Classic American West Coast Boxing

[dagosd2000]

Have you read Sugar Ray Robinson: Beyond The Boxer ? It's free on amazon if you have a kindle. Well worth reading, Roger.

Don't have a Kindle. I'm a tech dinosaur.But anyone that could capture Ray Robinson in a book would have to be a genius.

[dagosd2000]

After writing my impressions of the weekend's West Coast Boxing Hall Of Fame event I was thinking that it is only one of two such ceremonies that take place on the West Coast. I'm thinking of giving Rick Farris an eternal gift certificate to 24 Hour Fitness and a case of coupons to GNC to keep him from wearing himself out.



Dwight Hawkins and Rick

[dagosd2000]

In A Little Corner Of The World

They finally got the restart on the West Coast Boxing Hall Of Fame banquet over the weekend. I could feel my lungs breathing in the airagain.It was Rick Farris going all out again.He doesn't leave a leaf unturned. I don't know how he does it but I am sure of one thing-he's got a passion for his baby and when it's over his adrenal glands are on empty.

The event took place at the Loews Hollywood Hotel inside the banquet room on the mezzanine.400 tables filled to capacity with hardcore fans.A roll call of deserving names who traded leather inside Tinsel Towns venues ,some that are no loner standing but leaving a mental footprint.That's why there's this convening.-to bring back the memories that make up our lives. Of course there were the people behind the scenes who put the matches together who were recognized,and the scribes who described the action getting their kudos. And those awards? A brilliant stroke of Rick's to have the boxing's foremost artist of the sport,Jun Aquino ,who was in attendance,paint a personal portrait on a Reyes glove(BTW:Cleto Reyes received an award posthumously)of each inductee..NIce touch.Unique to say the least.

At the tables were the old guard and some new faces but all shared the love of a sport that's struggling to keep fighting and acquire some fresh blood in order to go the distance. Danny and Bonnie Lopez were there of course. Rodolfo Gonzalez,Alex Ramos,Gene Aguilera,Erik Gomez,John Scully,Johnny Bumphus,Ryan O'Neal,Carlos Zarate,to name a few were with friend and family soaking in Southland lore of when that neck of the woods was a cauldron of boxing activity.I'll hear about it if I don't type a few words about my Chi Town buddy Dan Hanley who flies out from the Windy City every year to give a last minute hand to Rick setting things up,and then when it's final bell time we all go down to the bar and swap a few lies over a brewskie.

There was a special award given to a kind of of new kid on the block but who in the last year wrote a blockbuster biography of Eder Jofre.By now you've maybe caught his name,Chris Smith. He had the moxie and the drive to bring Eder Jofre with his son and daughter from Sao Paulo to the festivities and bask in the ambience.I'll put my money on Chris,When it's all said and done, this transplanted Englishman will sit alongside the foremost historians and communicators of the sport of boxing.He'll have to quit his day job(I don't think he'll mind) because he'll be in demand to share what's inside his head about what has gone down in pugilistic history and give boxing a shot of some his adrenaline to keep the pulse beating strongly.

I got a hold of Carlos Zarate for a moment and told him that I had coached a kid on the high school football team whose father had fought the Pride Of Tepito when Zarate was in the midst of destroying any bantamweight who walked out of his corner (before making the sign of the cross)to go toe to toe with the future champ.
"The son always was bragging that his dad had once fought the great Zarate.(It was over inside 2 rounds)". I communicated to Carlos in my broken Spanish.
The great champ paused before commenting ,and then when he did, he displayed an equal greatness of class.
"If you see him again tell him that of course I remember his father and that he was a brave fighter and I give him my respect.Give my blessings to his son."
Another KO.

The late Johnny Tapia was inducted.Perhaps amongst all the moving memories this moment touched me to the heart.Johnny's wife ,Teresa, was with her two sons to receive her husband's award. As she was being introduced with some background stories from the emcee accenting her husband's chaotic life I could see she was wiping away a few tears.When she got to the microphone there was no need for any script in hand. The emotion poured from her heart, through her lips and I thought maybe she wouldn't make it but she gathered herself and said that she was the luckiest woman on earth to have been married to Johnny Tapia.
"Johnny,wherever you are right now I want you to know I'll always love you."
Teresa.I just want to tell you that while you were wearing your heart on your sleeve Johnny was standing beside you all that time and he'll never leave your side.

The West Coast Boxing Hall Of Fame.A little corner of the world that will go the distance as long as the memories continue.



Rick Farris

Eder Jofre

Forgot to mention that Chris had a "Meet And Greet" for the Jofre family in the Arts District in downtown LA on the Saturday before the banquet.. The pictures of Jofre,Zarate,and Nunn were taken at that event.Nice turnout.Everybody enjoyed.Hats off to Chris.

[scartissue]

Rog, class story and class pics, my man.

[dagosd2000]

Rog, class story and class pics, my man.

Thanks Dan.Sitting hear thinking it won't be for roughly another year until we get together again.Same time next year.It keeps getting better and better.What Rick does for boxing in the Southland and those people who get inducted is beyond measure.It means so much to them.Take care pal.Bundle up I can hear that wind blowing in from Lake Michigan.

[dagosd2000]

The Crowd Chaser

I remember when there used to be that 4 round fight after the main event was over that they called "The Crowd Chaser."And for the most part that's what happened. As the fight progressed the crowd started heading for the exits.The few fights that I've attended in recent years I haven't been to a card where they have "The Crowd Chaser" anymore. However, about 10 years ago I did see one. The fight involved a kid who was being managed by his father and that I had grown kind of close to.My grandson,Adam, was learning boxing at the gym where the kid was being trained by his dad. My grandson's teacher of sorts was this kid's dad who put on classes for boxing in the afternoons.

The card was held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds next to the racetrack. I had talked with the kid's father about the up coming event.
"This will be good for my boy,"said the dad."The fights will be televised locally."
"I'll be up there with Adam to watch,"I said. "When will your son be fighting?"
"He'll be in the semi main."
"Well,let's hope he puts on a good show."

We drove up to the fairgrounds which is located on the coast of the town of Del Mar. Parking was free,The crowd was nothing to write home about.But since the fights were going to be shown on TV that's all that mattered,and of course that the kid should win.

The matches promoted by a long time local guy who was about all who was left when it came to sticking his neck out trying to make any money putting together a fight card.He owned some Italian restaurants and also did some promoting along with some people across the border in Tijuana. Being Italian he liked to think of himself as being a Mafia type,a "made guy."He told people that he was connected with the Mob and that that would make people become wary.You'd see him in one of his restaurants and he'd walk through the place in a big swagger singing a Louie Prima repertoire in a big loud voice. He was horrible but that just accented the greaseball image he wanted to exude.

At the fights he would be there with a waitress from one of his restaurants whose main service was to service a customer after she provided him her phone number. Those waitresses' outfits were so skimpy that when they passed your table their but cheeks would get streaked with marinara sauce. This was all show but no go and to fall for his act was what he yearned.

So me and Adam are sitting ringside with the waitresses in front of us acting as ring card girls. After the opener I got up to go to the bathroom and when I got back to my seat Adam showed me a piece of paper that one of the waitresses had given him with her phone number on it.I took from him and told him that I'd take care of that.C'mon,the kid was only 14.

Anyway, the fights are going along and I can see the TV hook up.The fights were pretty crummy to say the least. When you have guys in there with no skills there's a lot of wild swinging with no affect and a lot of holding and they get tired fast and the fights almost always go the distance. I felt like leaving but then we were there to watch the kid fight.

When it was time for the semi main the kid wasn't in the ring. i saw his dad sitting ringside so I asked him what was up.
"They''re going to put him last. after the main event,"he told me.
"You mean the crowd chaser?"
"Yeah.That means it won't be televised."
"I thought he told you that he'd be in the semi main."
"He did but he changed his mind,"said the dad looking down at the floor.
"Why did he change his mind?"
"He didn't say,"he said still with his head down."I didn't want to push it.He's one of those gangster types you know.I don't want no trouble"

I didn't want to say to him that he was a big bluff. The kid fought after the main event had wrapped up(he won a dull decision) and after they had pulled the plug on the camera.What was left of the small crowd vanished.Makes you want to put on a fedora and sing "I Ain't Got Nobody" like Louie Prima.



My grandson Adam showing off his jab in the gym



Louie Prima

[dagosd2000]

A Signature Example

The sports memorabilia craze peeked in the mid 90's.Then the sports card companies shot themselves in the foot by over producing cards ,and when the economy started to crash because of the housing collapse the memorabilia craze followed suit. The value of athletes' autographs also dipped considerably when it started to come out that most of the signatures were fakes.There was an outfit operating here in the north county of San Diego that was forging athletes' signatures a mile a minute and profiting from it hand over fist.Recently, baseball cards are making a comeback with fewer companies printing fewer cards with buyers(it was mostly adults, but now the kids are getting back into it)searching for that needle in a haystack card(that certain rookie card) that will bring in a king's ransom to the collector who unwraps it from the pack.

Baseball memorabilia has always been the main focus for the collector. Football and basketball are distant seconds. However ,a rookie Michael Jordan Topps card in high mint condition will put a good down payment on a house.There's no such card in the football family. But a rookie Wayne Gretzky card can make you neighbors with the guy who had the Michael Jordan card.

Boxing has always lent the least interest.Most of the valued cards were inserted in packs of tobacco around the turn of the century. Baseball cards were also inside packs of cigarettes.If you have any of those stowed away in the attic you can buy that house you can move in next to those other two guys I mentioned in the above paragraph.

Boxing autographs are worth more than the cards, but then you have to be wary of the counterfeits.Last Saturday afternoon on the eve of the West Coast Boxing Hall Of Fame Banquet there was a "Meet And Greet" party for Eder Jofre,Carlos Zarate,and Michael Nunn at the Arts District Brewing Company in downtown Los Angeles. Chris Smith,the author of his right on Eder Jofre bio,put on the function.Chris had gotten the word out so the turnout was strong.

I arrived at the brewery a little early.Chris and the fighters hadn't showed yet.I was nursing a beer sitting at an outside table when this guy carrying a suitcase plops his butt at the table next to where I was sitting. He put the suitcase on the table and opened it. He pulled out a load of boxing magazines and pictures of Jofre,Zarate,and Nunn. Then he got on his cell phone and began talking.
"They haven't arrived yet but I've got everything for them to sign. I figure we can unload most of it and hopefully clear a few thousand dollars."
The guy was a curmudgeon type runt wearing big horned rimmed glasses.His skin was pasty white and he combed what was left of his thinning hair over to the side of his head trying to cover up his baldness.The dude piqued my interest.
"You gonna' try to sell that stuff on Ebay?"I asked him.
"I hope so. These fighters aren't like the baseball players.They sign for free."
"You should have quite a collection of signatures ."
"I always get word of these kind of events and then bring stuff for them to sign. Like I say the fighters sign for free."
"Are you going to the banquet tomorrow?"
"I don't have a ticket.It's sold out."
"Well,my wife was supposed to go with me but she couldn't come.You want to buy her ticket?"
"How much are you selling it for?"
"What I paid.125 dollars."
"I'll think about it,."he said.

After the fighters arrived they naturally drew a big crowd. The dude with the all the stuff to sign worked his way round to where the guest fighters were and got everything signed.Then he left immediately.Eder Jofre is in the throes of the dementia. His son was sitting across the table from him and when someone wanted an autograph the son would take his father's hand and guide him through it.The dude with the all the stuff didn't move until he got it all signed.I saw Chris and asked him if there was anyone in his party that needed a ticket for the banquet.
"I've got an extra.My wife couldn't come."
"I'll give you the money for it,"he said.
"Forget it."
Chris then pulled out of a box three signed pictures of Ede Jofre.
"Here.Take these."

It made me think.At times it was like a feeding frenzy of sharks.Were they there to see the fighters or was the motive to get those autographs?It probably was a little of both but I'm sure if it had been off limits to ask those fighters for their autographs the turnout would have been smaller.It wasn't like it was just for the sport of it.




Chris Smith

[dagosd2000]

The Bigger They Are Is Just As Easy To Cut Them Down

All athletes are bigger today than let's say 50 years ago. The quarterback in the huddle could pass for a linebacker. Baseball pitchers look like clean up hitters.A basketball forward resembles the Biblical Goliath. Then there're the current heavyweights in boxing and he's got 60 pounds on Joe Louis.

You can say that when there's a heavyweight title fight it's like Godzilla against King Kong. A cruiserweight tips the scales at 200 hundred pounds and looks like a shrimp cocktail. The light heavyweights? Well,they're midgets in comparison. But all you're talking about is weight. Quality doesn't translate to how much a man weighs.

If you're the 20 to 30 year old fan then you might have it in your mind that all heavyweights are monsters and they would devour the heavyweight of 50 years ago.No matter what the skill level was back then the heavyweights of the black and white era wouldn't stand a chance against a Klitschko or a Fury.That's a lot of the thinking. The weight would overwhelm any degree of skill. i think part of that perception is that a 6 foot 200 pounder of yesteryear would get crushed trying to work his way inside today's big man. I'm saying the old time big men were the same as far as ability today's heavyweight.What your opinion is of that talent i'll leave up to you.

I remember Tommy Morrison saying he would have loved to have fought the 188 pound Rocky Marciano. Tommy Boy thought he would treat Rocky like a plaything.

There's the thread going about the big men of the past and how they size up to the top heavyweights currently.For me a big man is the same of the era past anbd what's happening now. The 250 pounder of Louis's era is on the same level of a Fury and his competition.The difference is that back in Louis' day there were only a handful of 250 pounders. The heavyweight list today is all crammed with USDA Prime beef.

Joe Louis fought three 250 plus men of significance. Primo Carnera,who was considered a laughing stock of all the former champs;Buddy Baer,brother of Max:and Abe Simon. You think of these guys today and you write them off as bums. But look at the film. Carnera showed some technique,but was often on the canvas. Joshua and Wilder know something about that.Buddy and Abe were not as clumsy as a lot of people imagine. They moved their feet and threw their punches properly. They had a better skill level than Wilder and Fury.Thet just don't have the name and never won a title.If Joe Louis was fighting in the present Fury,Wilder,and Joshua wouldn't have a jeweled belt to wrap around their waists.

But then I'm talking about Joe Louis who punched out their lights Maybe Louis was too good.He made them all look bad until he was at his end.Schmeling was the exception but you all know what happened in the rematch.

It's not an impossibility to get inside the taller bigger man.He doesn't necessarily hit herder. Vlad relied on keeping his opponent on the end of his jab. But he knew what it was ,when he got floored, when the other guy slipped inside his long arm.Tyson was 5 foot 9 and was always the shorter guy but he was like a chainsaw on roids in a forest.Then the fast life, Robin Givens,and Buster Douglas gnawed the teeth.


Hopefully there's an aberration out there.The smaller heavyweight who's got the goods to show these Sequoias that a chainsaw on roids will cut you down.




Joe Louis

He'd flatten what's out there today

[dagosd2000]

Size Doesn't Make The Difference

Again with what Joe Louis would have brought to today's fight table.Fury and Wilder have dominated the heavyweight scene for the last several years. The trilogy was going to decide who was number one. It comes out in the wash that it's Tyson Fury.But because he's the beat heavyweight how does he stack up with the past champs?Many believe that because of his great size that he would dominate the famous names of yesteryear. Like the old adage:A good big man will beat a god small man.So I'll stick with what I went with yesterday.How would have Joe Louis stacked up against Fury. Now I'm going against one of my beliefs. i'm not into mythical fights. You can go on forever with how so and so would do against so and so.

I think the film will demonstrate how things would have turned out if Louis would have fought Fury,and you can throw in Wilder..I'll begin with the dimensions.
1.Fury 6' 9" 250 -270 lbs.
2.Wilder 6' 7'' 220-235 lbs

1.B.Baer 6'6'' 240-250 lbs
2.Simon 6' 4'' 250 lbs

Joe Louis 6' 1 i/2' 205 lbs

Now the film.Louis against Baer and Simon, and Fury and Wilder highlights against each other the 3 times.



Fury and Wilder trilogy highlights



Louis vs. Simon II






Louis vs. Baer I and II highlights

To think that because Fury and Wilder had the physical numbers on a smaller heavyweight would give them the edge isn't necessarily so.But then we're talking about Joe Louis. He never had much difficulty with big men.The boxers gave him problems. Farr,Ramage(fight I),Conn,and then of course Charles. You can say Joe was past his prime with Ezzard but I don't think Louis could have beat him even when he was in his prime.

Too much is made regarding size. Boxing isn't like football or basketball,or even baseball where the physical growth has improved with skill levels. Simon and Baer don't show much difference from Fury and Wilder talent wise. But the hype has put Fury and Wilder in the pantheons of the all time grears.BoxRec has them in the current top p4p category. Simon and Baer wouldn't have gotten a call. They were contenders who got smoked by The Brown Bomber.They couldn't have been very good. But Fury and Wilder would have tasted defeat as well.I'll even say that Baer and Simon could have beaten Fury and Wilder.

Now I'll have to go to confession and tell the priest that I got caught up with the mythical fights.Hey wait.That's not a sin.

[dagosd2000]

A Private Affair I Guess

I stopped going to The Helping Hand Of God Church a couple of years ago.It was before the Covid hit. James "The Heat " Kinchen was one of the pastors.I found out that that was what he was doing now so I wanted to catch up on things. He was a pastor.Or maybe they call him a reverend, He wears a collar. The church is on the corner of 60 th and Imperial in Encanto that's out on the far east end of the city.James is one of four pastors at the church. I think the place,if my memory serves me right,was a thrift store before it became a church. It's an Evangelical church. They pattern themselves after what Martin Luther King stood for. They praise the Lord and sing and one of pastors reads something from the Bible.They fill you in on what's gong on in the Evangelical community but I think it's mostly the black part of the sect.They get the kids to get into the act. They get them to recite something from the scriptures even though I don't think they understand what they're saying.Every Sunday I went there would be maybe 50 people on a good day.Mostly older folk.They'd been attending for a long time.They had a band that started things off. They'd really get rolling.James' son was the drummer. They'd sing that song "I'm A soldier In The Army Of The Lord."That was my favorite.It really got the juices going.It was my favorite part of the service. Hearing that old pastor Arthur sing it was something I looked forward to. He had a voice like Albert King.

Things were supposed to start off at 11 am. but really never got going until after 11 thirty. Me and James would talk some boxing beforehand. He seemed to have gotten away from the sport. He was now dedicating himself to live in God's grace. I think of all the pastors he was the most sincere.

I wouldn't go every Sunday. Just every other one.I liked going.Most of the time I was the only white guy.Sometimes there'd be another white person. I think he or she would be a friend of one of the regulars. But I never saw them come back again.I went to The Helping Hand Of God Church for two years.They wanted me to participate more with the things they had going during the week like community helping out. They wanted me to socialize more.That was more important.Then I stopped going.Sometimes one of the people would ask me if The Friendly Hand Of God was the only church I went to.I told them it was and that was the truth. But I stopped going.

I guess it was like all the other churches.People went there wanting something from God or wanted to be saved from pain and suffering. I didn't see the need to go inside a building looking for that. There were the cliques and the shifting alliances,the gossip,jealousies,and betrayals. It was all very subtle but it was there.Not all the people were that way or didn't show it but it was there. I didn't need to work out something with God inside a building.Many think that because they went to church on Sunday that they had fulfilled their responsibility. It's what you do outside the doors that counts for something.I don't think James was like that. He was a real believer.He was also the newest pastor. Sometimes the other ones would let him know that.

After I quit going I got a call from James.His name popped up on my cell phone. I didn't answer.I'm sure he wanted to know why I wasn't going anymore. I didn't want to explain to him that I didn't need to go to church to communicate with God. I didn't want to tell him how I felt about going to church. I hope he doesn't think I stopped going because it was a "black church" and I was a white guy.But I know that's how a lot of those people must have thought. Maybe even James would think that.Maybe he'll stumble onto BoxRec and read this post.Then he'll know the real reason. But I doubt if that will happen. I mean how many people even log onto this site anymore?And anyway I ask myself how much communicating do I have with God now that I don't go anymore?



James"The Heat" Kinchen


My painting of Dr. King hanging inside at The Helping Hand Of God church

[chrisjs1985]

In A Little Corner Of The World

They finally got the restart on the West Coast Boxing Hall Of Fame banquet over the weekend. I could feel my lungs breathing in the airagain.It was Rick Farris going all out again.He doesn't leave a leaf unturned. I don't know how he does it but I am sure of one thing-he's got a passion for his baby and when it's over his adrenal glands are on empty.

The event took place at the Loews Hollywood Hotel inside the banquet room on the mezzanine.400 tables filled to capacity with hardcore fans.A roll call of deserving names who traded leather inside Tinsel Towns venues ,some that are no loner standing but leaving a mental footprint.That's why there's this convening.-to bring back the memories that make up our lives. Of course there were the people behind the scenes who put the matches together who were recognized,and the scribes who described the action getting their kudos. And those awards? A brilliant stroke of Rick's to have the boxing's foremost artist of the sport,Jun Aquino ,who was in attendance,paint a personal portrait on a Reyes glove(BTW:Cleto Reyes received an award posthumously)of each inductee..NIce touch.Unique to say the least.

At the tables were the old guard and some new faces but all shared the love of a sport that's struggling to keep fighting and acquire some fresh blood in order to go the distance. Danny and Bonnie Lopez were there of course. Rodolfo Gonzalez,Alex Ramos,Gene Aguilera,Erik Gomez,John Scully,Johnny Bumphus,Ryan O'Neal,Carlos Zarate,to name a few were with friend and family soaking in Southland lore of when that neck of the woods was a cauldron of boxing activity.I'll hear about it if I don't type a few words about my Chi Town buddy Dan Hanley who flies out from the Windy City every year to give a last minute hand to Rick setting things up,and then when it's final bell time we all go down to the bar and swap a few lies over a brewskie.

There was a special award given to a kind of of new kid on the block but who in the last year wrote a blockbuster biography of Eder Jofre.By now you've maybe caught his name,Chris Smith. He had the moxie and the drive to bring Eder Jofre with his son and daughter from Sao Paulo to the festivities and bask in the ambience.I'll put my money on Chris,When it's all said and done, this transplanted Englishman will sit alongside the foremost historians and communicators of the sport of boxing.He'll have to quit his day job(I don't think he'll mind) because he'll be in demand to share what's inside his head about what has gone down in pugilistic history and give boxing a shot of some his adrenaline to keep the pulse beating strongly.

I got a hold of Carlos Zarate for a moment and told him that I had coached a kid on the high school football team whose father had fought the Pride Of Tepito when Zarate was in the midst of destroying any bantamweight who walked out of his corner (before making the sign of the cross)to go toe to toe with the future champ.
"The son always was bragging that his dad had once fought the great Zarate.(It was over inside 2 rounds)". I communicated to Carlos in my broken Spanish.
The great champ paused before commenting ,and then when he did, he displayed an equal greatness of class.
"If you see him again tell him that of course I remember his father and that he was a brave fighter and I give him my respect.Give my blessings to his son."
Another KO.

The late Johnny Tapia was inducted.Perhaps amongst all the moving memories this moment touched me to the heart.Johnny's wife ,Teresa, was with her two sons to receive her husband's award. As she was being introduced with some background stories from the emcee accenting her husband's chaotic life I could see she was wiping away a few tears.When she got to the microphone there was no need for any script in hand. The emotion poured from her heart, through her lips and I thought maybe she wouldn't make it but she gathered herself and said that she was the luckiest woman on earth to have been married to Johnny Tapia.
"Johnny,wherever you are right now I want you to know I'll always love you."
Teresa.I just want to tell you that while you were wearing your heart on your sleeve Johnny was standing beside you all that time and he'll never leave your side.

The West Coast Boxing Hall Of Fame.A little corner of the world that will go the distance as long as the memories continue.



Rick Farris

Eder Jofre

Forgot to mention that Chris had a "Meet And Greet" for the Jofre family in the Arts District in downtown LA on the Saturday before the banquet.. The pictures of Jofre,Zarate,and Nunn were taken at that event.Nice turnout.Everybody enjoyed.Hats off to Chris.

Great stuff Roger!! Thanks so much for this! It was an incredible few days.

[dagosd2000]

Chris
I had the time of my life.Can't wait until next year Roger

[chrisjs1985]

Chris
I had the time of my life.Can't wait until next year Roger

There’s some great inductions next year, including your new pal Mr. Zarate!!

[dagosd2000]

Chris
I had the time of my life.Can't wait until next year Roger

There’s some great inductions next year, including your new pal Mr. Zarate!!

[dagosd2000]

Finally,The Showdown

They're finally going to have the showdown. The biggest fight in Tijuana in a long,long time. No.It's not going to be Canelo. He's going to fight another piece of cake in a few weeks in Las Vegas. Nor is it another local kid,Jaime Munguia. It's not Luis Nery.Keep guessing.It's not Oscar Valdez or Juan Estrada. Times up. It's a girl.-Jackie Nava the most popular fighter in TJ.She's finally going to square off against the chilanga Mariana Juarez in the Municipal Auditorium. Jackie is ranked numero uno and Mariana numero dos.

The fight is going to be on the 30th a Saturday. I'm sure it will be a sellout.They were supposed to settle things earlier but the Covid thing nixed that.Jackie Nava will have the crowd behind her. It's a natural rivalry-someone from Tijuana against someone from Mexico City.No one in Mexico likes chilangos(people from Mexico City)and they don't care much for the ilk living outside their city limits. Chilangos are looked at as being snobs and they think they live on sacred Aztec ground and they're special and it's all part of the mystique and bulls--t.

Both gals can fight.Mariana has had close to 70 fights.She'll look bigger than Nava when she climbs through the ropes. i've seen her fight once and she may of the power edge. But no girl has better skills than Jackie. It's a trip to watch her fight .She's really talented.

I call both of them girls but both are at the 4,O mark when it comes to a woman being honest about her age.You can probably guess by now that I'll be pulling for Jackie. I'd go Saturday but my daughter who lives in TJ is going to have a Halloween party for all the kids that evening so I'll be having fun watching them in their costumes having fun.

Earlier I said I'm not into female fighting.And I'm still not into it.I'm also growing a dislike for the men squaring off against each other. I'm for equal rights This West Coast Boxing event last week was enjoyable but then every time I go I see more and more of these ex fighters with the dementia. There were some who were absent this time due to not being able physically to attend.But in time boxing will only be a memory.I probably won't see it in my time but because this MMA is taking over boxing will eventually vanish just about for good.Then it will be seeing the former Octagon guys walking around talking to themselves. It's something that's become a turnoff with me.



Jackie Nava

[dagosd2000]

Terms Of Endearment

Yesterday I talked about the big fight between the local heroine, Jackie Nava, against the villain chilanga Mariana Juarez(I forgot to mention they call her Barby) at Tijuana's Municipal Auditorium.

The last time I went to the Auditorio was around eight years ago when I took my grandson, Adam ,to watch the fights.Two local hotshots,Luis Nery and Jaime Munguia,brought their undefeated records into the ring and proved to be better men than their opposition.I wanted my grandson to get a taste of what it's like to savor the aura of a Mexican fight in a typical aficianado venue.

When I was younger I'd attend the fights at the arena on the what they call "The Boulevard" as often as I'd go to the San Diego Coliseum that was in my back yard.Well, the aura was there but I didn't taste it like I used to when I would spend a night on the town and never look over my shoulder. I felt like I was on the outside looking in,or back,.Oh,I enjoyed the fights alright. Good fights with good fighters.But I sure was more laid back than when I used to be three sheets to the wind and making sure I blew the rest of my dough in the cantinas afterwards.Hell,I was a grandpa and I sure wasn't going to vulgarize the night with taking a side trip to the Coahuila dragging Adam along.But I know of some grandpas and dads that would think it would be the macho thing to do to escort their sons or grandsons to the dens of ill repute and get them throwed and blowed.No.I had no trouble behaving myself.

I think Adam had a good time but I don't think he'd ever go to the fights in TJ again. He went to see Mayweather fight that exhibition thing in Florida when he went to visit his long time friend who's stationed over there in the Navy.I guess that was the trendy thing to do and Adam is more into "trendy" than the unconventional.I wouldn't have gone to that exhibition thing that Mayweather was involved with. I heard he made more money with that dog and pony show than Michael Jordan made playing 20 years in the NBA.

But it's all in how you market it. You can sell snow to the Eskimos if you know how to market it.You couldn't get me to bite on something like that.I used to go by myself to a lot of those fights in TJ at the Auditorium. No one wanted to go because they thought something "bad" might happen. Nothing "bad" ever happened .I had the time of my life.

But I guess these people that get suckered into going to these charades think they're having a good ol' time.Perception is reality.I look at it this way. If I spend all my money on booze and broads and then blow the rest at least it's on my terms.



Tijuana's Municipal Auditorium

[dagosd2000]

Dan Hanley,Rick Farris,and myself at the Garland Hotel in North Hollywood site of the 2018 West Coast Boxing Hall Of Fame.You can tell Dan is from back east. Socks and tennis shoes instead of sandals.After seeing this shot I went on a diet and took off 30 pounds. Rick is in former fighting trim as usual

[dagosd2000]

Can't Judge A Fighter By The Way He Looks

I was watching Jim Healy's sport talk show from LA on channel 13 one night and he was interviewing Danny Lopez.My father walks into the room and doesn't sit down and is staring at the screen.
"Who's that that little squirt with the perm?"inquired my old man.
"That's Danny Lopez the featherweight champion of the world,"I anwsered.
"You've got to be kidding.That guy is a fighter?He looks like a little sissy,"my father went on.
I don't remember saying anything after that. What was the point?Once my father had made up his mind that was it.He had never seen Danny Lopez fight and he never did later.

When Lopez met up with Salvador Sanchez in Phoenix in a defense of the title I thought Danny would walk through him.Sanchez hadn't had brought much of a rep into the fight.He had one bout in LA against a relative no name and he didn't have many bouts under his belt.That's why the fight was in Arizona.Not LA or Vegas.

Danny landed with everything he had against Sanchez's lantern jaw but he couldn't budge him. Sanchez was doing likewise against Lopez's mandible and you could see that he was wearing him down. Danny wasn't the greatest defensive fighter but because he could hit like the kick of a mule he usually didn't need to protect himself for very long.Finally in the hard luck round Danny broke and with it he lost the title.

There was a certain call for a rematch.Sanchez then fought a title defense against Ruben Castillo.The fight again was in Arizona.It also showed how sometimes Sanchez would drag along and look like he wasn't into a fight.But he was a very resourceful guy and would do just enough towards the end to secure a victory. It went the full 15.

So now comes the rematch. Danny hadn't fought since the last time the two had met and I had that feeling that he wasn't any better than the previous encounter.The fight was almost a carbon copy of the first one and you could tell that Danny didn't have enough to pull the coals out of the fire. Round 14 was the last round Danny would fight as a pro until he tried that ill advised comeback 12 years later and got smoked in 2 frames by some guy who nobody remembers.

I sometimes think about what my father said about Danny Lopez. I wish he had seen the two Sanchez fights.I wonder what he would have remarked.I think I know.He would have said that Danny Lopez was a hell of a fighter and never fess up to saying that he once said he looked like a "sissy."



Danny Lopez

[dagosd2000]

That Little Scroll At The Bottom

You can't help but look at that little scroll at the bottom of your TV screen when you're watching something on ESPN. They categorize it. For example you'll see MLB and then they'll have something that has to do with baseball. Or NFL and then there's some news about pro football.Last night I was watching a college football game on ESPN and keeping one eye on that little scroll and I see something's coming up on "Boxing."

Goody,Goody. I hoped it was something like Crawford and Spence finally getting together.Or maybe it was something about Triple G fighting the winner of the Canelo /Plant fight. But no,it was earth shattering news that Jake Paul,the who is the full time brother of Logan Paul the dude who pretended he was something against a disinterested Floyd Mayweather, had signed to fight Tyson Fury's half bro,Tommy.Both boys have a grand total of 11 fights between them. They've never been in the ring with anyone who even reeks of being a tomato can. Floyd Mayweather made more money fighting Logan Paul than all the money in Bangladesh.But it wasn't really even a fight.It was closer to a staged wrestling match.As far as a legit fight it was like feeling up a girl wearing boxing gloves.But I'm sure Jake will somehow use his brother's name to hype this thing up.

Tommy will be riding on his brother's name. Jake will be hoping that everybody sees his brother in the ring but it's such a joke why would that matter? .That there's a sucker born every minute validates this farce.And to prove the world is upside down you'll have to pay to see it on the tube.

And you wonder why boxing is on its last legs.




When they say that Tommy Fury is the half brother of Tyson they aren't kidding.He's half Tyson's size.

[dagosd2000]

The Aztec Princess

So I'm at my granddaughter and her husband's house in Tijuana at the Halloween party for the kids that turned into a party for the parents when the kids get tired and went to sleep.Me and the wife went of course. but I was thinking about how it would have been nice to go to that fight at the Auditorium and watch Jackie Nava fight "La Barby" Juarez for the title.They sure were talking that fight up down there but there was nothing they needed to embellish the hype with any wind and smoke. Juarez is from Mexico City,the Chilanga,and the main rival for Nava,the local town heroine.They were supposed to settle who was the better last year and then came along this plague.But last night the showdown became a reality.

Jackie Nava has been fighting in her hometown,Tijuana, all her career. She's 40 now and has won a slew of titles. She attends the Divina Provedencia church in Colonia Libertad that's located on the east side of the city. My granddaughter and her husband were married there and when I attended the ceremony they introduced me to "La Princesa Azteca." She had just started on her fistic course and as time went on she grew in stature and became a popular figure in the community.She has a daughter and was elected to some city council that worked with underprivileged kids in the city.I began following her fights and what drew me close was that she is still a lady and not so rough around the edges. Oh,she was a handful in the ring and I'm not saying she was soft and shy but she lent herself vulnerable without sacrificing her resolve.And man could she fight.


Jackie Nava is the most complete woman fighter I've ever laid my eyes on.She's not crude or overpowering.She's a boxer who's light on her feet ,aggressive,can adapt and handle the situation. She moves smartly always in position to punch and defend. She can lead or counter..Her punches come in bunches and she's never at a loss of what to do.

When I got home last night after the party I went on the computer to watch the fight on YouTube.When I saw that she had won I was very happy but I hoped that it wasn't one of those hometown decisions. Juarez is very good fighter;a strong jab, taller, and had the reach. But she carried her left low and when she threw her right hand it was a tad slow and wide.Jackie got inside the right and worked combinations.She also caught her with lead right hands.Bottom line was Jackie was the smarter girl and outhustled "La Barby"though both were tearing into each other.Watching that fight Nava reminded me of a female Roberto Duran.She never let Juarez off the hook except for the 9th round when she eased off the gas to save herself for the last frame and finish strong.

You could feel the electricity with this one throughout.The TV announcers were caught up with the excitement.Julio Cesar Chavez,who has a home in TJ, was one of the analysts, and even Mexico's greatest fighter was jumping out of his seat.The aficianados were screaming their heads off and you couldn't have asked for more. I scored it like they had it on the TV screen:9 rounds for Jackie only the 9th going to "La Barby."

I wish I had been there.It got my juices flowing again when I used to go to that fight house on the Boulevard and watch Mexico's finest go to battle.I'm still not a fan of women in the ring but there's some mystique about "La Princesa Azteca" that makes me throw money into the ring.

Jackie Nava




The fight is palatable to all the senses.Really special.

[dagosd2000]

Celebrate Jackie's victory with some happy Mexican music

[dagosd2000]

Selling Like Cold Cakes

I always like to check what's going on on StubHub when it comes to an upcoming fight in the Southland.Two weeks ago I saw that the Canelo/Plant fight in Las Vegas had tickets on sale starting at 960 dollars.Today, I checked and the price has dropped starting at 700 dollars. You'd figure the closer to fight night the price would go up because the tickets are selling like hotcakes..Evidently, there isn't much interest as far as going to Sin City and shelling out your dough to sit in the nosebleed seats.If 700 hundred dollars will sit you in a seat and providing you with a respirator then you can imagine what it would be like to plop your butt ringside with the just the canvas in front of you(Hold on I'll look that up) I hope your sitting down.28,000 dollars!!!!!.(I wonder if they comp the beer and pretzels?)

I guess if you have that kind of money to throw around it doesn't really matter. Vegas is a dream for the high rollers-the whales at the high stakes tables.They want everyone to notice them,and everyone will be looking. 28 thou is a pittance to these guys.I'll go down to TJ and watch it for free.It's 80 bucks to see it on your flat screen on Pay Per View in the U.S.

I wonder how many of those guys who will shell out the 700 will fantasize what it would be like to sit next to some money bags at ringside?Then you know you've made it in life.

As for the fight? All I can say is I hope all those in attendance will get their money's worth,especially the guys who dropped the 28 g's.But if you can afford something like that ,and not give two thoughts about, it then I don't think they'll care no matter how it comes out in the wash.Could you see one of those whales wanting to get their money back because the fight stunk?They'd just laugh it off. For the guys who dished out the 700 smackers?Well,they'd whine all the way back home.Now if they wanted to pretend to be real big spender they wouldn't act that way.




Canelo Alvarez

[dagosd2000]

.A Bugatti In Every Garage

Couldn't get my mind off that figure of 28 grand to sit up front at the upcoming Canelo fight.Off the top of my head I could say that's out of line.Vulgar.Unbelievable. A ton of adjectives would suffice. Right now I think about that price and it's a little scary.How can you hold your own with some guy who wants to buy a new car and pays cash for a Bugatti.I don't even know where you can buy a Bugatti. I wouldn't know how to buy a ticket for 28 thousand to sit ringside at a fight.
"I decided to sit ringside at the fight so I went on StubHub and paid 28,000 dollars."
Do you use a credit card?How does that work?

I guess your average Commie out there would use that as an example of why there's just cause for a revolution.He'd say everyone should be able to sit ringside.But in those Commie countries you don't see the average dude who labors in the rice paddy sitting in the first row. In fact you don't see anyone because those Commie countries don't have fights;at least of the professional ilk.

Castro said that pro sports exploited the masses yet that big SOB tried to get on with the Washington Senators as a pitcher before he wormed his way into being a dictator. Too bad he didn't catch on.He would have eventually vanished into history as a pitcher with a sore arm. But I don't think he would have cared, if he had made the roster, that if a fan wanted shell out 28 g's to sit behind home plate that would give him a good reason to ask for a raise.I don't know what Bugattis were going for back then but I'm sure Fidel had his eye on one.

[dagosd2000]

Smells

I heard Rocky Marciano say once that the decider for him to hang up his gloves was when he walked into the gym one day and smelled the sweat that had imbedded itself into just about everything permeating the air. They say that the sense of smell is very powerful and can trigger reactions. I guess that did it for Rocky.It hit him when his guard was down. Now that's not to say that his wife had been begging him to get out or that he was wise to Al Weill skimming off his purses or training was getting to be a drag.He was sitting on the fence and the smell of the gym that day clinched it for him.

When my father used to go down and sit in the backroom of Bob Johnston's bar ,The Sports Palace, on lower Market Street in San Diego and gab with Doc Kearns and Bob's brother Charley I think back on it now and wonder how many deals were made in that musty office with the waste paper cans spilling over and the cigarette smoke stains on the walls and the ash trays full of butts on the desk where these sharpshooters would sign the deals to put the matches together with their charges the likes of Archie Moore and Sandy Saddler.You could hear the sounds coming from the bar with al the rummies by that time sitting shoulder to shoulder and with old black Gus playing that upright piano with every tune that went back to Tin Pan Alley.The burlesque house,The Hollywood Theater, was right next door and sometimes one of the girls would come into that backroom with drinks for everyone. Bob was married to one of those gals.I think it was Texas Bobbie Roberts.She was all legs and had a face like Rita Hayworth's.Across the street was the cardroom and if you couldn't catch Bob in the B House then he was probably playing 7 card stud across the street. Next to the cardroom was my neighbor's place The Club Tokyo.Takasugi was his name(everybody called him "Tak") and he was one of those Nissei Japanese that was in an internment camp during the war. After he got out he bought a tuna boat.Nothing very fancy.It had salt water showers. HIs place catered mainly ,like most of those taprooms, to the sailors.But you wouldn't catch any of those fellas' like Doc Kearns or my old man taking a drink in a swabby bar. The girls were all on the hustle and that wasn't my old man's style.He wasn't a big drinker anyway. Kearns would drink pretty heavy but he did most of his drinking in The Sports Palace.On the other side of the Hollywood Theater was the Chinese restaurant.The name escapes me right now.You could smell what was cooking in the peanut oil all the way down the block.It would fill up after the bars closed and you'd see the sailors in there with some of the girls who worked in the bars and the swabbies would be buying them dinner and then later they'd empty what left they had in their wallets upstairs at one of the flophouse hotels in the vicinity because by now they all had what they called Soy Sauce Fever because they had been overseas for so long.

I never saw Archie Moore in that neighborhood. All the buildings on those blocks were at that time pushing a hundred years. They're all gone now. It's now a gentrified strew of condominiums.The Hollywood Theater, the Sports Palace,The Tokyo Club. All the flophouses and cardrooms.The Chinese restaurant that I can't come up with the name.All torn down to make way for the current. Funny ,they call the neighborhood The Gaslight but there ain't a structure there that was around when any of those names I dropped were still breathing.

I can still picture it. Even if I draw a slight breath and close my eyes I can still imagine all the smells drifting out the doors of all those joints.



Doc Kearns







Gaslight -Erroll Garner

[dagosd2000]

The Sins Of The Father

Concluding the documentary "After The Last Round"produced by the Moyer family I couldn't help think of all the fathers that push their sons into something that their boys have no desire to do. "After The Last Round" primarily focused on Denny and Phil Moyer who were cajoled by their father,Harry ,a former fighter and whose father was an ex pug,to partake in the pugilistic wars to keep the fighting honor of the family intact.Phil was the most timid of the two sons but he didn't have the backbone to stand up to his old man and tell him that boxing wasn't for him.

As you probably know by now I knew Denny and used to bend elbows with him and his stablemate Ronnie Wilson at the neighborhood watering holes near The Coliseum in San Diego.I was having such a good time getting drunk with a guy, who should have abstained from the spirits, that I didn't see the dementia creeping into his manner. What the hell.I was getting s---faced with one the best fighters who ever laced them up. But those degrees of skills were sliding on the down slope a long time ago, and now Denny was just fighting so he didn't have to punch a timeclock.He had enough knowledge between the ears to still hold his own,sometimes.

I got away from Moyer and the fight game and hanging out with the boys after I got married.I knew Denny was having trouble and eventually wound up with Phil in an institution.To hear the wives tell about their sufferings was hard to take.And of course if Harry had to do it all over again he'd let his children make their own career decisions. And also Harry never thought his boys would end up punch drunk.Famous last words.

Another rah rah dad was Jack Quarry the father of Jerry and Mike. Jack had a terrible psoriasis problem and was too embarrassed to take of his pants and fight in the ring.But Jerry and Mike had clear skin and besides here was the opportunity for Jack to live his life through his sons.
"There's no quit in a Quarry,"was his rallying cry.
And the boys bought it hook,line,and sinker.

Well,Jack had done his duty instilling that Red Badge Of Courage in their mantras. Both boys took more shots and spilt more blood than the hoods that were lined up against the wall in that garage on Clark Street in the St. Valentines Massacre.Arwanda, the mom, had to finally add the responsibility of being a caretaker for her sons. And like Harry Moyer,Jack Quarry would have never been so selfish.He didn't use the word "selfish",but that's what he was.

Today,with boxing vanishing like the buffalo a hundred years ago these moron fathers are now pushing their sons into contact sports like football.I use to coach Pop Warner football and that's a good start to see these alter ego daddy's on the sidelines seeing their sons as future Heisman Trophy winners.Of course these kids can't be an ordinary dull lineman or kicker. No,dad sees junior as the next Tom Brady or Walter Payton. However, these youngsters have as much potential achieving this status as the guy on that program "My 600 Pound Life" has winning The Mr. Universe title.

So getting back to boxing. There was a guy in town who had a gym and named the place after his son who he wanted to be a fighter.He was,and not a not very good one. I'd see him fight and he'd get killed. His only forte was his courage and that was his undoing. But his father thought there were none out there that would became greater than his boy.But he was getting knocked out so often that the commission wouldn't let him fight in the ring.The local boxing community would talk about how the father shouldn't let his son continue.But to the dad that didn't mean he couldn't spar. After a sparring session he collapsed in the shower and died of a stroke.


The gym continued operating.There were pictures and news clippings all over the walls of the kid. The dad would stand there and say there was no better fighter who never was than his son. What could anyone say to him?


Jerry Quarry