BoxRec

kikibalt wrote:Just for laughs

Another boxing hall of fame, like we need another one....

I wanna see that doctor Tom.... ! !!

kikibalt wrote:Another boxing hall of fame, like we need another one....

The backers of this event were all ejected from the WBHOF.
None are boxing people, none have the boxers best interest at heart, and none know how to organize or promote a HOF event.
It's going to be interesting at the end of the event when the venue manager comes to the organizers and says, "Here's the bill, pay up!"

Rick, is the WBHOF still in business?

CNorkusJr wrote:

kikibalt wrote:The Olympic Today . . .




"Are we close to the Olympic?", Remy asked. "Not far," I answered, "We'll be there in about 15 minutes."
Our friend, Remy Damlien, is in town for this week's CBHOF lunch, and I want to show him around town a bit before he returns home next week.

We started the day at 6:30am, where we met at his hotel which is right next door to the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
While here, Remy has hooked up with a trainer at Wild Card, and joined me for some early morning road work & pad work in the Hollywood Hills.
We had our workout, and then we drove a few blocks to eat breakfast at Art's Deli in Studio City.
I ordered an omlette, while Remy ordered a pastrami sandwich. "We don't get much pastrami in Norway, and the sandwiches only have a few slices of meat.
Monica made sure that Remy's sandwich would not leave him hungry, and after we finished, it was off to show him what used to be The Olympic Auditorium.
We drove downtown and pulled into the Olympic's parking lot, and we would both see the Olympic, now as a Korean Church, for the first time.
We snapped a few exterior photos and then just let ourselves in the building to walk around. A few walls have been added, and a lot of seats removed, a redesign of the floor area, but it was still the same old gal, just wearing a different wardrobe.
For a moment I saw the building as an old lady, one who was smiling when she saw me enter today, as if to say, "Now don't laugh!"
I didn't laugh, and I didn't cry, I was just happy to see her still standing. I felt as if I knew the old broad's secrets. At least a few, anyway.
I tried to take a photo, but the building was pitch black. As our eyes adjusted we could see her, all dressed up for the first time in her life.
I tried to show Remy where things were, and we talked about the long gone mural of Dempsey that once decorated the north & east walls.
I pointed out where the dressing rooms were, and the aisle that took us to the ring on Thursdays nights.
I refused to get sentimental, just wanted to say hello. This was the house where Aragon was booed, and where Mando Ramos was cheered.

Remy took in the history, and we left. Maybe one day . . .


-Rick Farris

Now That's travelling First Class !!!
Remy, sounds like a super trip already, with the Best yet to come-the CBHOF Luncheon !!!
My heart is with you guys-have fun.

Charlie, I can tell you this is allready the best vacation ever And theres still alot to come

Rick Farris wrote:

Cholo wrote:

kikibalt wrote:\



here you is Ram

Frank, I keep looking at "Manuel's Special," Awesome..

When Monica and I visited El Tapiyec some time back, we walked in and saw an employee carrying a giant burrito to a customers table.
I said to the guy, "Man, the Manuel's Special is huge!" The guy laughed and informed me that the burrito I was looking at wasn't a Manuel's Special.
"This is one of our smaller burritos, the Manuel's Special is the big one."
Monica and I ordered the smaller burrito to split. I forced myself to eat my half, Monica couldn't finish hers.

the night before the big showdown, ill finish my last sparring session, with a fresh sparringpartner named Classic American apple pie

raylawpc wrote:Rick, is the WBHOF still in business?

No, Tom. I'm sorry to say that it is in shambles. There was no banquet last year, there will be no banquet this year.
We have my pal Armando, who's term as President ended before the New Year (and prior to his term ending he resigned.)
Mando has acted beyond his authority regarding the handling of the organization, and with a small group on non-boxing people continues to act as if he still is in charge.
Another faction of the board, also weak in boxing & promotional knowledge, and headed by our former treasurer (who also resigned prior to her term ending) is also claiming to control the WBHOF.
Neither group has the capability of running the WBHOF. The only thing the WBHOF has going for it is a great name and a nice logo.
That is all the WBHOF is today. Blatant stupidity is the problem. A promoter should run the WBHOF, not a boxer, or wanna be boxing personalities.
There is only one real Hall of Fame (event) in this part of the world, and that's Don Fraser's organization, the CBHOF.

Rick Farris wrote:

raylawpc wrote:Rick, is the WBHOF still in business?

No, Tom. I'm sorry to say that it is in shambles. There was no banquet last year, there will be no banquet this year.
We have my pal Armando, who's term as President ended before the New Year (and prior to his term ending he resigned.)
Mando has acted beyond his authority regarding the handling of the organization, and with a small group on non-boxing people continues to act as if he still is in charge.
Another faction of the board, also weak in boxing & promotional knowledge, and headed by our former treasurer (who also resigned prior to her term ending) is also claiming to control the WBHOF.
Neither group has the capability of running the WBHOF. The only thing the WBHOF has going for it is a great name and a nice logo.
That is all the WBHOF is today. Blatant stupidity is the problem. A promoter should run the WBHOF, not a boxer, or wanna be boxing personalities.
There is only one real Hall of Fame (event) in this part of the world, and that's Don Fraser's organization, the CBHOF.

In my humble opinion what you needed was a full-time executive director - somebody who earned his or her living working for the HOF and who had good organizational skills. Somebody with experience and a successful track record working for charitable organizations would have been ideal.

Panzerfaust wrote:

Rick Farris wrote:

Cholo wrote: Frank, I keep looking at "Manuel's Special," Awesome..

When Monica and I visited El Tapiyec some time back, we walked in and saw an employee carrying a giant burrito to a customers table.
I said to the guy, "Man, the Manuel's Special is huge!" The guy laughed and informed me that the burrito I was looking at wasn't a Manuel's Special.
"This is one of our smaller burritos, the Manuel's Special is the big one."
Monica and I ordered the smaller burrito to split. I forced myself to eat my half, Monica couldn't finish hers.

the night before the big showdown, ill finish my last sparring session, with a fresh sparringpartner named Classic American apple pie

Remy, I'll meet you at the Vagabond at 12 noon.
I'll warm you up a bit, and then we'll head to the Eastside.
Pictures & bite-to-bite coverage will be posted after the event.

raylawpc wrote:

Rick Farris wrote:

raylawpc wrote:Rick, is the WBHOF still in business?

No, Tom. I'm sorry to say that it is in shambles. There was no banquet last year, there will be no banquet this year.
We have my pal Armando, who's term as President ended before the New Year (and prior to his term ending he resigned.)
Mando has acted beyond his authority regarding the handling of the organization, and with a small group on non-boxing people continues to act as if he still is in charge.
Another faction of the board, also weak in boxing & promotional knowledge, and headed by our former treasurer (who also resigned prior to her term ending) is also claiming to control the WBHOF.
Neither group has the capability of running the WBHOF. The only thing the WBHOF has going for it is a great name and a nice logo.
That is all the WBHOF is today. Blatant stupidity is the problem. A promoter should run the WBHOF, not a boxer, or wanna be boxing personalities.
There is only one real Hall of Fame (event) in this part of the world, and that's Don Fraser's organization, the CBHOF.

In my humble opinion what you needed was a full-time executive director - somebody who earned his or her living working for the HOF and who had good organizational skills. Somebody with experience and a successful track record working for charitable organizations would have been ideal.

Tom, I agree. And a minimal group of associates, a person to keep the history on track.
Too many chefs spoil the soup, especially chefs that can't cook in the first place.

Rick Farris wrote:

raylawpc wrote:

Rick Farris wrote:
No, Tom. I'm sorry to say that it is in shambles. There was no banquet last year, there will be no banquet this year.
We have my pal Armando, who's term as President ended before the New Year (and prior to his term ending he resigned.)
Mando has acted beyond his authority regarding the handling of the organization, and with a small group on non-boxing people continues to act as if he still is in charge.
Another faction of the board, also weak in boxing & promotional knowledge, and headed by our former treasurer (who also resigned prior to her term ending) is also claiming to control the WBHOF.
Neither group has the capability of running the WBHOF. The only thing the WBHOF has going for it is a great name and a nice logo.
That is all the WBHOF is today. Blatant stupidity is the problem. A promoter should run the WBHOF, not a boxer, or wanna be boxing personalities.
There is only one real Hall of Fame (event) in this part of the world, and that's Don Fraser's organization, the CBHOF.

In my humble opinion what you needed was a full-time executive director - somebody who earned his or her living working for the HOF and who had good organizational skills. Somebody with experience and a successful track record working for charitable organizations would have been ideal.

Tom, I agree. And a minimal group of associates, a person to keep the history on track.
Too many chefs spoil the soup, especially chefs that can't cook in the first place.

We did our part . . .

Tom, remember when I took over as the WBHOF Historian and Chairman of the Selection Commitee?
You saw the honor roll and asked me, what about Ad Wolgast, George Dixon and Barbados Joe Walcott?
Their names were missing, and I discovered about two dozen more. I found that the three you named had already been inducted.
I went ahead and reinducted George Dixon, mentioning that he and the others were "back where they belonged" during the presentation.
In addition to finding the missing names, I had to correct many mis-spelled names, such as "Mack" Blackburn, etc.
It was a lot of work, required research and the help of Don Fraser and a couple others. We fixed the honor roll and typos for the very last WBHOF Program.
The programs from earlier years are an embarrassment. The organization had become incompetent and shameful.
When it comes to boxing history I'm a pretty good running back. You handed me a ball and I took in for a touchdown, we were at the root of a movement to "fix" the WBHOF.
You brought up an issue, and I took it to heart . As a result, we fixed something. Sadly, the President and directors didn't care about that.
If Mel Epstein was looking down at this he'd have said, "These dumb bastids are worse than Ed Sullivan!"

From The Ring Jan 1952,
Although Keeny Teran is still in the prelimenary ranks, the baby-faced youngster is already being hailed as another Manuel Ortiz in the making. Teran is built very much like Ortiz was at the same age, and like the former champion, Keeny packs a punch. Teran has had but twelve professional bouts, yet has displayed so much class and shown so much improvement that his manager and trainer, Ray Luna, is already thinking of the time when his handsome little protege will be fighting for the bantam title. And in this instance such thinking is not merely the "pipe dream" of some noisy handler, but instead, the observation of an exceptionally intelligent fellow, who was himself a clever boxer and is now one of the best trainers in California. However, although Teran has been boxing professionally for only eight months, he his no green hand at the trade, having been boxing since he was twelve years of age. In California, a boy must be 18 years of age to box even as a amateur, so Teran's fistic activities were confined to smokers. Keeny appeared on nearly a hundred such programs, and then as now, he "stole the show" most every time. Teran engaged in 24 amatuer contests, losing 2 of them, which decisions he reversed in return matches. Teran was born in Los Angeles on April 10, 1932 of Mexican parentage. And at 19 years of age he is still under the Bantamweight limit and he isn't apt to outgrow the weight for some time. California has produced three World Bantam champions, and if the ambition of this clever, hard punching little Mexican is realized, the fourth will be Keeny Teran.

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon, From The Fight Magazine 1953. Lee Boran managed Aragon through his first five years as a professional, then sold him in 1948 just as Art was about to become an established main eventer. Boren says, "I sold Art because I thought I'd rather be friends with him than train him. Boran sold Aragon to Barney Barnett. There personalities clashed, and Barnett, in turn, sold him a few months later to Jimmy Roche, who possesses a shrewd business mind and considerably more patience then his predecessor. Roche steered his Golden Boy to the big-money fights with one hand, and kept him humored by patting him on the back with the other. It has been difficult at times, but Roche says, "Other fight managers have alot of other kinds of trouble with their fighters. Art isn't so bad. He just pops off a little when he shouldn't." Recently the Golden Boy was watching a fight on television in which Elmer Beltz and Phil Kim, another Aragon knockout victim, were the contestants. Someone said, "Beltz seems to have slowed down." Another person said, "Kim doesn't look as fast as he used to, either." Aragon concurred. "Let me tell you something," he said. "Very few fighters look the same after they fight me."

Thanks Paul for the Keeny and Artie stories, more!, more!! and if you can find some on Enrique Bolanos, well, that would be great!!

kikibalt wrote:Thanks Paul for the Keeny and Artie stories, more!, more!! and if you can find some on Enrique Bolanos, well, that would be great!!

Frank, Okay buddy, I've loads of old Ring magazines, i'll see what i can find..

Cholo wrote:From The Ring Jan 1952,
Although Keeny Teran is still in the prelimenary ranks, the baby-faced youngster is already being hailed as another Manuel Ortiz in the making. Teran is built very much like Ortiz was at the same age, and like the former champion, Keeny packs a punch. Teran has had but twelve professional bouts, yet has displayed so much class and shown so much improvement that his manager and trainer, Ray Luna, is already thinking of the time when his handsome little protege will be fighting for the bantam title. And in this instance such thinking is not merely the "pipe dream" of some noisy handler, but instead, the observation of an exceptionally intelligent fellow, who was himself a clever boxer and is now one of the best trainers in California. However, although Teran has been boxing professionally for only eight months, he his no green hand at the trade, having been boxing since he was twelve years of age. In California, a boy must be 18 years of age to box even as a amateur, so Teran's fistic activities were confined to smokers. Keeny appeared on nearly a hundred such programs, and then as now, he "stole the show" most every time. Teran engaged in 24 amatuer contests, losing 2 of them, which decisions he reversed in return matches. Teran was born in Los Angeles on April 10, 1932 of Mexican parentage. And at 19 years of age he is still under the Bantamweight limit and he isn't apt to outgrow the weight for some time. California has produced three World Bantam champions, and if the ambition of this clever, hard punching little Mexican is realized, the fourth will be Keeny Teran.

Frank . . . Can you tell us anything about Ray Luna?
I've heard the name many times over the years, but I don't remember him being around when I was boxing.

Rick Farris wrote:

Cholo wrote:From The Ring Jan 1952,
Although Keeny Teran is still in the prelimenary ranks, the baby-faced youngster is already being hailed as another Manuel Ortiz in the making. Teran is built very much like Ortiz was at the same age, and like the former champion, Keeny packs a punch. Teran has had but twelve professional bouts, yet has displayed so much class and shown so much improvement that his manager and trainer, Ray Luna, is already thinking of the time when his handsome little protege will be fighting for the bantam title. And in this instance such thinking is not merely the "pipe dream" of some noisy handler, but instead, the observation of an exceptionally intelligent fellow, who was himself a clever boxer and is now one of the best trainers in California. However, although Teran has been boxing professionally for only eight months, he his no green hand at the trade, having been boxing since he was twelve years of age. In California, a boy must be 18 years of age to box even as a amateur, so Teran's fistic activities were confined to smokers. Keeny appeared on nearly a hundred such programs, and then as now, he "stole the show" most every time. Teran engaged in 24 amatuer contests, losing 2 of them, which decisions he reversed in return matches. Teran was born in Los Angeles on April 10, 1932 of Mexican parentage. And at 19 years of age he is still under the Bantamweight limit and he isn't apt to outgrow the weight for some time. California has produced three World Bantam champions, and if the ambition of this clever, hard punching little Mexican is realized, the fourth will be Keeny Teran.

Frank . . . Can you tell us anything about Ray Luna?
I've heard the name many times over the years, but I don't remember him being around when I was boxing.

I really don't know much about Ray Luna Rick. I do know that he worked with Manuel Ortiz, Aragon and Keeny, used to see him at different gyms, talked to him once or twice, that's about it.....Don't think he was around anymore when you started boxing....

Cholo wrote:

kikibalt wrote:The Olympic Today . . .




"Are we close to the Olympic?", Remy asked. "Not far," I answered, "We'll be there in about 15 minutes."
Our friend, Remy Damlien, is in town for this week's CBHOF lunch, and I want to show him around town a bit before he returns home next week.

We started the day at 6:30am, where we met at his hotel which is right next door to the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
While here, Remy has hooked up with a trainer at Wild Card, and joined me for some early morning road work & pad work in the Hollywood Hills.
We had our workout, and then we drove a few blocks to eat breakfast at Art's Deli in Studio City.
I ordered an omlette, while Remy ordered a pastrami sandwich. "We don't get much pastrami in Norway, and the sandwiches only have a few slices of meat.
Monica made sure that Remy's sandwich would not leave him hungry, and after we finished, it was off to show him what used to be The Olympic Auditorium.
We drove downtown and pulled into the Olympic's parking lot, and we would both see the Olympic, now as a Korean Church, for the first time.
We snapped a few exterior photos and then just let ourselves in the building to walk around. A few walls have been added, and a lot of seats removed, a redesign of the floor area, but it was still the same old gal, just wearing a different wardrobe.
For a moment I saw the building as an old lady, one who was smiling when she saw me enter today, as if to say, "Now don't laugh!"
I didn't laugh, and I didn't cry, I was just happy to see her still standing. I felt as if I knew the old broad's secrets. At least a few, anyway.
I tried to take a photo, but the building was pitch black. As our eyes adjusted we could see her, all dressed up for the first time in her life.
I tried to show Remy where things were, and we talked about the long gone mural of Dempsey that once decorated the north & east walls.
I pointed out where the dressing rooms were, and the aisle that took us to the ring on Thursdays nights.
I refused to get sentimental, just wanted to say hello. This was the house where Aragon was booed, and where Mando Ramos was cheered.

Remy took in the history, and we left. Maybe one day . . .


-Rick Farris

Rick, I love that old building, If only it could speak, gotta see it one of these days, shame it couldn't have stayed as it was, a shrine to all the greats who fought there..

Too bad the World Boxing Hall of Fame (which needs a permanent home building), the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and other patrons could not buy that building and turn it into the WBHOF's museum.

125 YEARS | THE RING

This City Was Full of Fight
Before football came and went, before the Dodgers and Lakers, boxing was the center of the Los Angeles sporting world.

By Steve Springer Times Staff Writer
March 30, 2006

FOR America's big-league sports, L.A. was a distant outpost for the first half of the 20th century, impressive for an off-season vacation, impractical as a home base. Before jet travel, any team moving to the West Coast would have presented a scheduling nightmare.

The Rams, who played only once a week, were the first to make the leap, coming in the 1940s. The Dodgers followed in the late 1950s, the Lakers not until 1960.

But boxing was different. Unencumbered by the need to regularly transport a full team a thousand miles or more, boxing found its way here even before the start of the last century.

James Jeffries, who won the heavyweight title from Bob Fitzsimmons in 1899, began his professional career in his hometown, Los Angeles, where he knocked out Hank Griffin in 14 rounds in 1896.

Jack Johnson, before he beat Tommy Burns for the heavyweight title in 1908, won the black heavyweight championship five years earlier by defeating Denver Ed Martin in 20 rounds in L. A. in 1903.

Over the ensuing century, this city produced one favorite son after another in the ring: Henry Armstrong, Art Aragon, Jerry Quarry and Schoolboy Bobby Chacon.

In the last 15 years, three of the sport's most recognizable figures have emerged from this area: Oscar De La Hoya from East Los Angeles, Shane Mosley from Pomona and Fernando Vargas from Oxnard. Three others — heavyweights James Toney, and Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko — moved here with the hope this would be a launching pad for the top of the heavyweight division.

But although they all lived here, they rarely fought here after their marketability grew. Instead, they followed the money. And except for an occasional championship match at Staples Center, that has meant fighting in Las Vegas. Since the Olympic Auditorium and the Forum went dark in the last decade, in terms of regularly scheduled matches, there has been no major venue for a promising fighter to polish his skills as he moved from club fighter to headliner.

It was far different a century ago.

The city of Vernon was the first focal point for the sport in the Los Angeles area, thanks to a bartender and former railroad worker named Jack Doyle, who opened a training camp in Arcadia in 1908, according to the Tacoma News-Tribune.

Two years later, when he opened a bar in Vernon, Doyle decided boxing would be a great vehicle for getting customers into his establishment. So he began to stage four-round fights, the participants lined up by matchmaker Wad Wadhams.

The fights were held in the indoor Vernon Arena. Another local promoter, Uncle Tom McCarey, built an outdoor Vernon Arena.

By 1914, the state had put strict regulations on the sport. Fights were limited to four rounds, purses to $25.

Fights were also held in the Wilmington Bowl, fighters often training for area matches in Venice and San Pedro.

In the early 1920s, Doyle built a 7,000-seat arena in Vernon, but its popularity was short-lived. On Aug. 4, 1925, L.A.'s boxing mecca, the Olympic Auditorium, opened on the corner of 18th and Grand.

"The Auditorium blazed with glory on its opening night," according to an article the next day in The Times, "the light of many electric lights surpassed only by the sparkling jewels that adorned the persons of several of our well-known citizens and citizenesses. Hollywood and the moving picture colony slipped into their tuxedos and formal apparel and blessed the ringside by their presence."

In the early days of the Olympic, Mae West, Lupe Velez, Ruby Keeler, Al Jolson and later Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck could be found in the good seats.

By the middle of the last century, a fight fan could be entertained all week without leaving the area. Ocean Park Arena in Santa Monica had fights on Tuesdays, the Olympic on Thursdays and Hollywood Legion Stadium on Saturdays.

And the famous and the infamous tagged along, especially at Hollywood Legion Stadium, where entertainers Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Jolson, Eddie Cantor and George Raft rubbed elbows with mobsters such as Mickey Cohen.

Armstrong, who moved to Los Angeles as an amateur boxer, would be at the top of the list of L.A.'s best fighters, pound for pound, and certainly near the top of any list.

In the days when there was only one champion in each weight division, Armstrong won the featherweight, welterweight and lightweight titles in 1937 and '38.

And he almost added a fourth belt to his expanding frame, fighting Ceferino Garcia to a draw in a middleweight title match at Gilmore Field in 1940.

If Armstrong was the most talented L.A. fighter, Art Aragon was the most colorful.

Aragon, who fought from 1944 to 1960, was "the Golden Boy" long before De La Hoya was born, so-named by actor William Holden, who had starred in the movie "The Golden Boy." Said Holden, pointing to Aragon: "Here's the real Golden Boy."

Aragon (89-20-5, 59 knockouts), a lightweight, never won a title, but he sure won over the fans, packing arenas for his often brutal, usually entertaining fights.

And he won over the media as well with his one-liners. Describing a fight he'd lost after dieting to make weight, he said, "I was the only fighter who ever had to be carried into the ring."

Among L.A.'s most memorable matches:

• The welterweight title fight between Joe Rivers, known as "the Lethal Latin," and Ad Wolgast at Vernon Arena in 1912. They went down from simultaneous punches in the 13th round for a double knockout. The victory was awarded to Wolgast, the defending champion.

• The welterweight title fight in which Jimmy McLarnin beat Young Corbett III in 1933 in front of 15,000 at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field.

• The featherweight match between Chacon and Danny "Little Red" Lopez that drew 16,080 to the Sports Arena in 1974, with an additional 2,671 paying to watch the fight on closed-circuit television at Olympic Auditorium. Chacon won on a ninth-round TKO.

Muhammad Ali fought three times at the Sports Arena as Cassius Clay, the last time against Archie Moore in 1962, winning all three matches. He returned as Ali to beat Ken Norton in 1973 at the Forum.

There were also many colorful L.A. figures outside the ring among promoters and matchmakers, from Aileen Eaton and George Parnassus to Mickey Davies, Babe McCoy and Don Chargin.

Staples Center is trying to write its own chapter in the city's rich boxing history.

It was the site of the first De La Hoya-Mosley fight in 2000. Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins and Lennox Lewis have also fought there.

And on April 24, 2004, Vitali Klitschko beat Corrie Sanders at Staples to win the World Boxing Council heavyweight championship.

Klitschko has since retired, moved back to Ukraine and recently announced his candidacy for mayor of Kiev.

L.A.'s last heavyweight champion, Jeffries, won his title in 1899. Only boxing, of all of L.A.'s sports, can measure its monumental moments by the century.

Rick Farris wrote:A Cornerman's perspective . . .

I'll be working the corner Remy Damlien tomorrow when he travels to ELA to take on an imposing figure.
Instead of bringing the usual "cut man" medicine to the table, I'll keep it to a pack of Tums and a little Pepto Bismol, just in case.
As we did roadwork yesterday, Remy outlined his strategy, "Remember how Ingomar Johansson KOed Patterson? That's what I'll do to Manuel!"
The excitment is building.

kikibalt wrote:I wanna see that doctor Tom.... ! !!

He died 20 yrs ago !

One for the record books,

Manuels special with carne asada tko 9 Remy Damlien

Panzerfaust wrote:One for the record books,

Manuels special with carne asada tko 9 Remy Damlien

Ram, I heard you pulled a Victor Ortiz on us.....