BoxRec

AlFrancis wrote:

Rick Farris wrote:Question for Al Francis . . .

Hey Alan, back in the mid-60's I was dependent upon boxing mags, such as The Ring, Boxing Illustrated, and Boxing International for info on boxing in the British Isles.
I recall in one edition of Boxing Illustrated, there was a feature story on your dad, Alan Rudkin. Your dad had this boyish look, blond hair and was pictured in a fighting pose wearing the classic Lonsdale Belt. The story told of his growing up in Liverpool, and said he was a school mate of a couple of "The Beatles". To your knowledge was this true?
The Beatles were the biggest thing in the world when it came to rock music, and your dad was big in the world of professional boxing, a British champion and a world title challenger on top of his game.
In those days we couldn't watch your dad fight here in the U.S. There were no video tapes in those days or coverage of British boxing here (aside from Ali-Cooper). It would be a few years later before I'd see your dad when he was at the end of his career and came to L.A. to challenge Ruben Olivares. Watching him training at the Alexandria Hotel gave me my first look at this special fighter from England, and I would learn his talent the real deal.
Can you share anything about your dad's youth, his growing up in Liverpool, when he began to box and did he cross paths with The Beatles, etc. ?

I know the article your talking about Rick. It's getting late here now, I'll sit down and put something together on my dad tomorrow.

Thanks

AlFrancis wrote:

Rick Farris wrote:

Rick Farris wrote:Question for Al Francis . . .

Hey Alan, back in the mid-60's I was dependent upon boxing mags, such as The Ring, Boxing Illustrated, and Boxing International for info on boxing in the British Isles.
I recall in one edition of Boxing Illustrated, there was a feature story on your dad, Alan Rudkin. Your dad had this boyish look, blond hair and was pictured in a fighting pose wearing the classic Lonsdale Belt. The story told of his growing up in Liverpool, and said he was a school mate of a couple of "The Beatles". To your knowledge was this true?
The Beatles were the biggest thing in the world when it came to rock music, and your dad was big in the world of professional boxing, a British champion and a world title challenger on top of his game.
In those days we couldn't watch your dad fight here in the U.S. There were no video tapes in those days or coverage of British boxing here (aside from Ali-Cooper). It would be a few years later before I'd see your dad when he was at the end of his career and came to L.A. to challenge Ruben Olivares. Watching him training at the Alexandria Hotel gave me my first look at this special fighter from England, and I would learn his talent the real deal.
Can you share anything about your dad's youth, his growing up in Liverpool, when he began to box and did he cross paths with The Beatles, etc. ?

Alan, Frank & I have a friend here in L.A. who was a pro lightweight in the 60's and he came here from Liverpool.
His name is Allen Syers, and he was a good one in his day, gave Mando Ramos a good go way back when.
Today I'll see Allen at various HOF events, etc. and we always have a nice chat.
We spoke recently of your dad, and he said he had known him prior to coming to the States.
Allen Syers had nothing but great things to say about your dad and I appreciate having you as a part of this forum.

Love to hear Allen's story, how did a Liverpool lad end up plying his trade in LA?

I think that's a story that needs to be written. I can get Allen Syers phone number from Don or Frank.
He suffered a career ending, work related hand injury early on. He had that stand up Buchanan style, I remember him well.
I'll get back with you on Allen Syers.

Al Francis . . .

Alan, I was curious what your father thought of Eder Jofre. How close did they come to fighting?
It had to be a serious possibility at one time. Never was the bantam class better than the era Alan Rudkin fought.

kikibalt wrote:Danny "Little Red" Lopez has recently been diagnose with Parkinson disease....

That's terribly sad.

"I think I've seen bannister written on a toilet!"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... nswer-ever

Rick Farris wrote:Al Francis . . .

Alan, I was curious what your father thought of Eder Jofre. How close did they come to fighting?
It had to be a serious possibility at one time. Never was the bantam class better than the era Alan Rudkin fought.

Dad rated Jofre very highly, he was known over here for his unification bout with John Caldwell. There was talk of putting dad in with Jofre in 65 after dad had won the British titles from Caldwell and then scored a shutout over European champ Ben Ali in a non title bout. With that win over Ben Ali he had arrived on the world scene and negotiations were under way to bring Jofre to England. Jofre had a defense lined up at that time though with a young Japanese lad called Fighting Harada and we all know what happened next. Dad got the first bite at Harada's world title as it happens. I wonder how dad would of went at that time with Jofre who might of been ready for the taking. Aside from the 2 Harada losses he also drew with Manny Elias in Brazil.

kikibalt wrote:Danny "Little Red" Lopez has recently been diagnose with Parkinson disease....

Frank, Sad news about "Little Red" Lopez, i remember the war he had with Mike Ayala, what a fight...

There is now a Manuel's "El Tepeyac" in City of Industry. Gonna has to try it soon.

kikibalt wrote:

There is now a Manuel's "El Tepeyac" in City of Industry. Gonna has to try it soon.

I've seen it up close, my wife and I split one in ELA.
There is nothing like it. That's one HUGE burrito.
Remy, this is a place you have to visit after one of your Wildcard workouts.

kikibalt wrote:

There is now a Manuel's "El Tepeyac" in City of Industry. Gonna has to try it soon.

I'm gonna get over to LA at some point in the next couple of years and I'll definitely be going for one of them.

AlFrancis wrote:

kikibalt wrote:

There is now a Manuel's "El Tepeyac" in City of Industry. Gonna has to try it soon.

I'm gonna get over to LA at some point in the next couple of years and I'll definitely be going for one of them.

Yeah, you gotta try it Al . . .

It's one of these little things in life that's not so little, but important.
A Manuel's Special is something that Randy & Frank told us about. An Eastside burrito dynasty.
I had no intention of taking on a Manuel's Special on my own. Monica would help, but the two of us were unable to finish one by ourselves.
Randy could do it, but Randy was once a champion diner, not me. But I will say that I took my best shot, and it was the best tasting I'd ever had.
You can see the plate of guacamole in the background.
By the way, if you get to L.A. I'd be happy to show you some of the places where I saw your dad when he was in town.
One the Alexandria Hotel, where a gym was set upo in the second story ballroom. I watched your dad box there.
Another would be the FORUM, where his title fight with the legendary Ruben Olivares was held.
I remember other boxers training with your dad & Olivares at the Alexandria. One was Chucho Castillo, and there was Raul Cruz, who'd fight on the undercard.
I was 17, about six months from turning pro. I recall it was nearly Christmas time, with some decorations on Spring St. in front of the Alexandria.
Memories!

More on Rudkin . . .

Alan Rudkin was the first title defense of bantamweight champ Fighting Harada, and the first title defense of Ruben Olivares more than four years later.
Nine months before challenging Olivares for the title, Rudkin lost a close decision to Lionel Rose in his second shot at the title, and the bout's scoring was confusing.
Two officials scored heavily for Rose, one equally heavy for Rudkin. We've seen some footage here recently. Evidence of just "how close" Alan Rudkin came to taking the undisputed bantamweight title.
As several of us pointed out, Alan Rudkin clearly finished strong, winning the final round. How many others?
I must say I enjoyed some great boxing watching this clip!

Los Angeles Sports Arena



Jose Becerra vs Alphonse Halimi....1959

kikibalt wrote:Los Angeles Sports Arena



Jose Becerra vs Alphonse Halimi....1959

I fought there once, on the undercard of a world title fight.
It was the best fight I'd ever have.

I only had the pleasure of seeing one of my boys fight at the Sports Arena.

Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, United States

Fili Ramirez L Mark Davis PTS 10 10

Ricardo Jimenez L Frankie Baltazar KO 6 10

Jaime Garza W Alex Garcia KO 2 10

Roberto Elizondo W Manuel Lopez KO 7 10

Lupe Aquino W Henry Drummond PTS 4 4

Joe Ruelaz W Felipe Cisneros KO 2

kikibalt wrote:I only had the pleasure of seeing one of my boys fight at the Sports Arena.

Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, United States

Fili Ramirez L Mark Davis PTS 10 10

Ricardo Jimenez L Frankie Baltazar KO 6 10

Jaime Garza W Alex Garcia KO 2 10

Roberto Elizondo W Manuel Lopez KO 7 10

Lupe Aquino W Henry Drummond PTS 4 4

Joe Ruelaz W Felipe Cisneros KO 2

Frankie Jr. and I have something in common.
We both fought at the Sports Arena once, we both scored six round KO's.

kikibalt wrote:I only had the pleasure of seeing one of my boys fight at the Sports Arena.

Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, United States

Fili Ramirez L Mark Davis PTS 10 10

Ricardo Jimenez L Frankie Baltazar KO 6 10

Jaime Garza W Alex Garcia KO 2 10

Roberto Elizondo W Manuel Lopez KO 7 10

Lupe Aquino W Henry Drummond PTS 4 4

Joe Ruelaz W Felipe Cisneros KO 2

By the way, this was a pretty good card on paper.
One of the opening acts was future champ, Lupe Aquino, followed by another champ, Jaime Garza.
Frank, I never saw Mark Davis fight. I remember when he was coming up, was he any good?
I checked his record, he was unbeaten, dropped a decision to Adrian Arreola, and quits? Your opinion?

AlFrancis wrote:

Rick Farris wrote:Al Francis . . .

Alan, I was curious what your father thought of Eder Jofre. How close did they come to fighting?
It had to be a serious possibility at one time. Never was the bantam class better than the era Alan Rudkin fought.

Dad rated Jofre very highly, he was known over here for his unification bout with John Caldwell. There was talk of putting dad in with Jofre in 65 after dad had won the British titles from Caldwell and then scored a shutout over European champ Ben Ali in a non title bout. With that win over Ben Ali he had arrived on the world scene and negotiations were under way to bring Jofre to England. Jofre had a defense lined up at that time though with a young Japanese lad called Fighting Harada and we all know what happened next. Dad got the first bite at Harada's world title as it happens. I wonder how dad would of went at that time with Jofre who might of been ready for the taking. Aside from the 2 Harada losses he also drew with Manny Elias in Brazil.

If Only . . .

You bring up a good point regarding Eder Jofre. He had grown out of the division, as would Harada a couple years later.
If your dad fought him in '65 at 118 pounds, he'd be facing Jofre at his most vulnerable time. He was dehydrated when he fought Harada in both fights.
Jofre wisely took a break, came back a couple years later at 126 pounds, winning the world featherweight title and remaining unbeaten the rest of his career.
I rate Jofre with Manuel Ortiz and Olivares as one of the best ever. In that light, one must recognize how it might have been your dad, not Harada, who would sleigh the Dragon?
Nobody else did it, just Harada when weight was an issue.

A Title win on the Road for Alan Rudkin . . .

Alan, in 1967, your dad once again left home and took a champion in his hometown. This time it was European champ, Mimoun Ben Ali.
Ben Ali had been around forever,had fought the best, and it was in his home country of Spain where he'd defend his title against your dad in a 15 rounder.
Your dad would win the European title that night. Although I never saw Ben Ali fight live, I was well aware of his career, he was always a top ten fighter.

Rick Farris wrote:

kikibalt wrote:I only had the pleasure of seeing one of my boys fight at the Sports Arena.

Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, United States

Fili Ramirez L Mark Davis PTS 10 10

Ricardo Jimenez L Frankie Baltazar KO 6 10

Jaime Garza W Alex Garcia KO 2 10

Roberto Elizondo W Manuel Lopez KO 7 10

Lupe Aquino W Henry Drummond PTS 4 4

Joe Ruelaz W Felipe Cisneros KO 2

By the way, this was a pretty good card on paper.
One of the opening acts was future champ, Lupe Aquino, followed by another champ, Jaime Garza.
Frank, I never saw Mark Davis fight. I remember when he was coming up, was he any good?
I checked his record, he was unbeaten, dropped a decision to Adrian Arreola, and quits? Your opinion?

Rick, Mark Davis was a decent fighter who I didn't think really wanted to be a fighter. His dad Kenny Davis Sr. I think pushed Mark and his brother Kenny Jr. who wasn't as good as Mark, into fighting against their wishes.

P.S. Kenny Davis Sr. was one of the best amateur fighters to come out of SoCal.

Eder Jofre and Jose Becerra

kikibalt wrote:

Eder Jofre and Jose Becerra

Bacerra another great bantam!

Alphonse Halimi vs Jose Becerra....1959

Jose Becerra vs Alphonse Halimi

Rick Farris wrote:A Title win on the Road for Alan Rudkin . . .

Alan, in 1967, your dad once again left home and took a champion in his hometown. This time it was European champ, Mimoun Ben Ali.
Ben Ali had been around forever,had fought the best, and it was in his home country of Spain where he'd defend his title against your dad in a 15 rounder.
Your dad would win the European title that night. Although I never saw Ben Ali fight live, I was well aware of his career, he was always a top ten fighter.

That one actually went against Dad Rick. Dad lost on points in a shocker when it appeared to everybody but the judges he'd done enough to win. Dad's biggest battle it seems was against the referee that night.

Here's the write up from the Boxing Illustrated

RUDKIN ROBBED OF CROWN BY ALOADOF BARCELONA BULL!
By RICKY GERMAINE
TJARCELONA, Spain: Britain's Alan Rudkin, sporting
•*~* and talented bantam, has lost only one decisión in
hii career—and that (cióse enough for argument) to
world champion, Harada, in Tokyo. Rudkin lost, officially,
to Walter McGowan—but won the unanimous press verdict.
Earlier, a cut-eye caused a defeat by Cari Taylor,
but this was quickly avenged.
The 15-round points loss booked against Rudkin by
Mimum Ben Ali for the European crown can also be
discounted. After some inetficient, outrageously onesided
officiating by amateur, Robert Seidel, of Geneva,
Rudkin was robbed of victory. The way the fight was
conducted by portly Seidel left serious doubts as to socalled
Swiss neutrality.
Seidel's score kept the Barcelona bullring fans satisfied
for this early-hours scrap that was marred by too much
mauling. Maybe, both were too tired.
But the stiff-upperlip corps of British scribes were
unanimous that Rudkin, despite having to beat-off the
referee along with Ali, had done enough. None made it
even cióse enough for a hometowner.
There were no knockdowns and Ali, 26 going on 32,
acted craftily enough to suggest it was Rudkin who held.
Both were to blame—but Rudkin was consistently penalized.
It was not a great fight. The referee saw to that.
Whenever they carne cióse enough to see the whites of
the eyes Seidel ordered "break" or wrenched them apart
before Rudkin could work to the body.
Both were cut around the eyes, but as Rudkin—essentially
a clean fighter—tried to challenge like a champion
the irritating official tugged Rudkin's arms, slapped him
on the shoulder and wagged a warning finger under his
nose.
Rudkin also had to contend with the screeching crowd
who became frighteningly fanatic in their desire to see
Ben Ali revenge his defeat by Rudkin at Newcastle two
years ago. The British vice-consul, at ringside, offered
condolences. So did champion Johnny Pritchett who had
flown with Rudkin's supporters club. "If that's what happens
when you fight for a title in Europe, you can keep
it," snapped Pritchett.
There was no representativo present of Britain's Board
of Control—they are strongly represented on the EBU—
to raise a protest. Ben Ali has never lost to a foreigner
in Spain. Ñow we know why! He will always have the
reign in Spain.
Last Bell: Rudkin had planned a sunny week-end in
Spain with his wife and family. He collected a £1,800
purse and spouse, Kathy, said "Don't you daré spend a
penny here." They flew home immediately to make
British-Spanish relationships even more angry.
WHAT THEY SAID:
GEORGE WHITING (Evening Standard) "Rudkin
Beaten? Never! How can you win a fight when a fussy
referee apparently does not want you to fight?"
ALAN HUBBARD (United Newspapers) "Everyone—
including Rudkin—seemed to sense that Ali would win,
even though it was rank ring injustice. To English eyes
this verdict seemed a lot of Barcelona bull."
PETER MOSS (Daily Mail) "Rudkin was robbed . . .
obstructed by officials, harried by the referee, did more
scoring."
PETER WILSON (Daily Mirror) "Not only did I disagree
with the decisión . . . but I thought the handling
of the bout was outrageously one-sided."

Dad said it was the most hostile crowd he fought in front of, he could feel the hatred as he entered the ring. he also said that he looked over at the referee and he was trembling, seems he was worried about the crowd more than dad.

Ironically after that bad experience with Barcelona I am now married to a Barcelona girl, dad thought the world of her. lol