BoxRec

Joe Louis and Hoyt Porter

Hoyt gave me this photo about 30 years ago, Hoyt have since passed away, I'll alway be grateful for him putting such trust in me.

Orlando De La Fuente and Elvis Presley

I worked the gloves on the nite that Bobby Chacon fought Estrada, I forgot Estrada's first name.

Im intrigued by Art Hafeys career.
Maybe cause hes a fellow Irishman like Quarry
How did Hafey wind up fighting so often in Calif. as he was a Canadian originaly?
Was he real popular at the Olympic?
What type of fighter was he?

Expug wrote:Im intrigued by Art Hafeys career.
Maybe cause hes a fellow Irishman like Quarry
How did Hafey wind up fighting so often in Calif. as he was a Canadian originaly?
Was he real popular at the Olympic?
What type of fighter was he?

I let Rick tell you what kind of fighter Hafey was as he work with him in the gym, the reason he was fighting alot in L.A. was that he was been use as the "Opponent" for the great Mexican fighters that were fighting at that time.

Hafey was never the marqee fighter, the fight with Sotelo was not a "Big" fight.

Expug wrote:Im intrigued by Art Hafeys career.
Maybe cause hes a fellow Irishman like Quarry
How did Hafey wind up fighting so often in Calif. as he was a Canadian originaly?
Was he real popular at the Olympic?
What type of fighter was he?

Hey Pugster,Art Hafey came down and made his home base here in San Diego. A lot of the fighters from British Columbia fought here in San Diego. Ronnie Wilson was another one. Light heavy,good boxer,not much of a punch. Had a shot fighting Mike Quarry,but lost a decision up in Woodland hills. Roger Rouse broke his jaw. Ronnie told me he was a little gun shy after that.

Art was a real socker. Tremendous left hook. A short guy with stocky legs.
George Parnassus owned him and Burke Emery trained him. Burke told me these boys couldn't make any money in Canada and instead of trying it out in the Apple,they came out to the West Coast. A guy by the name of Wes Wambold got involved with some promotions also. He was Australian.
But there were plenty of opponents for Hafey in California and Mexico. That's the reason not many of the bantamweights nor feathers went out East. No opponents,let alone sparring partners.

Another guy in that stable was Denny Moyer. He was from Portland. All these boys fought at the Coliseum and were popular draws. Denny was at the end of his career and was drinking pretty heavily. At this time he also fought a lot in Las Vegas. I don't think that place kept him in shape either. Between his cuts and the boozing,it was sad to see him go downhill

kikibalt wrote:
Clarence Henry

Hey youngster,This guy Henry broke Irish Bob Murphy's jaw. I used to hang out at George Radovich's place down by the beach. He had Murphy as an amateur when Bob got out of the service. Travis Hatfield managed his pro career. Hatfield was in George's place years after Murphy got killed in that motorcycle accident and was discussing Bob's fight with Henry.Murphy had him on the ropes,but Henry(who could punch) caught him flush and that was it. Murphy,credit his big Irish heart,wanted to fight on,but Hatfield wouldn't let him continue.

dagosd2000 wrote:

Expug wrote:Im intrigued by Art Hafeys career.
Maybe cause hes a fellow Irishman like Quarry
How did Hafey wind up fighting so often in Calif. as he was a Canadian originaly?
Was he real popular at the Olympic?
What type of fighter was he?

Hey Pugster,Art Hafey came down and made his home base here in San Diego. A lot of the fighters from British Columbia fought here in San Diego. Ronnie Wilson was another one. Light heavy,good boxer,not much of a punch. Had a shot fighting Mike Quarry,but lost a decision up in Woodland hills. Roger Rouse broke his jaw. Ronnie told me he was a little gun shy after that.

Art was a real socker. Tremendous left hook. A short guy with stocky legs.
George Parnassus owned him and Burke Emery trained him. Burke told me these boys couldn't make any money in Canada and instead of trying it out in the Apple,they came out to the West Coast. A guy by the name of Wes Wambold got involved with some promotions also. He was Australian.
But there were plenty of opponents for Hafey in California and Mexico. That's the reason not many of the bantamweights nor feathers went out East. No opponents,let alone sparring partners.

Another guy in that stable was Denny Moyer. He was from Portland. All these boys fought at the Coliseum and were popular draws. Denny was at the end of his career and was drinking pretty heavily. At this time he also fought a lot in Las Vegas. I don't think that place kept him in shape either. Between his cuts and the boozing,it was sad to see him go downhill

Thanks Dagos.
In the mid 70s there was an undefeated middleweight from here in Chicago named Rocky Defazio.
His people brought Denny Moyer in as an opponnent to look good on his record.
Moyer kicked his ass and kod him in ten.
That was at the very end of Dennys long career.
Defazio fought maybe once after that.
Do you remember that episode?

Expug wrote:

dagosd2000 wrote:

Expug wrote:Im intrigued by Art Hafeys career.
Maybe cause hes a fellow Irishman like Quarry
How did Hafey wind up fighting so often in Calif. as he was a Canadian originaly?
Was he real popular at the Olympic?
What type of fighter was he?

Hey Pugster,Art Hafey came down and made his home base here in San Diego. A lot of the fighters from British Columbia fought here in San Diego. Ronnie Wilson was another one. Light heavy,good boxer,not much of a punch. Had a shot fighting Mike Quarry,but lost a decision up in Woodland hills. Roger Rouse broke his jaw. Ronnie told me he was a little gun shy after that.

Art was a real socker. Tremendous left hook. A short guy with stocky legs.
George Parnassus owned him and Burke Emery trained him. Burke told me these boys couldn't make any money in Canada and instead of trying it out in the Apple,they came out to the West Coast. A guy by the name of Wes Wambold got involved with some promotions also. He was Australian.
But there were plenty of opponents for Hafey in California and Mexico. That's the reason not many of the bantamweights nor feathers went out East. No opponents,let alone sparring partners.

Another guy in that stable was Denny Moyer. He was from Portland. All these boys fought at the Coliseum and were popular draws. Denny was at the end of his career and was drinking pretty heavily. At this time he also fought a lot in Las Vegas. I don't think that place kept him in shape either. Between his cuts and the boozing,it was sad to see him go downhill

Thanks Dagos.
In the mid 70s there was an undefeated middleweight from here in Chicago named Rocky Defazio.
His people brought Denny Moyer in as an opponnent to look good on his record.
Moyer kicked his ass and kod him in ten.
That was at the very end of Dennys long career.
Defazio fought maybe once after that.
Do you remember that episode?

Expug, I was at that fight. DiFazio was made to look like such an one-dimensional amateur to Moyer who was like 35 at the time. I also remember Angel Mayoral on the card. He held a very lofty rating due to his upset win over Ray Lampkin and Ben Bentley announced before the crowd that they wired Roberto Duran an offer to fight Mayoral in Chicago for the title. I don't know what the offer was but as Duran didn't bite, it simply saved Angel a bad thumping. He was a nice fighter though, just not Duran calibre.

Scartissue

scartissue wrote:

Expug wrote:

dagosd2000 wrote: Hey Pugster,Art Hafey came down and made his home base here in San Diego. A lot of the fighters from British Columbia fought here in San Diego. Ronnie Wilson was another one. Light heavy,good boxer,not much of a punch. Had a shot fighting Mike Quarry,but lost a decision up in Woodland hills. Roger Rouse broke his jaw. Ronnie told me he was a little gun shy after that.

Art was a real socker. Tremendous left hook. A short guy with stocky legs.
George Parnassus owned him and Burke Emery trained him. Burke told me these boys couldn't make any money in Canada and instead of trying it out in the Apple,they came out to the West Coast. A guy by the name of Wes Wambold got involved with some promotions also. He was Australian.
But there were plenty of opponents for Hafey in California and Mexico. That's the reason not many of the bantamweights nor feathers went out East. No opponents,let alone sparring partners.

Another guy in that stable was Denny Moyer. He was from Portland. All these boys fought at the Coliseum and were popular draws. Denny was at the end of his career and was drinking pretty heavily. At this time he also fought a lot in Las Vegas. I don't think that place kept him in shape either. Between his cuts and the boozing,it was sad to see him go downhill

Thanks Dagos.
In the mid 70s there was an undefeated middleweight from here in Chicago named Rocky Defazio.
His people brought Denny Moyer in as an opponnent to look good on his record.
Moyer kicked his ass and kod him in ten.
That was at the very end of Dennys long career.
Defazio fought maybe once after that.
Do you remember that episode?

Expug, I was at that fight. DiFazio was made to look like such an one-dimensional amateur to Moyer who was like 35 at the time. I also remember Angel Mayoral on the card. He held a very lofty rating due to his upset win over Ray Lampkin and Ben Bentley announced before the crowd that they wired Roberto Duran an offer to fight Mayoral in Chicago for the title. I don't know what the offer was but as Duran didn't bite, it simply saved Angel a bad thumping. He was a nice fighter though, just not Duran calibre.

Scartissue

Wow! thanks again Scar.
What was the crowd like at the Defazio fight?
Were they a little salty at the outcome?
I was a bit young at the time of that fight.
Wasnt there.
Ben Bentley was great and a legendary announcer.
He actually was the ring announcer for a fight of mine.
At Chicagos Park West in 89.
Im real proud of that .
He was great.
I remember comin into the ring to some goofy song (probably the Pogues) and Bentley actually shouted into the michrophone "turn down that music".
The only time Ive ever seen a ring announcer do that.
It was great.
The music was turned down .

Denny Moyer was a good boxer who fought the who's who in his weight class, he in fact won the world's Jr. Middleweight title when he fought Joey Giambra and losing it to Ralph Dupas.
I remember seeing him fight often on t.v.

Hey Fellas,Here's a fresh one. Hedgemon Lewis came out to Southern California and was setting the place on fire. People were comparing him to Sugar Ray Robinson. It was only a matter of time that they'd match him with Indian Red to settle who's boss. They fought a 3 fight series,Indian Red stopping Lewis twice, Hedge winning a decision. I always thought Red was too strong for Lewis.

Well the problem for both these guys is they couldn't get past Napoles. So both of them were more or less in contention still.

After fighting Lopez,Lewis is on a comeback trail. He gets a match in Tijuana to fight Raul Rodriguez. A pretty fair welter,but not in Hedgemon's league. The fight is going to be at the Jai Lai Palace on Revolution Street.
I talk a buddy to come with me and we sit ringside for 20 bucks. The pre lims are pretty good and it looks like a good night for the fights.

I'm sitting next to this Mexican kid. He looks like he's around 14 or 15. We're fast becoming friends. He's there with his father and uncles,and I tell him my wife is a Mexican national(all this in Spanish) and he's having a real good time. First time at a boxing match. A nice mannered kid.

Just before the main event with Lewis,this entourage of some 10 or 15 people come strolling in and sit across from us at ringside. Well I know they're not from TJ because they're all blonde with blue eyes. It's Hedgemon Lewis's Hollywood friends and management group. I think they called themselves The January Corporation. I'm focusing in and I see Ryan O'Neal,Farrah Fawcett, Chris Connelly,and some other celebrities, and brother do they stand out. Really FAB and glamourus. What in the hell did they think they were getting into? To sign autographs?

Well in the upper deck where the real "aficianados" sit,you can hear the "chifles"(Mexican whistling). You can't see these guys up there because it's so dark,but believe me they're up there and it's not the Sisters of Guadalupe.


The announcer is introducing the fighters. "Una pelea de diezrauuuuuuuonds!" Then a funny thing happened . The kid next to me asks me what goes on in those bars on Revolution Street. I looked at him for a moment. He didn't know? So I told him. The kid put his head down and gave me the silent treatment for the rest of the night.

Now I get a funny feeling. The bell sounds and Lewis is putting his left in Rodriguez's face like it belongs there. In round two Lewis is following the left with his right and Rodriguez is in trouble. Rodriguez's eye splits,Lewis has him hanging on the ropes,and I'm getting blood splatters all over my pants and shirt. The referee breaks up the slaughter and stops it. I turn to my pal and say "Duck". He gives me a puzzled look as a beer bottle explodes against the ring post. Glass and beer is flying all over the place. The "aficianados" are gonna' get their revenge. I look up and the "Beautifull People" across from us are running like crazy towards the exits along with Lewis and Eddie Futch. They didn't stop to sign autographs

Expug wrote:

dagosd2000 wrote:

Expug wrote:Im intrigued by Art Hafeys career.
Maybe cause hes a fellow Irishman like Quarry
How did Hafey wind up fighting so often in Calif. as he was a Canadian originaly?
Was he real popular at the Olympic?
What type of fighter was he?

Hey Pugster,Art Hafey came down and made his home base here in San Diego. A lot of the fighters from British Columbia fought here in San Diego. Ronnie Wilson was another one. Light heavy,good boxer,not much of a punch. Had a shot fighting Mike Quarry,but lost a decision up in Woodland hills. Roger Rouse broke his jaw. Ronnie told me he was a little gun shy after that.

Art was a real socker. Tremendous left hook. A short guy with stocky legs.
George Parnassus owned him and Burke Emery trained him. Burke told me these boys couldn't make any money in Canada and instead of trying it out in the Apple,they came out to the West Coast. A guy by the name of Wes Wambold got involved with some promotions also. He was Australian.
But there were plenty of opponents for Hafey in California and Mexico. That's the reason not many of the bantamweights nor feathers went out East. No opponents,let alone sparring partners.

Another guy in that stable was Denny Moyer. He was from Portland. All these boys fought at the Coliseum and were popular draws. Denny was at the end of his career and was drinking pretty heavily. At this time he also fought a lot in Las Vegas. I don't think that place kept him in shape either. Between his cuts and the boozing,it was sad to see him go downhill

Thanks Dagos.
In the mid 70s there was an undefeated middleweight from here in Chicago named Rocky Defazio.
His people brought Denny Moyer in as an opponnent to look good on his record.
Moyer kicked his ass and kod him in ten.
That was at the very end of Dennys long career.
Defazio fought maybe once after that.
Do you remember that episode?

I remember the fight. I didn't see it. At that time,like you said,Denny was a set up guy. Once in a while he'd pull an upset.

Did Lewis stop to get his pay?

kikibalt wrote:Did Lewis stop to get his pay?

You know,I never thought about that. Good one. Hey Pal I saw the same thing happen at the bullring when Davy Moore stopped Kid Irapuato. Moore jumps out of the ring with his robe and gloves still on ,runs outside,and flags a cab to the border. I think money was the last thing on their minds.

Tony Baltazar, Hedgemon Lewis & Rodolfo "Gato" Gonzalez
7-19-06...CBHOF luncheon

kikibalt wrote:
Tony Baltazar, Hedgemon Lewis & Rodolfo "Gato" Gonzalez
7-19-06...CBHOF luncheon

Great shot of Rodolfo Gonzalez. My wife is from a small pueblo in Michoacan called Jiquilpan. I talked about this before,but Gato had a lot of early fights in his career at the soccer stadium there. He's from Jalisco. Jiquilpan still remembers him. I was introduced to Gato and Jackie McCoy at the Coliseum in San Diego. They don't make em like those two guys anymore. Gonzalez is a real class act.

Bud Furillo, Bill Cosby & Hedgemon Lewis

kikibalt wrote:
Tony Baltazar, Hedgemon Lewis & Rodolfo "Gato" Gonzalez
7-19-06...CBHOF luncheon

Your son looks like he belongs with that group. Real sharp. Good dressers. Good looking kids. These kids today put on clothes and might as well go trick or treating. Saggin' pants,hats on crooked. I don't get it.

I was at a fight at the Coliseum once and Hedgemon Lewis and Ken Norton were sitting in front of me. I had a friend who was going to sit with me,but he was arriving late. I used to spar with Norton when he was starting out, so I knew him. Not a man of many words. I knew Hedgemon a little too. Both guys were trained by Eddie Futch. Hedgemon was another soft spoken guy.

Well my friend shows up and I can tell he'd had a few in him. Well Norton and Lewis are in front of us and my friend didn't know who they were. I don't remember the style back then,but Lewis and Norton were wearing these shoulder bags. They looked like womens' purses. Anyway Mr. Booze Breath sitting next to me asks me in this loud voice so everyone in the balcony can hear"Since when do men wear ladies' purses?" But I'm on my toes. Before he can finish,I'm out of my seat and tell him I'm going for a beer. When I got back I noticed my friend still had his teeth. Like I said Norton and Lewis were pretty laid back.

With regards to Art Hafey, Frank pretty much summed it up. He was very, very tough, a solid hitter, had a huge heart, and, on the right night proved he could upset an all-time great, who wasn't in the best of condition.

In an era of Lopez, Chacon, Arguello, etc. Art was a tough opponent, that was about it. A lot is made of his upsetting an out of shape Olivares, however, what happened in the rematch?

-Rick Farris

Frank---I hope that you get to feeling better. I know exactly what you mean when you say that you are "drained" from treatment. I'm currently in the middle of a type of chemo and it has simply just wiped me out for the last three months. I typically have one to two good days a week!

barry wrote:Frank---I hope that you get to feeling better. I know exactly what you mean when you say that you are "drained" from treatment. I'm currently in the middle of a type of chemo and it has simply just wiped me out for the last three months. I typically have one to two good days a week!

GET WELL BARRY.

Expug wrote:

kikibalt wrote:Diego
Really appreciate your thoughts, but I just don't have the energy for that kind of a job, Rick already knows what I'm going to tell you, and that is that I have cancer and my treatment just drain me of all my energy.
So again I appreciate your thoughts and I thank you for them.

Frank

Very very sorry to hear that Frank.
Your in my prayers.

YOU ARE IN MINES TOO, FRANK SR.

I REMEMBER an undercard of a fight of Pipino Cuevas vs Angel Espada III...I think it was in LA.

that fight of Gato Aldama vs Randy Shields...the Mexican crowd thought that Aldama, a Mexican, won the fight. I thought he won the fight also. When the announcer said that Shields won, I saw a lot of bottles and beer cans flying into the ring...What an UNGLY SIGHT. I am lucky that I saw that fight on tv

Do you remember that fight Frank or anybody else remember that fight?