Kid Irapuato----Up and Down The Boulevard
Posted: 08 Jan 2008, 00:21
He wasn't the greatest fighter around,but he could have been a lot better if he'd trained more and stayed away from the Tijuana nightlife. The bars in that town shortened the careers of a lot of fighters who made Tijuana their base operations. I wish I had a dollar for every fighter posing in a picture with an entourage ,all with drinks in their hands ,in a Tijuana bar.
Well Kid Irapusto was no stranger to those places and did a lot of right hand curls with a shot glass in his hand. He fought them all during his time:Pajarito Moreno,Raton Macias,Joe Becerra,and Davey Moore to name a few.
My father handled a couple of prelim boys down there and one time I went down with my father because had to work some things out with the fighters. They were training at the old gym that was upstairs next to the fire station downtown on 8th street. The place was pretty full of fighters shadowboxing,skipping rope,hitting bags. Everyone looked like they were working pretty hard. You could see the sweat soaked jerseys. I remembered the determination on those kids faces. As the sweat beaded up they were probably all thinking that one day they'd be the champ.
There were a couple of boys sparing. Resting his arms on the top ring rope was this dark haired guy with an open collar lavender shirt. You could tell he was a ladies man,but the broken nose and the scar tissue around the eyes gave him away as a fighter. My father nudges me on the arm and sys"Hey,I want to introduce you to Kid Irapuato"
My father yells out "Hey,Keed!" The lavender shirt turns around to my father smiles and says"Jose,Como estas amigo?"They give each other a good "abrazo". My father must have weighed close to 300 pounds and I could barely see the lavender shirt anymore. "Kid,this my son" Kid Irapuato has a good smile for me too and gave me my first abrazo. There are no half ass abrazos or you don't give one in Mexico.
"Are you ready for Moore?"
"I'm in real good shape. I win thees time Jose. No problem. You see the fight?"
"We'll be there Keed. Buena suerte"
Well me and my dad were there and about 10,000 other aficianados cheering The Kid against the featherweight champion of the world,Davey Moore. Well the Kid was never in the fight and got beat up pretty bad. It was over in the 7th round and for some reason the crowd was sore. Maybe it was because Moore was black and had made a living knocking out Mexican fighters. The crowd was throwing bottles at Moore and so he jumped out of the ring with his gloves and robe still on, caught a cab and high tailed it to the border.
That was in 1961 and I never saw him again for over 25 years. This is how it happened. I used to coach American football at a private school in Tijuana called CETYS. All the coaches and players were up on sports. A lot of them went to the fights. One day I asked one of the coaches"Do you ever remember a fighter down here called Kid Irapuato?" He started to laugh. "Sure,he's a motorcycle cop now. He drives up and down the boulevard pulling people over for"mordida"(bribe) and then at the end of the day goes to the cantinas and spends it"
He made it sound like everyone knew the story. Everyone but me,but now I knew it too. Well about a month later I'm in a car with one of the players on the team and his father. His father is driving. He's a little old guy and he's got this fedora on smoking a cigar driving like a maniac in and out of traffic on the boulevard. I aint sayin' nothin'. Just hoping we don't get in a wreck. Next thing you know we hear this siren. I look around and its a motorcycle cop. The old man checks the rear view mirror and says"cabron"(mother f----r) He pulls the car over hard. The cop is coming towards the driver side and the next I know the old man flings open the door open runs out and tackles this cop! They're rolling around on the ground punching and mauling each other. They both get winded after about a minute of this. They get up shout some profanities at each other and then the old man gets back in the car and starts the engine.
"What the hell was that all about?" I'm sweating and don't know what's going to happen next. The old man turns around to me. He's breathing pretty heavy and says"Pinchi,Irapuato. I no geev heem nothing. No money"
So I finally saw the The Kid again. I guess he was getting in shape to go to one of those bars.
Well Kid Irapusto was no stranger to those places and did a lot of right hand curls with a shot glass in his hand. He fought them all during his time:Pajarito Moreno,Raton Macias,Joe Becerra,and Davey Moore to name a few.
My father handled a couple of prelim boys down there and one time I went down with my father because had to work some things out with the fighters. They were training at the old gym that was upstairs next to the fire station downtown on 8th street. The place was pretty full of fighters shadowboxing,skipping rope,hitting bags. Everyone looked like they were working pretty hard. You could see the sweat soaked jerseys. I remembered the determination on those kids faces. As the sweat beaded up they were probably all thinking that one day they'd be the champ.
There were a couple of boys sparing. Resting his arms on the top ring rope was this dark haired guy with an open collar lavender shirt. You could tell he was a ladies man,but the broken nose and the scar tissue around the eyes gave him away as a fighter. My father nudges me on the arm and sys"Hey,I want to introduce you to Kid Irapuato"
My father yells out "Hey,Keed!" The lavender shirt turns around to my father smiles and says"Jose,Como estas amigo?"They give each other a good "abrazo". My father must have weighed close to 300 pounds and I could barely see the lavender shirt anymore. "Kid,this my son" Kid Irapuato has a good smile for me too and gave me my first abrazo. There are no half ass abrazos or you don't give one in Mexico.
"Are you ready for Moore?"
"I'm in real good shape. I win thees time Jose. No problem. You see the fight?"
"We'll be there Keed. Buena suerte"
Well me and my dad were there and about 10,000 other aficianados cheering The Kid against the featherweight champion of the world,Davey Moore. Well the Kid was never in the fight and got beat up pretty bad. It was over in the 7th round and for some reason the crowd was sore. Maybe it was because Moore was black and had made a living knocking out Mexican fighters. The crowd was throwing bottles at Moore and so he jumped out of the ring with his gloves and robe still on, caught a cab and high tailed it to the border.
That was in 1961 and I never saw him again for over 25 years. This is how it happened. I used to coach American football at a private school in Tijuana called CETYS. All the coaches and players were up on sports. A lot of them went to the fights. One day I asked one of the coaches"Do you ever remember a fighter down here called Kid Irapuato?" He started to laugh. "Sure,he's a motorcycle cop now. He drives up and down the boulevard pulling people over for"mordida"(bribe) and then at the end of the day goes to the cantinas and spends it"
He made it sound like everyone knew the story. Everyone but me,but now I knew it too. Well about a month later I'm in a car with one of the players on the team and his father. His father is driving. He's a little old guy and he's got this fedora on smoking a cigar driving like a maniac in and out of traffic on the boulevard. I aint sayin' nothin'. Just hoping we don't get in a wreck. Next thing you know we hear this siren. I look around and its a motorcycle cop. The old man checks the rear view mirror and says"cabron"(mother f----r) He pulls the car over hard. The cop is coming towards the driver side and the next I know the old man flings open the door open runs out and tackles this cop! They're rolling around on the ground punching and mauling each other. They both get winded after about a minute of this. They get up shout some profanities at each other and then the old man gets back in the car and starts the engine.
"What the hell was that all about?" I'm sweating and don't know what's going to happen next. The old man turns around to me. He's breathing pretty heavy and says"Pinchi,Irapuato. I no geev heem nothing. No money"
So I finally saw the The Kid again. I guess he was getting in shape to go to one of those bars.