answered the reporter sticking out his chest.
"Well, when I get finished with Norton you can put him in cage with the rest of the animals,"retorted Ali.
I don't think Muhammad had any plans to visit the petting zoo and play with the baby rabbits.


Luis Rodriguez

[dagosd2000]

I think the last world title fight card I can think of in San Diego is the Terry Norris vs. Troy Waters/Felix Trinidad vs. Maurice Blocker doubleheader in the summer of 1993.

I like going to the ballpark there when the Dodgers play in San Diego. Take the Amtrak down, drink on there and get out right downtown and drink some more.

Nice piece and painting of El Feo. I always like to read stuff on him.

The Most Beautiful Place In The World

During boxing's heyday in the Southland , the 60's through the 80's, ,San Diego only featured one world championship fight. Matthew Saad Muhammad put his title on the line at The San Diego Sports Arena against Lottle Mwale. It wasn't a sellout. The fight was pretty much dominated by Saad Muhammad with a one punch KO of the African in the 4th round.I think at the time the papers had reported that the fight was the first time San Diego was to host a world title fight. I'm scratching my head and,to this day, I can't think of another post title fight in San Diego.

Now San Diego has been home to some pretty good pugs.At the top you have to go with Archie Moore. Although Moore fought a slew of times at The Coliseum and old Lane Field,after beating Joey Maxim to finally getting a chance to put a world title belt around his waist,he never put his crown on the line in San Diego.He was in a few non title fights at the Coliseum and even fought the war horse Howard King in Tijuana,but no championship bouts. Archie lived here. He had that big brick house in Southeast with the swimming pool shaped like a boxing glove, but The Mongoose wanted to swim with the bigger fish when the time came to fight for all the marbles. I'm sure it was his people like Doc Kearns and Charley Johnston who made arrangements for Archie's defenses. Moore had put on the gloves in about all the continents except Antarctica so I'm sure he would have been pleased as punch to punch someone in the ring in San Diego for the title.


Kenny Norton certainly became a star overnight with his jaw breaking performance against Muhammad Ali at The Sports Arena,but when the runner match with Ali was signed,Yankee Stadium sounded a lot more impressive than the San Diego Sports Arena.



Consideruing that Los Angeles is a two hour drive north of San Diego and Tijuana is a 20 minute ride south,you could fill the names of world class fighters names on a postage stamp that have fought in San Diego. Lets see,just off the top of my head some of the fighters who have climbed through the ropes in TJ: Ray Robinson,Davey Moore, Ismael Laguna,Vicente Saldivar,Jose Napoles,Ruben Olivares,Sugar Ramos,Julio Cesar Chavez.Now there's a caravan for you! Those guys fought in LA too.They must have put San Diego on their pay no mind list.

The point I'm trying to make is that the nation's 7th largest city is not much of a sports town. Oh,when it comes to the outdoors stuff San Diego is right at the top.Surfing,rock climbing,triathlete competitions,mountain bikes,parachuting,hand gliding-it's all very popular and healthy. And that's good.But the traditional sports have a tough go of it here where they say the weather is the best in the world. We had couple of NBA teams,but they left. The Rockets went to Houston and the Clippers moved to LA.The San Diego Chargers were our first pro team and we felt they belonged to us. Last year the owner,Spanos,got sore when the voters turned down a bond to build him a new stadium. The Chargers play in(you guessed it)LA. Forget hockey. We have a minor league team that plays at the Sports Arena,but it's like an afterthought.



How about boxing?Well,the cards have dwindled to 6 round main eventers at some of the less swanky hotels. I've been to a few of these.They're Ok. But I don't hear anything anymore about them. Bobby DiFillipis was behind them,but now these type of encounters are held in the bars in TJ.


I mentioned the other day about Luis Rodriguez fighting a title eliminator here. The local scribes wanted a story from him about his fight.I remember one scribbler asked him what he thought of San Diego. All Luis wanted to talk about was how he got bum decisions against Emile Griffith. Luis didn't seem interested in going out to the beach and watching the sunset.



When Ali was here to fight Norton,he was asked if he thought San Diego was beautiful. (Every newcomer that blows into town here is asked if they think San Diego is "beautiful").Ali looked at the guy and gave him a stern look.
"Someone said you have zoo here?"asked Ali.
"Why yes.It's the most famous zoo in the world."answered the reporter sticking out his chest.
"Well, when I get finished with Norton you can put him in cage with the rest of the animals,"retorted Ali.
I don't think Muhammad had any plans to visit the petting zoo and play with the baby rabbits.


Luis Rodriguez

Thanks for the compliment Chris.

You sure were right about the Norris and Trinidad fights at Petco Park. And you're also right about the Amtrak taking you at the front doorstep to the ballpark. But I got to tell you,I won't go to a game if the Dodgers are playing. They're are more Dodger fans in the seats and out in the parking lot wearing Dodger shirts and hats than there are Padre fans wearing Friar apparel.. And most of the Dodger Blue are from San Diego!


I used to watch Terry Norris work out at some of the gyms in San Diego. You could see him in Spud Murphy's Gym a lot downtown. I worked with a fighter by the name of Gilbert Baptist when I was at the schools. He helped Norris get ready for Leonard. Everyone thought Terry would handle Ray pretty easily,especially after the layoff. I thought Norris would be another Leonard and stay on top for quite some time. But Gilbert Baptist told me that Norris was cutting corners when it came to getting in top condition. The Simon Brown fight was the evidence of that,and a huge upset. Norris won the rematch,and then had those crazy fights with Luis Santana. At the end he lost three straight and called it a career. I found out later that his license had been revoked because his scans were showing brain damage. Later,he took his manager,Joe Sayatovich,and Don King to court because he accused them of cheating him out of purse money. I guess they settled with Terry for over 7 million!


Sayatovich had a training facility out in the foothills near a small town named Campo.It was located just across the border from Tecate ,Mexico.James"The Heat" Kinchen also would sometimes use the training camp. When I worked for The County of San Diego I would take the truck out there and watch the fellas train. (Sorry taxpayers )


It got around the gyms that Norris was having difficulty with his speech. His father was the first to pick up on it. I saw Terry at the WBHOF banquet in 2010.We talked awhile. He seemed OK. Last year when I was at Kinchen's Helping Hand of God ministry(James is one of the pastors),he told me that Norris had called him on the phone. He thought Terry was drunk. Turns out that Terry Norris is in the throes of dementia.

I know these days ex fighters think about if the illness is creeping up on them. With all the rub about what's going on with concussions in football,fighters feel like they were left out on a limb. Thinking of Terry Norris,I'm glad he got 7 million dollars out of Don King.



Alex Ramos and Terry Norris at The World Boxing Hall of Fame Ceremony-2010

[chrisjs1985]

Norris ended up having a brilliant career but falls short of being considered a great fighter perhaps due in large part to those short cuts and also a suspect set of whiskers. He essentially lost around 12-18 months of his prime with the Santana series and then grew really old overnight. I remember when Mullings beat him that was a big shocker. He had recently pulled out of a Trinidad fight and was in line for De La Hoya then ends up fighting Dana Rosenblatt and Laurent Boudouni as the B side.

His blend of speed, power and athleticism was so rare. He could have done so much more with it but as is he had an excellent career that most fighters can only dream of.

[dagosd2000]

Chris
Terry Norris had a temper.He could be surly and you wouldn't want to be around him when he had that "chip on his shoulder" attitude. Sometimes I think it was his disposition that hindered his performances. Perhaps we can draw an analogy with Norris with Jack Sharkey.Their headstrongness eventually bit them in the rear end.When I spoke with him at the WBHOF ceremony,I started off the conversation about how I had worked with his stablemate,Gilbert Baptist.Right away he's telling me how he "beat his ass" in the ring. They had fought twice before. Their second fight at the El Cortez Hotel was voted "Fight of The Year" in San Diego.I could see the "chip" on his shoulder so I wasn't enthusiastic about any more conversation.

You're right about his talent. He was as fast as Leonard. Maybe he didn't fulfill his potential,but he was in some memorable fights.



Terry Norris

[goose 5]

Norris versus Trinidad would have been great.

[chrisjs1985]

Norris versus Trinidad would have been great.

Indeed.

I’d pick Tito because of his better recovery powers and I always thought he was very level headed/kept his emotions in check in the ring.

[dagosd2000]

Thanks Giving

The holidays are either the best times of the year for people,or the spirit of the holidays that are intended to infuse into society happiness and glee, evaporate into thin air. Often an aura of despondency escalates within that certain faction that has had a run of bad luck. Often,a lot of this ill fortune was caused by the ones who have reached the brink of going over the edge.. I once knew an ex fighter,who was rumored to be living on the street, had been hit by a car and now was in the hospital.I heard about it on a friend's police band radio. I went to visit the old fighter.I'll call him Eddie.


Eddie was never a marquis name on a fight poster. You'd see his name at the bottom of the piece of cardboard. I don't think many dropped their focus to read the small print. The main event,the semi main,are the matches that bring fans to the ticket windows. I first met Eddie at The Coliseum. Burke Emory would work his fighters in the afternoon inside the worn out structure. Eddie was in the twilight of an uninspired career. Eddie was born in the state of Guerrero in Mexico.When he was 10 years old his mother rented him to family that owned a garbanzo farm where he worked for two years. I hadn't seen him since his last futile efforts losing four rounders after most of the crowd,drained from watching the main event,started finding their way to the exits. What noise that was left would resonate off the concrete walls in a hollow echo. Eddie was at the county hospital where the indigent were wrapped in bandages and had arms and legs in casts..I asked the night nurse where I could find Eddie.
"He's in the last room at the end of the hall,"she murmured not looking up from her paperwork.
The hallway was narrow,the linoleum scuffed ,the hall lights casted a hazy glimmer. Eddie was lying in the first bed with a sheet over his body up to his neck. His feet, in threadbare socks ,stuck out from under the sheet.. The television was on ,but there was no sound. The bed next to Eddie's was empty. Eddie's eyes were closed. I cleared my throat to see if he would awaken. Eddie's eyes slowly opened. He turned his face to where I was standing at the door.
"Eddie,it's me. Roger."
I couldn't think of any way else to introduce myself.He strained his face trying to recognize who was at the entrance.
"Come in,"he said in a gargled voice. He was still trying to figure out who had wanted to see him.
"Roger,"he said with faint breath through frail lips.."Please sit down. There's a chair by the door."
He looked tired. His thin wrinkled face was nicked with cuts and speckled with bandages. Bloodshot eyes rolled up at the ceiling. An ashen complexion and wispy white hair emanated a melancholy presence. A long plastic tube with bubbles of pale blood trickled through the conduit. A band aid kept the tube from falling out of his bony arm.
"They said you were here.,"
"Who told you that?"
"You know. Burke and the rest of the guys."
"Why I haven't seen Burke in years,"he said turning up the corners of his mouth.
"I'll pass it along to them that you're in here."
"Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. They're supposed to have a nice spread.Turkey,mashed potatos,pumpkin pie."
"That sounds swell."
I heard footsteps behind me. The night nurse holding a chart walked right by me and stood over Eddie's bed.
"Mr. Garcia. The blood tests came back. You're liver needs some attention and your blood sugar is too high," she remarked in an officious tone.
"Are you telling me I can't have any turkey tomorrow?"
"We'll have something else you can eat.You're on a restricted diet."
Eddie looked up at the ceiling.
"I'm sure you'll like what we have for you to eat,"said the nurse.
She then turned her back and left the room.After she walked out the door,Eddie turned his head at me again.
"You want to know something?"
I didn't ,but I braced myself anyway.
"I walked out in front of that car on purpose. There was a cop car at the corner. He called the paramedics."
"You've got to think of others,"I said.
"There ain't any others. I have no one,"said Eddie weakly.
"How about other people that feel like you?If you keep going maybe others will too."
Eddie stared at the ceiling again.
"Look at it this way,"I continued."You could save lives.You could save plenty of people who feel low like you by sharing how you feel. You're not alone."
"It was good you came by tonight,"said Eddie turning his head at me.
"Look man. I get that way myself. You can start by talking with me."
I saw a tear run down his cheek.
"Look.Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I'll come by. And when that nurse ain't around I'll get you some of that turkey."
"And some pumpkin pie?"
"I'll even put a scoop of ice cream on top."

[dagosd2000]

You Never Know What Those Crazy Gringos Will Throw Away

My wife recycles. I should clarify that statement. My wife is a recycling addict. It's a blessing in disguise though. After retiring from cleaning fish at the commissary working for Anthony's Fish Grottos,my wife would lounge around the condo sitting on the couch watching "her" novelas. She split her time cooking for herself and the kids and grandkids. I'm all right with Mexican food but I don't have the urge to eat it everyday. Sometimes my wife would juggle cooking and watching "her" novelas at the same time. I like to eat Mexican food.I can do without Mexican soap operas. Well this indoor routine was beginning to cause a problem. She was getting fat and her blood pressure and blood sugar was starting to rise. My wife is pretty damn stubborn. Voluntary change isn't ingrained in Mexican society.But as luck would have it,she suddenly switched course. One morning I saw her at the front door with a big plastic bag and our dogs on the leash.
"Where are you going?"I asked.
"Oh,I go for the botellas and cans. I make money,"
"What happened?"
"I talk to the jardinero and he say that he make money collectando the botellas and cans."


She went on her way and I didn't give it much thought. But slowly she was increasing her time in the streets and alleys gathering the plastic bottles and metal cans. By trial and error she found out the best places to find her loot. She developed a rapport with the other "collectors" on the street. Most of them were alcoholics or druggies.At first I worried that she was putting herself in harm's way. But my wife has street instincts and nothing seems to unnerve her. She has established a clientele that saves their bottles and cans for her when they know she's coming.


She leaves the house with the dogs three or four days a week.The other days she beaks down her stash to get it ready to cash in. I bought her a shopping basket with wheels that swivel on the front. She makes sure to bring plenty of water and Gatorade,snacks for herself and the mutts,rubber gloves,and a grabbing stick.She'll be gone sometimes for 6 or 8 hours.I make sure she brings her cell phone so I can keep tabs. When I see her from the window after her trek,she usually has amassed a dozen or so bags.

But some of the finds are not limited to just bottles and cans.She's come back with enough stuff to open a thrift store. Some of the items are used,Some are still in the box. Clothes,shoes,pots and pans,dishes,tools,small appliances,jewelry,watches,cameras,radios. She's brought home enough marijuana to open up her own dispensary.One day she showed me a bag full of money. 500 dollars-all counterfeit.


About five years ago she brought me what looked like a photo album. It was old and a little frayed around the edges.I opened it and my jaw dropped. Evidently it was a collection of old photographs taken by a Navy ship's cameraman.The ship was the USS Memphis. Inside was a pictorial history of the cruiser from the early 20's till after WW II. The photographs were glued to the pages. There were some shots of the first aircraft carrier,The USS Langley. All the battleships that were sunk later at Pearl Harbor including The Arizona going through the Panama Canal. I counted over 400 photos. All the 7 Seas were represented. A lot of the pictures were of routine activity aboard the ship. But there were images of profiled people too: Hindenburg,King Alonso of Spain,Admiral Nimitz. But the big coup was six shots of Charles Lindburgh aboard the Memphis commiserating with the officers and crew. The Memphis was the ship the president sent over to Cherbourg to bring Lucky Lindy back to the States after he flew his epic journey across the Atlantic. Chuck wanted to fly back ,but Coolidge ordered him to stay put. He sent the Memphis over to give him a ride back. I went to the Aero Space Museum with the Lindburgh photographs and they told me I have the only pictures of Lindburgh on The Memphis. I didn't bother explaining any of this to my wife."Her" soap opera was about to begin.


Well,wouldn't you know. My wife the other day, after a day's catch,walked into the bedroom while I was writing on the Forum,and asked me what "this" was. "This" turned out to be some old boxing souvenirs:a collection of ticket stubs,press passes,and programs from the Chicago Golden Gloves tournaments from 1935 through 38. I showed them to the local sports memorabilia guy,who I've known for years,and asked him if the autograph, that was written in pencil on the front of one of the programs, was legit. He broke out his book of signatures of noted sports figures,looked through his magnifying glass at the name,and then turned his head to me with a smile on his face.
"It's Joe Louis's signature all right.Where did you get it.?"
I didn't want to reveal the truth because he is the kind of guy that might invade my wife's stomping grounds and grab some gems before she could pull them out with her grabbing stick.Well, he probably wouldn't do that, so I made something up.
"I bought in on Ebay."

Well ,there you have it. My wife has lost weight. Her blood pressure is back down to normal.Her blood sugar is safe.With the scratch she makes cashing in her bottles and cans,we go to Europe every year on her dime..And she finds enough stuff to bring to Tijuana to make the family happy. However ,I don't think they'd have much use for a picture of Charles Lindburgh or Joe Louis's autograph.

[dagosd2000]

When The Customer Is Always Right

They dissect,analyze,scrutinize,and study.After extracting every nuance,skin and spiritual,an avalanche of hypothesis are dumped on the table. The fighter,bare chested,wearing trunks and shoes, boxing gloves on his hands is ready now to be compared,esteemed,degraded,and psychoanalyzed. All this erudite guessing has about as much foundation as one of Sigmund Freud's whiskers. For some it's interesting chatter.Often, when two or more want to offer their opinions an argument beaks out. At first it's maybe a smirk,a roll of the eyes that express dissension. If there isn't any ground given by either,then an insult may be expelled. Now the original discussion has digressed into a conflict of personalities.Challeges are directed at one's intelligence and then,if that doesn't satisfy,one's masculinity is questioned.



The original topic might have been something like "Who would win between so and so....?"
By the time one party has failed to convince the other party that his logic was more perceptive, the friendship bond starts becoming frayed. If the question was put up for grabs,let's say on the internet,then there is more likelihood that keyboard courage will present itself. Call it a typing tantrum.


I wasn't much in a boxing ring. I didn't have what it took. But I relish being around fighters. They are probably the most self-effacing people in sports. Oh,there are some that have their moods.Most though are like the average working stiff going to work and doing their job. Some work harder than others.Some have aspirations to be the champ. Most know in time that fighting is their only meal ticket. But even a shot fighter won't totally give in to that suspicion. But bundling all those perceptions in a bottle, I could rub the glass until my hands ached,and no snobbishness would waft from its opening.

Fighters have a short attention span for debating-anything. Especially if it's some mythical match up.Instead of getting into a rhubarb,they'll either agree or walk away. Here's one I heard when I helped out Archie Moore in his Boys Club one day. Some little squirt was going around saying that Pipino Cuevas could kick Muhammasd Ali's ass. He stood in front of The Mongoose and boasted this declaration. Archie went on taping another kid's hands.

When Burke Emory had his bar that was down the street from where I lived,he would get approached by every boxing "authority" in the neighborhood-drunk or not. Example:
"Burke,who was the greatest fighter you ever saw?"roared one of the experts sitting at the bar whiskey glass in hand.
"I'd have to say Joe Louis,"answered Burke with a blink of an eye.
"Well I'd have to say it was Muhammad Ali," was the returned opinion.
Burke just smiled at his paying regular.
"Ali would be too fast for Joe Louis,"
Burke nodded,smiling still.
"Now I'm talking about Ali before the comeback. He still had the speed. He could still float like a butterfly ."
Burke nodded his head again,the smile still across his face.
"Did you see what he did to Joe Frazier? Or what he did to Foreman?You can't say he wasn't the greatest."
Burke looked at the guy with no mean intentions.
"Ali was one hell of a fighter all right,"said Burke.
"You see I told you,"said the elbow bender."He was the greatest."
"Can't argue with you about that,"said Burke
The guy at the bar looked side to side.
"Can I get you another drink?"asked Burke.
"Sure,"said the regular."And help yourself to one. And while you're at it I'll buy one for the house."
Burke knew that the customer was always right.


Pipino Cuevas

[dagosd2000]

Mercenary Work

I'd see these guys on TV fighting all the time during the 1950's. They were black fighters who were controlled by nefarious types with names like Carbo,Palermo,Dragna and Norris.There were some white fighters too,mostly Italian boys who were surrounded by the underworld,but right now I'm thinking about those black fighters , I wouldn't necessarily group them with the bittersweet Black Murderer Row battlers of the 1940's. Before the war there were just a privileged few black fighters that got a shot at a championship. Sugar Ray Robinson was the star of the black community,and the other costar was Joe Louis. They were just too good to be relegated to the sidelines to watch what was going on. Oh,the rest of the black peer group got fights,but not championship fights. And though they were also dangled on a string by the double breasted suits and fedoras,when they were instructed to do the 'ol' flipper roo,,they obeyed if they wanted to continue fighting. They made the gamblers money by performing like Oscar nominess.The act disregarded the betting odds.They would lose when they were supposed to win, and lose when the suckers put their money down on them to emerge victorious.

But after WW II things started to change in sports when it came to the color of a man's skin Now I'm not talking golf or tennis.You had to learn your trade with those pastimes by being invited into the exclusive private clubs If your lineage could be traced back to Plymouth Rock,you were a shoe in .Now the fighters I grew up with on the tube like Jimmy Carter,Virgil Atkins Johnny Saxton,Wallace Bud Smith,and Don Jordan might have had ancestors on the Mayflower who were slaves in chains,but that's ruled "no admittance" on a disqualification

The big difference between the 40's Row and the black fighters I mentioned from the 50's is that at one time or another the television generationt got their shot at a championship,and all of them wore the belt over their trunks.It wasn't a stretch like Louis or Robinson,put you can see their names in the record books under "Title Holders." Now they may have won the title with the help of the nefarious aforementioned,and they might have relinquished the crown by following orders,but at least they had something to put up on the mantle.


But like their pre war counterparts,the black 50's fighters,though champions for a cup of coffee,are names that don't ring any bells on ESPN. Both generations,pre war and boob tube, could fight. They were skilled. they boxed in the middle of the ring. They knew how to work on the body and off the jab.They could slip punches,counter, and perceive an opponent's vulnerability . Many fought too long. Many wound up robbing Peter to pay Paul. Some died in institutions. If they were around today they'd be fighting for bigger stakes.They'd be wearing those title belts again. Those guys on ESPN with the suits that look like they were sprayed on wouldn't be able say their names fast enough..



Jimmy Carter

[dagosd2000]

Out Of Nowhere

When Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson were on top of the world they'd have to recreate on their side of the tracks. That side was in Harlem. When Henry Armstrong fought out on the coast,he wasn't welcome at the Ambassador Hotel unless he wanted to wash dishes in the kitchen. If Hammerin' Hanry wanted to be entertained he went to South Central LA.Henry would mingle with the other colored celebrities.Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Ethel Waters had to wear their silk threads and minks in the ghetto if they wanted to listen to music or kick up their heels in a bistro. Ray Robinson had his own club situated on his own block in Harlem. Though Ray was persona non grata at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan(unless he wanted to scrub plates),often the white folks,tired of the stodgy arrangements of the bands that tooted their horns in the ballroom,would after hours venture to uptown to sit in at clubs like Mintons or Teddy Hill's.They wanted to hear something that reached their libidos. However,it wasn't rare to see some of those white musicians at The Waldorf asking to play with the cats on the bandstand . They yearned to play their way, notes that weren't scripted on the paper.


South Central had a strew of clubs that were opened minded and often not very attentive about what kind of social activities were going on in the backrooms. LA cops were more racist than their counterparts back east. But that didn't mean anyone was going to turn LA into an open city. The famed Cotton Club in Harlem featured black entertainers exclusively for white customers.Los Angeles had a meaner streak. Most of the cops were migrants from the deep south or wastelands of the dust bowl. They brought their gloomy racism to Sunny California.


When some of the black groups got bookings into some the clubs in South Central LA,it was pins and needles. Dope,especially heroin,wasn't so easy to score like it was in the Apple. Jazz groundbreakers after the war,had graduated from smoking pot to shooting up. The dope made them
"see" ideas better,but that didn't necessarily transmit through their instruments.

When Archie Moore thought maybe playing music was less hazardous to one's health than prizefighting,he balked about hooking up with a jazz combo because he saw what drug addiction was doing to cats like Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.He didn't want to be around that stuff.Drugs,booze,,gun molls,gangsters,jazz,prizefighters all mixed in together living one hell of a sporting life. If the party didn't get crashed in the end credit it to luck.


Back in the thread I talked about how I caught one of the last glimpses of the great bantamweight Manual Ortiz. He was going down for the count bouncing in and out of the dimly lit bars in the dimly lit parts of downtown. A lot of fighters were fond of the bottle more than the drugs.But today the crazies will try everything to get high until they implode.


Archie Moore, I once heard say in an interview ,that bars and nightclubs scared him. He said that he didn't want to get caught up with the life that went on in those places. It was a monkey he didn't want on his back. For the Type A testosterone laden fighter,a place that attracts curvy ladies to imbibe and inhale powders that whiten up their nostrils,is like shooting fish in a barrel. But for some of those ex pugs, after the lights are turned out,they are left up a river without a paddle.


Ray Robinson exercising out in front of his joint in Harlem