Courtesy: The Star-Ledger
by Todd Schmerler/For The Star-Ledger June 27, 2009 9:51PM
It's hard to pinpoint exactly why I became fascinated with Rocky Lockridge.
Maybe it was because, like me, he was from New Jersey. Maybe it was because he was a consummate underdog, at 5' 5" short even for a featherweight. Maybe it was because he was on the undercard of one of the first fight cards I attended at Ice World in Totowa and won by first-round knockout, then autographed my program afterward.
Whatever the reason, I was a teenager in the mid-1980s as Rocky rose from local attraction to title contender to world champion. For a while, I was all about boxing and all about Rocky Lockridge, regaling bored high school friends with stories about how great he was.
Take Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Larry Holmes, I would say. I'll take Rocky.
Ten years ago I decided to look him up, perhaps for a feature story, but also out of curiosity. Whatever happened to Rocky, I wondered, who would have been about 40 at the time. Working in the sports department, I figured it would be easy to find him. The Internet turned up no relevant information so I turned to the Lexis Nexis system, which reveals phone numbers and addresses for anyone who has applied for almost anything -- driver's license, mortgage, even a credit card.
Nothing came up.
I gave up and moved on to something else, but Rocky stayed in the back of my mind. Once a year I would go back to Lexis Nexis, back to the Internet, hoping for a nugget of information that would lead me to Rocky.
Year after year I came up empty, and after close to a decade of wondering, I gave up.
Then, last year, a breakthrough.
I had joined the social networking craze known as Facebook to get back in touch with some old friends, and just for kicks I did a search for Rocky Lockridge.
Bingo -- sort of. A Ricky Lockridge came up, located in the D.C. area. Ricky was Rocky's given name, so I sent a message to Ricky's inbox, asking if he knew Rocky.
The answer came back: "He's my dad. Do you know Rocky Lockridge?"
I let him know that I was a reporter looking for Rocky to write a story about him, and I would love to get his phone number, or at least his whereabouts -- at least what state he lived in. I didn't hear back for about a month, but then Ricky Lockridge let me in on what was going on.
He had not heard a word from his father in 15 years, but just a few weeks prior to my making contact, Ricky had heard from a mail carrier in Camden named Orlando Pettigrew that Rocky was homeless, living on the streets of Camden. Ricky put me in touch with Orlando.
A couple weeks later I drove down to Camden to meet Rocky. Orlando told me his story, that he had heard that a world boxing champion from the '80s was living on the streets of his city, and went and found him, helped him, gave him food, tried to get him into a shelter and tracked down and contacted his son.
Orlando, who seems to know everyone in Camden, found Rocky for me. Though dirty and hungry, Rocky was gracious and polite. He had been on the streets for 10 years and walked with a four-pronged cane after suffering a stroke, he said, three years prior.
He allowed me to interview him for over an hour. Afterward I went home, thinking about how nice it is just to have a home to go to.
Courtesy: The Star-Ledger
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Rocky Lockridge Vs. Roger Mayweather KO-1
WBA World Super Featherweight Title
February 26, 1984
Civic Center
Beaumont, Texas
A really great day in the life of Rocky Lockridge
Monday, June 29, 2009
Former boxing champ Rocky Lockridge living on streets of Camden
by Todd Schmerler/For The Star-LedgerSunday June 28, 2009, 12:30 AM
JohnRocky Lockridge sits on a street corner in Camden. The former boxing champion is homeless and living on the streets of Camden.
RELATED CONTENT: watch Lockridge's 1984 victory over Roger Mayweather via YouTube
Rocky Lockridge sits high on a stoop, giving himself a lofty view of the intersection of 7th Street and Chestnut in Camden.
There's a convenience store on the corner, but it's not drawing as much interest as the woman openly dealing drugs, shouting, "Five dollars, five dollars," to anyone who passes.
| Former boxing champ Rocky Lockridge is homeless in Camden |
In the midst of it all, a brown sedan stops, the car idling in the middle of the street. A middle-age man gets out and quick-steps to the top of the stoop to greet Lockridge with a fist bump and a quick man-hug. After a few quiet words, he gets back into the car and drives off.
Others take turns approaching Lockridge to exchange pleasantries. One is a 20-something girl named Laquicha Smith, who seems excited to tell an outsider about the special man sitting on the cement steps.
"That's Rocky. He's the champ," she says. "He's still got it."
The Champ looks out across the familiar street corner, his head held high. But his face is swollen by scar tissue around the eyes and more than one tooth is missing. A silver metal four-prong walking cane he now needs to walk is balanced across his knees.
His fingers tremble as he lifts a cigarette to his lips and his voice is raspy and hard to make out.
"Everybody kisses me, calls out, 'Champ, Champ, Champ,' " Lockridge says. "I get joy being around them because they're going through the struggle, same as me."
The struggle is living on the streets of Camden, where Lockridge has been for more than 10 years. It has been a long way to fall for a two-time world boxing champion.
Lockridge, who climbed the rankings while fighting out of Ice World in Totowa from 1978-81, has no money. His body tilts to one side when he walks, the result of a stroke he says he suffered three years ago. His scraggly, graying beard makes him seem far older than 50, the age he reached on Jan. 30.
He admits he has a more than two-decades-old drug problem -- "I do quite a bit of drinkin' and druggin'," he says -- and that he's been estranged from his ex-wife and kids for nearly that long.
John O'BoyleRocky Lockridge stands on a street corner in Camden.
But he won't take all the blame for his predicament. He blames the boxing industry for much of it.
"I'm bitter. I'm very bitter," he says, the words coming out slowly and unsteadily. "I made some mistakes, a whole lot of mistakes, but they were beyond my imagination. The blow that was put upon me was harder to take than the blows, or any blow, for that matter, that I received in the fight game."
It didn't have to be like this for Lockridge.
A former world champion suffering financial difficulties is hardly shocking, considering the history of boxing, lack of formal education of most fighters and the absence of a pension or retirement plan from any of the sport's governing bodies.
Lockridge was different.
Particularly bright, articulate and good looking, Lockridge was a natural in front of the cameras and seemed to enjoy his time in the spotlight. After relocating from Tacoma, Wash., at the age of 19 in 1978, Lockridge lived in Paterson as he came up through the ranks, fighting for Main Events, an enterprise of the Duva family, with his early fights at Ice World, a cavernous converted skating rink in Totowa.
Lockridge was the rare fighter who considered a post-boxing career. He looked studious, wearing wide, horn-rimmed glasses, and took classes in business at William Paterson University in Wayne for two years.
Kathy Duva, now the CEO and then the publicist for Main Events, remembers Lockridge being different.
"Rocky was always a low-key person with an easygoing personality," she says. "He was quiet, articulate, a wonderful guy."
After two unsuccessful attempts to win a featherweight title in the early '80s, Lockridge moved up to super featherweight and the extra five pounds suited him. He won a couple of big fights and then knocked out Roger Mayweather -- the uncle and trainer of current superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. -- in the first round to win the WBA title on Feb. 26, 1984.
John O'BoyleA Fight Game magazine featuring Rocky Lockridge.
The Mayweather fight, a one-punch knockout, lasted only 91 seconds and launched him to a new level in boxing circles. Lockridge was 25 with a record of 32-3.
He and his wife, Carolyn, took his winnings and moved from Paterson to Mount Laurel, a tony suburb of Philadelphia in South Jersey. Carolyn gave birth to twins Ricky and Lamar on August 23, 1984.
The future was bright.
Boxing careers usually are short. So when Lockridge lost his title to Wilfredo Gomez in 1985, then lost a year later to Julio Cesar Chavez, no one would have been surprised if Lockridge had reached the end.
He hadn't.
He won his next two fights and earned another title shot, stopping Barry Michael after eight rounds in England in 1987 to win the IBF super featherweight title.
A year later he lost his title in a unanimous decision to Tony Lopez in a brutal 12-round bout that was named 1988 Fight of the Year by Ring Magazine. He would lose the equally bloody rematch a year later, then retire after one last victory in 1989.
As bad as his beatings were in the ring, the abuse he put his body through when he was out of it may have been worse.
After each fight, Lockridge says he would party "two weekends." He snorted cocaine and abused alcohol, drinking "whatever was around," he says.
When he needed money, he says he would ask the Duvas for it and they would always give it to him. Now, he says they shouldn't have been so forthcoming.
"Not only was I not in control financially, but it really didn't matter to me at the time," he said. "I wanted the best for myself and my loved ones. There was never any resistance in terms of saying, 'Champ, you're out of order with the financial thing.' It is what it is. It is what it is now."
Lockridge says he was "raped financially," but there's no evidence of that. Kathy Duva said Lockridge made money, but not the kind one could expect to live on forever. Even Lockridge admits his biggest payday came from the fight with Chavez, and that was only $200,000, he estimates.
"He had a family, children, divorce, he bought a house," Kathy Duva says. "The money goes away. People who abuse drugs end up in desperate straits frequently. That's a shame, but it's a choice they make."
After 2 1/2 years out of the ring, Lockridge attempted an ill-fated comeback at age 33 under new management based in Washington.
The comeback lasted just two fights -- both losses.
His final record: 44 wins, 36 knockouts, 9 losses and $0 in the bank.
Rocky, Carolyn and their two boys had moved back to Tacoma a year and a half after Lockridge's original retirement, in 1991, but the family didn't stay together for long.
Rocky and Carolyn split up shortly thereafter -- partially, Lockridge says, due to the stress of being broke and partially because he didn't know what to do without boxing. Drug addiction, Lockridge admits, may have played a part, too. Carolyn Lockridge could not be reached for comment.
In 1993, at age 34, Lockridge moved back to Camden. Alone.
"I could not handle not being involved in the fight game, not being a fighter or even partaking in the fight game as a trainer and/or manager," he says. "My wife, Carolyn, we both were somewhat slapped in the face and she realized Rocky couldn't handle the blow, what is he going to do? I just didn't know how to handle that. Her and I both began to see that we weren't going to be the team that we at one time had been -- inseparable."
Lockridge took a job working for William Jones & Son, Inc. in Camden, a drum and barrel company on Liberty Street, where he cleaned and painted barrels for $8 per hour starting in January 1994.
Shortly thereafter, he was arrested for burglary -- the first time -- but was sentenced to five years probation, according to court records. Three years later, he was arrested for burglary again, this time serving 27 months before being released in July of 1999.
He hasn't worked since.
When he got out of jail, he found he had nowhere to go and ended up on the streets.
"I don't know exactly what happened or how it happened or what happened at that particular time in my life," he says.
One thing he does remember is going back to using drugs.
"I knew a lot of people who I partied with here in Camden after a victory," he says.
Lockridge says that if you're going to be homeless, Camden is the place to be. There are many different places that will give you a free meal, many shelters that will put you up for a night.
Lockridge lives on the $140 a month and food stamps he receives from the government -- as well as pocket change he gets from panhandling. He says the stroke he suffered three years ago makes it difficult to walk, no less hold a job.
John O'BoyleRocky Lockridge walks along a street in Camden.
He sleeps in shelters occasionally but admits he's had issues committing to a shelter because the curfew is sometimes as early as 7 p.m. Lately, he has slept in a mosquito-infested abandoned row house around the block from his regular corner.
And he continues to have troubles with the law, though his last arrest -- for criminal trespassing in May -- resulted only in community service.
Lockridge's troubles are similar to issues many other former fighters face. In many cases, some feel it's inevitable.
Former middleweight Alex Ramos, a friend of Lockridge's who founded the Retired Boxers Foundation in 1998, says boxers aren't equipped to handle life out of the ring. They are not trained in financial responsibility and, unlike other sports, there is no union to turn to for help.
"Boxers don't come from the Ivy Leagues and Beverly Hills, they come from ghettos and Third World countries, looking to get themselves out of poverty," he says. "A lot of times it's sad what happens to a lot of fighters when they retire."
Scott Frank, who fought out of Ice World at the same time as Lockridge, says promoters and managers (in Lockridge's case, the Duvas) should be responsible for putting aside money for when their boxers can't fight anymore.
"Lou always said Rocky was like a son to him, so how do you do that to your son?" Frank says. "He made enough money that they should have put some away for him, they should have taken care of him.
"What's $200 a week for life for a guy like Lou? Rocky fought his heart out for him."
Duva says he would be open to offering Lockridge a job training boxers -- but only if he stays clean and sober.
Orlando Pettigrew, a mail carrier and Camden resident, has befriended Lockridge in the last year after hearing that a former world champ was living on the streets. He looks out for Lockridge.
"He's a nice guy, he just needs to find his way again," Pettigrew says. "People call him The Champ, they greet him, hug him. People still look up to him. Any time I see him, that's what I see.
"It has to be hard, going from living in Mount Laurel to living here."
Lockridge doesn't mind losing his house as much as losing his family.
As he sits on his stoop, smoking a cigarette, he talks about why he is finally ready to turn his life around, find a place to live, give up drinking and drugs.
"I'm going to get it back together and say no to drugs," he said. "I've got a family that I want to spend some time with 'til my time is up on Planet Earth. I'm on a mission now, perhaps even greater than my mission before. My kids need me in their lives, experience being the best teacher."
John O'BoyleRocky Lockridge (left) jokes with his friend Charles Braxton on a street corner in Camden.
Lockridge says he recently was tracked down by his son, Ricky, now 24, who lives in the Washington, D.C., area near Lamar. The twins were surprised to find out a few months ago that they have a half-brother, Ramond Dixon, 22, born in Camden but who now also lives in the D.C. area. The three have become close -- but they remain distant from their father.
"I remember spending time with him when I was 3 or 4, but he was never there at a steady pace," Ramond, known as "Ron-Ron," says. "Even though my dad wasn't there for me growing up, I never really had harsh feelings. I never was really upset. As a man now I can see that people make mistakes."
Ricky Lockridge has mixed feelings.
"It's sad. It hurts," he says about his dad's predicament. "But I never lost confidence in my dad, he's a strong person."
Lockridge says reuniting with his boys is his inspiration for cleaning up his life.
"Now I'm ready for this, mentally and physically, to get me back on track," Lockridge says. "I am in dire need of that kind of support and I want it. I've been knocked down. Now I'm finally ready to get back up."
The Retired Boxers Foundation says it will help him -- like his kids and Duva -- but only will do so if he gives up drugs and alcohol and sticks in a shelter.
"Rocky would be eligible for supplemental security income, which would provide a monthly check, housing and Medi-Cal, but one of the requirements is that he is sober," Jacquie Richardson, executive director of the RBF, says. "Boxers don't always want to accept help. Beyond brain injuries, the shame is overwhelming. They have regrets about what they didn't do, the mistakes they made, and it's really hard to forgive themselves. It keeps them hiding out where they are."
Lockridge says the need to see his sons and help them avoid the mistakes he made is the motivating force to clean up and accept the help of outsiders.
"Edumacation is the best occupation," he jokes. "Knowing how to handle your money, stay educated in all the areas so perhaps what happened to me will never happen to anyone else.
"It hurts. It hurts. In more ways than one, it hurts. How can you be a great man, father and husband ... how can you be a great champion and not be a great father, husband? Dad? It hurts. But I'm still alive. I can't make up for the lost time, but I can just get there, be there, spend the rest of the time with my wife and children and give them the time that I have left."
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Ring (1952)
By Randy De La O
The Ring, directed by Kurt Neumann, is a simply told tale of a young Mexican American from East Los Angeles, Tommy Cantanios (Lalo Rios) who stumbles into the world of boxing after being observed in a street fight by fight manager Pete Ganusa, (Gerald Mohr). Tommy takes the moniker Tommy Kansas as his fighting name and begins a career in boxing. After being heralded by both his younger brother and his cronies, he goes as far as his talent will take him, which is not far at all, and he begins a losing streak from which he cannot recover. Because he is fighting as much for his family as himself, Tommy refuses to quit boxing, hoping to make enough money to help his father start a business.
Though this movie will never win any awards it is notable for many reasons; first there is the early appearance of legendary actress and entertainer Rita Moreno, as Tommy’s girlfriend, Lucy Gomez, who is dead set against him fighting. Secondly, the movie attempts to tackle the subject of racism and bigotry, sometimes accurately and sometimes awkwardly. Thirdly, for afficionados of early Los Angeles, the opening shot of the Los Angeles City Hall, once the tallest building in the Los Angeles skyline, will evoke memories of an earlier time. Finally, there is the appearance of two of Los Angeles’ most popular fighters from the 1940’s and 1950’s, Art Aragon and Keeny Teran. Teran is prominent in many of the gym scenes. The gym itself is the old Los Angeles’ Teamsters Gym and the fight scenes are from the long gone Hollywood Legion Stadium. Aragon is the final opponent for Tommy.
After a turn of events in which Tommy finds himself as a substitute in a high profile fight against Art Aragon, who plays himself,, Tommy is beaten into submission and decides to retire. The movie reaches the climax of it’s morality tale when Tommy sees his younger brother shadowboxing, hoping to be a fighter himself one day. Tommy takes the gloves and rushes to the incinerator (remember those?) and burns his boxing gear. Metaphorically putting an end to his career and his brothers hopes of following in his footsteps.
GREAT PUERTO RICAN FIGHTERS By William Dettloff
03 Aug 1977, New York, New York, USA --- 8/3/1977-New York, NY- World junior welterweight champ Wilfredo Benitez of Puerto Rico strolls around ring with both arms raised in jubilation after retaining the crown with a 15th round TKO over challenger Jose Ramon Guerro Chavez at Madison Square Garden 8/3. Referee Arthur Mercanto stops the bout. Chavez is a native of Venezuela now living in Montreal. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
By William Dettloff
Courtesy of HBO Boxing
Miguel Cotto is the latest in a long line of wonderful prizefighters from Puerto Rico. Like the best of his compatriots, he is highly diverse; when facing a puncher, he can move and box with the best of them. When he's the puncher, there may not be a more dangerous young guy at 140 pounds. He's young still and growing, but shows poise beyond his years and has consistently faced stiff competition. Will he be remembered among the great Puerto Rican fighters when he's done? Only time will tell, of course, and he's got a very tough act to follow. Here's one man's list, presented in alphabetical order, of the best fighters Puerto Rico has produced.
Wilfred Benitez
Benitez was the best defensive fighter of his era, and not by a little. You just had to see him fight once to know it. If you saw him boxing rings around the great Antonio Cervantes, at 17 years old for cripes' sake, or Carlos Palomino or Roberto Duran, you knew how special he was. He hated to train and loved to party but if you want to see one of the smoothest defensive fighters of the last 50 years, get a tape of prime Benitez. He was pure magic.
Hector Camacho
There are those who still don't take Camacho seriously because of his persona and ring style, but the Camacho who tore through a pair of divisions in the early 1980s was a very good fighter. He beat Rafael Limon, Rafael Solis, Jose Luis Ramirez, Freddie Roach and others. Even later on he was still too good for Ray Mancini, Vinny Pazienza, Howard Davis and Greg Haugen (he also lost to Haugen). And he proved his heart once and for all when he lasted the distance with Julio Cesar Chavez, despite taking a terrific beating.
Esteban DeJesus
DeJesus wasn't only the first guy to beat Roberto Duran. He beat a lot of talented fighters, such as Ray Lampkin and Johnny Gant and Alfonso Frazier. Duran will forever overshadow him, but what's terrible about being second best to maybe the greatest lightweight ever? Of DeJesus' five career losses, two were to Duran, one was to Antonio Cervantes, and another was in his very last fight, to Saoul Mamby. That's nothing to be ashamed of.
Carlos DeLeon
DeLeon is another guy many don't take seriously, but he got a lot accomplished in the cruiserweight division. He won a piece of the title four different times and beat about every decent cruiserweight there was throughout the 1980s. It wasn't a very deep division and DeLeon wasn't especially dominant, but he was a very stubborn, skilled fighter who fought at the top of his division for nearly a decade. What more can you ask a fighter to do?
Wilfredo Gomez
Gomez was a magnificent puncher with underrated skills and a cannon of a right hand. He still holds the record for title defenses at junior featherweight with 17, and also owns the fourth longest knockout streak ever, at 32 straight. He stopped 88% of his opponents and fought the best of a brilliant era. It's true that in the biggest fight of his career he crashed against Salvador Sanchez, and Azumah Nelson did a job on him too later on. But at his best, Gomez was a 122-pound Godzilla.
Carlos Ortiz
Ortiz couldn't punch like Gomez or box like Benitez but on his day almost no one put the two together the way he did. When he had to move and box he did, like when he decisioned and dethroned the power-punching Joe Brown to win the lightweight title. But he liked to punch better than anything and when he did it right, which was most of the time, he was a sight. There wasn't a better or more fluid combination puncher in the business when Ortiz was in his groove. He could do it all.
Edwin Rosario
In an era that was full of big punchers, Rosario may have been the best. His right cross produced many of the most chilling knockouts of the period and was a feared weapon. The left hook was good, too. A single hook to the point of Hector Camacho's chin in their close bout turned Camacho into a safety-first boxer for the rest of his career. "Chapo" was flawed, but most of the time his power made up for it. It was enough to get him elected posthumously into the boxing hall of fame this year.
Jose Torres
Torres' one-punch, body-shot kayo of Willie Pastrano in 1965 is reflective of the kind of fighter he was early on: calculating, efficient, and a brutal puncher. He softened somewhat as a champion - he admits the drive to defend the title wasn't as great as the drive to win it - but at his best he was superb. Neither all puncher nor all boxer, he could do most things very well and is today one of the game's most respected elder statesmen.
Felix Trinidad
Things ended badly for Trinidad, but they do for most fighters. He had a heck of a run. From the time he knocked out Maurice Blocker in 1993 to his controversial decision win over Oscar De La Hoya in '99, there wasn't a more dominant champion in the game. He was deadly as a welterweight and even the move to 154 didn't diminish his power -ask Fernando Vargas or David Reid. His destruction of William Joppy, a full-fledged middleweight, was breathtaking. When you're talking about great Puerto Rican fighters, Trinidad is right near the top.
Wilfredo Vazquez
Vazquez was a three-division titleholder and one of the tougher featherweights around for the better part of the 1990s. He's one of a handful of fighters from the era with more than 50 career wins, and scored 41 knockouts by the time he was done. No one will ever mistake him for one of the great featherweights ever, but Vazquez did very well for himself with solid skills and a killer of a left hook. It's possible that he might have wrung out a few more wins had not the more athletically gifted Naseem Hamed come along when he did.
THE GREAT MEXICAN FIGHTERS By Ron Borges
By Ron Borges
Courtesy of HBO Boxing
Any listing of the top 10 anything is as much a generational question as a historical one. Your father's champion is quite seldom your own, with the obvious exception of Sugar Ray Robinson, who is everyone's champion unless they simply have no idea what they are talking about.
Putting aside the nearly universal acceptance of Robinson as the all-time best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, there are many gray heads who will tell you, for example, that what Joe Louis would have done to Muhammad Ali would have been criminal assault, just as there is a generation today that believes Roy Jones, Jr. would have blasted out everyone in his path regardless of what era they came from or that Lennox Lewis would have destroyed Rocky Marciano despite the fact no one ever even beat Marciano let alone beat him down.
Regardless of who you like, once an all-time top 10 is established over time it becomes increasingly difficult for more recent practitioners to fight their way onto the list, a fate present super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera is wrestling with as a footnote to his preparations for a Sept. 16 rematch against Rocky Juarez. Barrera is without question one of the top Mexican fighters of his time and arguably of all-time, having won world titles at super featherweight, featherweight and super bantamweight while holding a 2-1 record against Erik Morales, his major challenger for modern day Mexican supremacy. But does he fit anywhere on a top 10 list of all-time Mexican fighters?
That is a debate that is likely to rage for some time, with devotees of Julio Cesar Chavez putting him atop any list of Mexico's all-time best fighters and then going from there. But even that point is debatable. Not for someone like six-time world champion Oscar De La Hoya perhaps, but ask his father, Joel, and you might get a different response. And if you put the question to one of De La Hoya's former trainers, Jesus Rivero, you'd get a different argument entirely, which is what makes these kind of debates fascinating fodder for a night of drinking tequila sunrises until sunrise.
"I would have to say Chavez,'' De La Hoya said when asked to name his top Mexican fighter of all-time. "He's been the best Mexican fighter in my time but "The Professor'' (as Rivero was called) would tell me Miguel Canto was the master. He was a tremendously crafty little boxer.
"My Dad would mention Salvador Sanchez to me all the time. He died so young (23) I never saw him but my father saw him live. He would tell me Sanchez had the potential to be much better than Chavez. He says Sanchez had something special. He was on his way up. It's hard to say what he would have done. And my father would always talk to me about Ruben Olivares. That was his all-time favorite."
Chavez? Olivares? Canto? Sanchez? Okay but what about Carlos Zarate or Kid Azteca or Vicente Saldivar? And what about perhaps the most under-rated Mexican fighter of all-time, the never defeated Ricardo Lopez.
"Finito'' was 50-0-1 when he said "finito'' on Nov. 28, 2002, retiring nearly a year after defeating Zolani Petelo to defend the IBF light flyweight title one last time after having successfully defended the WBC minimumweight championship a record 22 times before moving up to light flyweight and defending that title belt twice. Lopez, in fact, holds the record for most consecutive title fights without a loss (26), a streak that stretched over 11 years before his retirement and certainly argues strongly his case for a place in the Mexican top 10. So why does Lopez' name so often seem to come as an afterthought when the debate is greatest Mexican fighters?
"A lot of people overlook him because he was in the smallest weight classes and was always on the undercards of other fighters' like Chavez,'' De La Hoya theorizes. "People really didn't know him. He made so many defenses and he left the sport undefeated, which hardly anyone does. It's amazing he gets so overlooked. He should be on that top 10 list.''
So, then, other than those names who else belongs on such a list and would it include Barrera? His promoter thinks so.
"Barrera is right there with the top five of all-time from Mexico,'' insisted De La Hoya, whose Golden Boy Promotions will run the Barrera-Juarez rematch in Las Vegas. "Chavez is still on the top of the list for me but Barrera is not too far back. He's been down so many times and come back and proven he can be a champion again. He was dropped by Junior Jones and (Manny) Pacquiao but he's always come back.
"In talking with Barrera, he's a very proud man. He wants to be considered on top, like Chavez. He wants his name with those names. To secure his legacy he knows he has to beat Juarez again and then avenge his loss to Pacquiao. He wants the Pacquiao rematch so I was fairly surprised when he picked Rocky Jaurez to fight first but I can see why he chose that route. He wants any questions erased.''
If Barrera (62-4, 42 KO) can erase whatever questions some people might have of him, where might he fit, if at all, on such a list of best Mexican boxers of all-time? Here's one look which should surely spur debate.
1. Julio Cesar Chavez - Widely regarded as the greatest Mexican fighter of all-time, although old timers will debate you on that. They favor Olivares, Miguel Canto or maybe even Sanchez. Whatever they think, Chavez won world titles at 130, 135 and three times at 140 and retired with a record of 108-6-2 with 87 KOs. He was unbeaten in his first 91 fights (although a draw to Pernell Whitaker was a gift) before Frankie Randall beat him by well deserved split decision. One of his greatest performances was his last-second stoppage of Meldrick Taylor on March 17, 1990, a brilliant and brutal night in which Taylor administered a boxing lesson but took a beating from which he never fully recovered. Chavez used suffocating pressure, body punching and crushing right hands to wear men down and beat them up. He was 88-0 when he and Whitaker fought in San Antonio. He was a lesser fighter after that but he was also 31 and a veteran of an inordinate amount of ring wars. It will take a lot for someone to remove him out of this No. 1 ranking.
2. Ruben Olivares - One of the two or three best bantamweights ever to fight, Olivares held that title through two reigns between 1969-72 before moving up to twice win the WBC featherweight title. A powerful puncher, Olivares won his first 60 fights, 55 by knockout on the way to posting a record of 88-13-3 (78 KO). Perhaps no 118 pounder ever punched harder than Olivares. He could box but most often chose not to, relying instead on a shot to the liver and a menacing style that was all about coming forward. Classic Mexican brawler, Olivares was loved by Mexican fight fans. His three wars with Bobby Chacon are typical of why.
3. Salvador Sanchez - Sanchez (44-1-1) never lost a title fight and defeated a roster of top opponents like Danny Lopez (twice), Azumah Nelson, Wilfredo Gomez, Juan LaPorte and Ruben Castillo before dying at 23 in a car wreck. He had made nine successful defenses of the featherweight title at the time of his death. Sanchez was not the typical Mexican brawler but rather a defensive expert and sharp counter puncher. His greatest night was when he destroyed Gomez, who was 32-0-1 at the time, in eight technically perfect rounds.
4. Miguel Canto - A defensive master, he's the Mexican version of Willie Pep. He successfully defended the flyweight title a record 14 times, winning all but one of those fights by 15-round decision, a record that will never be approached for dominance by virtue of pure boxing skill.
Canto finished 61-9-4 with only 15 knockouts with four of those losses coming at the end of his career and most of the rest in the first two years of it. He was more difficult to hit than Sandy Koufax.
5. Carlos Zarate - Polar opposite of Canto, Zarate was a power puncher locked in a bantamweight's body. Zarate won his first 45 fights, 44 by KO, and retired with a record of 66-4 with 63 knockouts. That's punching power.
He made nine defenses of the bantamweight title in three years, stopping nearly all of the best opposition available to him, making him one of the greatest bantamweights of all-time. Perhaps his greatest moment was knocking out his nemesis of the '70s, Alfonso Zamora, who was 29-0 at the time with 29 knockouts himself, in an over the weight fight. Zarate dropped Zamora three times before stopping him in the fourth round in their April 23, 1977 showdown.
6. Ricardo Lopez - Grossly underrated as De La Hoya says because of his size and the fact promoter Don King kept him hidden behind Chavez for so long.
7. Marco Antonio Barrera - The best Mexican fighter of his era (unless you include Chavez in it). Erik Morales would like to prove otherwise but he's 1-2 against Barrera and the gap between them is widening. Barrera became a complete fighter, rather than just a warrior, after Junior Jones beat him twice. He still loves to brawl but he can box, too. What featherweight of his time was better? A match with Sanchez would have been a Mexican dream fight.
8. Vicente Saldivar - Elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999, Saldivar finished his career 37-3 with 27 KO, having won the featherweight title in 1964 by upsetting Sugar Ramos. He held that title for four years, including three wins over Howard Winstone during that stretch before retiring after their third fight in 1967. He returned to the ring 21 months later and won the featherweight title a second time in less than a year, although this reign was short-lived.
9. Kid Azteca - A tremendous body puncher whose liver shot Micky Ward would have loved, Azteca went a phenomenal 151-41-8 with 81 KOs during a 29-year career that went from 1932 to 1961, a span of four decades.
10. Jose Becerra - The most popular fighter in Mexico by July 8, 1959 when he stopped bantamweight champion Alphonse Halimi, conqueror of Becerra's idol Raul Macias 21 months earlier, for the first of two times to become world champion. Becerra retired at 24 however with a 71-5-2 record (42 KO) less than a year after killing Walt Ingram in the ring. Because he fought mostly in the '50s he is all but forgotten these days, overshadowed by fighters like Humberto "Chiquita'' Gonzalez or Pipino Cuevas. They were good but his skills exceeded theirs at their best.
Barrera, not surprisingly, has his own list
top Mexican fighters and does not include himself in the top five or Chavez at No. 1. The former was out of modesty because he places Morales, who he's beaten twice, on his list. The latter was out of the belief some fight fans hold that no one would have been better than what Sanchez promised to be had his life not been snuffed out at so young an age."To be a Mexican fighter you first have to be a warrior,'' says Barrera, which explains his exclusion of the slick-boxing Canto among his top five.
"Throw punches from the first bell to the last. It doesn't matter that you get hit as long as you land. That's why I put Olivares on my list. He was a typical Mexican fighter. He was always going forward looking for a knockouts. To me, the list is Salvador Sanchez, Chavez, Ruben Olivares, Vicente Saldivar and (Erik) Morales.''
One fighter likely to be on De La Hoya's top 10 Mexican fighters is one excluded here, former welterweight champion Pipino Cuevas. When De La Hoya was a young amateur his father used to take him to the dusty Main Street Gym in downtown L.A. when Cuevas would be there training for a title fight.
He was the first great fighter De La Hoya ever saw up close and it's a sight he's never forgotten.
"He was the first professional fighter I ever saw workout live at the old Main Street Gym,'' De La Hoya recalled fondly. "We paid $2 to see him train. He'd knock down or knock out his sparring partners. Back then they didn't wear any headgear! Oh, my god! He was pretty impressive. I was intrigued by his power. He really wasn't a technician but oh that left hook.''
Despite having twice faced down Chavez, in the end he remains atop De La Hoya's list however because he concedes what many Mexican fight fans will always argue about their two meetings.
"When I first watched him vs. (Edwin) Rosario I was a kid,'' De La Hoya said. "My father took me to a bar to watch him. He was loved by so many fans. He packed the bars and arenas when he fought. A Chavez fight was a big party.
"To this day, in my eyes, he's one of the best to come out of Mexico. If I faced Chavez in his prime it might have been a different outcome. It would have been a hell of a fight.''
If he could put on a few pounds and Chavez could take off a few years, Marco Antonio Barrera would probably feel the same way.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Trout wins in Canada
Courtesy of newmexicoboxing.com
Las Cruces’ Austin Trout rose to 18-0 (13 KOs) with a unanimous decision win over Shawn Garnett (11-6-2, 3 KOs). Scores were 78-72, 78-73 and 78-74. Trout landed the more solid blows while avoiding Garnett’s big right.
Las Cruces’ Austin Trout rose to 18-0 (13 KOs) with a unanimous decision win over Shawn Garnett (11-6-2, 3 KOs). Scores were 78-72, 78-73 and 78-74. Trout landed the more solid blows while avoiding Garnett’s big right.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Trout makes weight – Garnett doesn’t
Courtesy of newmexicoboxing.com
Despite the difference in weight, the fight will go on. Garnett was penalized $1,100, which will go into Trout’s purse. “We’re okay with that,” says trainer Louie Burke. “The fight’s still on.” Burke says it’ll be late card, with Trout not going on until 8 p.m., New Mexico time.
Burke’s Blog: Trout hits Canada
Thursday June 25, 2009
By Louie Burke
Tuesday, Austin trained a solid 12 rounds, he looked very sharp on the pads and best of all was weighing 155, one pound under weight. We’re not sure when we’ll get in another good workout so it was important that Austin make the weight prior to leaving. Furthermore, I didn’t want him to do any last minute dehydrating since the weigh-ins are the day of the fight. He’s right on schedule!
Wednesday, Murphy’s Law took into effect. We missed the flight which was at 6:55 due to an accident on the freeway. But someone up there likes Austin, and we arrived in Toronto at about 10:30 pm, all on standby flights routing us from El Paso to Dallas then to New York and finally to Toronto. Once in Toronto, we found out we still had a hour and a half drive to Casino Rama, where the fights are being held. We finally got in bed close to 1:00 am. Oh yea, our luggage was lost on the way. We’ll figure it out in the morning.
Thursday, we slept til 11:am, woke up and went to go weigh-in and eat breakfast. Austin’s feeling good and rested after the long journey we had yesterday. Most of the day was rest, small walks, a meeting with the commission, dinner and a light shake-out. They found our luggage, now Austin won’t have to go in the ring sin trunks. We actually went to Wal-Mart and bought some Jordan basketball style shorts, just in case.
Tomorrow the 8:00 weigh-in will be held across the street where were staying. After that we plan on eating a good breakfast, and resting and eating a lighter meal later on then again resting til fight time. Austin’s the semi-main and it will be televised on Canadian TV.
We’ve had the opportunity to study "film" or I should say DVD’s, that we were able to get from Dan Sisneros, who has an extensive collection of fight film or can get film on just about anybody. He’s been an invaluable asset to the PAL boxers, thanks a million.
Garnett being a southpaw, Austin needed southpaw sparring and boy he had some great sessions, with Jauquin Zomora, Abie Han, and Renee Armijo, who also graciously let us use his gym on several occasions. And of course, even though not southpaws Siju and Lil Sammy were thrown in the mix.
Even though not a title defense, Garnett is not taken lightly. He has some major upsets on the W side of his record. Garnett is strong and he does come in wide and with his head swinging wildly from side to side, which is a major concern that we’ve worked on in training to try and prevent any clash of heads during the bout. As Austin’s trainer I can say he’s ready and well prepared, if he preforms like he has in the gym then he should be 18-0 Friday night.
Thanks for your support.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Tommy Hearns vs Roberto Duran
By Randy De La O
This fight has always been painful for me to watch. This and Duran v Leonard II are difficult for me. Hearns was at the top of his game that night. This is the fight that convinced Hearns and his people that they could beat Marvin Hagler and maybe on another night he might have beaten him but on the night they fought, Hagler was too much for Hearns plus he was spurred on by the cut. He was afraid the fight might be stopped and it might have. He took matters into his own hands and gave us a classic, both of them did.
Even with his losses and the flaws in his career Roberto Duran is my favorite fighter. Leonard, Hagler and Hearns got him past his best. Duran, a natural lightweight took on the Welters and Middleweights and did pretty damned good all things considered. As far as I'm concerned he's right there with Robinson as the greatest fighter that ever lived. As a lightweight maybe he was the very best. As good as Manny Paquiao seems to be, there is no Leonard, Hagler or Hearns on his resume or in his future. Duran was special.
Even with his losses and the flaws in his career Roberto Duran is my favorite fighter. Leonard, Hagler and Hearns got him past his best. Duran, a natural lightweight took on the Welters and Middleweights and did pretty damned good all things considered. As far as I'm concerned he's right there with Robinson as the greatest fighter that ever lived. As a lightweight maybe he was the very best. As good as Manny Paquiao seems to be, there is no Leonard, Hagler or Hearns on his resume or in his future. Duran was special.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Roger Esty and Mando Muniz
I'm happy to say that my friend, San Diego artist Roger Esty will be showcasing his paintings at the World Boxing Hall of Fame this year. His art work will also be gracing the cover of the WBHF's 2009 program cover. Congratulations Rog! Kudos to Rick Farris for his hard work in making it happen.
The World Boxing Hall of Fame is very lucky to have Roger on it's team.
When you think of all the postive energy that flows thru a person when they experience the gratification of artistic recognition, well, it's a gift.
Lot's of people have receieved that gift thru Roger.
Now, the special fighters we respect will experience that feeling.
It may not be unique to them, but something they hadn't felt in ages.
It will rub off on fans, that energy. I've seen it happen.
All this from one man's hands & eyes.
We are all imperfect, but most of us have something that is perfect, if only the world could see it.
Something that defines our spirit.
You can see it in all of Roger's paintings. The fighters spirit, and the artists spirit.
Together they are a powerful force, that's what I see and feel.
Personally, I can't wait to see the cover of this year's World Boxing Hall of Fame banquet program.
That publication will be permanently kept at:
The United States Capitol Historical Society
200 Maryland Ave. Washington D.C. 20505
Los angeles County Museum of Natural History
900 Exposition Bvd. Los Angeles, Calif. 90007
Bancroft Library, University of California
Berkley, Calif. 94720
This is going to be the first historically correct program with regard to our "honor roll" in years.
If it's not, look in my direction because I'm responsible.
The first thing that people will notice is the cover. It has to be special.
We can rest easy on that one. This year we have Roger.
-Rick Farris
Photo by Rick Farris
"Roger Esty and Armando Muniz review photos of Roger's paintings at WBHOF Director's meeting today." Rick Farris
"El Pintor De Los Campeones"
The World Boxing Hall of Fame is very lucky to have Roger on it's team.
When you think of all the postive energy that flows thru a person when they experience the gratification of artistic recognition, well, it's a gift.
Lot's of people have receieved that gift thru Roger.
Now, the special fighters we respect will experience that feeling.
It may not be unique to them, but something they hadn't felt in ages.
It will rub off on fans, that energy. I've seen it happen.
All this from one man's hands & eyes.
We are all imperfect, but most of us have something that is perfect, if only the world could see it.
Something that defines our spirit.
You can see it in all of Roger's paintings. The fighters spirit, and the artists spirit.
Together they are a powerful force, that's what I see and feel.
Personally, I can't wait to see the cover of this year's World Boxing Hall of Fame banquet program.
That publication will be permanently kept at:
The United States Capitol Historical Society
200 Maryland Ave. Washington D.C. 20505
Los angeles County Museum of Natural History
900 Exposition Bvd. Los Angeles, Calif. 90007
Bancroft Library, University of California
Berkley, Calif. 94720
This is going to be the first historically correct program with regard to our "honor roll" in years.
If it's not, look in my direction because I'm responsible.
The first thing that people will notice is the cover. It has to be special.
We can rest easy on that one. This year we have Roger.
-Rick Farris
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The Gil Cadilli Story - By Gil Cadilli Jr.
Courtesy of Frank Baltazar Sr
A great video and a fine tribute to his father Gil Cadilli by Gil Cadilli Jr. This is a good follow up to the previous post by Frank. There is also some good footage of Gil Cadilli vs Keeny Teran at the Hollywood Legion Stadium, June 22, 1951.
A great video and a fine tribute to his father Gil Cadilli by Gil Cadilli Jr. This is a good follow up to the previous post by Frank. There is also some good footage of Gil Cadilli vs Keeny Teran at the Hollywood Legion Stadium, June 22, 1951.
Keeny Teran Bares Facts on Fight With Kid H.
Paul V. Coates -- Confidential File, June 10, 1959
Keeny Teran's back home.
The former boy wonder of boxing who went sour on narcotics is, at the age of 28, going to give life another try.
This week, he finished a three-year stretch at Soledad State Prison. The crime that sent him there -- peddling heroin -- was just one of the hundreds of stories that kept Keeny in the headlines here for a decade.
In his glorious, notorious life, boxing's most publicized bad boy was jailed for burglary and dope, crowned as California's and NorthAmerican's bantam weight champion, and credited, in 1952, for the most courageous comeback in the history of the ring.
Yesterday, Keeny Teran sat down with me only hours after he walked through the prison gates, to discuss the next chapter in his life.
And he admitted that it might be a pretty dull one, so far as newspaper headlines are concerned.
"I'm going to try to do things right," he told me. "When I was at Soledad, I didn't serve time. I made it serve me. I read everything I could get my hands on."
"What kind of books?" I asked.
"Well, like one on the life of Teddy Roosevelt. I really picked up on him."
In prison Keeny became editor of the paper. He also went to school for three and a half hours a days until he made up enough credits to get his high school diploma.
"On the outside I was always too busy with boxing," he explained, adding softly, "and other things."
"Other things" included a taste for marijuana at the age of 11 and a side career as an addict which started with his first fix of heroin the day before his 15th birthday.
With no trace of false pride or tough guy in his voice, Keeny talked about those days.
"Nobody forced me. Nobody offered it to me. I just took it," he said. "Dope is its own agent. I just thought it won't happen to me. I'mKeeny."
Just about all through my boxing career I was hooked," he added. "That's something most people don't realize."
In June of 1952, after 17 straight wins, the kid lost to Tommy Umeda. "Before that, I was just using mildly," he said. "But when I lost that fight, it broke my heart. I figured I was indestructible. I couldn't lose.
"After that is when I stated using heavy."
By the end of that year Keeny was back on top of the world. He'd reversed the Umeda decision and for five weeks "beaten" the habit long enough to have everybody in Hollywood begging to do his life story.
"I had everything to live for," he said. But his habit was bigger than he was. He fought some more, won some good fights, lost a few -- and all the time he was fooling the State Athletic Commission doctors.
"Say we'd weigh in at 12 o'clock. I'd take my fix at 1 o'clock. then I'd wait until after 8 o'clock examination at the arena to fix again. I'd spread them around all over my body. No tracks that way."
I asked Keeny if some more boxing might be in his future.
"Right now," he said, "I just don't know. I feel fine. I worked out all the time up there. I've never been in better shape.
"But who knows what the boxing commission is thinking of me now?"
Today's Today and That's for Me
"What I'd like to do," Keeny added, "is get a job in an office. I'd like to be sports writer, but I know I'm not ready. I learned a lot up there, but I still sweat blood getting one little column done.
"Another thing," the grown-up kid went on, "I'm no crusader. I'm not going to go around telling what a bad guy I was and how wrong I was. Right now I'm going to take each day one by one, and make it my job to take care ofKeeny."
I hope he does a helluva good job.
Keeny Teran's back home.
The former boy wonder of boxing who went sour on narcotics is, at the age of 28, going to give life another try.
This week, he finished a three-year stretch at Soledad State Prison. The crime that sent him there -- peddling heroin -- was just one of the hundreds of stories that kept Keeny in the headlines here for a decade.
In his glorious, notorious life, boxing's most publicized bad boy was jailed for burglary and dope, crowned as California's and NorthAmerican's bantam weight champion, and credited, in 1952, for the most courageous comeback in the history of the ring.
Yesterday, Keeny Teran sat down with me only hours after he walked through the prison gates, to discuss the next chapter in his life.
And he admitted that it might be a pretty dull one, so far as newspaper headlines are concerned.
"I'm going to try to do things right," he told me. "When I was at Soledad, I didn't serve time. I made it serve me. I read everything I could get my hands on."
"What kind of books?" I asked.
"Well, like one on the life of Teddy Roosevelt. I really picked up on him."
In prison Keeny became editor of the paper. He also went to school for three and a half hours a days until he made up enough credits to get his high school diploma.
"On the outside I was always too busy with boxing," he explained, adding softly, "and other things."
"Other things" included a taste for marijuana at the age of 11 and a side career as an addict which started with his first fix of heroin the day before his 15th birthday.
With no trace of false pride or tough guy in his voice, Keeny talked about those days.
"Nobody forced me. Nobody offered it to me. I just took it," he said. "Dope is its own agent. I just thought it won't happen to me. I'mKeeny."
Just about all through my boxing career I was hooked," he added. "That's something most people don't realize."
In June of 1952, after 17 straight wins, the kid lost to Tommy Umeda. "Before that, I was just using mildly," he said. "But when I lost that fight, it broke my heart. I figured I was indestructible. I couldn't lose.
"After that is when I stated using heavy."
By the end of that year Keeny was back on top of the world. He'd reversed the Umeda decision and for five weeks "beaten" the habit long enough to have everybody in Hollywood begging to do his life story.
"I had everything to live for," he said. But his habit was bigger than he was. He fought some more, won some good fights, lost a few -- and all the time he was fooling the State Athletic Commission doctors.
"Say we'd weigh in at 12 o'clock. I'd take my fix at 1 o'clock. then I'd wait until after 8 o'clock examination at the arena to fix again. I'd spread them around all over my body. No tracks that way."
I asked Keeny if some more boxing might be in his future.
"Right now," he said, "I just don't know. I feel fine. I worked out all the time up there. I've never been in better shape.
"But who knows what the boxing commission is thinking of me now?"
Today's Today and That's for Me
"What I'd like to do," Keeny added, "is get a job in an office. I'd like to be sports writer, but I know I'm not ready. I learned a lot up there, but I still sweat blood getting one little column done.
"Another thing," the grown-up kid went on, "I'm no crusader. I'm not going to go around telling what a bad guy I was and how wrong I was. Right now I'm going to take each day one by one, and make it my job to take care ofKeeny."
I hope he does a helluva good job.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Friday, June 05, 2009
1969 Southern Pacific A.A.U. Champions, El Monte Legion Stadium
Photo courtesy of Rick Farris
1969 Southern Pacific A.A.U. Champions, El Monte Legion Stadium
(top row) Pete Despart, ?, ?, Mike Quarry, ?, ?, James Dick, Jake Horn, "Kit" Boursse', Manny Diaz, Memo Soto.
(bottom row) Ernie DeFrance, Pete Vital Sr, Pete Vital Jr., Florentino Ramirez, Rudy "Porky" Acuna, Rick Farris, Tommy Coulson, Henry Verastique.
"As this photo was taken, the Quarry family, and the family of Mike Quarry's opponent, James Dick, were involved in a little disagreement at ringside. It was settled by the riot squad of the El Monte Police Dept". ....Rick Farris
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling . . .
I can be seen in the photo with the rest of our AAU Team for 1969, however, Frank was also there.
As the photographer snapped photos, the team and Frank Baltazar (off camera) enjoyed the safety of the ring.
There was big trouble brewing at ringside.
A Quarry won the last bout. Mike got the nod over a Hillbilly, and the Clampett family wasn't happy.
Lots of things being thrown at ringside- punches, purses, cups of beer, men rolling around the ground in head locks.
A woman's wig suddenly flys thru the air like a platinum pigeon, a cherry bomb explodes.
The majority of the battle is being waged by the women, lots of biting, scratching and kicking. Somebody gets stabbed.
Ma Quarry is brought in to settle the mess, she's wearing high-heels for the first time ever and she ain't happy.
Hard enough to walk in the damn things, now she's gotta fight in them.
A moment later the two old broads are on the ground, Ma Quarry vs. Granny Clampett.
The Riot Squad bursts in, pulls the men apart and cuffs them.
Elly May is maced before she can level Wilma Quarry with a fold-up chair.
The riot squad sees that it's best to deal with the men first, and are slow to approach Ma Quarry as she pounds Granny.
Ma suddenly pins Granny Clampett and jumps to her feet.
A policeman attempts to cuff the mother of the world's #2 ranked heavyweight.
"Get your friggin hands off of me. Can't you see I am a lady?"
Without blinking an eye, the policeman replies, "Yes Mam."
He then moved away to deal with another suspect, brother Jimmy. The Quarry men aren't as dangerous as the women.
Just a typical Saturday evening at the El Monte Legion Stadium.
Irish eyes were smiling.
-Rick Farris
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Classic Fights: Tony Baltazar vs Roger Mayweather
Courtesy of Frank Baltazar Sr.
Tony Baltazar vs Roger Mayweather
July 8, 1984
Country Club, Reseda, California, United States
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Mike Tyson's Daughter Passes Away.
Mike Tyson's daughter, Exodus, passed away today as a result of a freak accident at home. Our condolences and prayers are with Mike Tyson and family.
Go to Yahoo Sports for a complete story.
Go to Yahoo Sports for a complete story.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Classic Column: What makes a good fighter?
I ran across this great article on the Ring Magazine Blog and thought it was worth sharing-Randy
Classic Column: What makes a good fighter?
Posted May. 19, 2009 at 12:06pm
By W.C. Heinz
Classic Columns by magazine founder Nat Fleischer and other RING magazine writers over the past 86 years are posted Tuesdays. Today's column was selected because of all the talk about the best fighter pound-for-pound and the fighter of the decade. W.C. Heinz provided his thoughts on what makes a good fighter in the July 1951 issue.
Joey Maxim was in New York to fight Olle Tandberg, the heavyweight champion of Sweden. This was three years ago, and we were sitting in the dressing room he was using in Stillman’s and he was telling us about the time Curtis Sheppard caught him cold in the first round and pinned him in a corner and knocked him out.
“Believe me,” Joey said, “there’s no other feeling in the world like the feeling of being knocked out. You can’t imagine what it’s like.”
“I can’t,” Francis Albertanti said. “You tell me.”
“I come to in the dressing room,” Maxim said. “Everybody is standing around with long faces and tears in their eyes. It’s like I just died. I start crying myself, I’m saying: ‘I’ll go to work. I’ll dig ditches. I’ll do anything.’
“After a while I feel better. I have my shower and I get dressed and I go up to the office to get paid. Sheppard is up there, and he’s a real good guy. He knows he was lucky and he won’t catch me like that again, and he tells me he thinks I got a bad break and I’m entitled to a return.
“Three weeks later I go back with the guy and this time I win it in 10,” Maxim said, looking at us and nodding his head “How do you like that? The guy knocks me out and he’s willing to take me back.”
Francis and I were walking down Eighth Avenue about a half hour later. I was thinking about what Maxim had said.
“He sits there,” I said, “and he tells us what a great thing it is that Sheppard, who has just flattened him, is willing to take him back.”
“I know,” Francis said.
“While he’s talking,” I said, “I’m thinking what a hell of a thing it is that Maxim wants to go back.”
“I know,” Francis said. “I am thinking the same thing myself.”
Joey Maxim is a good fighter. He is good enough to be a champion of the world. His fights do not inspire enthusiasm and his style appears controlled by his caution, and yet if you ask me to enumerate the qualities that go into the making of a good fighter I must give you Maxim and the way he went back with Sheppard. More than that, I must give you his casual acceptance of his own act, his amazement that Sheppard would take him back.
We are thinking about good fighters, the ones of our time, and so Joe Louis belongs in this. The things that make any fighter good, or great, are many, and in the days when Louis was great they analyzed this great¬ness as deriving from fast reflexes, fast hands, and proper schooling in the use of these gifts.
There was nothing wrong with this definition, except that it left those who knew Louis only from a distance perplexed. The placid, unchanging expression of his face, his slow, uninspired manner of speech gave rise to the opinion that his was only an animal ability, and some, at least, concluded that boxing greatness does not require agility of mind.
That is where they were wrong, and Louis proved it on a number of occasions. He proved it on a day in Pompton Lakes in 1946. He was training to meet Billy Conn for the second time, and we were all standing around, crowded, in the dressing room watching Manny Seamon wrapping Joe’s hands.
We were not saying much. We never did say much around Joe, but it had been written many times that Conn looked fast and that his speed might befuddle Louis, and then, as we all stood there, somebody mentioned this.
When he did, Louis said something. He raised his eyes slowly, from watching Manny, and then he came out with the best line that was spoken or written about that fight. Then he went back to watching Manny.
“Billy can run,” Joe said, simply, “but he can’t hide.”
Lines are our stock in trade, not Joe’s, but he did not surprise those of us who knew him as much as it was ever possible for us to know Joe. He had given us one of those rare opportunities to look into that mind, the mind that could recognize an opening and use it. He had explained, without trying to do so, the ability to take the single opening that Paolino Uzcudun gave him in four rounds, and with one punch, probably the most devastating single punch Louis ever threw, flatten Uzcudun.
It is generally agreed that Joe’s greatest fight was his second fight against Max Schme¬ling. Goaded by hurt pride he angrily annihilated in less than a round a good fighter who had previously knocked him out. Emotional excitement inspired his most creative performance and made it his best. Thus it comes down that the good fighter is the creative fighter, the one who is able to rise above the mech¬anical limitations of the sport.
Such a one was the Rocky Graziano who, on July 12, 1947, won the middle¬weight championship of the world. Far from a master of the moves of the sport, the Graziano of that time was a fighter whose creative ability, coupled with his right hand, more than made up for his lack of technical talent.
It was a few minutes after Graziano had knocked out Tony Zale in the heat of the Chicago Stadium and in one of the most fierce fights of our era, that several of us were crowding him in the closeness of his dressing room. His one eye was closed and a clip held together the flesh above the other, and someone asked him to try to explain how he felt during the fury of that fight with Zale.
“I wanted to kill him,” Rocky said. “I don’t know why. I got nothing against him. I like him. He’s a nice guy, but I wanted to kill him. I don’t know why.”
The greatest fighter of his time and one of the greatest of all time is Ray Robinson, the middleweight champion of the world. It is probable that in him, more than in any other fighter of today, are combined more of the qualities that go into the making of a great fighter.
Among the fighters of the present there is, for example, no more avid student of the sport. Robinson has been thus since the days when he started to box. As a four-round preliminary boy he made it a practice to sit at ringside in his ring clothes, before and after his own fights in order to study the others on the card.
One day we were talking in the Uptown Gym in Harlem. He was explaining how he had learned to fight by watching others and fighting others, and I asked him from whom, among those he had fought, he had learned the most.
“Fritzie Zivic taught me a lot,” he said, speaking of the former welterweight champion. “He was about the smartest I ever fought. Why, he showed me how you can make a man butt open his own eye.”
“How?” I said.
“He’d slip my lead, like this,” Robin¬son said, demonstrating. “Then he’d put his hand behind my neck and he’d bring my eye down on his head. Fritzie was smart.”
We were sitting one day in Robinson’s office on Seventh Avenue, just south of 124th Street. He had fought Kid Gavilan twice. The first time they had fought Gavi¬lan had given him trouble. The second time, for the welterweight title in Phila¬delphia on July 11, 1949, he had handled the Cuban with ease, and I wanted him to tell me at least one of the things he had learned about Gavilan in their first fight.
“Well, I noticed one thing.” Robinson said. “I noticed that when he throws his hook he’s not in position, so he shifts his right shoulder forward maybe an inch or two. When he does that you know the right hand is dead, and you how the hook is coming.”
I was not amazed by this, because I had ex¬pected some such revelation. I was merely im¬pressed that of the many who have fought Gavilan and of the many more who have watched him closely, this is the only one to find this weakness.
I was not amazed, moreover, when Robin¬son told me that he knows fear. I have never known a really good creative artist, whether he be a writer, painter, or boxer, who has not confessed that he often doubts himself, experiences nervous¬ness when the big project is at hand.
“Accidents happen in a ring,” Robinson said. “You can never tell when you’re liable to be hit with a good punch.”
He remembered the night he fought Artie Levine in Cleveland in November of 1946. Levine had a dozen pounds on him and so Robinson was fighting it the way you should fight it, moving and throwing no more than combinations and piling up the points.
“In the ninth round,” he said, “he started a right hand and I reached over to catch it. When I opened my glove it wasn’t there and I heard the referee say: ‘Four.’ I thought to myself, Man, he’s startin’ awful high.”
Robinson got up at nine, and in the next round he knocked Levine out. He has never forgotten this, however, but the fear that Robinson knows is the limited fear that inspires a degree of caution and out of this gives birth to inspired performance.
http://www.ringtv.com/blog/685/classic_column_what_makes_a_good_fighter/
Classic Column: What makes a good fighter?
Posted May. 19, 2009 at 12:06pm
By W.C. Heinz
Classic Columns by magazine founder Nat Fleischer and other RING magazine writers over the past 86 years are posted Tuesdays. Today's column was selected because of all the talk about the best fighter pound-for-pound and the fighter of the decade. W.C. Heinz provided his thoughts on what makes a good fighter in the July 1951 issue.
Joey Maxim was in New York to fight Olle Tandberg, the heavyweight champion of Sweden. This was three years ago, and we were sitting in the dressing room he was using in Stillman’s and he was telling us about the time Curtis Sheppard caught him cold in the first round and pinned him in a corner and knocked him out.
“Believe me,” Joey said, “there’s no other feeling in the world like the feeling of being knocked out. You can’t imagine what it’s like.”
“I can’t,” Francis Albertanti said. “You tell me.”
“I come to in the dressing room,” Maxim said. “Everybody is standing around with long faces and tears in their eyes. It’s like I just died. I start crying myself, I’m saying: ‘I’ll go to work. I’ll dig ditches. I’ll do anything.’
“After a while I feel better. I have my shower and I get dressed and I go up to the office to get paid. Sheppard is up there, and he’s a real good guy. He knows he was lucky and he won’t catch me like that again, and he tells me he thinks I got a bad break and I’m entitled to a return.
“Three weeks later I go back with the guy and this time I win it in 10,” Maxim said, looking at us and nodding his head “How do you like that? The guy knocks me out and he’s willing to take me back.”
Francis and I were walking down Eighth Avenue about a half hour later. I was thinking about what Maxim had said.
“He sits there,” I said, “and he tells us what a great thing it is that Sheppard, who has just flattened him, is willing to take him back.”
“I know,” Francis said.
“While he’s talking,” I said, “I’m thinking what a hell of a thing it is that Maxim wants to go back.”
“I know,” Francis said. “I am thinking the same thing myself.”
Joey Maxim is a good fighter. He is good enough to be a champion of the world. His fights do not inspire enthusiasm and his style appears controlled by his caution, and yet if you ask me to enumerate the qualities that go into the making of a good fighter I must give you Maxim and the way he went back with Sheppard. More than that, I must give you his casual acceptance of his own act, his amazement that Sheppard would take him back.
We are thinking about good fighters, the ones of our time, and so Joe Louis belongs in this. The things that make any fighter good, or great, are many, and in the days when Louis was great they analyzed this great¬ness as deriving from fast reflexes, fast hands, and proper schooling in the use of these gifts.
There was nothing wrong with this definition, except that it left those who knew Louis only from a distance perplexed. The placid, unchanging expression of his face, his slow, uninspired manner of speech gave rise to the opinion that his was only an animal ability, and some, at least, concluded that boxing greatness does not require agility of mind.
That is where they were wrong, and Louis proved it on a number of occasions. He proved it on a day in Pompton Lakes in 1946. He was training to meet Billy Conn for the second time, and we were all standing around, crowded, in the dressing room watching Manny Seamon wrapping Joe’s hands.
We were not saying much. We never did say much around Joe, but it had been written many times that Conn looked fast and that his speed might befuddle Louis, and then, as we all stood there, somebody mentioned this.
When he did, Louis said something. He raised his eyes slowly, from watching Manny, and then he came out with the best line that was spoken or written about that fight. Then he went back to watching Manny.
“Billy can run,” Joe said, simply, “but he can’t hide.”
Lines are our stock in trade, not Joe’s, but he did not surprise those of us who knew him as much as it was ever possible for us to know Joe. He had given us one of those rare opportunities to look into that mind, the mind that could recognize an opening and use it. He had explained, without trying to do so, the ability to take the single opening that Paolino Uzcudun gave him in four rounds, and with one punch, probably the most devastating single punch Louis ever threw, flatten Uzcudun.
It is generally agreed that Joe’s greatest fight was his second fight against Max Schme¬ling. Goaded by hurt pride he angrily annihilated in less than a round a good fighter who had previously knocked him out. Emotional excitement inspired his most creative performance and made it his best. Thus it comes down that the good fighter is the creative fighter, the one who is able to rise above the mech¬anical limitations of the sport.
Such a one was the Rocky Graziano who, on July 12, 1947, won the middle¬weight championship of the world. Far from a master of the moves of the sport, the Graziano of that time was a fighter whose creative ability, coupled with his right hand, more than made up for his lack of technical talent.
It was a few minutes after Graziano had knocked out Tony Zale in the heat of the Chicago Stadium and in one of the most fierce fights of our era, that several of us were crowding him in the closeness of his dressing room. His one eye was closed and a clip held together the flesh above the other, and someone asked him to try to explain how he felt during the fury of that fight with Zale.
“I wanted to kill him,” Rocky said. “I don’t know why. I got nothing against him. I like him. He’s a nice guy, but I wanted to kill him. I don’t know why.”
The greatest fighter of his time and one of the greatest of all time is Ray Robinson, the middleweight champion of the world. It is probable that in him, more than in any other fighter of today, are combined more of the qualities that go into the making of a great fighter.
Among the fighters of the present there is, for example, no more avid student of the sport. Robinson has been thus since the days when he started to box. As a four-round preliminary boy he made it a practice to sit at ringside in his ring clothes, before and after his own fights in order to study the others on the card.
One day we were talking in the Uptown Gym in Harlem. He was explaining how he had learned to fight by watching others and fighting others, and I asked him from whom, among those he had fought, he had learned the most.
“Fritzie Zivic taught me a lot,” he said, speaking of the former welterweight champion. “He was about the smartest I ever fought. Why, he showed me how you can make a man butt open his own eye.”
“How?” I said.
“He’d slip my lead, like this,” Robin¬son said, demonstrating. “Then he’d put his hand behind my neck and he’d bring my eye down on his head. Fritzie was smart.”
We were sitting one day in Robinson’s office on Seventh Avenue, just south of 124th Street. He had fought Kid Gavilan twice. The first time they had fought Gavi¬lan had given him trouble. The second time, for the welterweight title in Phila¬delphia on July 11, 1949, he had handled the Cuban with ease, and I wanted him to tell me at least one of the things he had learned about Gavilan in their first fight.
“Well, I noticed one thing.” Robinson said. “I noticed that when he throws his hook he’s not in position, so he shifts his right shoulder forward maybe an inch or two. When he does that you know the right hand is dead, and you how the hook is coming.”
I was not amazed by this, because I had ex¬pected some such revelation. I was merely im¬pressed that of the many who have fought Gavilan and of the many more who have watched him closely, this is the only one to find this weakness.
I was not amazed, moreover, when Robin¬son told me that he knows fear. I have never known a really good creative artist, whether he be a writer, painter, or boxer, who has not confessed that he often doubts himself, experiences nervous¬ness when the big project is at hand.
“Accidents happen in a ring,” Robinson said. “You can never tell when you’re liable to be hit with a good punch.”
He remembered the night he fought Artie Levine in Cleveland in November of 1946. Levine had a dozen pounds on him and so Robinson was fighting it the way you should fight it, moving and throwing no more than combinations and piling up the points.
“In the ninth round,” he said, “he started a right hand and I reached over to catch it. When I opened my glove it wasn’t there and I heard the referee say: ‘Four.’ I thought to myself, Man, he’s startin’ awful high.”
Robinson got up at nine, and in the next round he knocked Levine out. He has never forgotten this, however, but the fear that Robinson knows is the limited fear that inspires a degree of caution and out of this gives birth to inspired performance.
http://www.ringtv.com/blog/685/classic_column_what_makes_a_good_fighter/
CHRIS ARREOLA'S "STRENGTH & CONDITIONING" PLAN
Via Bill O'Neill
May 20, 2009
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: CRISTOBAL ARREOLA
By Ryan Burton
BoxingTalk's Ryan Burton speaks to heavyweight contender Cristobal "The Nightmare" Arreola.
Ryan Burton: What is new with you?
Cristobal Arreola: I just signed Darrell Hudson to be my strength and conditioning coach yesterday. I found out my next fight is going to be in September. Exact date don't know. Exact person don't know. Who ever it is I know its in September and I don't really care who it is against. I just know I will be ready.
RB: What made you and your team decide to hire a strength and conditioning coach and what made you decide on hiring Darrell Hudson?
CA: We asked a lot of people on who they would recommend and his name came up a lot. He is a great trainer. He has a great track record.
RB: Were there any concerns at all about the allegations surrounding him with Shane Mosley and the steroid scandal?
CA: Not at all. He is going to give me the same steroids that Shane took (laughing). Nah man I am not worried about that man. You can't go off of stuff like that. We are behind that stuff. What ever happened happened. Shane is his own man what ever he took he knew.
RB: You said you are fighting in September but you don't know who against. Do you have an exact date and venue?
CA: No I have no idea. Mr. Goosen told me the fight would be sometime in September and be in California so I am looking forward to this. I am going to working with Darrell. Right now I am not worried about who I am going to fight. I am concentrating about getting in shape and how I look going into the fight. A lot of people are saying Vitali Klitschko but I am concentrating on being ready.
RB: Does Darrell Hudson have a target weight for you?
CA: The thing is we don't have a target weight. We want to go in better shape. I am going to do conditioning. The thing is I am a fat boy. I may look like crap with my shirt off but I am ready to go.
RB: I have seen heavier guys have more energy than thinner guys before. It seems like metabolism has a lot to do with it. Do you just want to go in the healthiest and most in shape Chris Arreola you can be?
CA: Exactly. It seems with me they don't judge me by how I win or how I do. They judge me by how I look. I keep winning.
RB: By bringing in Darrell Hudson now and your fight not till September this is basically giving you all summer to get in shape. Was that the plan?
CA: Yeah I want to be able to walk around without my shirt this summer! (Laughing)
RB: What are your thoughts on the Wladimir Klitschko vs David Haye fight?
CA: You know I am happy for Haye he got that fight. He really doesn't deserve it. He beat a guy (Monte Barrett) who is now considered a journeyman. That is all he has done at that weight. He was able to talk his into that fight. It should be a good fight.
RB: Do you have a prediction for that fight?
CA: I believe that Vladimir Klitschko beats him within 8-10 rounds.
RB: You were ringside for the Andre Ward vs Edison Miranda fight. What did you think of that fight?
CA: Great fight man. You know Andre boxed well. I thought Miranda had him hurt a couple times but Andre was able to stick to his game plan. Andre fought a great fight.
RB: You have 4 months till you fight. Hudson will get his chance to put his stamp on you What is the reasoning behind that?
CA: I just signed him yesterday. I don't versus bringing him in during an 8 week training camp. I don't want to go at this half ass. I want to be in shape and be ready to spar 7-8 rounds before training camp.
RB: The fact that you hired a strength and conditioning coach now and the fact that you hired him so early is screaming that you are going to be fighting a Klitschko. You know its my job to keep asking about that.
CA: You know what, in my mind I will be honest with you, I don't really care about that. I just care about getting ready for that September date against whoever. I just want to get rid of some of this fat and be in the best possible shape I can be in.
RB: It would be nice for an American heavyweight to create a buzz that we haven't had since Evander Holyfield's hey day. Even thought he is British we haven't had a buzz since Lennox Lewis either.
CA: You know what I am going to do it for fat people every where (laughing). Seriously, a lot of people didn't appreciate Lennox. Now tht he is gone people are missing him. Now they wish he was back.
RB: Do you have a message for the fans?
CA: Come September man, you are going to see a new Chris Arreola in shape. You will see the same old fight and the same fighter but I will shed some pounds. I just can't wait for the fight.
RB: I will give you a ring in another month or so to see how your conditioning is going.
CA: Thanks. I appreciate it Ryan.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: CRISTOBAL ARREOLA
By Ryan Burton
BoxingTalk's Ryan Burton speaks to heavyweight contender Cristobal "The Nightmare" Arreola.
Ryan Burton: What is new with you?
Cristobal Arreola: I just signed Darrell Hudson to be my strength and conditioning coach yesterday. I found out my next fight is going to be in September. Exact date don't know. Exact person don't know. Who ever it is I know its in September and I don't really care who it is against. I just know I will be ready.
RB: What made you and your team decide to hire a strength and conditioning coach and what made you decide on hiring Darrell Hudson?
CA: We asked a lot of people on who they would recommend and his name came up a lot. He is a great trainer. He has a great track record.
RB: Were there any concerns at all about the allegations surrounding him with Shane Mosley and the steroid scandal?
CA: Not at all. He is going to give me the same steroids that Shane took (laughing). Nah man I am not worried about that man. You can't go off of stuff like that. We are behind that stuff. What ever happened happened. Shane is his own man what ever he took he knew.
RB: You said you are fighting in September but you don't know who against. Do you have an exact date and venue?
CA: No I have no idea. Mr. Goosen told me the fight would be sometime in September and be in California so I am looking forward to this. I am going to working with Darrell. Right now I am not worried about who I am going to fight. I am concentrating about getting in shape and how I look going into the fight. A lot of people are saying Vitali Klitschko but I am concentrating on being ready.
RB: Does Darrell Hudson have a target weight for you?
CA: The thing is we don't have a target weight. We want to go in better shape. I am going to do conditioning. The thing is I am a fat boy. I may look like crap with my shirt off but I am ready to go.
RB: I have seen heavier guys have more energy than thinner guys before. It seems like metabolism has a lot to do with it. Do you just want to go in the healthiest and most in shape Chris Arreola you can be?
CA: Exactly. It seems with me they don't judge me by how I win or how I do. They judge me by how I look. I keep winning.
RB: By bringing in Darrell Hudson now and your fight not till September this is basically giving you all summer to get in shape. Was that the plan?
CA: Yeah I want to be able to walk around without my shirt this summer! (Laughing)
RB: What are your thoughts on the Wladimir Klitschko vs David Haye fight?
CA: You know I am happy for Haye he got that fight. He really doesn't deserve it. He beat a guy (Monte Barrett) who is now considered a journeyman. That is all he has done at that weight. He was able to talk his into that fight. It should be a good fight.
RB: Do you have a prediction for that fight?
CA: I believe that Vladimir Klitschko beats him within 8-10 rounds.
RB: You were ringside for the Andre Ward vs Edison Miranda fight. What did you think of that fight?
CA: Great fight man. You know Andre boxed well. I thought Miranda had him hurt a couple times but Andre was able to stick to his game plan. Andre fought a great fight.
RB: You have 4 months till you fight. Hudson will get his chance to put his stamp on you What is the reasoning behind that?
CA: I just signed him yesterday. I don't versus bringing him in during an 8 week training camp. I don't want to go at this half ass. I want to be in shape and be ready to spar 7-8 rounds before training camp.
RB: The fact that you hired a strength and conditioning coach now and the fact that you hired him so early is screaming that you are going to be fighting a Klitschko. You know its my job to keep asking about that.
CA: You know what, in my mind I will be honest with you, I don't really care about that. I just care about getting ready for that September date against whoever. I just want to get rid of some of this fat and be in the best possible shape I can be in.
RB: It would be nice for an American heavyweight to create a buzz that we haven't had since Evander Holyfield's hey day. Even thought he is British we haven't had a buzz since Lennox Lewis either.
CA: You know what I am going to do it for fat people every where (laughing). Seriously, a lot of people didn't appreciate Lennox. Now tht he is gone people are missing him. Now they wish he was back.
RB: Do you have a message for the fans?
CA: Come September man, you are going to see a new Chris Arreola in shape. You will see the same old fight and the same fighter but I will shed some pounds. I just can't wait for the fight.
RB: I will give you a ring in another month or so to see how your conditioning is going.
CA: Thanks. I appreciate it Ryan.
Classic Fights: Mando Ramos Vs. Yoshiaki Numata
Courtesy of Frank Baltazar Sr.
Mando Ramos Vs. Yoshiaki Numata
October 4, 1969
Los Angeles Sports Arena
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Jerry Quarry and Joey Orbillo
By Randy De La O
I was cleaning out my garage today and ran across this article from December 15, 1992 from The Los Angeles Times, written by Pete Ehrmann. The article is about both Jerry Quarry and Joey Orbillo. Rick has been on a roll with his interesting memories of the Olympic. Maybe he will share some memories of this fight.
I had trouble with the second page, getting both edges to fit in the scanner. I tried every which way to get the whole page but just couldn't quit make it. The left hand margin is slightly cut off. Still you should be able to get the gist of the article. My apologies.
I was cleaning out my garage today and ran across this article from December 15, 1992 from The Los Angeles Times, written by Pete Ehrmann. The article is about both Jerry Quarry and Joey Orbillo. Rick has been on a roll with his interesting memories of the Olympic. Maybe he will share some memories of this fight.
I had trouble with the second page, getting both edges to fit in the scanner. I tried every which way to get the whole page but just couldn't quit make it. The left hand margin is slightly cut off. Still you should be able to get the gist of the article. My apologies.
Click on the photo for a larger more readable version.
Sparring With Mike Quarry
By Randy De La O
In an earlier post by Rick Farris, he mentions that Jerry Quarry was hard on his younger brother Mike, bullying him and roughing him up when they sparred and more or less taking advantage of the size and weight difference.
In the above article about Jerry Quarry and Joey Orbillo by Pete Ehrmann, Ehrmann says this "In the last round, with the fight in hand, Quarry dropped his hands and did an imitation of ali dancing around the ring. the crowd loved it, but Quarry says he wasn't showing off."
Both the bulling and Ali shuffling clear up something, more or less, from 1976 when I sparred with Mike Quarry. I don't remember the date but it was sometime in the middle of the year. I had yet to have a fight.
Mike Quarry showed up at the Main Street Gym one day. This was the first time I had seen him at the gym since I had been training there and I had been there for at least a year and a half. Mike carried himself like a pro. His mannerisms, the way he walked and the way he dressed. He was wearing a light blue three piece suit that day. I was skipping rope when he came through the doors. From where I was standing, Mike cut a pretty imposing figure. I immediately recognized him.
No sooner did he come through the door then he and my trainer, Mel Epstein, had eye contact. They talked for a few minutes, then Mel walked over to me in that slightly bent and rapid pace way that he did whenever he felt rushed. "You're gonna spar with Mike Quarry today" he said to me. "He wants to work with someone smaller and faster than him-you okay with that?" Yeah, I'm okay with it" I said. "Okay, Keep warming up" and he walked away.
A few minutes later I was getting geared up for sparring, putting on the cup, head gear and wraps and gloves. Mel was putting Vaseline on my face and says to me "Don't try to slug with him, it's just a workout, and don't get nervous just because it's Quarry". I'm not nervous Mel" I said, and I wasn't.
As soon as I stepped in the ring, Mike started teeing off on me. He came at me as if I was someone that he hated. It took me a minute to realize that Mike was not playing around. I immediately had a bloody nose. I was doing my best to keep him off me and I never took a backward step. When the bell went off and I went to the corner, Mel was livid. "That f*cking bastid is cutting you with his laces". I hadn't noticed but I remember saying "Mel. He wouldn't do that". "F*ck it, I'm pulling you out-he can find someone else." "Mel. don't do it" I was serious. Normally I went along with whatever Mel wanted but I was firm on this. It was a matter of pride.
We sparred about four or five rounds that day and Mike was really laying it on thick. I was being pummeled. I got in a few licks though but for the most part I was just a punching bag.
When we were done sparring, Mike was back to his old self, smiling and joking. The picture of affability. I don't think I have ever seen Mel so angry. He used every curse word he could think of and probably created a few just for the occasion. After I was done getting dressed I walked back to the floor to wait for Mel. Mike walks up to me and says "tomorrow?" Yeah sure, no problem"
The next day my friend Ken Robledo came with me. I think he wanted to see Mike kick my ass. If so, he wasn't disappointed. It was a repeat of the first day only more so. Again Mel was pissed off. I know that Mel never really cared for the Quarrys. He always thought that they had a negative influence on middleweight Mike Nixon, at least that's what he told me. So for Mel, it was just one more thing to be angry about. When I was cleaned up and ready to go, my friend Ken walks up to me and said "Man, Quarry really kicked your ass" Yeah, well..." was all could muster. "You never took a backward step though, I'll give you that".
The third and last day was more of the same. Still I was looking for some payback, just a little bit. My chance came when Mike finished teeing off on my head. The funny thing is no matter how many times Mike landed, and he did land, he never really hurt me. He overwhelmed me at times but never hurt me. He dropped his hands to his sides and did the Ali shuffle and stuck out his chin. The guy was mocking me and was probably expecting me to be awed or intimidated, instead I threw the best right hand I have ever thrown or ever will. It landed flush on his chin. His eyes rolled up and flickered and he fell against the ropes. I know I hurt him. As I rushed him trying my best to at least end this sparring session with some dignity, the guy that was working his corner called an end to the sparring. Then Mike started acting funny. He started shaking his ass and laughing the way a fighter does when he wants to show the other guy he wasn't hurt. I hate to say it but he was acting like a jerk. I think he was embarrassed.
Mel walks up to me and said "You knocked that f*cking bastid out on his feet". "I don't think so Mel, I think he was kidding" "Bullshit, he was hurt.
Later after we showered Mike came up to me and said "Randy, thanks for the workout-I had a harder workout with you than most light heavyweights". "Thanks Mike, I had a harder workout with you than most welterweights!" Maybe Mike was just being polite, I don't know, but coming from him it was quite a compliment.
Evey word was true. It took me three f*cking days but I caught him and I know I hurt him, just a little. More importantly, at least to me, I never took a backward step.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Louie Burke's Blog: Han Defeats King!
Photo by Paul Gallegos/Fightnews
From Louie Burke
Well, it was a war and by far the best fight of the night. King, a south-paw didn’t waste any time trying to land his straight left just missing it’s target but indicating that was his power shot. Abie found a home for his left hook which hurt King multiple times throughout the fight. In the fourth, King caught Abie with straight left, wobbling him, but as he went for the finish, Abie impressively bobbed, weaved and held on til he re-gained his whereabouts, enabling him to survive the round. In the fifth, both fighters clashed heads, causing a stream of blood, from a cut above Abie’s hairline. In between rounds the bleeding was stopped and never played a factor in the fight The rest of the fight, Abie stayed busier and out hustled King. I grew a little grayer tonight but was pleased with the victory. The scores were 60-54 and 58-54 twice.
Thanks for your support,
Louie
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Abie Han report: weigh-ins
From Louie Burke
After a Long drawn Out weigh-in, which was scheduled for 2:00 and didn’t take place til about 4:30 the starving, thirsty fighters were finally weighed. Luckily Abie ate a good breakfast and was hydrated, but most of the other fighters appeared to be suffering as they had to wait for the commissioners to shuffle through the mess of paperwork and then wait again for the doctor to show up. When it finally got under way, abraham and Ibahiem were called to the scales.
Abie Han weighed in at 155, a pound under the 156 contracted weight and his opponent Ibahiem King was two pounds under coming in at 154. Both looked lean and are fighting at a lower weight than they fought in the amateur ranks.
During the face off, matchmaker Vince Parra was hollering out "this is the fight of the night" referring to Abie’s and King’s fight. The fight’s scheduled for 6 rounds, a first for Abie and the second go ‘round for King. I have to agree with Vince and foresee a tough battle, but feel good about Abie’s pre fight preparation.
After the weigh-in we found a pasta joint and put down a hefty plate of angel hair with red meat sauce, drank plenty of water and toped it off with a dish of spamoni ice cream. We then went for a walk and had Vince take us to the hotel to rest and watch the NBA play-offs.
Thanks for your support
Louie
After a Long drawn Out weigh-in, which was scheduled for 2:00 and didn’t take place til about 4:30 the starving, thirsty fighters were finally weighed. Luckily Abie ate a good breakfast and was hydrated, but most of the other fighters appeared to be suffering as they had to wait for the commissioners to shuffle through the mess of paperwork and then wait again for the doctor to show up. When it finally got under way, abraham and Ibahiem were called to the scales.
Abie Han weighed in at 155, a pound under the 156 contracted weight and his opponent Ibahiem King was two pounds under coming in at 154. Both looked lean and are fighting at a lower weight than they fought in the amateur ranks.
During the face off, matchmaker Vince Parra was hollering out "this is the fight of the night" referring to Abie’s and King’s fight. The fight’s scheduled for 6 rounds, a first for Abie and the second go ‘round for King. I have to agree with Vince and foresee a tough battle, but feel good about Abie’s pre fight preparation.
After the weigh-in we found a pasta joint and put down a hefty plate of angel hair with red meat sauce, drank plenty of water and toped it off with a dish of spamoni ice cream. We then went for a walk and had Vince take us to the hotel to rest and watch the NBA play-offs.
Thanks for your support
Louie
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Burke’s blog: Han arrives in San Diego
Blog by Louie Burke
Abie Han and I arrived in San Diego yesterday where we were picked up by matchmaker Vince Parra. He took us to the hotel where we changed into our workout gear to finish off our last workout, and to see what Abie’s weight was.
After the workout, Abie was 156, which is the contracted weight. He looked and felt ready for Thursday night’s fight with Ibahiem King, a 6-0 middleweight from West Palm Beach, Florida.
The event is promoted by Rogue Boxing Promotions and will be the first of a series of fights at the San Diego Hardrock Hotel. Tickets sales seem to be doing very well and a few celebrities will be in the audience.
We look forward to fighting King, he’s a crafty south-paw, much like “No Doubt” Austin Trout. We had great lefty sparring in preparation for the fight, working with Austin and Rene Armijo.
After doing our homework, we know that King will be a true test, and someone not to be taken lightly. At 3-0 we would have liked to get someone a little softer, but it’s been impossible to find an opponent for Abie anywhere in the southwest. We’ve reached out to big promoters with no avail. So, in order to keep active, we decided to jump up a few levels, feeling confident we’ll land feet first.
No matter the outcome, we’ve been promised a few more spots this year with Rogue Boxing Promotions.
Weigh-ins are today at 2:00 p.m.
Abie Han and I arrived in San Diego yesterday where we were picked up by matchmaker Vince Parra. He took us to the hotel where we changed into our workout gear to finish off our last workout, and to see what Abie’s weight was.
After the workout, Abie was 156, which is the contracted weight. He looked and felt ready for Thursday night’s fight with Ibahiem King, a 6-0 middleweight from West Palm Beach, Florida.
The event is promoted by Rogue Boxing Promotions and will be the first of a series of fights at the San Diego Hardrock Hotel. Tickets sales seem to be doing very well and a few celebrities will be in the audience.
We look forward to fighting King, he’s a crafty south-paw, much like “No Doubt” Austin Trout. We had great lefty sparring in preparation for the fight, working with Austin and Rene Armijo.
After doing our homework, we know that King will be a true test, and someone not to be taken lightly. At 3-0 we would have liked to get someone a little softer, but it’s been impossible to find an opponent for Abie anywhere in the southwest. We’ve reached out to big promoters with no avail. So, in order to keep active, we decided to jump up a few levels, feeling confident we’ll land feet first.
No matter the outcome, we’ve been promised a few more spots this year with Rogue Boxing Promotions.
Weigh-ins are today at 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Manny Paquiao KO's Ricky Hatton in the 2nd
By Randy De La O
First Ricky Hatton: A game rooster if ever there was one. His heart cannot be questioned. While he was in the fight, which was very brief, he fought valiantly. The old adage "You can't teach an old dog a new trick" was never more evident than in last nights fight. I don't think it would have made one bit of difference in the outcome but he should have spent more time working on his own assets instead of trying to change his style, especially before such a big fight. I give Hatton all the credit in the world for coming out and facing Paquiao and an imminent knockout. Mayweather Sr showed great courage sending his fighter out for the second round.
His first mistake was trusting Floyd Mayweather Sr, who had no real answer for Pacquiao's speed, power and angles. Freddie Roach said before the fight "I have the better fighter" and he was right.
On Manny Pacquiao: I don't know what I can say about Manny that I haven't already said, or that hasn't already been said by almost everyone else. Pacquiao is a force of nature. There's no doubt that Paquiao would fit into any era. He joins the ranks as an all time great, and deservedly so. The ease and quickness in which he figured out Hattons flaws was amazing. After the first knockdown it was a foregone conclusion. The knockout, which came near the end of round 2, was a debilitating left hook to Hattons chin. Hatton was out. It was a serious knockout. The kind of knockout that causes damage. Thankfully Hatton was able to get up and walk out of the ring on his own.
The knockout sends a message to both Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez who will be fighting each other later this year, on July 18. Marquez, who has already fought Pacquiao twice and has been pushing for a third fight, has to notice the improvement that Manny has shown over the last year or so. Both fights between the two were controversial, with a split decision win for Paquiao and a draw, which says a lot about Marquez. A lot of people, myself included felt Marquez was the winner of both fights. Whatever happened in the past though really doesn't matter. Marquez will be facing a vastly improved and infinitely more confident Manny Paquiao.
Mayweather on the other hand, has also stopped Ricky Hatton, back in December of 2007. He didn't have nearly the easy win that Paquiao had. We'll have to see how that plays out. The winner of the Marquez vs Mayweather jr. will more than likely face Pacquiao.
With Pacquiao, Hatton, Marquez and Lopez all fighting each other, it evokes memories of boxing's last glory days, the 1980's when Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns and Wilfredo Benitez were all fighting each other. The best in boxing were fighting each other. That's the way it should be. Let's hope it becomes the norm again.
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