BoxRec

As most of you will know I am a historian specialising in British boxing. That said, when I first started buying the Ring magazine in the early 1970s I was fascinated by the then current American scene. I was interested in the "nearly men" who would box anyone, anywhere, rather than the top stars. One boxer I well recall was Jimmy Heair. I remember him coming over to the UK to box Dave Green.

I still wonder about his career and his life since boxing.

Can any of our American friends tell me more about him?

Miles Templeton

prewarboxing wrote: ↑28 Jul 2019, 14:47 As most of you will know I am a historian specialising in British boxing. That said, when I first started buying the Ring magazine in the early 1970s I was fascinated by the then current American scene. I was interested in the "nearly men" who would box anyone, anywhere, rather than the top stars. One boxer I well recall was Jimmy Heair. I remember him coming over to the UK to box Dave Green.

I still wonder about his career and his life since boxing.

Can any of our American friends tell me more about him?

Miles Templeton

Miles
I saw Jimmy fight several times at the San Diego Coliseum. In a Latino fan based are in the Southland,he certainly stood out. He was white as the Dickens,spoke with a thick Tennessee drawl,and appeared awkward in front of the cameras. His fighting style was crude a heavy hand,and until the end of his career he had a very strong beard.He started out as a house on fire compiling a long win streak.But he was his own manager.He just wanted to make fast money . He fought way too often.much.Included in that win streak he had beaten Tury Pineda and Chango Carmona. Maybe it was his time to move up to fight a top rung fighter,but his first loss came at the hands of journeyman, Rudy Barro Eventually,he began feeling the aches and pains.He knew that he was the perfect "promoter's fighter." He fought some pretty big names like Loche and Duran but it was always in the other guy's backyard.Duran couldn't stop him though he tried his darndest.He fought well over 100 times.At the end he was sick and should have never been allowed to step into the ring.When the commissions began throwing their weight around he lost his license.

I can't answer your question, Miles. But I will tell you what I remember about Heair, speaking as a fan.

I started following boxing as a kid in 1975, eager to pick up any information I could about the sport, whether it came from magazines, newspapers, or TV. I first heard about Heair in January 1976, when I was watching the Ken Norton KO5 Pedro Lovell live broadcast on television. Because the feature bout ended early, the TV station broadcasted a replay of an undercard fight, in which Heair decisioned Andreas Gonzalez.

The broadcasters talked about Heair as being some kind of talented, up-and-coming fighter who had run into a spell of bad luck and underachievement in the year preceding this 1976 bout. I was surprised to hear the broadcasters say this, because -- at that point in time -- I didn't see Heair's name in the ratings of the three chief boxing magazines available then in the US, which were Ring Magazine, World/International Boxing, and Boxing Illustrated. But I was intrigued by the high praise the announcers gave Heair, and I wondered what the heck had happened to him that he became an underachiever and dropped from the ratings.

As for Heair's performance that day on TV, he looked like a peppery, fast-fisted, aggressive combination puncher. But he didn't appear to have KO power. I thought he reminded me of Mike Quarry, another Irish-American known for toughness, skill, quick hands, flashy combination punching, but zero power.

So, I decided to mail order some World/International Boxing back issues from 1973 and 1974. Sure enough, at that time Heair was a top-3 rated lightweight, a highly touted prospect from Los Angeles, and a KO winner over the the respected Tury Pineda. As of early 1974, Heair was 32-0 and, apparently, a darling of boxing media writers. But then, in 1974 and 1975, Heair lost seven fights, including defeats to some obscure, very non-world class foes. I didn't know what to make of Heair: was he hype job who had reached his ceiling, or was he underperforming due to head issues?

I remember one of the boxing magazine articles described how Heair and his wife were friendly with Bobby Chacon and his wife. Supposedly pals, socializing a lot. But I could see also that Chacon's career went upward and onward, whereas Heair's had taken a downward turn. The article had a "what's wrong with Jimmy" tone. It was written when Heair first started losing matches.

Heair never regained world-class status after that 1976 fight in which I saw him for the first time. In subsequent years, he won a lot of bouts in the boondocks against nondescript foes, but was defeated often himself, many times by clubfighters.

I think Heair's greatest distinction as a fighter was that he was hard to knockout. Very few boxers stopped Heair. Even Roberto Duran had to settle for a decision over Heair. The first boxer to stop Heair was Jesus Luis Soberanes, an unknown Mexican who scored a 7th round TKO over Heair in Tijuana, in 1976. I don't know the circumstances of that fight.

Anyway, that's my contribution to this thread.

dagosd2000 wrote: ↑29 Jul 2019, 13:44
I saw Jimmy fight several times at the San Diego Coliseum. In a Latino fan based are in the Southland,he certainly stood out. He was white as the Dickens,spoke with a thick Tennessee drawl,and appeared awkward in front of the cameras. His fighting style was crude a heavy hand,and until the end of his career he had a very strong beard.He started out as a house on fire compiling a long win streak.But he was his own manager.He just wanted to make fast money . He fought way too often.much.Included in that win streak he had beaten Tury Pineda and Chango Carmona.

I didn't realize Heair was known for his power. My impression was that he got his knockouts by putting punches together, using efficent combinations. But I don't know much about the guy.

Based on what I remember reading in the magazines, Heair was definitely getting a big build-up in Southern California. I don't remember who his promoter was, but it was someone big in that region. Heair got lots of ink in the boxing magazines. I guess you could say he got the "White Hope" hoopla that boxing media tended to give good, marketable white fighters back then. If I remember correctly, Heair was on the cover a boxing magazines a couple of times. World/International Boxing had a special California news/gossip feature, and Heair was always a focus in that column.

Until 1974 at least, Heair was treated as a star by boxing media. In 1975 and 1976, he was mentioned less and less. After 1976, the only time I saw Heair's name was in the small print articles in the back of the old Ring Magazine, or in a main feature story if he was the opponent of someone big, like Duran. Either way, it was clear: after 1975 or so, Jimmy's glory days as a boxing media star were behind him. Done.

Are you sure that Heair was self-managed? Usually good, up-and-coming fighters don't manage themselves. They're generally under contract to someone with money, a manager who works with a promoter to pay the costs of building a promising fighter up to that point when the boxer can start to draw big paychecks, at which point the manager gets a return on his investment. When promising fighters start to lose -- when their box office appeal and prospects go sour -- the managers often release the fighters, and after that, the boxers frequently start managing themselves. That's when they're willing to fight on the road as opponents.

JohnReed wrote: ↑29 Jul 2019, 15:31

dagosd2000 wrote: ↑29 Jul 2019, 13:44
I saw Jimmy fight several times at the San Diego Coliseum. In a Latino fan based are in the Southland,he certainly stood out. He was white as the Dickens,spoke with a thick Tennessee drawl,and appeared awkward in front of the cameras. His fighting style was crude a heavy hand,and until the end of his career he had a very strong beard.He started out as a house on fire compiling a long win streak.But he was his own manager.He just wanted to make fast money . He fought way too often.much.Included in that win streak he had beaten Tury Pineda and Chango Carmona.

I didn't realize Heair was known for his power. My impression was that he got his knockouts by putting punches together, using efficent combinations. But I don't know much about the guy.

Based on what I remember reading in the magazines, Heair was definitely getting a big build-up in Southern California. I don't remember who his promoter was, but it was someone big in that region. Heair got lots of ink in the boxing magazines. I guess you could say he got the "White Hope" hoopla that boxing media tended to give good, marketable white fighters back then. If I remember correctly, Heair was on the cover a boxing magazines a couple of times. World/International Boxing had a special California news/gossip column, and Heair was always a focus in that column.

Until 1974 at least, Heair was treated as a star by boxing media. In 1975 and 1976, he was mentioned less and less. After 1976, the only time I saw Heair's name was in the small print articles in the back of the old Ring Magazine, or in a main feature story if he was the opponent of someone big, like Duran. Either way, it was clear: after 1975 or so, Jimmy's glory days as a boxing media star were behind him. Done.

Are you sure that Heair was self-managed? Usually good, up-and-coming fighters don't manage themselves. They're generally under contract to someone with money, a manager who works with a promoter to pay the costs of building a promising fighter up to that point when the boxer can start to draw big paychecks, at which point the manager gets a return on his investment. When promising fighters start to lose -- when their box office appeal and prospects go sour -- the manager's often release the fighters, and after that, the boxers frequently start managing themselves. That's when they're willing to fight on the road as opponents.

Heair managed himself.i think that was one of the reasons his career was so frenetic.He scheduled himself to fight at least once a month. It was like getting a steady paycheck coming in. I think he knew his limitations. After beating Tury Pineda there was talk about him getting big fight,but then he lost to Rudy Barro. He fought guys he had already beaten. He fought in obscure arenas in Mexico,the Southwest,and out of the country. He even went back to Tennessee.He was quoted saying he didn't know how to do anything else to make a living except fighting. When the commissions yanked his license he became very despondent.

You're right about Heair being a good up and coming fighter,but that's when he should have put himself in with someone like Jackie McCloy or Howie Steindler,but he couldn't see the big picture. Then when he shot his load he was better off self managing.He didn't have to give a manager a cut of what was probably a meager payout. Like I said, he knew what was in store for him. He would take a fight anywhere on a second's notice. I remember he was such an anomaly that sometimes you could hear the fans giggle when he entered the ring. He was such a contrast with the Mexican fighters and the predominant Mexican fight crowd. It was a good draw to have him in there with a Mexican fighter.He never shot his mouth off. He wasn't arrogant nor self promoting.But then again he didn't talk much.

Looking back on Jimmy Heair:he was an entertaining fighter who put forth the best that he could muster.That's all you can ask of a fighter.

When Jimmy Heair fought the great Roberto Duran on April of 1979 he had already 90 fights on his belt. And Duran at the time had 67 fights. Duran started his pro boxing career in 1967. Heair in 1971, 4 years after Duran. That means that Heair was a very busy fighter. Do we have fighters like Heair today?

Jimmy Heair was fighting an average of about 10 fights a year when he fought The Hands of Stone.

This blog appears to have been written by Heair's cousin. It includes a number of newspaper clippings about Heair. In one article, there's information to the effect that Heair was managed by Jerry Moore and trained by Harry Blouin as of 1973.

https://greginboise.livejournal.com/4686.html

Here's some interesting info. It shows that as of July 1973, Heair was ranked 5th worldwide at 135 lbs by one of the alphabets.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2610047 ... artribune/

JohnReed wrote: ↑29 Jul 2019, 16:46 This blog appears to have been written by Heair's cousin. It includes a number of newspaper clippings about Heair. In one article, there's information to the effect that Heair was managed by Jerry Moore and trained by Harry Blouin as of 1973.

https://greginboise.livejournal.com/4686.html

Here's some interesting info. It shows that as of July 1973, Heair was ranked 5th worldwide at 135 lbs by one of the alphabets.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2610047 ... artribune/

Shortly after 1973 Heair had a falling out with Moore,and then went on to manage himself. I think if he had gone to a manager like McCoy in the beginning he would have at least gotten a title shot or a big fight. When Moore had him he rushed him too fast.McCoy would have given him a chance to breathe and work him up the ladder with opponents that were worthy rather than the ones he had been fighting when he was with Moore.Sooner or later it catches up with you.:an off night against an average opponent and you're set back. The word around the gyms was that Heair wanted to dictate his own terms. Trying to manage yourself or having your dad controlling your future usually doesn't pan out.With Aileen Eaton and George Parnassus controlling the venues and promoting in LA, he was up against a brick wall.He didn't fight in LA after 1978.By that time he was trying to take on everything himself.

In 1976,when Heair's career was beginning to ebb,I took a friend down to Tijuana to watch him fight at the Municipal Auditorium. I'll post that story on the West Coast Boxing thread.

This is great stuff. Just what I was looking for.
Thanks guys

Miles Templeton

dagosd2000 wrote: ↑29 Jul 2019, 18:31 [
. When Moore had him he rushed him too fast.McCoy would have given him a chance to breathe and work him up the ladder with opponents that were worthy rather than the ones he had been fighting when he was with Moore.Sooner or later it catches up with you.:an off night against an average opponent and you're set back. The word around the gyms was that Heair wanted to dictate his own terms. Trying to manage yourself or having your dad controlling your future usually doesn't pan out.With Aileen Eaton and George Parnassus controlling the venues and promoting in LA, he was up against a brick wall.He didn't fight in LA after 1978.By that time he was trying to take on everything himself.

In 1976,when Heair's career was beginning to ebb,I took a friend down to Tijuana to watch him fight at the Municipal Auditorium. I'll post that story on the West Coast Boxing thread.

Well, Heair faced and defeated Tury Pineda and Chango Carmona early in his career, while he was up-and-coming. I'm pretty certain that Pineda and Carmona were world rated at the time. That means Heair's manager was giving him some serious competition. Therefore Heair wasn't exactly a protected fighter being matched against creampuffs.

By 1978, Heair had lost so many fights that he was no longer marketable as a main event fighter in South California. That's my guess as to why he stopped fighting in Los Angeles and San Diego. Jimmy got a one-way ticket back to the club circuit in America's boondocks. At least that's what I think.

Sudden thought: maybe Heair started losing because he burned out from fighting so many rugged, tough clubfighters in the Mexico and Southern California area? I just checked Heair's record during the 1974-75 period, the time his downfall began, when he lost numerous bouts to obscure opponents with poor records. Upon checking the career records of those unheralded clubfighters, I discovered that each and every one of them was a tough Mexican who acquitted himself well against world-class fighters, including world champs.

Rudy Barro (12-9) had KO'd Andy Price and gone the distance with Monroe Brooks before fighting Heair. I'd say that makes Barro an unusually tough tune-up fight for Jimmy, who was a top-contender at the time and should have been protected until his title fight became available. Miguel Mayan (31-21-5) had already lost to Heair, and gone the distance with Ray Lampkin and Ray Lunny prior to defeating Heair. So we know Mayan was no stiff. Arturo Leon (7-5), over the course of his career, fought numerous world-level guys and tended to go the distance with them. Leon even survived 15 rounds against Alexis Arguello in a 1978 world title fight. Jose Peterson (23-14-1) was no pushover. He had gone the distance with Ken Buchanan and John H. Stracey prior to beating Heair. Sigfrido Rodriguez (13-7-1) was another toughie who wasn't necessarily the soft touch his record suggests. In 1977 Rodriguez went the full 15 rounds in a title fight against Alfredo Escalera.

So, in evaluating Heair's career trajectory, it's important to read between the lines, and realize that many of his unheralded opponents were simply much better than their records suggest. Contenders who constantly face opponents like that -- using them for tune-ups and stay-busy fights -- are at risk of burning themselves out fast. IMO that's bad matchmaking or bad management. Star fighters are like valuable assets that need to be taken care of. If they're exposed to too much unnecessary wear-and-tear, they erode physically and lose their value.

Am I on to something here?

I first watched Jimmy Heair fighting 4 and 5 rounders on the old telecasts 'Boxing from the Forum' which I was lucky enough to see. Later, I saw his fights with Chango Carmona, Tury Pineda and Rudy Barro - all of which I saw on delayed (about 6 months) broadcast. It was like the guys said, Blouin and Moore were running the show when he was a lightweight. Even the magazines commented on this partnership as they were black with a white prospect, which was unusual at the time. It should be noted that his trouble started after the Carmona fight. It wasn't until after the bout they realized Jimmy's nose was broken. After it was healed he re-broke it sparring with world champ Rodolfo Gonzalez. When he came back, he had some decent wins, but something was missing. I saw the Barro fight and he was a bit paunchy (he was idle for a bit and idleness never seemed to be his friend as you can see by his record), but he really made a drive down the stretch to take Barro out. But just couldn't do it. If it was scheduled for 12, he probably would have taken the decision, because he was really gaining ground late. It was also around this time - like Dago said - where he dumped Moore and Blouin. What was noticeable for me was losing to Mike Mayon, a fighter he had already beaten twice. And then he went on the Mississippi circuit. There were moments of nostalgia when he beat upcoming Rudy Hernandez and Jimmy Corkum, but for the most part, he became fodder for the contenders. And once he left lightweight, that was it. Whatever punch he had at lightweight never moved north to welter where he was pummeled by Armando Muniz, Harold Weston and Dave 'Boy' Green. Overall, he was a good contender, who beat Chango Carmona, Tury Pineda, Angel Mayoral, Chucho Alonso, Laudiel Negron and Gerardo Ferrat. And I prefer those memories. I hope he's doing well.

Pretty sure I remember reading a piece in an old issue of Ring where his manager, Moore, stated that Heair took the Barro fight against his wishes when he was lined up for a title fight because he wanted the immediate payoff and stated he was sort of unmanageable.

Last I heard, Heair was in the Tennessee area and was having the usual health problems. Tony Gardner tried to give me his number to speak with him and said they were still in contact (maybe five years ago, this was) and laughed that Heair still talked about how they never fought back when they were both ranked and always asked him "to put the gloves on" and spar with him . He spoke highly of Heair and felt he was world class for a long stretch.

The West Coast guys should have all kinds of info, I'd think.

Heair's fight with Duran can only be described as horrific. He needed pulling out and his corner had zero compassion.

Dart340 wrote: ↑30 Jul 2019, 05:03 Pretty sure I remember reading a piece in an old issue of Ring where his manager, Moore, stated that Heair took the Barro fight against his wishes when he was lined up for a title fight because he wanted the immediate payoff and stated he was sort of unmanageable.

Last I heard, Heair was in the Tennessee area and was having the usual health problems. Tony Gardner tried to give me his number to speak with him and said they were still in contact (maybe five years ago, this was) and laughed that Heair still talked about how they never fought back when they were both ranked and always asked him "to put the gloves on" and spar with him . He spoke highly of Heair and felt he was world class for a long stretch.

The West Coast guys should have all kinds of info, I'd think.

I remember it was after the loss to Barro that Moore and Heair had a falling out. I knew that there was talk of a title fight upcoming with Heair,but didn't know that he had forced the issue with fighting Barro. Heair fought often in San Diego. When I was going down to the Coliseum to watch the fighters train(and sometimes work out with them),the talk was that Heair was very headstrong and wanted to dictate his own terms involving his career. Once you get on the wrong side of the promoters and matchmakers it's hard to get the fights you want,or any for that matter.Burke Emery,who trained a lot of the fighters in San Diego,spoke highly of Heair,but said Heair wanted to work things out on his own. By that time he was flying solo and shortly moved away from the Southland area.This was in the mid 70's.

I was reading an excerpt from Kenny Pharr's book about boxing,Fight The Good Fight.(It's on the internet)He trained with Jimmy Heair and worked his corner once in awhile. Pharr said that Heair at that time(1981)was taking fights on very short notice and was fighting way too often. Pharr said that Heair was pretty used up by then. Pharr didn't want to work his corner anymore because he couldn't stand seeing Heair getting hurt.

Sorry to hear that Heair is in bad health. Thanks for the update

Apparently Heair had one last gasp in a try for world honors. Recent good performances had him lined up for a title shot in '76. Below is a report from boxrec on his bout with Javier Muniz, but bad timing comes into play.

"Lightweight contender Jimmy Heair won a unanimous 10 round decision over Javier Muniz Thursday night at the Olympic Auditorium, apparently earning Heair a title bout against WBC champ Guts Ishimatsu. There were no knockdowns, but Heair survived a rough 3rd round when Muniz appeared to hit at will. Good 9th and 10th rounds clinched the victory for Heair." -Associated Press

* The AP reported that Heair had been promised a title shot at Guts Ishimatsu, provided he got past Muniz. However, any promise was immaterial as the Japanese champion lost his lightweight title in his next title defense in May of '76 to Esteban Dejesus.

I saw a telecast of the bout in which Jimmy Heair lose in a convincing manner by a decision to Rudy Barro. In addition, I saw Heair win by a split-decision over Rudy Hernandez in person at the Olympic Auditorium. Hernandez had a beautiful boxing style and often made Heair look foolish during the bout. Despite the fact that Heair scored a knockdown in the bout, I thought that the decision should gone to Hernandez. However, Heair did stop Hernandez in a rematch. Note- There was another Southern California fighter named Rudy Hernandez who was active during the 1980s.

- Chuck Johnston

My father fought on several cards with Heair. I'll ask him if he has any memories he can share.