Classic American West Coast Boxing

[goose 5]

Roger: The current issue of The Ring(July,2021) is dedicated to Sugar Ray Robinson. There is an interesting article in it about Robinson and the mob. The article speculates that Robinson may have been connected to Bumpy Johnson and this is why he could stand up to the Italians and not have to take dives. The article also says that the Italian mobsters were afraid of this Johnson. I'm very interested in your thoughts on all this, if you have a chance to share them.

[dagosd2000]

Roger: The current issue of The Ring(July,2021) is dedicated to Sugar Ray Robinson. There is an interesting article in it about Robinson and the mob. The article speculates that Robinson may have been connected to Bumpy Johnson and this is why he could stand up to the Italians and not have to take dives. The article also says that the Italian mobsters were afraid of this Johnson. I'm very interested in your thoughts on all this, if you have a chance to share them.

Goose
Thanks for asking. Johnson was involved with drug trafficking in Harlem.Though he had a lot of clout there was no way a black mobster was going to stand up to the Syndicate. It's true that Robinson didn't take dives but what he did do,like he did with the Outfit in Chicago,was "carry" fighters to go the distance. His fight with Charley Fusari was an example.After Robinson won the welterweight title he "carried" a lot of his opponents.There was no way Robinson was going to stand up to the mob. What could he do?Black mobsters making hits on Italian gangsters?Never happened.

I've told the story about how he was standing in front of the Mob run dairy in Chicago named Meadowmoor. A car drove by and the guys inside began shooting. Robinson thought they were shooting at him.
"Hey fellas."he was quoted by my father."I've always gone along with what you wanted.Why would you want to shoot me?"

Ray Robinson standing up to the Mob.That's rich.Ring Magazine is a joke. They made that up to sell copies of their rag.

[goose 5]

What about the allegations that Robinson rejected bribes to lose to LaMotta and Graziano ? The HBO documentary on Robinson suggested the mob guys had great respect for Robinson and only made offers, not demands that he lose. I'm not saying I believe the "respect' angle, but what's the explanation ?

[dagosd2000]

What about the allegations that Robinson rejected bribes to lose to LaMotta and Graziano ? The HBO documentary on Robinson suggested the mob guys had great respect for Robinson and only made offers, not demands that he lose. I'm not saying I believe the "respect' angle, but what's the explanation ?

The explanation is they could make money on Robinson if he carried fighters.Let's face it,the Mob,Sydicate,Outfit didn't rely on Sugar Ray Robinson as being their cash cow. They had a lot of bigger fish to fry.

[Chuck1052]

I myself saw the bout between Mathew Saad Muhammad and Lotte Mwale. Yes, Saad generally was an extremely slow starter and absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment in his bouts, with his bout with Mwale not being an exception. But he finally knocked Mwale with a tremendous uppercut. At the time of the knockout, Mwale had his back turned towards me, resulting in me not seeing the actual knockout punch. But I remember seeing moisture flying straight up off of Mwale's head when the blow landed.

The promotional group, Muhammad Ali Professional Sports (MAPS), staged the boxing show featuring the bout between Saad and Mwale. MAPS staged quite a number boxing shows that drew extremely small crowds and gates, resulting in the gates generally being only a small fraction of the total money that MAPS spent on the expenses of staging shows. It was thought that MAPS was spending "seed money" to be viable later on. But people were wondering where MAPS was getting the money. It turned out that the money came from an embezzlement scheme to the tune of about 15 million dollars at a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Beverly Hills, California.

- Chuck Johnston

[dagosd2000]

I myself saw the bout between Mathew Saad Muhammad and Lotte Mwale. Yes, Saad generally was an extremely slow starter and absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment in his bouts, with his bout with Mwale not being an exception. But he finally knocked Mwale with a tremendous uppercut. At the time of the knockout, Mwale had his back turned towards me, resulting in me not seeing the actual knockout punch. But I remember seeing moisture flying straight up off of Mwale's head when the blow landed.

The promotional group, Muhammad Ali Professional Sports (MAPS), staged the boxing show featuring the bout between Saad and Mwale. MAPS staged quite a number boxing shows that drew extremely small crowds and gates, resulting in the gates generally being only a small fraction of the total money that MAPS spent on the expenses of staging shows. It was thought that MAPS was spending "seed money" to be viable later on. But people were wondering where MAPS was getting the money. It turned out that the money came from an embezzlement scheme to the tune of about 15 million dollars at a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Beverly Hills, California.

- Chuck Johnston

You"re right about the KO punch being a left hook. it was over like that.As for the embezzlement scheme.What became of that?

[dagosd2000]

A Second Home

Of all those future Cubans who managed to escape Castro's net and find a place where they could resume their fistic careers Jose Napoles made the most comfortable landing.I'm talking besides Jose-Benny Paret,Luis Rodriguez,Sugar Ramos,and Jose Legra. With the exception of Napoles,the others first found refuge at Chris Dundee's 5th Street Gym in Miami.They all dabbled awhile in Mexico,but only Napoles and Ramos stayed in the country that looked like an upside down sombrero.It seems natural that those Latinos would take to Mexico,a country loaded with aficianados. But being Latino doesn't mean your cousins are of the kissin' kind.

Latin America is as complex a society as there is on the globe. Color of skin,personality traits,cuisine,music;throw all that in with logistics and the complexities the montage is staggering.The initial bonds,if there are any, is language and religion. But that won't necessarily provide enough cement to bind things together.

For starters none of those guys was going to take a crash course in English.In Mexico there's a certain pride not to learn nor speak English unless you want to show off or use that to some advantage. Until recently it was against Mexican law for a president to make a speech in any other language but Spanish.It unofficially goes for a fighter too especially one wearing a championship belt.Ever hear Olivares,Chavez,or Canelo sing "I'm A Yankee Doodle Dandy?"

But getting back to where these guys eventually put down stakes. Legra fought a few in Mexico but it was the former Cuban fighter Kid Tunero who lived in Spain who invited"The Pocket Ali" to try his luck in Espana.Legra took him up on it and resumed his fistic career in the Iberian peninsula. As great a Legra was he was upstaged by the native Pedro Carrasco. Would you say it had something to do with Jose's sepia complexion? Of course it did. Spain looks down their noses on Latin America. Between the Indian and blacks that have mixed themselves with the populace in South America it's a good case for a discrimination lawyer.

Luis Rodriguez stayed in Miami with the other Cuban exiles but never established himself with a fan base outside of Dade County.It was the same with Paret.So you might want to ask why didn't these guys, with the exceptions of Napoles and Ramos,put on the tri color and start singing with the mariachis?The answer is simple. They didn't take to Mexico and Mexico sensed that so they served their tamales cold. They stayed together in Dundee's 5th Street Gym.

So that leaves us with Ramos and Napoles. I'll deal with Ramos first. When he beat Davey Moore he beat a fighter that was having his way with Mexican fighters. Davey was pure African/American in nature and didn't deal kindly fighting Mexicans in their country let alone in their bullrings. Mexico hated the guy. But there wasn't another Mexican featherweight around who stood a chance with him.Then there was this black exile from Cuba who was polite as hell except he dealt the devil in his fists.When he killed Davey Moore in Dodger Stadium it threw a monkey wrench into his confidence.He had also killed a fighter in Cuba. He questioned why he was a fighter.He was seeing a priest and a psychiatrist. Having problems making a 125 pounds he fought Vicente Saldivar for Mexican featherweight bragging rights. He was stopped by the national in a fight that made Vicente and put Ramos on a downward spiral. He would never move ahead of Jose Napoles in the popularity polls.

Now it's Jose time. He never openly said it but I think he liked being a 'Mexican' more than a Cuban.He was the first outsider in Mexican history where the president (Diaz Ordaz) interceded to expedite the citizenship for a foreigner.After all his ring victories he'd don the big sombrero and bring the mariachis into the ring and sing to his heart's content.He starred in a movie with the Mexican wrestling idol "El Santo" (Jose boxing the villains,"El Santo putting them in headlocks).The famous mariachi ,Jose Alfredo Jimenez, wrote a song in tribute to Naploes,"El Rey"(The King) They would walk arm in arm and sing for all the aficianados in every cantina in the Zona Rosa in Mexico City.Jose had Mexican wives and more novias that would have given Pancho Villa a run for his peso. After he hung up his gloves he formed a music group,a Salsa band,and toured the Republic stiffing his fellow musicians on cue in every pueblo.I heard him once in Tijuana at The Rancho Grande Bar. His wife was a singer and had a beautiful voice and a body to match.There was a fight in the middle of the dance floor and Jose cued the band into the "Gillette Blue Blade" song like it was another tune up fight.

When Napoles won the title from Cokes the Mexican scribes asked him how he felt about Mexico.

"If they throw me in the middle of the ocean I listen for the mariachis and I know where to swim back."

I can't imagine Louie Rodriguez saying that.


JOse Napoles after the Stracey fight that convinced Jose to make a career change.


The Rancho Grande Bar on Revolution Street

[dagosd2000]

I remember when i was living in Tijuana I'd take the kids to the Saturday morning matinees at the Cine Bujazan on Constituirion Ave. to watch this movie with Napoles and the legendary El Santo. Also on the marquis was La India Maria. Lots of noise.Lousy movies.All those old theaters in TJ are gone.

[Chuck1052]

I myself saw the bout between Mathew Saad Muhammad and Lotte Mwale. Yes, Saad generally was an extremely slow starter and absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment in his bouts, with his bout with Mwale not being an exception. But he finally knocked Mwale with a tremendous uppercut. At the time of the knockout, Mwale had his back turned towards me, resulting in me not seeing the actual knockout punch. But I remember seeing moisture flying straight up off of Mwale's head when the blow landed.

The promotional group, Muhammad Ali Professional Sports (MAPS), staged the boxing show featuring the bout between Saad and Mwale. MAPS staged quite a number boxing shows that drew extremely small crowds and gates, resulting in the gates generally being only a small fraction of the total money that MAPS spent on the expenses of staging shows. It was thought that MAPS was spending "seed money" to be viable later on. But people were wondering where MAPS was getting the money. It turned out that the money came from an embezzlement scheme to the tune of about 15 million dollars at a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Beverly Hills, California.

- Chuck Johnston

You"re right about the KO punch being a left hook. it was over like that.As for the embezzlement scheme.What became of that?

I don't recall many of the details, Roger. But Muhammad Ali Professional Sports went down in flames.

- Chuck Johnston

[scartissue]

I myself saw the bout between Mathew Saad Muhammad and Lotte Mwale. Yes, Saad generally was an extremely slow starter and absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment in his bouts, with his bout with Mwale not being an exception. But he finally knocked Mwale with a tremendous uppercut. At the time of the knockout, Mwale had his back turned towards me, resulting in me not seeing the actual knockout punch. But I remember seeing moisture flying straight up off of Mwale's head when the blow landed.

The promotional group, Muhammad Ali Professional Sports (MAPS), staged the boxing show featuring the bout between Saad and Mwale. MAPS staged quite a number boxing shows that drew extremely small crowds and gates, resulting in the gates generally being only a small fraction of the total money that MAPS spent on the expenses of staging shows. It was thought that MAPS was spending "seed money" to be viable later on. But people were wondering where MAPS was getting the money. It turned out that the money came from an embezzlement scheme to the tune of about 15 million dollars at a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Beverly Hills, California.

- Chuck Johnston

You"re right about the KO punch being a left hook. it was over like that.As for the embezzlement scheme.What became of that?

I don't recall many of the details, Roger. But Muhammad Ali Professional Sports went down in flames.

- Chuck Johnston

And the man behind it all, Harold Smith, went to prison. I heard when he got out he went back to trying his hand at promoting again, but no big card sticks out in my head that he may have promoted. I guess without the funds of Wells Fargo, he didn't go very far.

[dagosd2000]

"I've never been around so many crummy people in all my days."
Ed "Too Tall "Jones commenting on his days as a professional fighter.

[dagosd2000]

A Different Breed Of Cat

You can make a case that fighter's are off to the side from other athletes. I say this because when i was hanging around the various boxing gyms,arenas,training camps;I never heard a fighter pay much attention to any other athlete,team,game,or sporting event.Fighters were absorbed in fighting and what chump change they could take home after a fight to either pay the rent or spend on booze and broads. Once in awhile I'd bring up to one of the locals pugs like Ronnie Wilson if he'd like to take in a Padres baseball game or watch the pro basketball team play at The Sports Arena. I was lucky to get a glance. I don't think any of those guys knew who Willie Mays was or cared. They never read the sports page.I once heard Muhammad Ali on the Mike Douglas Show that he didn't know how many ball players took the field in a game. He didn't act embarrassed nor seem to care. Hell, he was the heavyweight champ of the world. What did a relief pitcher mean to him?

But you watch a big fight and there's Lebron or Clayton Kershaw in the first row getting bugged by autograph hounds.Football players like going to the fights. I think in the back of their minds they know that fighters have more in the tough guy department than they do.

Jim Brown,the running back, used to crack me up. He always thought that Clay(later Ali) was a little soft and Brown liked to pose like a bad ass when he was with the champ. But Ali was not only more of a bad ass but he could see through Brown's intentions.One time The Greatest got tired of JB's little game. He dared Brown to try to hit him.Brown didn't want to wind up with egg on his face so he went throught with it. What a joke.Here's Brown throwing punches at Ali like an old lady missing by a mile while Ali is laughing at him.I don't think Brown ever wanted Ali to win a fight and associated himself with ilk like himself,Liston and Foreman, to give The Louisville Lip a wuppin' like Brown wished he could put on him.Brown could never find himself in that winning corner.

Young Cassius ,like so many fighters,never played Little league Baseball nor Pop Warner Football, and couldn't sink a free throw. He never followed the teams. He couldn't tell you who made the All Stars. One time in San Diego when he was training to fight Ken Norton, big bad Deacon Jones showed up at the workout. The All Pro defensive end was standing in the back and for whatever reason he starts mocking Ali.Everyone is giving him side glances and of course Ali doesn't know who this guy is that's shooting off his mouth.
"Who is that guy?"Ali snapped as he stopped sparring and began giving Jones a hard look.
"Why that's Deacon Jones,"said someone who probably knew what Ali's next move would be.
"Is he a wrestler?"shot back Ali.
I could see Jones start to shift his feet.Ali grabbed a pair of gloves.He flung them across at Jones that landed at his feet.
"Put them on n----r",yelled Ali.
Before you could say Ali throws a baseball like a girl Deacon Jones had already run out to the parking lot.


Muhammad Ali

[dagosd2000]

I Think You're Gonna' Like This Picture

Remember that TV program "The Bob Cummings Show?"That was a weird one. At the beginning of his show he'd come out with his camera and say,"I think you're gonna' like this picture."I know I sometimes can't get my head out of the 50's but when i talk about that era it's about the stuff I liked. The good ol' days are about just the good ol' times I savored.But there sure was a lot of stuff that stunk.The Bob Cummings show(It was also called "Love That Bob"was about as kinky as it gets).This oversexed photographer ,who lived with his sister and his nephew, who wanted to screw his models more than take their picture would run through every episode with his fly unzipped offering every devious tactic to bed the latest 38-24-26 while in the meantime trying to elude the latent nymphomaniac
Pamela Livingstone who was some kind of birdwatcher. I forgot to mention that he also had a grandpa who flew around in an old bi plane who and had a stiffy in his pants and was right in there to score sloppy seconds on any of his grandson's squeezes that couldn't pull up their panties fast enough.

So what does this have to do with boxing? Well.I was reading some of the "biggest personalities" thread about which fighter liked to hold court in his various watering holes and pose with all the boys for a picture that would then grace the wall in back of the bar.There's the connection.

Since bar hopping was a stock in trade for the fighters in Tijuana I got to thinking about what fighter's I have seen the most in the local reataurants,cafes,night clubs,cantinas,and whore houses.Let's see. When Olivares was on top you could see him swallowed in a sea of aficianados,glasses in hand, surrounded by the mariachis. Yeah,if you could work your way into that photo that was a badge of honor.

Jibaro Perez was right up there.He was a local boy and he was even more popular than Chavez at the time,at least in TJ.I saw plenty of backslappers in those pics wanting to drop his name to their friends.

But though he wasn't from TJ(he has a house there now)Julio Cesar Chavez has more 8x10's framed on the barroom walls than any other fighter I've seen.

After "Terrible" beat Pac Man his fighting pose began popping up around town,but he still couldn't outnumber Julio when it came to the number of glossies. BTW. Archie Moore had a beautiful painting hanging in the Bar Coronet that was located just off Revolution Street. He is only American fighter I remember having the honor bestowed.There were three other paintings hanging besides the one of The Mongoose.Jose Napoles,Lauro Salas,and Manual Ortiz, I tried to buy them from the woman who owned the bar.They were her husband's. He had passed away ,but for sentimental reasons would not let them go.I didn't press the matter.

So there you have it. Julio Cesar Chavez ,I guess,is the winner. Canelo might go down in history as the best ever Mexican pugilist but he doesn't make it to Tijuana that often. Besides, I can't fathom him socializing in a place like the Adelita Bar in the Coahuila.But you'd be surprised how many of those girls have their personal photos of them standing beside famous Mexican celebrities(including fighters) pasted in their scrapbooks.I bet Julio Cesar Chavez you can find standing there next to some Juicy Lucy in some of those albums with a big s--t eating grin. As for Bob Cummings?I can see him maybe in The Donkey Show.


"Gato" Gonzalez

He had a bar in the Coahuila.

[dagosd2000]

Betting And Losing

A couple of things I'd like to make clear.The fighters who have been reached by the mob to lay down,well,,it 's nor a big racket. Mobsters favorite form of recreation is gambling. The racetrack is where you can find most of them hanging out. Sure,they would like to fix all the races,but that's impossible.In fact very few horseraces are not on the level. You've got to think that you're dealing with an animal who doesn't understand English.

The Mob guys make money the easy way so when they go to the track they usually dump it all back to feed the horses. Then they go out and collect on their numbers racket for example and then go back to the track and throw it all away again.Al Capone was one of the biggest gambling degenerates to ever go through the turnstiles. He lost millions at the track.

That brings us to fighting. It's easier to reach a fighter than a horse so you saw the Mob sticking their dirty fingers into boxing. They controlled the commissions and could call the shots on who was going to get the breaks. But because it's easier to rig a fight than a horserace didn't mean that fixing fights was a cash cow for organized crime. If a fighter didn't do what he was told wouldn't fight anymore.They didn't break his legs or blow up his car(with him in it).That would bring in the Heat. The pug just wouldn't fight anymore in the big venues and never get a shot at a title. It was an easy way for the Wise Guys to make some chump change,but as far as income derived from phony fights it never came close to rivaling bootleg booze,controlling unions,overseeing legalized gambling in Nevada,prostitution,kidnapping,,running numbers,hijacking and robberies,extortion,or narcotics.

When one of the posters asked me about an article in Ring Magazine that alluded that The Syndicate was afraid of Sugar Ray Robinson because he knew a known drug trafficker in Harlem I couldn't believe it. Ring Magazine who calls itself he "Bible Of Boxing." Incredible!They made it up to sell their dying rag of a magazine.

For starters organized crime has always looked at fighters as being dummies. Marciano was probably one of the few that the Italian gangsters looked after.But the rest? No. A fighter is a moron. Some caveman who goes into the ring time after time and gets his head kicked in and then leaves with scrambled eggs for brains. Sonny Liston was a perfect example. A goon for Ash Resnick in Las Vegas, Liston was ridiculed and took it because he knew if he tried to pull any rough stuff they'd find him dead somewhere no questions asked. And that's just what happened. As far as Sugar Ray Robinson he was no street fighter.When he was a kid his big sister would fight his battles with the kids that picked on him.

As much bravado Mike Tyson showed the public Don King left him out on a limb high and dry. When Tyson finally realized that King never had his interests at heart and was stealing his money. It was too late. The money was gone and King wasn't going to give any of it back.So Mike goes around bullying everyone he pleases except the guys he knows that could waste him away like they did to Sonny Liston.

Yeah,Mob guys like to bet on sports but they're big losers but not as big as the losers than the fighters who get mixed up with them.

Don King
Forgot to paint him waving the American flag.

[dagosd2000]

A Lot Of Hot Air

"Is the fight on?"asked my old man as he walked into the living room.
"No ,Not yet,"I said as I was sitting in front of the TV set.
"Well,what are you watching?"
"This is the pre fight show."
"What the hell is the pre fight show?"
"Well,they get these panelists together and they sit around and tell you about who is going to win the fight and who is going to lose the fight and why."
"When did they start doing this?"
"All the networks are doing this for all the fights and games.Even when the fight is over they explain what happened."
"What's there to explain if you just watched it?"
"I don't know.Everybody is dong it."
"They must think we're all idiots. Pretty soon we won't be able to think for ourselves.We'll have to turn on the TV to get all the answers."
"I don't know what to tell you."
"Well,let me know when the fight starts,"he said as he waiked out.

This conversation was sometime in the late 1980's. I can't remember the fight but the incident stuck in my mind.Today,with all the hundreds of sports talk shows on the TV running around the clock 24/7 my old man would have really been pulling his hair out.But I have to say I'm like him. I can't stand watching these talking heads sit around a table getting their noses out of joint about if LeBron is the GOAT.Then there are the lists. They're consumed with compiling lists. For example,the Top 100 of whatever. How in the hell can you split hairs between who's number 76 and who is number 77?But to these characters this is supposed to be fun. The only thing is when there is a disagreement they get all pissed off like you dare questioned their intelligence.

The other day I switched on to ESPN and here's this Steven A. who's always pissed off and that everything he says is engraved in stone and when he's talking everyone should be bowing at his feet.Well,this milk toast Max Kellerman said something and this Steven A. gave him a glare like he wanted to vault across the table and rip his lungs out. it was something about LeBron.Like we should take LeBron seriously in the first place.Imagine if you've got insomnia and you're watching this crap at 3 in the morning?No wonder anti depressant drugs are the most highly prescribed dope in the world.

I remember when Don Larsen pitched his perfect game in The World Serious against the Dodgers. I was watching the Vin Scully broadcast.Well, back then there was no pre game. As the game moved along Scully did the traditional thing and didn't mention anything about Larsen's potential "No No."At the start of the 9th Scully said that we are on the verge of watching something that has never been done in a World Serious game.When Larsen got stirke 3 looking on pinch hitter Dale Mitchell to end the game Yogi ran out to the mound and leaped onto Larsen and everyone was jumping around and acting crazy. But it was all over in a matter of minutes.There was no post game interviews on the field nor in the TV studio.Scully added his eloquence and by then the players were back in the locker room.Next thing you knew it was time for the Ed Sullivan Show.

Well, it ain't that way now. You'll have Steven A,. talking down to all of us like we didn't understand a thing we were watching and if you don't take his word for it you're just another idiot.I'd like to start a list for biggest gas bag on TV.Steven A. you' made it to the top.Congratulations. Now if I had to add another 99 it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.



Steven A.What's the deal with the "A"? I could tell you what I think it stands for

[dagosd2000]

600 Dollars

I see where things have begun catching up with this Shock Jock on the radio,Howard Stern. In the last several years he's been in therapy.He says that his sessions have saved his life.He says that when he reflects back that he hurt a lot of people with his acerbic tongue. He made a point of saying that he stuck it to Robin Williams when the comedian walked into the studio and Stern shock jocked him blurting something out about him having a secret affair with his mistress.Stern wanted to completely catch him off guard. That's the mark of a Shock Jock. Keep your adversary off balance and pin him to the ropes.

But he only mentioned Robin Williams.Stern said he felt he may have attributed to Williams taking his life when he spoke out of turn. Williams was no lightweight. He was a big boy who won Academy and Golden Globe awards. He starred in TV shows and movies.He was a rich man.But I wished that Howard would have mentioned this guy he'd bring on the show he called "Hank The Drunken Dwarf."Stern would parade Hank into the studio in front of his roly poly whatever her role was Robin Quivers and then they'd both lay into him. Of course Hank had had a snoot full and was a midget and the laughs were at his expense.Hank wanted to make a fool of himself and of course Stern and Quivers let him carry on and act the fool because that was good for the ratings.Hank acted like an idiot and didn't care if anyone knew..The one person who publicly objected to Hank's treatment on the show was Hank's mother. I heard her talking once. She bore a heavy heart because she knew that this kind of behavior was destroying her son.I'm sure Stern and Quivers knew this as well,but if you're going to be a Shock Jock then you have to lose all boundaries.Hank died of a heart attack.I wonder if Stern ever discussed Hank with his shrink.But Hank was small potatoes compared to Robin Williams.

One time Stern had the ex heavyweight champ,Buster Douglas, on his show with his lawyer. Buster was thinking of making a comeback but first he had to beat his diabetes and take off a couple of hundred pounds. Buster was sitting there taking up just about all the TV screen with his lawyer next to him who resembled that conniving little swindler Calhoun on that Amos n' Andy TV Show. Buster is blustering along wearing an outfit that looked like a bad upholstery job on a 61 Edsel. HIs lawyer is just taking all this in when Stern cuts to the chase.
"Tell me Buster,"interrupted Stern."I've always wondered how much money you cleared fighting Mike Tyson?"
Buster shifted in his seat and looked up at the ceiling.
"Welll,you have to take out expenses. There's the promoter's cut. Then the manager's. The trainers get theirs. Then there's the hotel and all the food and drinks. Advertising.The plane reservations.The hotel.Insurance.All the comp tickets.The money to be buy clothes for al the events plus any entertainment.Oh,I almost forgot the taxes on everything.I'd say I walked away with 600 dollars."
Douglas's lawyer was looking at his client as he mentioned all the overhead. He looked a little figety clutching his brief case with his sweaty palms.In the meantime Stern's jaw dropped to the floor.
"You mean to say that you won the heavyweight title beating Mike Tyson and walked away with only 600 dollars?"
"Well, like I said there were expenses."
"Dude you got screwed."
Now it was Douglas's turn to let his mouth come open.
"You really think so?"
"Why don't you ask your lawyer."
Douglas's lawyer's body language was out of his seat by then.Douglas then shifted his bulk towards his lawyer.
"You wouldn't want to take advantage of me would you?" asked the 400 pound comeback man.
The lawyer first cleared his throat.
"Why no.Of course not," he meekly replied.
Douglas just stared at him.It was a look that I don't think the lawyer had ever seen before from his client.
"So you're saying I got taken advantage of?"asked Douglas again.
"Just ask your lawyer,"said Stern.
By now his lawyer was out of camera range and had left the building.Talk about a shock.


Buster Douglas

[dagosd2000]

The Way To A fighter's Heart Is Through His Stomach

Looking back at all the times I spent with fighters in San Diego in the various boxing gyms they never gave much thought about what they put into their stomachs.Most of the gyms were located in what I'd say a cut way below the middle class neighborhoods. Some were situated in places you wouldn't want to be caught alone at night walking around whistling a happy tune.But fighters are no different than any other athlete.They need to eat to refuel their bodies in order to train and be prepared to go into the ring. But I never heard of anyone talk about what a fighter should ingest into his stomach to get the most benefit out of what he was swallowing.

For example the eateries around the old Coliseum were mostly greasy spoons-dubious Mexican taco joints(stay away from the menudo during the middle of the week because you could smell it out into the street when passing by),those thinly wrapped sandwiches with the stale bread and the one slice of baloney they sold in the liquor stores,the broken down roach coaches where everything tasted the same including the roaches,and your handy 7/11 that featured everything thing that had fat and salt listed as the primary ingredients. And of course to wash it down there were all the soft drinks in the world that could start a diabetes epidemic.

Now I'm no gourmet especially,so i'll eat just about anything, but there were times when even I'd back off eating around the old Coliseum. The main reason is that the Health department had no qualms about posting a "C" rating in the window of one of those places to make room for all the green flies to sit and stare at all the winos and hypes that walked through the door. Jaundice was no stranger to that neighborhood. All those yellow eyes gave it away.

But after a day of working out if I were to suggest to let's say Ronnie Wilson or Denny Moyer that we go somewhere where the food didn't move on your plate, they'd say if I wanted to spring they'd go.If not, it was to the liquor store for a baloney sandwich wrapped in cellophane and a Coke.

Counting calories and reading about how much protein was on a label was for neurotics. Food had nothing to do with fighting unless a guy needed to shed some pounds.A fighter figured a steak was the best thing to eat.Red meat built muscle. Fish was for sissies. And if you were a vegetarian you probably handed out towels in the steam room at the Turkish bath.

Well, I don't have to tell you that all that has changed now.Especiallly with the top echelon fighters.They have all these specialists around that make them do all these unique exercises like tipping over semi truck tires and holding these heavy corded ropes in each hand and then move them up and down. They make the fighters hop on and off wooden boxes and are taking their pulse rates more than a Ben Casey on meth. I think of all that time that could be spent on working with a fighter's footwork,practicing the jab,how to slip and counter. But to tell the truth I don't think most of the trainers know that much about the nuts and bolts about boxing so they have these guys run through obstacle courses.And of course there's what you should and shouldn't eat.

If a fighter eats a balanced diet of healthy food it'll will get him through a fight on way to the championship. I wonder what some guy says to himself when he's flat on his back looking up at the ring lights if he should have drunk more electrolytes before he got hit by some sucker punch?

[dagosd2000]

Lard In The Hole

After writing that little ditty this morning about the greasy spoon restaurants around the old Coliseum I remembered one place on the corner of 16th and Island that was a few blocks from the arena called Ofelias. it was a little Mexican joint.Not very big inside; a counter with about a half dozen stools and a few booths along the wall. It didn't start to pick up until after the bars closed around 2 in the morning. that's when all the drunks would file in and gorge themselves with good ol' Mexican food piled high on the platters soaked in manteca-pig fat. I'll include myself when it came to assaulting my liver. After a night of going to the fights and then traipsing through the neighborhood frequentlng such dens of sin as the Chee Club and The Lucky Lady I made sure that my wallet was bone dry.

The Lucky Lady could have done a hell of a business across the border in Tijuana. I never saw a bar in San Diego quite like it.By that time the area was more Mexican than black. The Lucky Lady was right across the street from Ofelias.You'd walk inside and there were all these big round tables and sitting there were all these big round Mexican women. I'm guessing they lived in the neighborhood, and when they went home everyone called them "abuelita."The house band was "Poli Chavez and His Coronados.They were really very good. They new all the kick sh-tting Mexican songs and if you knew how to slide in there you could swing one of these Mexican grandmas around the dance floor if your arms were long enough.However,there was a city ordinance that didn't allow these women with the nylons that reached up to their knees to ask for any money. And of course if you left out the front door with one of them they couldn't come back again to sit at one of those big round tables.So they had o make their big score the first time and hope you had deep pockets so that they could drain them dry.

But at the end of a night's festivities I always found myself sitting at the counter at Ofelias sopping up a big bowl of menudo. Ofelia owned the place with her husband whose name was Wilfrano. .He stayed mostly in the back in the kitchen making sure everyone got a sampling of his salmonella laced entrees while his wife strutted around with her ruby red lipstick serving the customers wearing her mini skirt showing her knobby knees and a few warts around her ankles. Her put up hair had so much spray net in it it could have supported a .platter of nachos. But to tell the truth she was sexy. At 2 in the morning after guzzling a pint of tequila and swinging one of those Mexican grandmas around the dance floor at The Lucky Lady, Ofelia looked like a tasty enchilada.

But me and Ofelia had a plan. She would ask me to dump the used manteca that was in a giant vat into the outside drain and I could have the menudo on the house. I think back on all the times I dumped that hot crusty lard into that drain and I'm surprised it didn't clog up San Diego harbor.


Street scene in The Barrio

[goose 5]

In the immortal words of Angelo Dundee: "Nutrition sucks".

[goose 5]

Just to clarify, Dundee went on to explain that fighters don't need to hire nutritionists.

[dagosd2000]

Just to clarify, Dundee went on to explain that fighters don't need to hire nutritionists.

[dagosd2000]

The Italian Scallion

Frank Sinatra wanted everybody to think he was a tough guy.He was an only child and his mother doted on him because her husband as the years passed took her for granted. Sinatra's father,Marty,thought that his son should have gone out and looked for a normal job instead of wanting to be a crooner like Bing Crosby.They say Marty was a fighter, but back then everyone was a "fighter" because if you went to the neighborhood gym you more than likely boxed a little. They say Marty had a few fights. By the way ,I was an amateur baseball player. I played ball in high school..So does that make me a Joe DiMaggio?

Well, Sinatra was persistent enough and even took singing lessons and hooked up with a few bands. When he landed a spot with Tommy Dorsey he shoved Bing Crosby to the back burner.Sinatra married his sweetheart, Nancy, and had everything going for him,. But Dorsey was jealous of Sinatra and wouldn't release him from his contract with the band so Frank could venture out on his own. Now frank being Italian knew that he could use his dago blood to his advantage. He sang at all those Mob guy's daughter's weddings for free and used his greaseball contacts as an ace in the hole. One day some guys whose names ended in vowels paid Tommy Dorsey a visit and the next thin you knew Frank Sinatra was freelancing.He sang at all the Mob joints like Skinny D'Amato's 500 Club in Jersey and became a familiar face with all those guys the FBI had in their files but never messed with.

The Mob liked Sinatra.He was a mama's boy who wanted to act like a tough guy so they laughed it off and always made sure he had enough muscle with him that no one would pick on him.I remember I saw Sinatra in the lounge at Caesar's Palace once. He was playing black jack and he had with him two whales that looked like that guy in The Godfather movie who was Marlon Brando's bodyguard,Luca Brasi.With Sinatra having those two guys watching his back he got cocky. He'd start drinking and then begin shooting off his mouth.He was losing heavy and started to insult everyone within earshot,The female dealer was really catching it. I thought it showed no class.



Earlier, when he was making the rounds at The Sands he got on a losing streak and the manager,Carl Cohen,cut him off at the tables. Sinatra had a melt down. He got drunk and started breaking all the furniture in his room and went looking for Cohen driving a golf cart through a plate glass window,When he finally caught up with Cohen in the dining room he called him a "kike" and the next thing you know Sinatra is on the floor minus his two front teeth. (Where were Shamu and Willy?)

Sinatra never gave an interview where he didn't want to to establish that if you asked him the wrong question he'd curse you up and down ala Mike Tyson. He knew he had leverage because he'd always play the Mafia card. He once said he'd rather be a "Mafia Don" than president.(Great role model).The thing was that the Mafia used Sinatra as a front. Because he had no criminal record he was a front man for the Mob's various enterprises. They also used his influence with the Hollywood starlets.Mob guys don't look like Paul Newman.

Sinatra was notorious for screwing his best pal's wife or girlfriend.When Humphrey Bogart formed the original "Rat Pack" he invited his pal,Frank Sinatra, to sit in.By that time Bogart was dying of cancer, So Sinatra saw it was a good time to move in on Bogey's vulnerable wife, Lauren Bacall.He got what he wanted but also had promised to marry her to help get what he wanted.Of course when he proposed to her he had his fingers crossed behind his back.

When Joe DiMaggio was starting to lose Marilyn Monroe Joltin' Joe went to Frank,his goomba,to see if he could patch things up.Right away Sinatra turned her on to drugs,got in her pants,and then threw her aside to all his friends including the Kennedys.

Speaking of the Kennedys. Old nan Joe Kennedy knew his son needed to carry Illinois in the presidential election so he played the ace up his sleeve by the name of Sam Giancana who was running things for Toney Accardo in Chicago.Frank Sinatra was the liaison.It was a world record for "dead guys" to vote in an election. But Sam came through with the promise from Sinatra that John and Bobby would lay hands off on the Mob. WRONG! Bobby Kenndy,the AG,went after the Mob like no other cop in history. It even shook up J.Edgar Hoover.Every wise guy wanted to be the one to put a bullet in Sinatra but Giancana said that would bring too much heat on everybody so they cancelled the contract.

When WW II broke out Sinatra got his call to go down to the draft board but not before he visited the Syndicate guys on the committee. He got rejected because of a punctured eardrum. Now all these 18 year olds who got their notices and had to put up with their girlfriends swooning to Sinatra singing "Now Or Nothing At All' put up a stink.Scribes like Westbrook Pegler scathed Sinata in the papers on a weekly basis. But after the war was over Sinatra was in plenty of "war" movies or portraying former battle heroes. The guy was too much.

I guess if you erased Frank Sinatra from of the "American Song Book"there would be an unfillable hole.So when I listen to one of his songs I try to think about something else.Like what it would be like to screw Marilyn Monroe.


Frank Sinatra posing with his Mob buddies.What a jerk


Sinatra posing like he's Willie Pep. What a jerk

[dagosd2000]

Keeping my fingers crossed that Tijuanero Luis Nery puts on a good show tonight against Brandon Figuuroa to unify the super bantam weight titles. Nery reminds me a lot of Vicente Saldiver-southpaw,likes to work the body first,great chin.He'll take a shot to give one back. I think he's as good as Canelo because at his weight there are a lot of hot fighters out there now. It's not Canelo's fault but there isn't anyone that can give him a fight at 168 pounds.Jaime Munguia is also from TJ.He's good but not as god as Nery. But he weighs in at 160 around there. That would be a good fight for Canelo. Both Mexican. Munguia undefeated. But right now Canelo is too good for him. I was asked today by the guy who services my car and lives in Tijuana if Nery and Munguia train at The CREA in the Rio section of Tijuana. I'm sure they ate familiar with The CREA but if they want to get good work in to prep for a fight I would think they train elsewhere.

[dagosd2000]

Figueroa/Nery.Fight Of The Year. The ol' left hook to the liver did in Luis. No one would argue a rematch.

[dagosd2000]

Headache

There isn't a sport in the world where the athlete is more separated from everyone else than boxing. There isn't a sport in the world where the athlete needs to be in peak form in order to succeed. The writers who make their living at the keyboard pecking away about boxing;the promoters;managers;trainers;the guys in the booth giving their two cents worth.They are light years away from what goes on the ring. Today we see former fighters commenting.It's their words that carry the most weight. You try to put yourself in their shoes to get a feel of what it is like.It's just a feel.Adjectives are inadequate. My tiny tastes of actual boxing would have left me in dire straits of malnutrition.

I thought about it at one time-to be a fighter. It's easier to think about being a fighter than jumping in with both feet. If you're humping in with both feet you better know how to swim because the reality of it can be overwhelming. .My just horsing around in the gym,let's say,was all I needed to resolutely know that boxing wasn't for me. After every sparring session I would go home with a headache. How long would this routine last? If this was part of the game I needed to find another sport,like the one where you where a helmet,to test my mettle.

I reached the level with football where I wasn't competitive anymore. I was kind of glad that my skill level betrayed me instead of my guts.Boxing was different. I wasn't any Joe Frazier for sure but I didn't want to work that hard to see if there was some kind of Joltin' Joe inside me. It was those headaches that scared me.

How many fighters out thee go home with the headaches and think it comes with the territory? How many wives of fighters have nervous breakdowns thinking their husbands will have that the worst case scenario in their next fight>

It was always interesting to watch Manny Pacquiao's wife sitting at ringside. Here's one of the greatest fighters who ever lived working like a horse trying to do what he has to do to win ;and here's Mrs. Pacquiao praying to God he comes out of everything OK. After the fight she looked more worn out than her husband.

This morning I watched the replay of the Figueroa/Nery fight. For 7 rounds these two did nothing but trade punches. It was like whose will would prevail ,or who would break first.You wonder what was going through their minds?
"I hit this guy with my best shot and he keeps coming at me."
The way it ended was very unexpected and sudden.There was nothing dirty.Figeuroa caught Nery with the left hook to the liver. It was right on the button during an exchange.The left hook to the liver will end the chances of any fighter regardless.It was over just like that. The punch;the delayed reaction;and down went Nery. You knew he couldn't get up in time. i've never seen anyone do it.

I got hit on the liver playing football. As I was going down I could taste my blood. That was the last play of the game for me. Last night I wondered how both boys felt when it was over.Once the liver shot wears off you're all right. But you'll never beat the ten count. It's the headache that stays with you.Both boys must have had one.


Prelude to a headache.