BoxRec

A Gem I Found

Turner Classic Movies last night was showing a run of movies featuring the French star,Alain Delon.I'm not a big fan of movies made in France(I don't want to say "French movies" because that connotes something different ).Sometimes I get the feeling that the French believe they have the inside track on everything.The smugness wears thin fast with me.

Anyway,this flick,Rocco And His Five Brothers(1960), is an Italian production with Luchino Visconti directing and using his screenplay. I'm posting this because the backdrop involves some boxing. Delon.who plays the part of Rocco,goes to Milan from the south of Italy to team up with his other brothers and the matriarch of the family,Rosana.She's convinced that the change of scenery will do her brood good. One of her sons,Simone,falls for a prostitute who urges him to be a boxer so she can live a lifestyle that's above her current standard of wham bam thank you ma'am. But Simone spends more time living the lowlife instead of focusing on boxing and winds up washing out as a fighter. Rocco on the other hand also tries boxing and starts becoming good at it. In the meantime the fallen flower puts the moves on Rocco(the kid doesn't know she was romping in the hay with Simone) because she's downright no good and wants to piss off Simone. But Rocco wakes up to the fact that having an affair with this girl will only lead to doom and destruction and a case of the clap. He eventually meets a nice girl and he goes on to fight successfully while Simone winds up killing his ex girlfriend ill repute.

I don't want to get into anymore details of the film because i want to focus more on the boxing end of it,but this a really good movie that somehow got by me.The fight sequences take place in small arenas in Milan and you can cut the atmosphere with a knife. Filming the picture in black and white adds credence to the its believability. I bet Scorsese was familiar with this film when he made Raging Bull.

Alain Delon's fight scenes are as good as it gets in "fight movies". Of course,a lot of that credit must go to Visconti. However,Delon looks like he had some practice on how to handle himself in the ring.He's fluid and natural and exhibits coordination.

Like all Italian dramas it can never be called that unless you add "melo" as the prefix. The ending is like eating a meatball sandwich without anything to wash it down. But I was glad that I stumbled upon this little gem. Maybe I just was in the dark.The movie wasn't released in the U.S. and there are subtitles. It seems that the big European stars(Sofia Loren was a good example)had to cross to the other side to make a flick with one of the big studios here,act beside a "name" American star,and of course learn English in order .then, to fly back and drop a bunch of names on the Amalfi Coast. I never liked any of Sofia Loren's movies made in America.

When Carlos Monzon was winning over Europe with his victories over Nino Benvenuti ,et al.,Delon became a big fan and a patron of the middleweight champion. I'm sure Delon introduced Monzon to some of the most tantalizing starlets on the Continent. That was right up Monzon's alley not to mention that Delon was as horny as me in my prime.Once in awhile I still get that old feeling.Ciao!


Carlos Monzon

Expect The Unexpected

When my father was a kid in Chicago his team was the baseball Cubs. He'd tell me stories about going to the games and watching his idols like Hack Wilson,Babe Herman,and Gabby Hartnett. My father would go on about how great those Cubbies were and it was only a matter of bad luck that they never won a World Series. But there was another major league franchise in the Windy City.-the American League White Sox. Granted,at the time when my father was going to Cubs' games during the 30's, the White Sox had fallen on hard times. A lot of second division finishes were due to the continuing fallout of the 1919 White Sox scandal when the players threw the serious to the Cincinatti Reds. Charles Comiskey,the owner of the White Sox,was a notorious cheapskate and made a habit of screwing his players out of their fair share of the dough.The Jewish gamblers(ex champ Abe Attell was among those wheeler dealers)knowing that the White Sox players hated Comiskey approached the team proposing that if they went into the tank they could make a lot more money losing than winning the serious.2nd baseman Eddie Collins was the only man on the team that the gamblers knew wouldn't cheat so they didn't let him in on the sham.The Sox gave it up to the Reds in six games.Thus the serious was forever after referred to the Black Sox scandal. After that disgrace the White Sox went into a slide. The Cubs of the 30's was the star attraction in the city with the broad shoulders according to Carl Sandburg.

But one day while I was listening to another Cub episode being recited by the old man i interrupted him.
"Didn't you ever go to a White Sox game to watch Babe Ruth when the Yankees were in town?"
"Yeah.I went to a few games to watch him,"said my father looking a little unsettled that I had stepped on bis toes.
"Well?"
"He never did nothing .Just a few high foul balls. He never got a hit let lone hit a home run," continued my father hinting that that was the end of his recollections of The Babe. It made me think if I had similar letdowns.So here's a short rundown.

The first time I went to New York City I put Katz's deli in the East Side on my bucket list. It was supposed to be the standard for the pastrami sandwich.So I hopped on the subway and found my way to Houston Street , my mouth watering like a Pavlov dog.Well,when I arrived there was a long line outside I'm guessing with tourists like myself.But that wasn't going to make me turn around and walk back down the street.I waited around 30 minutes before i was scurried to a table in the back.The waitress told me to go to the counter and order and that she'd bring out my food.No brainer. I ordered the hot pastrami on rye with yellow mustard.To drink, it was a cream soda. I didn't want to make any mistakes. I felt like an old guard Rabbi.It didn't take long for my sandwich to arrive with the cream soda.At first appearance it sure was big. But you can't tell a sandwich by its size. I chomped into it with both hands wrapped around and put my whole face into the contents.I came up for air and the first thing that hit me was that the bread was stale. The pastrami wasn't fatty enough so the the meat was a little dry.And of course the cream soda had to be flat. Add a 20 dollar price tag to all of this and I left Katz's with a bad taste in my mouth.

That night I wanted to go to one of the famous jazz clubs in The Village. It was either going to be the The Vanguard or Smalls.I tossed a coin and it came up Smalls.Again i was riding the subway into the city.While I was sitting on the seat I was imagining what it was like back in the day when The Apple was the Mecca for the aspiring jazz musician to get on the bandstand with the likes of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and see if he wouldn't get "cut" by the cats.Like Katz's deli there was a line outside. I didn't recognize the group on the marquis but I figured Smalls wouldn't hire a a bunch of scufflers. I walked downstairs to where the bandstand was and snuggled onto a nice stool at the end of the bar. The band walked out on stage- a tenor sax,piano,bass,and drums. They looked like they knew what they were doing,but when they kicked off the first number I knew it was going to be a very long set. The tenor man was the star attraction.Now the tenor sax is the bread and butter horn of jazz. It has a rich deep, tone and there's no other instrument than can emit the nuances that typify a jazz sound. But this guy really knew how to butcher his ax. First of all he fell to his knees(I thought he was having a stroke)but his gesture was just pretentious. Then he started to honk on his reed like a goose having his neck wrung.I don't know what he was trying to play but honestly I never had a tenor saxophone in my hands let alone a lesson but I could have matched him for note after sour note. It was like listening to a one hour demolition derby .What really chapped my ass was that the crowd was into this guy's playing.Before it was over I asked the barmaid if she had any Tylenol.

I've been to a few of the boxing matches at Mexico City's famed Arena Coliseo. I' probably saw close to 30 fights and they've all stunk. Real yawners. Boring as hell. Not a knockdown nor a knockout in the lot.Well,there was one. I've run this by you before. It was a sendoff for Ruben Olivares. His swan song so to speak. The Coliseo was packed to the doors. Olivares's career was way over by then and it hadn't ended with a flourish. They had him in there with a kid with a 2 and 2 record.I figured Ruben still had enough pop in his left hook to take this guy out and everyone would go home happy.Well,it didn't go according to script. This kid hit Rockin' Ruben somewhere on the shoulder. The bantamweight hung in the air and then plopped to the canvas like a dead rooster.That was his sendoff. Only he left the ring having to duck all the debris thrown into the ring in his direction.

Well,there you have it. I'm sure you've been let down by something in your lifetime. It's the unexpected that usually presents that unexpected Christmas present.But you can't set that up.A lot of people say they don't like surprises.But if you do you can't sit around waiting to be surprised. If you do then it's no surprise and that takes all the fun out of it.


My father sitting next to Al Capone at a Cub game at Wrigley Field. Gabby Hartnett is signing a ball.Sitting in the back is Capone's bodyguard Machine Gun Jack McGurn

The Show Must Go On

Boxing has to be the hardest sport for a fighter to step into the ring and have all his ducks in order ready to go and then to give it his best. But what if he's not feeling right? At the last moment he can't back out of it because he won't get paid. Mickey Davies,who was the matchmaker at the Coliseum in San Diego,told me that he never had a card go off as scheduled. At the last moment there'd be a fighter or two that wouldn't show up. He got the flu and was too sick to fight.My car broke down in the middle of the desert on the way there.I got thrown in jail for getting into a fight that i wasn't getting paid for.

But for the most part fighters get into the ring regardless if they're ready or not. James "the Heat" Kinchen told me that when he fought Juan Domingo Roldan in Las Vegas he had no business being in there.
"I was sick with a cold and I had a lot of personal things going on in my mind.I knew I was going to take a beating and I did.That's why Tommy Hearns wanted to fight me. He had knocked out Roldan earlier and figured he wouldn't have any problem with me."
(Of course Hearns had all he could deal with with Kinchen being knocked down and getting a "gift" from the judges on the scorecards)

They say Sugar Ray Robinson wouldn't get into the ring unless everything was copacetic in his corner. A lot of that feeling had to do with Robinson getting what he felt was a fair share of the purse. His third with Gene Fullmer in Los Angeles almost didn't happen because at the last minute Robbie wanted a bigger slice of the pie on the TV rights being broadcast overseas. He was in the dressing room and wouldn't come out if the deal couldn't be straightened out. Well,Robinson got his way and now was ready to fight. He wasn't even warmed up when the bell rang for round one. The fight was a draw that could have been scored in Robinson's favor,but Robinson never got the benefit of the doubt in any of his fights west of the Mississippi.

Rocky Marciano quit when he was on top.One of the few who was wise enough not tempt the fates.But I read once that one of the things that prompted Marciano to walk away from boxing was one day he walked into the gym and the smell of the place triggered something in his brain to tell him that he didn't want to do this anymore. The sweat embedded in the leather and canvas had an odor that turned him off.It reminded him of the work he had in front of him when it came to his training regimen.Marciano,under the watchful eyes of Charlie Goldman and Al Weill,knew that if he was going to stay on top he had to be in excellent condition. But when Rocky got a whiff of the gym that day he told his people he was through with the sport.He must have been thinking it for awhile. That smell turned the trick.

I was asked by by one of the posters about Denny Moyer's work ethic during his career. Well,I only got to see Moyer near the finish line. He was just going through the motions. Sure,he was in the gym just about everyday,but it was only to keep what little he had left in the tank from running dry. He was fighting only for the money. I think if he had been flush he would have opened that bar sooner and be telling the customers about his fights with Robinson and Griffith over a scotch and water.

You see a fight sometimes and think that it's a matched pair in the ring ,and then one guy stinks up the joint. Was the fix in?Or maybe he just didn't feel like fighting that day.

Rocky Marciano

My Take On Don Jordan

The "Most Evil Fighter" thread brought up Don Jordan's name. Way back around the time in the beginning of this thread Jordan proclaimed to the scribes that he was a hit man for organized crime and that he had killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 people.Another poster asked me if I could shed any light on Jordan's comments because I think he thought because I write a lot about the Chicago Outfit and my grandfather's role with those fellas',and then my father also associating with those boys, that I could either verify Jordan's words or denounce him as a phony. I never knew that Jordan was running with mobsters.He certainly was out of The Outfit's loop. But here's my take on Don Jordan's statements about being a hired killer. First of all anyone who had done such terrible things like killing people in cold blood would never tell anyone.Only the guys who contracted the murders would know and for sure they wouldn't tell an outsider or anyone else. Guys who commit these kinds of murders are the last ones to admit or confess their actions.IT'S NOT ANYTHING TO BRAG ABOUT. Telling the world that you're a contract killer is a good way to get yourself rubbed out. It brings unwanted attention.People from the cop on the beat up through the Attorney General's office would want to erase that stain ASAP.It makes them look bad to have some guy go around and say he whacked 30 people.From what I can put together is that Don Jordan knew people in organized crime,but he wasn't one of those guys who "paints houses."

My father was in The Outfit. He never told me any of the bad stuff he had to do(if he did do any bad stuff). He wouldn't want to bring shame on the family or bring the heat down on his friends.Besides, if he told me he'd have to kill me.


Don Jordan-probably just a lot of wind and smoke

Preaching To The Choir

It was the time when Muhammad Ali couldn't fight anymore.Uncle Sam had put the kibosh on his boxing and wanted to send him to Leavenworth. Ali didn't spend much time in the gym so to keep his face in the news he went on a barnstorming tour orating his Muslim beliefs and dissing whitey in the process.I saw him speak at San Diego State University.I was there with my friends and we hung on every word. I couldn't tell you what he said entirely because we were so loaded that everything was floating around in a surrealistic blur. You can bet that he didn't give the white man the benefit of the doubt though.

I looked around the sold out crowd inside the auditorium and didn't see many blacks. Come to think of it when I saw him fight Ken Norton later,again, you could count the number of black people on one hand(maybe both hands). I was young and caught up in the hysteria of his rhetoric. Ali was declared some sort of clergyman by the Nation Of Islam and that later helped him get back on his feet so he could fight again. Joe Frazier,who was waiting to get his chance at Ali, not only to prove who was the better man in the ring but to cash in in what was in store, helped Ali with some money out of his own pocket.

The Nation Of islam was looking for a poster child and Ali as made to order. Malcolm X was also speaking at the pulpit for the Nation Of Islam and both he and Ali shared a magnetism.However,Malcolm X's growing popularity with the flock and him sharing the spotlight with Ali rubbed a lot of the old guard Nation Of Islamers the wrong way including the honorable Elijah Muhammad.First they had to straighten out The Greatest. If he wanted to remain great he had to break ties with X,and do it in an abusive manner. Ali cooperated immediately.But Malcolm saw through the plot and knew that his time with The Nation Of Islam was waning fast.He then formed his own sect,The Muslim Mosque, and began announcing to the world what a hypocrite the old man Muhammad was. That eventually got him on the receiving end of some hot lead at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.Ali went on to recapture the heavyweight championship.

I guess black lives didn't matter with Mr. X.Though the cops looked the other way,the brother Muslims that did him in did it with a smile. Spike Lee,no Muslim by any stretch, went on to make that movie with Denzil Washington playing the part of Malcolm X and portrayed him as the tragic spokesman for the black community. Maybe he was top dog with the Muslim Mosque,but that was just a splinter group in New York and New Jersey. Elijah Muhammad was the guy in charge.

I laugh today about how these black athletes dis whitey and kneel when the National Anthem is played, and then I think about who goes to their games and wears their jerseys and marches with the Black Lives Matter protesters-the vanilla faces. I've been around so many blacks that don't bat an eye about talking about how the white man has kept them down. But say something about blacks to blacks and you're hit with a lawsuit or you might get your house burned down, and to boot branded a racist.

I'm sick of LeBron James and Al Sharpton and CNN griping about how the white man has it out for him(Ok.I know what some of you are going to say.It's only "some" whites that are racists.Are there any blacks who are?),and then there are the whites who are ashamed of the color of their skin..What's Jane Fonda's problem?(She wants to relive her past as a champion for the underdog so she sat her ass on a Viet Cong anti aircraft gun.She tries her hardest to still look young. She's 82.Jane you don't look a day over 80 ) Where was the beef before Trump came around? Google this guy's name, Wesley Autrey, and then search for the first inductees into the Ellis Island Foundation. There's The Donald standing next to Rosa Parks and you guessed it,The Greatest.

Yes,I consider Muhammad Ali the greatest fighter who ever lived. When I was at San Diego State that night I was a different person and so was Ali. I think Ali transcended into becoming someone different too after time.If it hadn't been for all those white people in his entourage he would never have been asked to be on a Dean Martin roast.Can't get any whiter than that.


Muhammad Ali

A Question Of Semantics

When asking who was the most evil boxer in history is there a correlation to be made between fighting and evilness? Boxing,being a violent sport, there might be a connection with fighting and someone being a psychopath. I don't buy it and I'll tell you why. Boxing is a sport for tough guys.Someone who is evil wouldn't want to partake in a sport,granted a contact sport,where there a rules of conduct when inside the ring. A sociopath can't differentiate between civility and barbarism. Now a sadist or a masochist would fit the bill closer,but then he couldn't hit below the belt or bite someone's ear off.Mike Tyson wanted to be DQ'd against Evander Holyfield because he knew Evander wasn't afraid of him and was going to kick his ass. So Mike bit his ear thinking he'd get tossed..Mike was't evil nor crazy.He was just looking for a way out. When Mills Lane just gave him a warning,Mike went for his lobes again. Ah! I got disqualified because I was crazy. No you weren't.You just took an easy way out.

Again I'll bring up Don Jordan the confessed voodoo hit man. Well,his presence in the ring wasn't to me very evil. In fact he was kind of boring to watch.If he was really evil he would have done something evil in the ring,but he always kept his punches true and was not much of a champ. Jordan said he was killing since he was 10 years old. There are kids in 3rd world countries who are pseudo soldiers who torture their victims and mutilate their bodies.The settlers and the Indians traded scalping each other and scalping women and filling babies with arrows,but that was part of the battle of manifest destiny.Both the red and the white man committed atrocities upon one another. The Indians weren't Christians,so be it.They had it coming. But the Indians learned that the white man believed in a God that they eventually nailed to a cross.What was with that?

I guess it's a question of semantics when getting the definition right.But i don't think boxing serves as an outlet for the depraved necessarily. (Of course i doesn't)The serial killer John Wayne Gacy who tortured and killed 33 people was a clown by trade. Where's the connection of being a clown and a mass murderer?Jeffrey Dahmer was a student at Ohio State University. Ted Bundy attended the University Of Washington.School and serial killers?

Genghis Khan after winning a battle had his conquering hordes kill over a million prisoners in a single day. He was evil.However, in war everything goes.The best way to win is to be the most evil.(Hiroshima anyone?) Now there's an occupation for an evil person.But Dwight Eisenhower and Robert E. Lee were two of the most kind hearted souls to ever to don a military uniform.

I've known my fair share of fighters over the years.Some,when they got to drinking ,it was wise to stay out of their way.But if a clown or a college student possesses an alter ego that lends itself to wickedness then the occupation is just a smokescreen.

When I read The Old Testament ,I don't think there is a manuscript that contains so much blood let by people who disobeyed the word of God.David disobeyed God when he was told by The Maker not to take a census in Israel. But David did it anyway. 40 thousand Israelites paid with their lives for that act of defiance. Elijah as walking in the woods one day and 42 children made fun of his bald head. When God saw that he sent a couple of bears in to take out those smart mouth kids for good. It doesn't get any more evil than that,but then again ,it's a question of semantics.Besides,God was never the welterweight champion of the world.


I call this one "Happy Jesus" Here he is with all the children of the different races.He was good Guy,but you were toast if you crossed his Old Man.You can see I'm a believer because of the capital letters. I wouldn't want to use lower case and get eaten by a bear.

Boxing's Misnomer

You don't see much of it anymore-non title fights. How can they have it where a champion can step into the ring and not have his title on the line? Is it supposed to be a practice fight? An exhibition of some sorts? During the early part of the 20th century there were a lot of non title fights.In some places they were called exhibitions. They weren't even scored by judges nor the referee.. The newspapers would have their opinions on who won and lost in the next morning's edition ,but often those scribes were getting a payola from one side or the other.

When we look at the records of fighters like Leonard,Britton,and Lewis , while they wore the crown, half of their fights in between defenses were of the non title ilk.By the time the big war ended there weren't many non title fights anymore. The heavier divisions got away from them,but at the lower weights they popped up from time to time.

One of my favorite fighters during the 50's was Joe Brown,who won the lightweight title from Wallace "Bud" Smith in 1956. He held on to the belt for six years when he was finally beaten by Carlos Ortiz in Las Vegas in a fight where Brown did nothing. If the odds were stacked against him in that fight what more of an appropriate place could you have pulled the wool over everyone's eyes?

By my count Old Bones fought 28 rimes after beating Smith before "losing" to Ortiz in 1962. But during that run 20 of those fights were that of the non title color. Johnny Busso,Ray Portilla,and Giordano Campari wound up beating him during that stretch, but again Brown hadn't signed a contract to stage those fights as defenses.

I thought Joe Brown was one of the best lightweights in history, but when they make those countless lists of who were the top ten 135 pounders his name is left off the page.He was tall and could box and when he had to, slug it out better than any lightweight around at the time. Dave Charnley,Kenny Lane.and Ralph Dupas couldn't get the better of him and those fellas' could box with the best of them, except Joe Brown.

But getting back to this non title business. I'm glad they don't do it anymore.There's no law against it but it ain't right.When the champ gets into the ring the other guy should know that this is his big chance. When Ray Portilla broke Old Bones' bones making him unable to continue, Ray should have left the ring being the lightweight champion of the world. Instead,he took his 22 and 29 record back to the hotel and fought only three more times before retiring.He must have felt like he got the shaft. You'd think he earned a rematch with Brown's title at stake,.but after Kenny Lane stopped him on a cut Portilla faded off from boxing memory.

Think about some of the more recent bouts that could have been legitimized as a non title fight?The non title guy is usually a fighter with a record like Ray Portilla's-a lot wins and a lot of losses.How about Mike Tyson's first loss when he fought Buster Douglas? Imagine if the title wasn't on the line.Would Mike have given Buster a rematch?Douglas' next fight was with Holyfield and then we saw Buster come back down to the canvas and the earth again.

One of the oddest non title fights was when Joe Becerra took a licking from an obscure Eloy Sanchez. Becerra retired right after that still the bantamweight champion.

They should make law against non title fights.A champion isn't entitled to being called that if he wants to fight for something that doesn't count. The funny thing is though I watch some of these title fights and they resemble more in the way of a non title nature,even an exhibition,further yet,a sparring session.That second fight with Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz would have qualified.That's not saying much for the heavyweight division.


Joe Brown

Outside The Vortex

"I read what you wrote about Joe Brown,"said Jeff the bartender setting up some tables and chairs under an umbrella in the parking in front of Champs. "My dad said that he saw him fight a lot on TV."
"Yeah,it was all those non title fights.But I also saw him fight in some championship fights too,"I said with a laugh.
"Did you ever know Sugar Ray Robinson?"asked Jeff scrambling way setting up everything.
"My father knew him.My father was working at a dairy that Capone had set up and they wanted to use Sugar Ray Robinson's name I think it was on some chocolate drink."
"What happened?"
"Robinson wanted too much money for the whole thing so they abandoned the project."
"Did you ever meet him?"
"Once when me and my father were at the fights down here.
"What was he like?"
"It's kind of hard to say but I'll tell you something that struck me. My father saw him at ringside and went right up to him and put his arm around him like they knew each other forever."
"So what happened?"
"My father told me about this once and he brought it up to Robinson.It was when Robinson was standing outside the dairy and a car drove by with some guys with shotguns and started shooting. Robinson thought they were shooting at him but they killed this other guy who was standing at the corner. I guess he was some sort of rat or something."
"Now that's a good story."
"Robinson told my old man that he was one scared bitch.He also went on that he always cooperated with the mob and couldn't understand why they'd want to shoot him."
"That's a good story,"said Jeff."You should put that on the forum."
"Oh,I've mentioned it a few times,"I said with a grin.
"Sounds like your dad knew a lot of people."
"Being with the guys he hung round with he met a lot of people."
"They say Robinson was hard to get along with,"queried Jeff.
"I think it was like this. If he knew you were star struck with him wanting to kiss his ass he'd take advantage of that and be kind of snooty. Carmen Basilio made that mistake when he went up to him for the first time and introduced himself. Robinson gave him the brush off.Basilio hated him after that."
"You're saying your father wasn't impressed with him?"
"No and I'll tell you why. First of all he was black. and was arrogant but my old man didn't hate him or anything. The only guys that my father was impressed with were those 'made' guys and they had to be Italian.To tell the truth I got the impression if you just acted yourself that was the best way to get along with Robinson. It humbled him and he got off his pedestal."
"Sounds interesting.You should put that one on the forum too."
"I think I have."
"You should go back and look."
"I never read the stuff I posted the previous day.I used to but I didn't like it so I don't do it anymore."
"Why's that?"
"It's over and done with.Besides I don't like reading it. When I writing I'm someone else. Someone maybe I wish I could be all the time but can only express it when I'm on that forum."
Jeff went on setting up the tables and chairs while we were talking.
"We open up in 15 minutes,"he said. "If you hang around I'll bring you out a beer. We can't let anyone inside yet and you'll have to wear a mask. while you're out here."
"Forget it.I just saw you out here and wanted to say hello."
"You sure.The beer's on me."
"No thanks. I'm not into dining and wearing a mask sitting in an asphalt parking lot."

Sugar Ray Robinson

Very interesting comments about Robinson, Roger. I'll always wonder if he tanked it against Maxim; what do you think about that bout ?

goose 5 wrote: ↑06 Sep 2020, 23:02 Very interesting comments about Robinson, Roger. I'll always wonder if he tanked it against Maxim; what do you think about that bout ?

I don't think I've ever heard anyone think that.Robinson threw that fight.He carried fighters so the Mob could make some money on him,but he never lost on purpose. If he threw that fight he almost died in the process. Why would he fight so long when the temperature was 100 degrees in the ring knowing he was going to lose on purpose? Robinson was of course one of the greatest but he wouldn't have been a glutton for punishment if he was going to take a dive.He sure didn't fake heatstroke. The heat and Joey Maxim beat him fair and square.

I was reading a book on Charley Burley and in it Ike Williams mentioned that Robinson was said to have thrown the Maxim bout. I believe Williams gave Walter Winchell as his source.

goose 5 wrote: ↑07 Sep 2020, 12:56 I was reading a book on Charley Burley and in it Ike Williams mentioned that Robinson was said to have thrown the Maxim bout. I believe Williams gave Walter Winchell as his source.

Goose
There are more tall tales spun off in the world of boxing than all the other sports put together. Speaking of Burley. Eddie Futch said that Burley got a phone call the day before the fight with Archie Moore to see if he could take it on short notice because whoever Archie was to fight bailed out. Burley accepted and went up to Los Angeles and whipped The Mongoose. But there were people in Los Angeles that saw fight posters a week before the fight announcing the match between Burley and Moore.I could go on and give you a cartload of more examples.

I've seen fights that looked funny. They usually last a round or two with the loser showing nothing. Sometimes it will go the distance,but again the guy on the losing end does little fighting and is never in trouble. But Robinson was beating Joey Maxim in that fight.Ruby Goldstein the referee had to leave early and be replaced because of heat exhaustion. in those days the corner men didn't hydrate their fighters enough between rounds. The temperature the night of that fight was over 100 degrees. Robinson was dehydrated and when heatstroke strikes it's suddenly. The doctor had to give him an IV in the dressing room and his son said that for six months afterward his dad had sores inside his mouth that wouldn't heal. He almost died. That scenario doesn't add up to a fix.

But here's the thing with that fight that the man on the street isn't cognizant of and should be:Ray Robinson(and Joe Louis) was the idol of Harlem and the black population all over the United States. Many of his fans couldn't accept Robinson losing to Maxim so they made up an excuse. But to say the fight was fixed? Incredible!

Walter Winchell :he was the front runner for fake news in this country. He was more of a gossip columnist than a news reporter.

When Water Was For Wimps

When I was a kid i remember if you were out there on the field, playing whatever sport, the coaches wouldn't let you drink water.Your tongue would be swelling up from the hot sun and your feeling lightheaded but the coach wouldn't let you have a drink of water.There wasn't even any water, in any capacity, allowed on the sidelines.Not even a picture of a lake or a stream. No bottled water,no Gatorade,no garden hoses,no putting your mouth around a sprinkler head and sucking on it like your mama's tit.This reasoning had macho overtones .Only wimps had to have a drink of water. And if you were caught drinking water it was a sign of weakness.If someone sneaked in a bottle of water or you stashed one in the bushes and brought it out to your parched lips ,you couldn't stop drinking until all the water was sucked from the bottle, and to make matters worse the coach who discovered this act of frailty would be screaming and yelling at you calling you every kind of name synonymous with being a wimp or maybe doubting your gender. Tough guys,real men, didn't need to have a drink of water.

I remember after the game(let's make it football) was over and we'd get on the bus we still weren't allowed a drink of water. I'd look out the window of the bus and every time we passed a Coke machine it would make me want to hold the bus driver hostage and make him pull over at the next gas station so I could ravish the Coke machine.

We used to run this drill after football practice. Everyone would line up on the track oval and at the sound of the whistle we had to run 220 yards under 40 seconds. Then we would rest for 40 seconds and then we had to run another 220 yards under 40 seconds. We had to do this 20 times.We called this torture ,20 220's, each 200 under 40 seconds. If you couldn't complete the drill the coaches thought you hadn't conditioned yourself enough during the off season and you had let the team down. And of course you were a wimp. But once we got to the showers we all put our mouths on the shower heads and turned on the cold water full blast.You could see our stomachs ballooning as the water went into our gullets.

Of course you felt badly if you couldn't run all those 20 220's.I had a fireplug body. My legs were short as was my stride. I never could finish that drill. One time i got up to completing 10 220's.I guess I was half a man.Then came that day we all would never forget. We were all lined up ready to run the 20 220's.It was one of those what we call in California a "Santa Ana" day. A broiling hot sun making the temperature soar into the 90's and to compound the heat there was practically no humidity. I did my usual DNF and was sitting on the grass after 7 or 8 tries. Of course the coaches would have nothing to do with me.They don't talk to injured guys or guys that couldn't finish running all the 220's.As I was resting I noticed that one of the players was laboring pretty hard.His gait had an eerie stagger to it. He was veering and obviously wasn't going to complete all the 220's. I thought one of the coaches was going to step in and pull this kid out. But no, the coaches were yelling at him to "Suck it up". "Be a man."Well this kid started off running again but could only take a few steps and then collapsed.He went into convulsions.The coaches rushed to him and were giving him water. In the meantime one of the coaches ran to the office and called for a ambulance. By the time the ambulance arrived the kid had died of a heart attack.

Well,it was a pretty sad day for all of us. The CIF commission banned teams from ever using that drill again,but didn't mention anything bout giving kids water.That was back in 1962.

Many years later I went back to the school as an assistant coach. I couldn't believe all the coaches were still there.Long in the tooth,but still there.Their desks hadn't moved an inch in the coaches' office. The year-1991. Well you wouldn't believe the changes during the practices and the games. Big plastic jugs of Gatorade and ice water all to be drank on a whim. During timeouts the girl aids would run out on the field and squeeze water from the water bottles into the players thirsty mouths.There was so much water around they could have filled a swimming pool.

But getting back to Robinson's fight with Joey Maxim. If they had only known then what they know now. Sugar would have had plenty of H 2 O in him and he would have left the ring the light heavyweight champion of the world.And he wouldn't have had to endure heatstroke to show the world he wasn't a wimp.


The great Sugar Ray

Will The Real Sugar Ray Robinson Please Stand Up

Around 20 years ago HBO came out with that documentary of Sugar Ray Robinson. I liked it. There was just about all the film footage of Robinson they could muster up. Of course most of that film is after Robinson came out of retirement after more than two years of trying to break into show biz.The documentary touched upon Robinson's fight with Jimmy Doyle who died after getting caught by a tremendous left hook. When a fighter dies in the ring or afterwards in the dressing room like Davy did after losing to Sugar Ramos,you can look back and say that the fight was exceptionally brutal from start to finish. The accumulation of blows absorbed attributing to the tragic ending.With the fight Robinson had with Doyle(from what I've read)there was no sign that Doyle was going to die going into the 8th round.The fight was typical Robinson outclassing his opponent ,ahead on all cards,but Doyle was never in dire peril. There's the photo of Doyle going backwards heading for the canvas after Robinson hit him with that left.He was out before his head hit the mat.

In the HBO documentary it showed an interview with Robinson sometime after the fight with him stating that he had a 'dream" the night before that he was going to kill Doyle in the ring that night. He said that he wanted to call the fight off,but the fight went on as scheduled to its unfortunate ending.Robinson also added that he had "talked to a priest "after he had his dream but the priest said not to worry because it was only a dream.I've never seen an interview with this priest or what his name was to validate Robinson's story. Jimmy Doyle was fighting so with his earnings he could buy his mother a house. Robinson gave her the proceeds of his next four fights so she could have that house.

Fighters act differently after they kill an opponent in the ring. Sugar Ramos killed two fighters.Emotionally,he was a troubled fighter after that seeking psychiatric and spiritual help.The death of Kim Duk-koo bothers Ray Mancini to this day.Ezzard Charles never fought with the same tenacity after the death of Sam Baroudi. But I've often wondered about Robinson. When asked after the Doyle fight if he knew Doyle was in trouble he answered "I knew he was in trouble when he signed the contract."What a thing to say.

They mentioned in that HBO documentary that Robinson was a "psychiatrist's dream." There were facets to his personality. He could be sweet and charming one minute and then flip the switch and a be Mr. Hyde the next. Edna Mae Robinson ,his wife,was voted by Sports Magazine as being wife of the year,but she never let us in on the punches she had to put up with when she got on her husband's wrong side. Robinson 's irresponsible behavior didn't stop with his wife. He was virtually on the lost and found list with his two sons and he had a name for his overweight sister.He called her "Lard."

Sugar Ray Robinson was a hard guy to figure out.On one hand he was free with his money donating to charitable organizations like MDA and youth projects in inner city LA.But Robinson was never a hands on guy. He lent his name and money but he wasn't around much.He was mostly interested in himself.He died penniless and in the throes of dementia. Ali asked him to be his trainer early on,but Robinson wasn't going to play second fiddle to Ali. Ali had always referred to Robinson as being the greatest P4P in boxing,but Robinson didn't want to be putting Ali's robe on his shoulders after a fight. That would have been beneath him.

After the Doyle fight Robinson's next two fights were one round KO's. He sure didn't lose any of his aggressiveness.One of his victims was the champion of the Philippines,Flashy Sebastian. Ruby Goldstein was the referee.Goldstein noticed in the opening seconds that Sebastian was dropping his right hand when he threw out his jab.Breaking a clinch Goldstein had the nerve to tell Sebastian that he should keep his right hand up. "You're in there with Sugar Ray Robinson." 30 seconds later Goldstein was counting to ten over the unconscious Flashy. He was felled by a counter left hook.

So I can sit here and try to psychoanalyze Robinson. but when it comes down to it he was more or less like everyone else.He had his good side and his bad. What makes that so interesting is that he was the greatest pound for pound fighter who ever lived.That's what Muhammad Ali said anyway.

Sugar Ray putting on a show for a little kid outside his bar"Sugar Ray's"(what else was he going to name it? )in Harlem

d

Over A Cup Of Coffee

Several years ago when I went searching for Mantequilla Napoles in Ciudad Juarez I had to drive along the highways of the southwest-straight open roads that swayed up and down with maybe a car or a truck not seeming in a hurry to get anywhere to pass around ,but never enough traffic to warrant stepping on the brake pedal.Along the sides, the Saguaro cactus tall and strong,sagebrush swaying by gusts blowing in from boulder passes.high light blue skies towering over distant swarthy mountains looking desolate and lonely carving out the horizon as far as the eye could see.Life being heard but seldom seen. A chirping desert wren,a woodpecker knocking his head against a mesquite branch.The heat when opening the car door hits you like a furnace.

The drive along the southwest border-California,Arizona, New Mexico,and finally ending at the tip of the Lone Star State at El Paso- is easy going and gives you time to think.I stayed a day in Phoenix to take in a Diamondbacks game with my grandson Adam.The next morning I was off again at dawn on my way to looking for that needle in a hay sack named Jose Napoles.Before arriving in El Paso and crossing into Mexico,I stopped for a bite to eat outside Albuquerque. It was one of those little stucco diners along the highway that had a big wooden billboard outside that read "Curios,Homemade Pies,and Date Shakes." It looked all alone by itself with nothing around it.I slowed the car down and saw the "Open" sign in the window. I parked my car in the gravel lot in front and walked inside.To the right was the gift shop adorned with turquoise jewelry and silver bracelets and necklaces hanging on hooks. There was a showcase filled with rings and pendants in an aisle next to the bakery that has stacked mounds of fresh baked cookies,fudge,and donuts.Homemade rhubarb pie was the special of the day read a sign on a chair.

There were no cars parked outside and no one I could see inside except the girl behind the counter in the diner that was off to the left of the gift shop.There were five stools at the counter. Inside a glass case were an assortment of pies on top of the counter at the end. I took a stool at the other end.The girl behind the counter was young with sandy hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her soft skin had a clear complexion.Her face was pretty and full, and when she drew near I could see her light green eyes come to life when she smiled showing her perfect teeth.She was wearing a clean apron covering her T shirt that draped down to the waistline of her Levis.
"Can I get you anything?"she asked sweetly in a little girl's voice.
"How about some of that rhubarb pie and a cup of coffee."
"I'm sorry ,"she said sheepishly."But we don't have any rhubarb pie left but I can give you apple pie or coconut."
"I'll just have a cup of coffee."
While the girl went over to a big urn to get the cup of coffee I noticed a black and white picture of a fighter hanging on the wall next to the door to the kitchen. immediately I knew who he was. It was Bob Foster the light heavyweight champion of the world.The girl came back with the coffee and set it on a napkin in front of me.
"I just remembered ,"she said."We have some homemade cranberry muffins that just came out of the oven."
"Thanks anyway but I'll just have coffee."
"Can I get you any cream and sugar?"
"No.I like mine black."
I sipped the coffee.It was very good.
"I see that picture of that boxer on the wall,"I said pointing to it wanting to play it dumb."You know who he is?
"No I don't. Once in awhile someone asks but no one knows who he is."
"Then why do you have him hanging on the wall?"
"For curiosity sake. My father when he bought this place a few years ago saw it hanging on the wall.The former owner must have forgot to take it with him."
"You know on second thought you think you could make me a one of those date shakes to go.I'm from San Diego and they don't have them back there."


The girl smiled and walked back into the kitchen. I could hear her start the milk shake machine.then I thought about Bob Foster. When Foster knocked out Dick Tiger ,who could take a shot with the best of them,with that replayed after replayed left hook that dumped Tiger on the mat for a time that seemed forever,I thought Bob was going to hold on to his crown for as long as he wanted. Granted, the light heavyweights back then were a lukewarm group.Fighters like Fourie,Kelly,Finnegan,Carroll,and Jerry Quarry's little brother were not in Foster's league.He was so damn tall and his reach long too and he could box and hit harder than any other light heavyweight without question.But that was the sticking point. Foster wasn't making any money fighting the guys in his division. He had the frame to go up a notch and fight the name boys.At that time the light heavyweight division was about as interesting as watching grass grow.The disparity between weighing 174 pounds and adding a pound was like crossing the Great Divide.So Bob from time to time would test the heavyweight waters. Fighting the good heavyweights found him in over his head though.Doug Jones,Ernie Terrell,Joe Frazier,and Muhammad Ali were just too powerful for the lanky Foster.But when it came to comparing him with the light heavyweights of yore it seemed to come down to who was better- Archie Moore or Bob Foster?Finally.after a long run whipping the best of the rest in the division Foster hit the wall.Jorge Ahumada looked like another notch in Fosters gun but when Bob pulled the trigger he shot blanks. In a very hum drum effort he was lucky to get a draw. Now he had to make a decision .He could stay at 174 or try his luck with the big men again. He stayed with the big men,but they didn't have the big names.Bob Hazelton,Harold Carter,and Al Bolden were on his docket but those fights couldn't draw flies. Besides,at the end he couldn't even beat the likes of them anymore.Foster decided to hang up his gloves and find another way to make a living. Foster was from Texas and he was popular fighting in the southwest. He decided to try getting into law enforcement and rope a few desperados.He wound up toting a badge in Albuquerque and was was recognized as a pillar of the city's crime fighters.

The girl came back from the kitchen with the date shake.
"I'll put this in a bag for you,"she said."Here.I saved you a taste in this little cup.Tell me what you think?"
She handed me the cup and I drank its contents.
"Why this is the best date shake i ever drank,"I said.
"It's my own homemade recipe,"she said.
"I'll be sure to tell everybody that's passing through to stop here and try one."
"Thank you,"she said smiling coyly.
"By the way.What's the name of this place?"
"Sheriff Bob's,"she answered."My father didn't want to change the name.I never asked him why."



Bob Foster

Joey Maxim didn't think much of Foster because they did an old timer's exhibition in Las Vegas and, according to Maxim, Foster was confused by some of the moves that Maxim made. I think the great lightheavys of the 40's like Moore, Bivins, Marshall, Charles, Maxim and even a still not peak Harold Johnson would beat Foster.

goose 5 wrote: ↑10 Sep 2020, 11:54 Joey Maxim didn't think much of Foster because they did an old timer's exhibition in Las Vegas and, according to Maxim, Foster was confused by some of the moves that Maxim made. I think the great lightheavys of the 40's like Moore, Bivins, Marshall, Charles, Maxim and even a still not peak Harold Johnson would beat Foster.

Goose
Interesting comment coming from Joey Maxim. If those other guys you mentioned would have been the light heavyweight champion I don't think Robinson would have fought them. Joey,as cute as he was in the ring,couldn't break a egg with his punch. That's why Robinson thought he could beat him.Robinson had trouble even before the retirement when he fought bif upper body fighters-Ralph Jones.LaMotta,Fullmer.Turpin,even Henry Brimm who held him to a draw. Joey had the upper body of a welterweight

Foster on the other hand I think would have done quite well with any of those guys.Moore if he could take Foster into the late rounds would have beat him. Charles, before Baroudi(even after) ,would have been a tremendous fight.Foster never met fighters with that kind of talent,.and as far as a good heavyweight he was in over his head. Charles and Moore ,who had success fighting good heavyweights , would have beat Foster. I don't know about those other guys.

Earl's Idol

I got to know this guy when i was in charge of structural pest control for the County Of San Diego.The guy's name was Earl Anderson,a tall lanky good ol' boy originally from Texas. Dark complected with wavy jet black hair and being Texas cowboy slim,Earl talked with that slow easy drawl.He could stare you up and down when talking and before he uttered a last word he knew if he like you or not. You knew where he stood with blacks and hippies and dope smoking.But he didn't carry a chip on his shoulder. In fact he was one of the most personable fellas' I ever met.We got to talking about boxing one day and that opened up an A-B conversation that put the rest of the crew out of the loop. Right away Earl let me know that he was one of "Irish" Bob Murphy's chief sparring partners and closet friend. Earl was also a pro fighter,a semi main guy, but had trouble keeping his eyes together when fighting. The commission said if he kept it up he'd go blind so Earl walked away from boxing but stayed with Murphy when he was in training.I'm tellin' ya', Earl worshiped Murphy.Murphy was like a big brother.They both liked to drink and chase women so there was a common bond.Earl also told me that Murphy hated Italians.Never pinned it down why, just that Murphy didn't care for dagos.But from where I'm coming from I could understand it.

When the Italians started flocking over here to this country around the turn of the century they were dead poor and couldn't speak English. They moved into the cities in the worst parts and became neighbors with their fellow Catholics the irish.But that's where the similarity stopped.Granted, the Irish were shanty poor but now there were these spaghetti eaters who were occupying sitting on the bottom rung of the social ladder.(Forget the blacks they had their own neighborhoods to live in ).Also to make matters more uncomfortable, most of the cops that walked a beat were Paddies and they didn't hesitate to use their billy clubs to crack a Paisan across the headeven for just the fun of it.And one other problem. Those Irish boys didn't take to those greasers moving in on their women. They thought they were all Rudy Valentinos and besides there was always a knife to be found on one's person at the sub station after an arrest.Earl didn't have to explain anything.It was an inherent dislike.

One fight ,his first go with Bob Murphy. Jake was all into himself still even after Robinson broke his heart on Valentine's Day in Chicago. When he and Murphy got together it was Bob having so much fun winding up that big left hand of his cracking La Motta's ribs like a pound of olives in the corner deli.When the bell rang for the 7th round Jake had had enough of Murphy. They met again and the fight was even going into the last two frames.Then Murphy took his foot off the gas and Jake snuck in and after ten got his hand raised. The fight stunk to high heaven,but that's the bout that La Motta went on and on about.I think he was a klittle afraid of Murphy. I 'll tell you why. In the second fight La Motta wanted his daddy in his corner.

Earl said that he was with Murphy in Boston in some posh restaurant and who's sitting at a table winding linguini on his fork?Rocky Marciano.Well, Earl and Murphy had been drinking Bushmill's at the bar down the street and were feeling no pain when the duo stumbled upon Rocky and his goombas.Out of the blue Murphy goes after Marciano grabbing his lapel.Before you could say "Danny Boy" the waiters separated the two and Rocky wondering what what he did to get Murphy's Irish up.

When Murphy signed to fight Joey Maxim for the title in the Garden the odds makers made him the favorite. Earl said he was in Murphy's dressing room before the fight. While he was getting his hands wrapped ,Travis Hatfield, Murphy's manager was called to the phone. After a two minute conversation Hatfield went over to his charge and let him in on what went down. Earl said that Murphy jumped down from the table and started breaking chairs kinda' like what Joe Pesci did in Raging Bull after the third fight with Robinson when they thought Jake got a raw deal from the officials.Murphy went back to San Diego with Hatfield empty handed and were never in the big money again.After retiring from boxing Murphy crashed his motorcycle breaking his neck against a tree. No one had to tell me that Earl never got over the loss of his friend.That's all he ever talked about.


"Irish" Bob Murphy

Beast Of Burden

Very interesting observations by some of the posters regarding who was" the most evil boxer" and the name of Luis Resto is mentioned. i saw a documentary awhile back about how Resto's gloves were tampered with prior to his fight with Billy Collins.I'm sure the documentary was seen by many fans of the sport. Of course Panama Lewis performed the altering-with Resto complying and then carrying out the destruction of Collins. I do believe after hearing him today that Resto is remorseful,however Lewis still lies to this day. "Someone else did it." Or."I just used the gloves they gave me."He was prosecuted and served a stretch in the pen. He's supposedly banned from the sport.Resto also went to jail.

The posters on the forum look at Resto as being kind of simpleminded and went along with Lewis because there were bets laid down that Luis would win and after it was over everyone would collect. Resto was a big underdog going into the fight.

There are things that bother me about boxing. I'm sure if you've had the time to read what I say I've brought some of them up.One of those things is how some people that are involved in a fighter's career don't have their guy's best interests at heart. Fighters want to fight and make money and maybe if the dice doesn't roll snake eyes they can win some sort of title.Yet there are managers,trainers,promoters,and commissions that tell the fighters they want to serve them,but that often translates that they're heads are served on a silver platter.

You can come up with names of some of these sleaze balls. You don't even have to think about it. But the thing that really gets me is that the fighter,when all is said and done,will look back on everything and thank the guys who stole his money and mismanaged his career. Then when the dementia pays a permanent visit they leave him mumbling to himself in an institution.

I remember listening to Buster Douglas many years ago on the Howard Stern Show talking about his fight with Tyson.Buster was on the show with his new manager who was also his lawyer and power of attorney. Buster,all 400 pounds of him,was talking about making a comeback. Stern asked him how much money he cleared after winning the heavyweight championship of the world from Iron Mike.
"Well,"explained the portly one,"after paying my trainer and manger,the promoter,and expenses i made 600 bucks."
Howard asked him again.He thought he misundersood,but the reply was an echo. The thing that amazed everyone in the booth was that Buster thought that everything that transpired was on the level. It probably was,but what did he know?

Howard then asked Buster's new friend,confidant,and the guy who was to look after him if he was going to play it honestly and not pick his pocket.
"Of course,"he answered without looking at Douglas. "I'm going to take of care him from now on."
But now Buster turned and was studying this guy who had control now looking him up and down.

I hope he did his homework.


Don King

Roger: Did you see the Oscar Albarado-Eddie Mazon bout in an Diego ? If so, I'd really like to hear any memories that you have of it and of Mazon in general.

goose 5 wrote: ↑12 Sep 2020, 00:52 Roger: Did you see the Oscar Albarado-Eddie Mazon bout in an Diego ? If so, I'd really like to hear any memories that you have of it and of Mazon in general.

Goose
I saw that fight and i really believed that Albarado was going to rebound after losing to him in LA. But what Mazon had going for him was that he was a good boxer. Not much of a punch,but that rematch in San Diego was similar to their fight in LA. Mazon beat him to the punch. Out hustled him.


Eddie Mazon was one of the steady main event attractions at the Coliseum. He looked young for his age.A baby face,not rough in appearance, but he wasn't afraid to mix it up.Though never ranked in the division, let alone a champion, he never dogged it in a fight. Gave the fans their money's worth.

Thanks, Roger.

goose 5 wrote: ↑12 Sep 2020, 13:42 Thanks, Roger.

Goose
I was checking the BoxRec records and see that Mazon LOST back to back fights with Albarado.I must have been thinking of someone else. Sorry about that But I 'll stick to my guns about may take on Mazon. He was always in a good fight.

Not Exactly Recalling Totally

Just wound up with egg on my face responding to Goose's query about what my opinion was of Eddie Mazon's fight with Oscar Albarado in San Diego. I said I was there(Now that I blew it I might have been)and I described Mazon outfighting Albarado beating him on a decision. I also said the Albarado lost the first fight with Mazon in LA.Wrong again.Go to the record book and see for yourself.But lately these kinds of slip ups have been happening to me more frequently. i don't mind to tell you that it bothers me.

Last month I forgot my wife's birthday.That hurt.I get together with some of my old high school football pals for lunch from time to time.When we were seniors we lost the title game to Clairemont High. I told everyone that that loss was devastating to me. I told the gang how I remembered singing the alma mater on Clairmont High's field in front of our fans sitting in the stands. Then one of my former teammates said that the game was played on San Diego State's football field. Then everyone corroborated that what he said was the truth. For 55 years(maybe less.I don't know)I thought that game was played at Clairemont High.The other day I was talking with a teacher I used to work with at the last school where I was at. He grew up in Southeast San Diego and is a big boxing fan. In fact he steered me to BoxRec. I asked him if he recalled the fight Mike Quarry had with Amado Vasquez on the baseball field in National City. He said that he was there with his brother and some friends. I said that I thought there was going to be a riot when they stopped the fight in Quarry's favor that afternoon. My friend then corrected me and said the fight was at night under the lights.I argued a bit but to settle matters we went over to the National City Rec Center to get to the bottom of it. He was right.The fight was at night.They had the next day's paper of the fight in a frame on the wall. The paper had a picture of ringside.it was pitch black.For years I thought that the Davy Moore/Sugar Ramos fight was at the LA Coliseum,.I saw the fight on TV and was sure it was at the big Coliseum downtown.Then around ten years ago I was talking with Frank Baltazar about the fight and said I saw it on TV shown live from the Coliseum.He said he was there with his wife and that the fight was at Dodger Stadium.Of course everybody knew that except me. But the biggest bonehead error I made was years ago when I met Mando Ramos. I asked him what it was like growing up in Boyle Heights. He gave me a funny look and said he was raised in Long Beach.I don't know where I got that impression about him running with his pals in Boyle Heights.

I'm not making any excuses for my mistakes.I'm sure there are plenty more ahead.But the inaccuracies that bug me the most is when I post something and then check for typos and spelling errors and see a bunch of them staring me in the face. I hate when that hapens.


Frankie Baltazar Jr. A staple of boxing in LA.