BoxRec

kikibalt wrote:Rick,
Most people knew that Tony loved to party, so one time after we came back from one of his big fights, don't remember which one, but it might have been the Robin Blake fight, a fight in which he got paid lots money, well the Saturday after we got home about 5:PM he is getting ready to go out, he start taking stuff out of his pockets, out comes a roll of $100 bills, I ask Tony how much money he had there, he said 35G's, so I ask him what're you doing with all that money?, he tells me he is going out with some friends, I told him not with all that money you're not, I took the 35G's from him and gave him 5G's and told him, blow that if you like, but come Monday you and I are going to the bank and deposit the 30G's that I am holding for you, we did go to the bank and put the money in a C.D, which he still has, my wife is hold the C.D for him.
To be honest I think that Tony has forgotton that he has the C.D because he never ask about it, my wife say that she will turn it over to him when he is 55 years old , he is now 47.

You better hope he doesn't read this. Can't keep a secret. Put it out on the Internet,BROTHER!

Expug wrote:

dagosd2000 wrote:

Expug wrote: Great story on Kid Rayo.
I agree with you Dagos.
Its guys like this that I find very interesting also.
It takes a certain type of fighter to say to himself "I.ll fight anyone anywhere , anytime.'
Its as if there is no fear of failure.
Hard to think this way in a very ego driven sport where winning is everything to most.

Hey Pugster,I've come to the conclusion this that Hemingway writer had it right. There's more valor in how much you can take. So who wins between Vasquez and Marquez? The referee raises Vasquez's hand,but that was only a technicality. Two fighters letting it hang out,and when it's over,they both win. I know one of them is sore with the decision,but they both win. Ali,Sugar Ray.They looked unbeatable at one time. When they lost that step,well,that's when the fans embraced them even more. Robinson getting smashed on the ropes by Fullmer. Ali almost dying in the ring against Holmes.

It was no secret. Carmen Basilio didn't care for Sugar Ray Robinson. But when he described his first fight with Robinson he said,"You can say what you want about the guy, this guy had guts. They say I hit him with more than 30 straight punches in the tenth round,and he's still standing there. And then in the 11th round he comes out and kicks my ass."

Basilio couldn't have hated him that much.

Yes , I think much of it is about earning the other mans respect.
I cant articulate as well as you do my friend.
But I think there is such a thing as a fighters fighter.
Guys who are so admired by other fighters that even though they dont wanna come right out and heap praise, deep down they really respect the other guy cuz hes earned it.
We have been talking in this thread about many of those type of guys I think.

Pal,You come across loud and clear!

Expug wrote:

bennie wrote:Expug: say hello to Johnny from his fans in England. He made a lot of friends here, too.

I sure will Bennie.
Thats really good to hear.
It will also make him very happy to hear that.

Pug and Bennie, I only had the opportunity to watch Heard in action once. He fought on a card that would have been impossible to put together a year or two later, but man, did it catch my eye when I saw it advertised. The promoters called it, "the British are coming" and besides Heard on the card as well as James 'Quick' Tillis and Jeff Sims, there were these three young kids from England and Ireland who were very inexperienced and just trying to get some exposure. The three fighters went by the names Frank Bruno, Barry McGuigan and Lloyd Honeyghan. I knew them all from reading every boxing magazine they would put on the stand (including a subscription to Boxing News) and it was a great night of boxing. Johnny fought on the card, beating one Gary Jones and I'll tell ya, Johnny put on a clinic. His physical condition belied his age which was around the early 40s I believe. Pug, did you attend that card? It was held at the DaVinci Manor.

Scartissue

bennie wrote:

kikibalt wrote:
Art Frias

Ernesto Espana must have been sleeping with Elias Cordoba. He got title shot after title shot.

Tell me about it. Lionel Hernandez also got about 5 title shots during his career. These Venezuelans had the key to the WBA vault I think.

Scartissue

Billy "Sweet Pea" Peacock

kikibalt wrote:Rick,

To be honest I think that Tony has forgotton that he has the C.D because he never ask about it, my wife say that she will turn it over to him when he is 55 years old , he is now 47.

This is one of the best boxing stories I have ever heard!

When it comes down to it, Tony could not have had better management. When you consider the reality of compound interest on that amount of money, over the years since the account was established, Tony Baltazar will have healthy sum for his retirement, hopefully, he'll allow mom and you to guide him when he takes control of the money. I'm fully aware of people who spend like there's no tomorrow, I have the same problem.

Again, this really defines boxing. Thanks, Kiki!

Got a question for Frank or Rick,Remember a fighter named Manuel Fierro? Saw him fight a lot in TJ and San Diego. Never had the tools to be champ,but gave it everything he had.

dagosd2000 wrote: It was no secret. Carmen Basilio didn't care for Sugar Ray Robinson. But when he described his first fight with Robinson he said,"You can say what you want about the guy, this guy had guts. They say I hit him with more than 30 straight punches in the tenth round,and he's still standing there. And then in the 11th round he comes out and kicks my ass."

Basilio couldn't have hated him that much.

That was about money.

Fullmer told me he made less in his fight where he won the title from Robinson that any fight he had. And very little in their 2nd fight.

You had to do that to fight Robinson.

There would have been a 3rd Robinson-Basilio fight, but Robinson wanted ALL the money.

There would have been a 4th Ross-McLarnin fight, but Ross wanted ALL the money.
.

Oakland Bill Smith (R) vs Ezzard Charles

Look at that beauty of a boxing stance Charles had.

dagosd2000 wrote:Got a question for Frank or Rick,Remember a fighter named Manuel Fierro? Saw him fight a lot in TJ and San Diego. Never had the tools to be champ,but gave it everything he had.

YES. Dagos, Fierro came to L.A. and fought at the Olympic, sometime around '70, about the time I turned pro. I remember this fight well, because he would fight my stablemate. I was to open the show in a four rounder, but my opponet didn't show.

At the time, my manager, Johnnie Flores, had a pretty slick Mexican welterweight named Crispin Benitez. Benitez had scored a pretty big upset KO of Gil King, handing Suey Welch's unbeaten prospect his first loss, and basically took all the wind outta Gil King's sails. After that fight
King wasn't worth much more than a loaf of stale bread.

Benitez was suddenly a hot item, and here was talk of matching him with another up & comer Armando Muniz. But first, he would fight Fierro. One thing about Johnnie Flores, he wasn't afraid to match his fighters tough, and a couple months after upsetting King, Crispin is matched with Manuel Fierro.

After watching they way Fierro beat up Benitez, and KO him in round two, I thought this guy had championship potential. I was surprised when he fell short in fights with top guys.

-Rick Farris

kikibalt wrote:
Billy "Sweet Pea" Peacock

Frank,Peacock always interested me. He seemed like he could really punch. When we first moved to California,I remember he broke "Raton" Macias's jaw. I saw it on the LA. news. Then shortly after that everybody was beating him. Why did his career turn south like that?

dagosd2000 wrote:

kikibalt wrote:
Billy "Sweet Pea" Peacock

Frank,Peacock always interested me.

dagosd2000 wrote:

kikibalt wrote:
Billy "Sweet Pea" Peacock

Frank,Peacock always interested me.



He has always interested me, as well. Anything on Billy Peacock would be appreciated.

-Rick[/b]

Frank,Peacock always interested me. He seemed like he could really punch. When we first moved to California,I remember he broke "Raton" Macias's jaw. I saw it on the LA. news. Then shortly after that everybody was beating him. Why did his career turn south like that?

Here is another photo of Billy Peacock

Mr.D, & Rick

Billy Peacock was a very good fighter when he came west from Philly, he fought and beat the best bantamweights in Calif. at the time, like I like said, he was doing great until he ran into a guy that was fighting out of San Diego, Javier "Baby Face" Gutierrez, Baby Face beat Peacock twice in a row, after that Peacock won a few fights, then started losing, and losing and losing.

As to, why did his career turn south?, back in those days, fighters were not protected like today's fighters, just look at Peacock's record and if you know the names on his record you can understand why he started losing.
He fought the who, who's of the bantamweighters.
I last seen Peacock at the Teamsters Gym about 1959, and let me tell you he was walking on his heels.

Octavio "Famoso" Gomez"

Johnny "Bandit" Romero

kikibalt wrote: I last seen Peacock at the Teamsters Gym about 1959, and let me tell you he was walking on his heels.

Frank, shortly after I turned pro in 1970, I was visiting my girlfriends family in Long Beach. Her father was a fire fighter, and he told me that a couple years earlier, a "down-and-out" former contender would drop by the Fire Station, asking for change, or whatever.

Naturally, I asked who the ex-fighter was, and he said, Billy "Sweet Pea" Peacock. I asked if was sure, and he replied, "Oh yeah, the guys all enjoy talking with him about his career." The men would chip in and send him off with what he wanted.

I can't validate the story, but it didn't sound far from what I've heard in the past, regarding the REAL "Sweet Pea". Speaking of that ring name, Pernell Whitaker being tagged "Sweet Pea" was a mistake. Back when he was an Olympian, we was known as, "Sweet Pete".

Somebody got confused, mistakenly called him "Sweet Pea", and it stuck.

I was reading about, or hearing, stories about Billy Peacock when Pernell Whitaker was in diapers. To me, there is only one "Sweet Pea", one "Sugar Ray", one "Golden Boy", one "Hawk", one "El Gato", etc.

They were all originals. The second edition's might be good too, but what's wrong with originality. Let some things remain sacred.


-Rick Farris

One of the fellas on the site wanted to know if I could put him in touch with Burke Emery. He knew Ronnie Wilson's father,and was interested in Ronnie's career. I knew a little about him,but Burke trained him,and besides they were both Canadian. As I've mentioned before Burke's got a place down the street,and if I can catch him,he's always got some interesting stories. When he bought the bar,he changed the name to "Champ's". Burke was the Canadian Light Heavy Champ of Canada for a time in the 50's. Burke and his long time girlfriend,Shirley,are two of the nicest people around and he gets a pretty good neighborhood crowd everyday.

Well I know there's a dart tournament on Thursday night and Burke never misses it. I walk inside and can see the place is busy. Burke's not playing darts,but is sitting at one of those Video Poker machines. I can see he's involved so I slide a chair up next to him. He turns his head while his fingers are touching the screen . Animated playing cards are popping up and dissappearing and that funny little blooping noise is going off everytime the cards change.
"Haven't seen ya' in a while", Burke says glancing at me.
"You're a hard guy to run down,Burke." I could see Burke was concentrating on the screen. His fingers poking at the screen,cards popping up and dissappearing. He was looking at the screen with his chin up, kind of peering down a little over his nose. I could tell he was concentrating.
"Burke,I've got a friend back East that's putting together a book on boxing. He wants to know if he could do an interview with you."
Burke doesn't take his eyes off the screen. The machine is making those bloop bloop sounds.
"Now ,I won't",Burke says politely. He hasn't looked at me since I pulled up the chair."But I can give you some names of some people who were involved in boxing here in San Diego."

When he said that,I figured it would be a wash,but I listened to what he had to say. The machine is blooping and Burke's fingers are flying all over the screen.
"Now Ernie Fuentes could tell you what you want to know."
Ernie had died 5 years ago,but I didn't know how to respond.
"Yep,that's the guy you need to talk with." The machine is blooping real fast now so I figure Burke is either winning or losing big.
"And then you might want to talk with Danny Millsapp. He would know a lot. Handled a lot of fighters here."
"Where would I get a hold of him?"
"Danny Millsapp?" Burke's head is moving slightly. I think he's trying to figure out his hand on the screen.
"You know you should try Ernie Fuentes also. He'd know for sure.Did I mention Ernie?"
Burke doesn't take his eyes off the screen.
"You know when Calderwood cut me in Scotland,the referee over there stopped it right away." Burke stopped touching the screen and looked at me. "They wouldn't have done that here in the States."
The orange light in the bar lighted his face. His eye lid hung down covering his left eye. You could see that his nose had been broken. Old scar tissue was all around his eyes. Burke was back playing again.
"The last time I heard,he owned a flower shop somewhere downtown."
"Who's that Burke?"
"Danny Millsapp."
"Well thanks for the info,Burke." He's still playing the machine.
"Sorry I've been so rude."
"What are you talking about? By the way,are you winning?"
Burke's eyes are looking straight ahead.
"Of course. I'm the owner. Me and my wife." He laughs.
I get up to leave and shake Burke's hand. His grip is strong.
"I used to be in here every night,and then when they put it up for sale,I bought it. You know,I got it for a song."
"That's why you're the Champ",I said and walked out the door.

kikibalt wrote:
Johnny "Bandit" Romero

Geez,Frank that picture really jolted me. That guy was Archie Moore's first big competition when he arrived in San Diego in the 30's. I think they were both welterweights. Archie said that was one of the first fights at the Coliseum downtown.

kikibalt wrote:
Octavio "Famoso" Gomez"

Frank,Rick That face has some stories in it.

Freddie Beshore vs Abel Fernandez


Abel Fernandez on the right went on to have an acting career after his boxing days were over, you might remember him as part of "The Untouchable's" on TV.

Fernandez played Agent William Youngfellow

Another great story by "Mr D"