BoxRec

bennie wrote:
Frankie Baltazar

Is this Canastota?

kikibalt wrote:

bennie wrote:
Frankie Baltazar

Is this Canastota?

Are you kidding? its downtown La Puente, Ca., in other words the Barrio.....

kikibalt wrote:

elmersalsa wrote:

kikibalt wrote:

Did you see that fight kiki?

kikibalt wrote:

Randyman wrote:

kikibalt wrote:

Frank, they just keep getting better and better. I'll bet the boxing museum in Riverside doesn't have as good as fight programs as you do. These are classic!

Randy

kikibalt wrote:

Lausse wrote:You guys remember a lightheavyweight fighter by the name of Jimmy Lester? he fought out of San Fran back in the day and was an all out action fighter apparently who scored some good wins during his career. I`ve heard he fought Andy Kid Heilman twice and one of those two bouts was a great, great fight, think it was the first one but I`m not so sure anymore.... anyone got any stories or thoughts to share about Jimmy?

Yes, I remember Jimmy Lester, but I don't think I ever seen him fight, live anyway.
Nothing stick out in my mind about him or his career.

kikibalt wrote:Courtesy of Bruce Smith




Jimmy Lester was actually a middleweight who fought out of S.F. from 1963-1973, ending with a record of 41 wins with 31 KOs 20 losses 2 by KO and 2 draws. I read a quote once that said, "Nobody comes out of a Lester fight unmarked."
Jimmy, known as the Bayview Blaster was the son of Jimmy "Top Row" Allen who also fought under the name Vernon Lester during the years 1943-1952, he lost a split decision to Jake LaMotta and ended his career with a KO loss to Sugar Ray Robinson. The nickname "Top Row" has two stories behind it, one is that he hit so hard that you could hear it from the "Top Row" and the other was that is was a certain position he held in a local jail. Since "Top Row" only had eight KOs in fifty fights you can come to your own conclusion.
Jimmy Lester Vs. Denny Moyer was the first professional fight I ever attended and at the age of nine I was hooked on boxing for life. I later met Jimmy while training at Newman and Herman's Gym in S.F. he was one of those people with a naturally muscular build and always looked good training and was good to us younger guys, a real gym favorite.
Jimmy fought many contenders and a couple of champions, I believe he was once ranked as high as number 4 or 5 middleweight by The Ring. Amongst his opponents were Curtis Cokes, Luis Rodriguez, Bennie Briscoe, Nate Collins (cross town rival), Charlie Shipes who he drew with, Lonnie Harris, Stan Harrington, Rafael Gutierrez, Art Hernandez, Charlie Austin and of course Andy Heilman twice.
The first bout with Heilman was the fight of the year in the Bay Area, promoter Don Chargin said it was one of the best fights ever in the Bay Area and poet Tom Smario wrote this about the fight;
"Heilman threw punches like a claustrophobic madman with a baseball bat and Lester was; like a man swinging an axe in wide arcs and roundhouse that tear meat from the bone."
Jimmy's biggest win was over Florentino Fernandez who had koed future light-heavyweight champ Jose Torres, Lester Koed Fernandez in the second round and the buzz in the crowd was "fix" but in the morning paper they read that Fernandez had a broken jaw and Lester had a broken hand.
I last ran into Jimmy in a seedy part of San Francisco he was standing at a residential hotel where he lived and I stopped to say hi to him, he would never have recognized me even if he hadn't suffer several strokes but when I told him that I had seen him fight many times he pulled me into the lobby and told everyone sitting around that I recognized him, he was very happy that someone had stopped to say hi, and I told everyone there what a great fighter he had been, I slipped him twenty bucks and told him thanks for some great memories.
Jimmy died of a heart attack in 2006

Bobbin & Weavin

Rick Farris wrote:

bennie wrote:

dagosd2000 wrote:Bennie,Oliver Hardy just wanted to try something different. By the 50's the two had lost a lot of their popularity. Martin and Lewis were the item. There wasn't an argument,but Stan said he would not work again without his partner. Ollie did some bit parts in some Westerns. Serious roles that were practically forgotten. Hardy later died of complicatios from over dieting.

Interesting, Rog. Man, Laurel and Hardy were the best!

Roger, I remember seeing Oliver Hardy in a western when I was a kid. I recall the scene had him sitting on the back of a horse under a tree, with a hangman's noose around his neck. I believe it was an episode of "Wagon Train". Remember that series star, Ward Bond? Bond along with John Wayne, (Marion Morrison) were USC football stars in the 20's, and it was USC alumni that ran the film industry in Hollywood for years. That was what led these two college football stars (Wayne & Bond) to a career in acting.

Oliver Hardy loved horses and invested a lot of money in thoroughbreds, losing his fortune. Stan Laurel died broke, as well. Like Hardy, Stan Laurel had his own passions, and he married all eight of them. I never fault a man for loving the ladies, but as I know, it can be an expensive proposition.

-Rick

kikibalt wrote:Saludos, KiKi

The photo of Artie and Rooney was taken during the filming of "Off Limits" a movie dealing with boxing and the military (1953).

Art was an extra in the film as was Jackie McCoy and they were both kayoed by Rooney in the script, of course. Stanley Clements was also in the picture and he and Jackie became friends through that association

Jackie introduced me to Clements at the Legion fights one night and we hit it off nicely. According to McCoy Stanley could have taken Rooney easily, but he also had to lose in the movie.

Kiki, that Legion program you posted was the last one that I designed for the club even after I had been named matchmaker. So the programs from 1948 through 1959 were all designed by me and in fact edited by me until Don Fraser came into our staff as a publicity man, in 1953.

One of these days I'll have my Didi scan some stuff for you to enjoy......all California, of course. Okay?

My best to you and yours, Cuate.

hap navarro

kikibalt wrote:

Randyman wrote:

kikibalt wrote:

I have that card Frank.

Lausse wrote:Glad to hear Alex Ramos is on the road to recovery... I have a few of his fights among my collection and he was a fun guy to watch win or lose, his fight against Curtis Parker is an underrated slugfest and one I enjoy watching every now and then.

Rick Farris wrote:

kikibalt wrote:Rick,

I don't put to much stock on those numbers, especially the ones from the Olympic, the Aragon/Carter title fight for instance list 7,251 fans and $74,462 gate, I was there that night and the place was pack to the rafters, over 10,400 fans for sure, there were people outside that couldn't get in, the reason that those low numbers were put out was that the fighters were working on a % of the gate, so the lower the numbers, the less they had to pay the fighters.

I know it happened to us!!...... :x

It happened to all the guys who fought mains at the Olympic and sold out the house. Armando Muniz was another who bitched about Aileen Eaton's accounting. As you say, numbers are meaningless, all I go by is the boxer's ability to excite fans in such a way that they are never forgotten, and that when guys like us recount our memories, we still get that chill of excitement when we share them. Some fighters are great in the ring, they win fights, titles, etc. and then there are those who have an undeniable charisma, guys like you listed and, of course, Mando Ramos. Mando had that "L.A. Charisma" that guys like DeLaHoya and today's group lack. Oscar is box-office gold today, no doubt, but he doesn't leave his audience with clean sense of energy that a Bolanos, Aragon, or Ramos gave us. Today, it's all about the buck. In the old days, money was a big factor as well, but there was also an honor that is lacking in today's world. We here all know and understand exactly what I'm trying to say.

-Rick

Expug wrote:

Lausse wrote:Glad to hear Alex Ramos is on the road to recovery... I have a few of his fights among my collection and he was a fun guy to watch win or lose, his fight against Curtis Parker is an underrated slugfest and one I enjoy watching every now and then.

Glad to hear Alex is doing better.
He fought Johnny Collins here in Chicago in a good fight in I believe 84.
Collins had him down, but I thought Alex should have gotten the nod.
It was a 10 round draw.

Rick Farris wrote:

Rick Farris wrote:

kikibalt wrote:

Wouldn't it be great if that publication (written as it was) still existed. Of course, we'd have to have the talent to fill it's pages, so I guess it's an impossible dream, huh?

-Rick

It just occured to me, aren't we kinda blowing wind into the sails of a dead vessel? Are we not pulling up a ship from the sea, one that had sank, fixing the rudder, refitting it's masts, maybe making it sea-worthy once again? Can we resurrect the dead? Popular opinion may believe not, but we are a special group, and, there are really no rules in life or limitations beyond one's own mind. This is OUR world, and we can do what we want, make dreams come true, and so on. If we like it, want it, if it is good in nature and positive, why can't it happen? Guys, I've got an idea and it won't cost a penny, or disrupt daily life in any way, no risk involved, but there will be a lot of fun and it will likely be personally satisfying. I know I'm being vague, so I apologize for that. Let me think this out a bit, and I'll get back to you. Randy, we have to talk.

-Rick

Lausse wrote:

Expug wrote:

Lausse wrote:Glad to hear Alex Ramos is on the road to recovery... I have a few of his fights among my collection and he was a fun guy to watch win or lose, his fight against Curtis Parker is an underrated slugfest and one I enjoy watching every now and then.

Glad to hear Alex is doing better.
He fought Johnny Collins here in Chicago in a good fight in I believe 84.
Collins had him down, but I thought Alex should have gotten the nod.
It was a 10 round draw.

Expug,

Do you know if this fight was televised? If it was I`ll try and track down a copy of it.