Sunday, July 31, 2011

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon:

"Somebody asked me, 'What's the first thing you do in a fight?' I bleed!" Reminiscing about his fight with Carmen Basilio, "The bell rings for the first round. I ran to the centre of the ring. I threw a hard left hook, an uppercut, two right hands and another left hook. Then he came to the centre of the ring!" "Basilio, what a guy . He was so tough. I was a lightweight and he was a middleweight champion. But I was the Golden Boy, and the Golden Boy was supposed to do things, Unheard of, I couldn't do this. So I hit him with my best shot, right on the chin. Whack! He just smiles at me. My best shot, and he smiles. Thank god he went easy on me!"..

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon:

"When I first came from New Mexico, they said 'You're Mexican, right?' And I said, 'No, I'm Spanish. We were Spanish. All our people come from Italy [and Spain] So [they thought] I was a goddam spic denying I was a Mexican." "So that made 'em mad to begin with." "Later I said 'Viva Mexico!' but it was too late."

Olympic Auditorium Official Programe Art Aragon/Phil Kim Oct 16 1952

ART ARAGON
California's number one box office attraction faces one of the stiffest tests of his career when he tangles with Phil "Wildcat" Kim, Hawaii's welterweight champion. A terrific puncher in his own right, Art will be facing one of the hardest belters in the 147 pound class. Big money matches with Kid Gavilan and Chuck Davey are in the making for the Golden Boy-but he must first get by this tireless performer from Honolulu.

PHIL KIM
Now ranked ninth among the worlds welterweights, Phil "Wildcat" Kim hopes a win over Art Aragon will lead to his goal-a shot at Kid Gavilan's title. The Pineapple Puncher has stopped six out of seven foes since invading the mainland. Kim carries dynamite in both hands and takes a good punch himself. Win, lose or draw, Phil Kim will give the fans their money's worth.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon vs Benny Black, Hollywood Stadium May 20 1949

If Art Aragon could have caught up with Benny Black and made him hold still until Art could park one solid punch on Benny's chin-Aragon would still be "Atomic Art" of Hollywood Stadium. But Black is fast, cagey and apparently unaccommodating, so Aragon had to be content with the ten round decision, garnered at much embarrassment, due to considerable missing in the early rounds and complete exhaustion at the finish. Aragon cornered Black in the sixth and belabored him with both fists, but Benny's bicycle came to the rescue. Although tired, Art decked Black for a nine-count in the eighth, but was so weary at the end of the round that Benny was able to jab out an edge in the final two heats. Black, a despised 10-to-1 underdog, was cheered by the crowd for his "moral victory." Aragon weighed 139, Black 146.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

CBHOF...2006

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(L-to-R)
Tony Baltazar,Louie Loy Sr.,Frank Baltazar and Frankie Baltazar.
To Frankie's left, his mom and my wife (In white) Connie.
In front Tony's daughter Kakojua.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Timothy Bradley doing his fighting out of the ring

Timothy Bradley doing his fighting out of the ring

Junior-welterweight champion turned down a chance for a unification bout against Amir Khan this weekend, primarily because of financial squabble with his promoters.

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Timothy Bradley is being criticized for turning down an unification title bout against Amir Khan. (Christina House / For The Times / January 14, 2011)

By Lance Pugmire

July 21, 2011
This was supposed to be Timothy Bradley's weekend.

Instead, the unbeaten WBC and WBO junior-welterweight champion from Palm Springs has been torched by critics for not accepting a Saturday title unification date against Amir Khan and a $1.5-million-plus payday.

"I'm not hurting for money," Bradley said this week. "I've saved my money. I'm in a good position."

Britain's Khan, who'll instead fight veteran Zab Judah in an HBO-televised title bout at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, has accused Bradley (27-0, 11 knockouts) of being afraid to risk defeat.

Khan made Bradley, 27, an offer of a 50-50 split of United Kingdom pay-per-view revenue beyond the guaranteed $1.3 million HBO had promised Bradley to fight Kahn after his January victory over then-unbeaten Devon Alexander outside Detroit.

"He knew he'd get beat, that's why he didn't take the fight," Khan said of Bradley last week. "He's not an exciting fighter, can't even fill 2,000-seat arenas in his hometown."

Bradley counters he still wants to fight Khan — just not now, when his promoters Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson were due a sizable cut of Bradley's purse in the final fight of their contract.

Shaw and Thompson have sued Bradley to collect their share of the HBO-promised Khan purse, plus damages, and are seeking to stop Bradley from working under another promoter until their dispute is resolved.

The promoters in June distributed a letter to all major promoters advising them not to tamper with Bradley. Bradley said he's retaining his own legal team.

The dispute results mostly from the Bradley-Alexander bout.

Bradley and his manager, Cameron Dunkin, fumed the night before the Alexander fight when they learned from a financial disclosure form that Shaw — thanks to a hefty Pontiac Silverdome site fee — would pocket an estimated $600,000 while Bradley's fight fee was his guaranteed $1.1 million.

"I've never even seen Don King do something like this," Dunkin barked that evening.

Shaw answers that "Timmy got real bad advice" and opted to take the $1.1-million guarantee rather than accepting a 75%-25% split that would have paid him nearly $1.3 million.

Shaw's attorney has argued the promoters helped build Bradley's career, and they are entitled to compensation when the boxer has made it clear he was leaving them this year.

As a deadline loomed two months ago for Bradley to agree to the Khan fight, it became clear he wouldn't budge. Bradley said this week the Detroit ordeal "put me over the edge."

Said Shaw: "I don't understand how … you can pass up the opportunity to be the No. 3 fighter in the world with a win [over Khan]. Everybody would be running after Timmy if he had taken and won this fight."

Of Shaw and Thompson, Bradley said, "We've gone as far as we can together. At this point, I want to become a bigger name and get to the bigger fish."

Bradley said fighting Khan now is "too soon.… The fight can marinate a little longer."

Bradley insists the litigation won't stop him from fighting again this year. "My 10-year-old [stepson] can figure out what they want: money," Bradley said of the promoters.

One possible scenario is for Bradley to pay a settlement fee, allowing a promoter like Bob Arum to make a fight for Bradley — possibly on the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez card Nov. 14 — and allow Bradley to recoup the settlement.

On Saturday, Khan and Judah will fight for the IBF and WBA junior-welterweight titles.

If Bradley won a fight later this year on an attractive pay-per-view card, he would be positioned next year to either fight for a unification of the junior-welterweight belts, or be a possible foe for Pacquiao should Floyd Mayweather Jr. be unavailable again.

Bradley dismissed concerns about his extended layoff, noting he's "constantly training" but is happy he's at home this week because his wife, Monica, is due to give birth soon to the couple's first child.

"You know how I'd be feeling now if I had taken that fight? I'd be a nervous wreck," Bradley said. "I'm a family-first guy."

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez to defend title at Staples Center

Mexico's Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will defend his world super-welterweight belt Sept. 17 at Staples Center against former "The Contender" reality-TV fighter Alfonso Gomez, boxing officials said.

Alvarez (37-0-1, 27 KOs) claimed the belt at Anaheim's Honda Center in March, then defended it with a 12th-round technical knockout of Ryan Rhodes in June. The fight against Gomez (23-4-2) will be the main event of the Staples card, and be televised as part of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Victor Ortiz pay-per-view card from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Golden Boy Promotions also said former world champion Erik Morales will fight Anthony Crolla in Las Vegas that night.

----------------------------------

When the hell is Alvarez going to fight somebody that is not a human punching bag??....Gomez is nothing more than a class B fighter, always has been, and always will be....

Monday, July 18, 2011

Almost five decades later, boxer Davey Moore's death still resonates

The featherweight champion's death after a 1963 bout at Dodger Stadium prompted Bob Dylan to take boxing to task in his song 'Who Killed Davey Moore?' This month, Sports Illustrated rated it the best sports song of all time.
Davey Moore

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Davey Moore, left, trades punches with Sugar Ramos during the first round of a featherweight title bout at Dodger Stadium in 1963. Moore fell into a coma after the fight and died three days later. (Associated Press / March 21, 1963)

By Jerry Crowe

July 17, 2011

Davey Moore may be gone, but he's not forgotten.

Longtime boxing fans remember him as a featherweight champion who fell into a coma shortly after losing his title in a bout at Dodger Stadium in March 1963, and died three days later.

Pop music fans remember him as the ghostly presence in Bob Dylan's anti-boxing harangue, "Who Killed Davey Moore?"

And Moore's 75-year-old widow, Geraldine, remembers him as a hardworking provider and loving husband and father.

"We got along famously," she says.

She's tickled that her late husband's name reentered the public consciousness this month when Sports Illustrated ranked Dylan's accusatory ballad, in which several characters deny their culpability in Moore's death, as the No. 1 sports song of all time.

She calls it "not such a bad song" but also admits, "I really didn't listen to it that much. I kind of avoid stuff like that."

She's grateful, however, for anything that keeps her late husband's memory alive, such as a statue in his hometown of Springfield, Ohio, that sits in storage while backers work to raise the last $30,000 needed to have it bronzed.

Moore would be the first athlete and first African American so honored in Springfield, notes Tom Archdeacon, a Dayton Daily News sports columnist leading a push to secure the funding.

"But it's hard times in the Rust Belt," Archdeacon says.

Moore was well known in Springfield — and far beyond — even before Dylan wrote about his final bout, of course.

His match against Cuban émigré Sugar Ramos was part of the only fight card ever staged at Dodger Stadium, a "Carnival of Champions" tripleheader of world-championship bouts that drew a crowd of more than 25,000.

"It was a hell of a fight," says John Hall, a former Times boxing writer and sports columnist. "Both guys punched each other around and, up to the last minute, Davey kept coming back."

In the 10th round, however, the 29-year-old champion was knocked to the canvas for the second time, the back of his head snapping against the bottom rope.

The referee stopped the fight before the 11th round.

Afterward, a lucid Moore met with reporters for 40 minutes, telling them, "It just wasn't my night," and vowing revenge.

Then he fell unconscious.

"He was in control of himself right up until the time he passed out," Hall says. "It was really a shocking, awful thing, the way he went out. Nobody had any idea he was that badly hurt."

Doctors later said that swelling in his injured brain stem sent Moore into a coma. He never awakened.

In death, Moore left behind three daughters and two sons, impetus for boxing to install safer ropes and grist for a "searing indictment of the fight game," as Sports Illustrated described Dylan's song, introduced only weeks after the fight.

"Who killed Davey Moore?" Dylan sings. "Why and what's the reason for?" A series of characters — the referee, the boxing fan, the manager, the gambler, the sportswriter, the opponent — all sing, "No, you can't blame me at all."

The All Music Guide called it "one of Bob Dylan's absolute worst songs," reviewer Stewart Mason noting, "Boxing is corrupt and violent? Who knew?" And Dylan didn't include it on an official release until nearly 30 years later.

In Ohio, Moore's widow paid the song little mind.

Six weeks after her husband's death, she took a government job arranged for her by then-Ohio Gov. Jim Rhodes.

"Naturally, you're sad and you miss your husband, and the children miss their dad," she says, "but you just have to move on. You can't just die because he died. . . .

"My mother and dad stepped right in and helped me with the children and I took that job and didn't look back."

Thirty-two years later, her children all grown, she retired. Briefly remarried in the early 1970s, she is matriarch of a family that includes nine grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

"And sometime this fall," she says from her apartment in Springfield, "I'll have my first great-great-grandchild."

Who killed Davey Moore?

She doesn't point fingers.

"I can't blame boxing for my husband's death," she says. "Boxing made us a good living when he was alive, and he loved it."

Maybe Dylan does too.

He told Rolling Stone that boxing was his favorite form of exercise and, according to Los Angeles magazine, the rock bard owns a secret fight club beneath a Santa Monica coffee shop where he once was knocked down by actress Gina Gershon.

One of his earliest songs, "I Shall Be Free No. 10," includes the lines, "I was shadow boxin' early in the day/I figured I was ready for Cassius Clay." And another, "Hurricane," is a powerful protest song that tells the tale of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a falsely imprisoned former middleweight contender.

Archdeacon, the Dayton newspaperman, laid all this out in a column when Dylan's tour stopped in Dayton two summers ago, hoping to appeal to the singer's sensibilities.

He envisioned Dylan opening his wallet for Moore's statue.

"I was hoping he'd see it and say, 'Here's $30,000,'" Archdeacon notes. "But that didn't happen."

jerome.crowe@latimes.com

Friday, July 15, 2011

Mosley loses title belts in divorce

Not only has Shane Mosley been on the losing end of his latest boxing matches, he is also losing the fight in the courtroom as well. Per TMZ Sports, Mosley’s ex-wife Jin Mosley will be awarded 3 championship belts as part of their divorce settlement. Ouch. Here are some details:

The settlement provides that ex-wife Jin “shall maintain custody and control of three championship belts for each of the respective parties’ three minor children.” Each of the kids get a belt when they turn 18.

And Jin will get half of Sugar Shane’s cut of profits from videotapes and DVDs of his big fights, including bouts with Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Fernando Vargas.

Since the divorce was filed in California and community property rules apply, Jin gets half of Sugar Shane’s fight purses during their marriage.

Shane Mosley won’t have to split the $3mil he pocketed for his sparring match fight with Manny Pacquiao as the fight took place after the 2009 split, so there’s a small silver lining to an overall disappointing judgement. Not to mention the 21-year-old bombshell Bella Gonzalez that Shane has bagged, so I think Shane is sleeping well. Or not at all, depending on how you look at it.

Art "Golden Boy" Aragon/Bolton Ford, Fight-26th August 1949

During the rest period after the opening round of his clash with Art Aragon, 136, at the Hollywood Stadium, Bolton Ford, 136, Pittsburgh, appeared very much at ease. He had just garnered the first round with a few rights to the body, had not been hit a solid blow, and was probably recalling his start in this ring last winter when he scored the upset of the year. What Ford didn't realize was that Aragon had held back and was coolly planning the pittsburgher's doom. Aragon took over in the second round. The Golden Boy (You're welcome, Art) sunk a couple of hooks into Ford's furnace. Bolton lowered his guard-and Aragon lowered the boom! A left hook put the muscular Pittsburgher flat on his back, looking up and seeing the roof still there. Bolton scrambled to his feet at the count of seven. Aragon moved in quickly and dropped Ford with another left hook to the button. Bolton was up at the count of 3 this time, but he was wearing the expression of a guy in love and when referee Johnny Indrisano saw that far away look in Ford's eyes-the setto was declared over..

Valley boxing great Gabe Terronez dies at 71

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By Bryant-Jon Anteola / The Fresno Bee

Gabe Terronez, a Fresno native who rose from humble beginnings as a migrant farmworker to become one of the top welterweight fighters in the world, died Friday morning. He was 71.

A headline boxer and a popular local figure during the 1960s, Mr. Terronez became a role model in the Hispanic community after leaving his life as a Corcoran teenager who picked fruits and cotton up and down the central San Joaquin Valley to serve in the Marines and then fight professionally for seven years.

Mr. Terronez competed in the U.S. Olympic trials in 1960 and went 31-3 with 27 knockouts as an amateur before emerging as the No. 5 world-ranked welterweight with a 32-8 record and 19 knockouts as a pro. Mr. Terronez was inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.

"He was a special boxer, such a natural puncher," said Pat DiFuria Sr., who trained and managed Terronez. "For a 145-pounder, he was the strongest man I'd ever seen. And the fans loved him; his charisma.

"He was a slugger, and no matter what punch he'd hit you with, he was going to hurt you. Fresno never saw a fighter more exciting."

Among his top achievements in the ring, Mr. Terronez knocked out Charley "Tiger" Smith to win the state title and split a pair of fights against ranked Puerto Rican Jose Stable.

In 1965, Mr. Terronez lasted four rounds against welterweight champion Emil Griffith before losing in a non-title bout fought before thousands of fans at the Kearney Bowl in Fresno.

Mr. Terronez would get the crowd in the mood before his fights by walking toward the ring with Mariachi music playing during introductions.

His nicknames – "The Little Professor" and "Choir Boy" – were earned for maintaining a squeaky-clean image outside of the ring, going to school and singing in the church choir but boxing professionally to help pay for his tuition.

Mr. Terronez was the first in his family to earn a college degree after graduating from Fresno State.

"Being a Hispanic fighter, people in the community could relate to him and they started to look up to him," said Fresno City Council Member Sal Quintero, a longtime friend. "He was like them. He didn't have much money. And yet, he was doing great things."

Shortly after marrying the late Elizabeth Huerta, Mr. Terronez retired from boxing at 29 years old in 1969. He went on to work for California Gov. Ronald Reagan's office as a community relations consultant, then with the University of California Cooperative Extension and helped students of migrant upbringing find professional work.

Still, boxing remained in him. And Mr. Terronez would often bob and weave as if he still were fighting while sitting down and watching a match.

"You could never sneak up on my dad," said Stephanie Terronez, the boxer's oldest of five children. "His reflexes were always lightning fast, and his fist was cocked back whenever he caught you trying."

Mr. Terronez retired early from his professional career to attend to his ailing wife, who died in 1992 after a five-year fight with cancer. Elizabeth Huerta Terronez was the first Hispanic principal in Fresno. A middle school in the city's southeast side is named in honor of the late Bullard High principal.

During their 25 years of marriage, they attended numerous athletic high school events. In the years after her passing, Mr. Terronez found comfort listening to classical music and playing golf.

Mr. Terronez is survived by children Stephanie, Dante, Desiree, Damien and Nicole.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at St John's Cathedral.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Frankie Baltazar (R) with unknown opponent

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Tony Baltazar (R) with unknown opponent...Stanton A.C.

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Tony Baltazar at 3 1/5 taking a jab, or is that a hook? by a unknown opponent.

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Enrique Bolanos

Enrique Bolanos does something that our other local lightweights do not do-he stops most of his imported opponents. He isn't a terrific puncher, but he does hit solidly and possesses the fighting spirit to finish a foe, once he has him hurt. Lulu Costantino was the fiery Mexican's latest K.0. victim. And it was the first time in his career that Lulu didn't go the distance. It happened in the 7th round at the Los Angeles Olympic before a sellout crowd of 10,400.
Costantino is still a clever defensive boxer and a cutie in all departments of the game, but these smoothies never have bothered Bolanos too much. The New Yorker was the artful dodger at times, and he scored a few points in occasional spurts, but most of the time he was bicycling to escape punishment. A hard one-two early in the 7th put Costantino flat on his back. He arose at the count of 7 in a dazed condition and backed into the ropes, with hands dangling at his sides. Enrique sprang in for the kill, rocked the Italian with a left and right before referee Johnny Indrisano could move in to stop it. Each weighed 134..

Sunday, July 10, 2011

The Ring Magazine's Annual Ratings: 1978 As selected by The Ring magazine in the March 1979 issue.

Heavyweights

Muhammad Ali, Champion

1. Larry Holmes
2. Ken Norton
3. Leon Spinks
4. Ron Lyle
5. Jimmy Young
6. Kallie Knoetze
7. Alfredo Evangelista
8. Gerrie Coetzee
9. Ossie Ocasio
10. Domingo D'Elia

Light Heavyweights

Title Vacant

1. Mike Rossman
2. Matthew Franklin
3. John Conteh
4. Yaqui Lopez
5. Marvin Johnson
6. Mate Parlov
7. Victor Emilio Galindez
8. James Scott
9. Vonzell Johnson
10. Bobby Cassidy

Middleweights

Hugo Pastor Corro, Champion

1. Marvin Hagler
2. Vito Antuofermo
3. Ronnie Harris
4. Marcos Geraldo
5. Mike Colbert
6. Bennie Briscoe
7. Rudy Robles
8. Tony Chiaverini
9. Elijah Makathini
10. Bobby Watts

Junior Middleweights

Masashi Kudo, Champion

1. Ayub Kalule
2. Rocky Mattioli
3. Maurice Hope
4. Rocky Mosley Jr.
5. Edgar Ross
6. Frank Wissenbach
7. Alvin Anderson
8. Loucif Hamani
9. Marijan Benes
10. Mustafa Hamsho

Welterweights

Carlos Palomino, Champion

1. Pipino Cuevas
2. Clyde Gray
3. Sugar Ray Leonard
4. Johnny Gant
5. Harold Weston
6. Pete Ranzany
7. Randy Shields
8. Davey (Boy) Green
9. Thomas Hearns
10. Andy Price

Junior Welterweights

Wilfred Benitez, Champion

1. Antonio Cervantes
2. Saensak Muangsurin
3. Esteban De Jesus
4. Miguel Montilla
5. Saoul Mamby
6. Domingo Ayala
7. Nani Marrero
8. Jo Kimpuani
9. Adolfo Viruet
10. Sean O'Grady

Lightweights

Roberto Duran, Champion

1. Alfredo Pitalua
2. Giancarlo Usai
3. Vilomar Fernandez
4. Claude Noel
5. Jim Watt
6. Johnny Lira
7. Edwin Viruet
8. Termite Watkins
9. Julio Valdez
10. Herman Montes


Junior Lightweights

Samuel Serrano, Champion

1. Frankie Baltazar
2. Alexis Arguello
3. Rafael (Bazooka) Limon
4. Alfredo Escalera
5. Natale Vezzoli
6. Bobby Chacon
7. Arturo Leon
8. Ernesto Espana
9. Walter Seeley
10. Greg Coverson

Featherweights

Title Vacant

1. Danny Lopez
2. Wilfredo Gomez
3. Eusebio Pedroza
4. Ricardo Cardona
5. Roberto Castanon
6. Ruben Castillo
7. Cecilio Lastra
8. Hector Carrasquilla
9. Mike Ayala
10. Juan Domingo Malvarez

Bantamweights

Jorge Lujan, Champion

1. Lupe Pintor
2. Carlos Zarate
3. Franco Zurlo
4. Alfonso Zamora
5. Alberto Sandoval
6. Frankie Duarte
7. Richard Rozelle
8. Roberto Rubaldino
9. Alberto Davila
10. Enrique Sanchez

Flyweights

Miguel Canto, Champion

1. Yoko Gushiken
2. Betulio Gonzalez
3. Guty Espadas
4. Franco Udella
5. Sung Jun Kim
6. Freddy Castillo
7. Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh
8. Jose Ortiz
9. Charlie Magri
10. Shoji Oguma

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Torres vs Andrade was one of the best action fights ever seen at the Olympic, 7-16-1960

Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California

Battling Torres L Cisco Andrade KO 7 10

Tony Herrera W Richie Robinson KO 3 6

Eddie Alvarado W Art Ennis TKO 2 6

Ernie Cuadras W Garfield Gray PTS 4 4

Johnny Glasgow W Gino Hernandez PTS 4 4

6-22-1951 Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California. The night my hero's fought

Eddie Chavez L Enrique Bolanos UD 12 12

Gil Cadilli D Keeny Teran PTS 6 6

Sammy Figueroa W Al Galindo UD 6 6

Morrie McFarland W Tony Renteria KO 2 4

Jesse Morales W Eddie Hernandez PTS 4 4

2-14-1950 Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California

Art Aragon W Enrique Bolanos TKO 12 12

Dave Gallardo W Bob DiGiovanni PTS 4 4

Chu Chu Jiminez W Rocky Haro PTS 4 4

Refugio Rodriguez W Manuel Maldonado PTS 4 4

Johnny Novella W Chuck Thompson PTS 4 4

Bobby Garza W Jimmy Dunn PTS 4 4

12-20-1956 Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California

Mickey Northrup L Rudy Jordan UD 10 10

Kid Gavilan L Ramon Fuentes SD 10 10

Dwight Hawkins W Leo Carter TKO 1 6

Alvin Moore D Buddy Ford PTS 4 4

Benny Robledo W Bill Garrett PTS 4 4

Friday, July 8, 2011

Cohen talks

"I killed nobody that didn't deserve killing. In all of these here killings there was no alternative. You couldn't call them cold-blooded killings.... It was either my life or theirs."
Mickey Cohen

May 19, 1957
Los Angeles

I suppose in hindsight it's easy to see why interviewing Mickey Cohen on live television was a bad idea. But at the time, as Mike Wallace admits, it seemed like a wonderful coup against the competition.

If you don't know anything about Cohen, you might not understand what an outspoken and profane man he was. But Wallace certainly knew. And those viewers who skipped Dr. Joyce Brothers on the "$64,000 Challenge" experienced an obscene tirade from the little mobster.

Unfortunately, the original newspaper accounts give very little of Cohen's remarks except to say they were unprintable. "Cohen was interviewed over a national ABC network show last night and admitted he has killed at least one man in self-defense," The Mirror said. "He hurled a series of unprintable charges against [Los Angeles Police Chief William H.] Parker.

" 'Gestapo tactics' was the kindest phrase he used. The laws governing libel and slander prohibit repetition of the charges in a newspaper," The Mirror said.

But some information can be gleaned from news accounts. In addition to claiming that he had killed a man, Cohen said his gambling operations once handled $600,000 in bets and that politicians needed him at election time and allowed him to operate with impunity.

He also said: "My sources of power were higher than former Mayor Bowron's and former Police Chief Horrall's."

Former Mayor Fletcher Bowron, who had returned to the Superior Court bench after being elected mayor in the 1938 recall of Frank Shaw, said it was beneath his dignity to respond to Cohen's allegations. Former Chief Clemence B. "Jack" Horrall, who headed the LAPD during World War II, said Cohen operated in the county rather than the city. "He tried to operate in the city and we ran him out," Horrall said. "Cohen's a liar."

But ABC-TV made a critical error. Recall that this was before the days of videotape. Instead, shows were preserved on kinescopes in which a movie camera filmed images on a TV picture tube, and these were shown on the West Coast three hours later. Although ABC executives had no idea what Cohen was going to say on the live show, they were well aware of Cohen's comments and decided to proceed with the West Coast broadcast three hours later.

Former Mirror reporter Cliff Dektar, who was handling publicity for ABC in Los Angeles, recalls watching the show with The Times TV critic at the network's studios:

"I hosted Cecil Smith, Times TV critic at the ABC TV Center executive viewing room, Prospect and Talmadge.

"Outrageous, and the phone rang. It was lawyer in NY. l say nothing (there is a reporter sitting next to me).

"Parker and [Police Capt. James] Hamilton (the intelligence squad captain) gave ABC and WC head Earl Hudson opportunity to cancel WC repeat (kinescope) and get out trouble...Mr. Hudson declined and Hamilton won a major slander suit against ABC.

"It was a most interesting event...oh yes...took Cecil and his wife to dinner following."

Parker was furious, and turned down a network offer to respond on Wallace's show the next week. "That sort of thing is more insidious than Confidential," Parker said. "You have to go down to the newsstand to buy a magazine and you get this in your living room."

"As a police officer, I am used to being shot at. But how can a person like Cohen be allowed to assassinate my character?" Parker said.

ABC issued an apology the next week, but the controversy continued.

George Kimball fought to give voice to boxing Former Herald columnist, 67, dies

By Michael Gee

Some months ago, as it was getting close to the end and my friend George Kimball was very, very sick, he came up from New York to give a book reading. It was at an Irish pub (of course), downtown, to publicize, “The Fighter Still Remains,” an anthology of boxing writing he edited with John Schulian. Except George couldn’t do the reading. He could answer questions, and did, but the cancer made prolonged speech impossible, and even George knew it.

Instead of a live reading, the audience was treated to a recorded reading. The folk musician, Tom Paxton, read a Jimmy Cannon column on Archie Moore. A celebrated American musician gave voice to a great American sportswriter who had given his voice to the life and skills of a great American boxer. Our culture did itself proud in those five or six minutes.

George died Wednesday night at age 67, and of all the time we shared over more than 30 years, that reading is the most vivid illustration of his life and sportswriting I can share here. He loved sports — boxing most of all — he loved fine prose, occasionally even his own, and he was going to make the most of those loves come what may.

George was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, about four months after he retired from the Herald. From then until now, he had five books published as an author and editor. Two of them were collections of columns, one from The Irish Times, the other taken from his post-2005 work for a variety of boxing Web sites unknown outside the boxing world itself. And George continued to write pieces on boxing and golf for the Herald as well.

In other words, after retirement, and after being diagnosed with an evil illness, George didn’t do less work, he took on more than he might have before he retired. George didn’t “fight” cancer, as is the meaningless cliche. He did something better. He ignored it. George had something to say about boxing, and was going to keep on saying it.

The voice of Tom Paxton at the reading symbolizes the other notable aspect of George Kimball’s career — the large number and extraordinary nature of the social circles it contained. Angry Young Man to Grand Old Man is the most-worn career path in American letters, but a career arc of ’60s Radical Poet and Activist to Dean of Boxing Writers must be its most singular variation.

There was one other professional love of George’s life: You’re looking at it. The Herald meant more to him than he ever let on, especially to his employers and superiors. George was a columnist here from 1980 to 2005, a quarter of a century. Here is where he made the transition from Angry Young to Grand Old. Here is where he got to have the most fun there is, being a big-city tabloid sports columnist. Here is where he found professional true love No. 2: boxing writing.

He expressed his gratitude by trying to make reading as enjoyable as he found writing. A series of shared misadventures — too long for newspaper space allows me to state — illustrates that one of George’s dominant personality traits was a love of mischief. That’s a very good attribute for sportswriters, and a better one for their readers.

Those shared misadventures and all the other experiences I shared with George were my cherished privilege. And I do not leave out this one: The night in Dublin when we drove down a one-way street the wrong way that just happened to be in front of the Dail (their Congress) building, with some guy I’d never seen before in the back seat who really wanted to avoid contact with the police because of his considerable contact with the IRA. We got out of that scrape when George put on a display of confused American tourist jabber that Chevy Chase must’ve stolen for “European Vacation.”

But in a fundamental way, I think his readers, all of them, knew him just as well, if not better. They knew the ferocious regard for facts. They were shown the vivid people and ugly, addictive drama that make up boxing and why George loved it. They were treated to George’s conviction that sports was a fit topic for an old-fashioned man of letters. They were lucky, just as I was.

George Kimball is survived by his wife, Marge Marash, his children, Darcy and Teddy, his mother, brothers, sisters and a vast number of friends. He is also survived by the sport of boxing and the idea that sportswriting and literature can be peers.

The two most fitting tributes to his memory would be this: Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather would get off the dime and fight each other and millions and millions of people would read all about it. Then those millions would keep on reading about sports, each and every day.

Rios is a 2-fisted transformer

Unbeaten Oxnard fighter goes from a jail cell to a world championship in just two years.

By Robert Morales, Staff Writer
SGVT
07/07/2011

Brandon Rios stood outside Fortune Boxing Gym on Tuesday. He appeared relaxed and loose, the picture of contentment.

And why not? He went from wearing jail jumpsuits in Kansas just two years ago to a lightweight world championship belt in February, courtesy of his 10th-round stoppage of Miguel Acosta of Venezuela at The Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

Oxnard's Rios, who Saturday will make his first defense against Urbano Antillon (28-2, 20 KOs) of Maywood at Home Depot Center (on Showtime), told this newspaper ahead of the Acosta fight that meeting and marrying his wife went a long way in turning around his life, which had been filled with too many short stints in jail.

Rios reiterated that Tuesday. But that wasn't his first thought in the moments following his stoppage of Acosta.

"I was happy because I made my dad's dream come true," said Rios, who decked Acosta three times. "Ever since I was a little kid, I always told my dad (Manuel) I was going to become a world champion. I told my dad all the time. Everybody didn't believe me, but my dad. My dad was the only one that believed me.

"When I became world champion, when I knocked out Acosta, that's what mostly got me."

Rios isn't the only one feeling proud as a peacock about his metamorphosis. His Hall of Fame promoter, Bob Arum, is equally stoked that Rios has gone from the outhouse to the penthouse.

"We tend to forget how young these guys are and a lot of
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it has to do with maturity," said Arum, who was wearing dressy shorts inside of the oven that is most boxing gyms. "When they're young kids and they're very hyper, usually, sometimes they're uncontrollable.

"Once they get older, the smarter ones, the fortunate ones, develop maturity and they realize that they can't conduct their lives in that irresponsible way. ... So while he's as ferocious as he ever was in the ring, he's a lot more grounded now than he was before."

Street fights were what got Rios in the most trouble. One resulted in a two-month stint in the slammer. His trainer, Robert Garcia, had difficulty keeping Rios in Oxnard, where Rios had moved from Kansas to train with Garcia. But when things got to a point where Garcia wasn't sure if they would turn around, he and Rios' manager Cameron Dunkin stepped in.

"We brought him in and took over his career," Garcia said. "And I told myself and Cameron Dunkin, `Let's keep giving him a chance, let's keep going, because he's got a great heart and tremendous talent.' We didn't give up and now we're in good position."

To Rios, the victory over a champion like Acosta was the ultimate climax completing his turn-around.

"In the Miguel Acosta fight, I think I showed the world that I have a lot of heart and that I love boxing a lot and that I love the business," said Rios, 25. "After the first couple of rounds, the way Acosta was doing his job, I kept to my game plan and I overcame it and I knocked him out.

"I think I impressed a lot of people."

As Garcia said, Rios is now in good position. At 27-0-1 and 20 knockouts, he is an outstanding fighter who has the opportunity to make an indelible mark on boxing.

"There are just so many things out there that Bob Arum could do (for Rios)," Garcia said. "I've talked to Cameron Dunkin and there are just so many things. Especially in his weight division, then moving up to 140 in the future, there are so many fights out there that are possible and that I know Bob Arum can make happen.

"Brandon knows how important this is. He knows the importance of winning this fight and what can come after that."

Rios could cash in quite nicely. But Arum cautioned that because of the way Rios fights - toe-to-toe - his window may not be open as long as others.

"He's always going to be in a tough fight, which means that his career will be shorter rather than longer because there's a limit to what you can keep absorbing," Arum said. "I believe that he can earn a lot of money, which is the name of the game."

He won't have to use any of it for bail, either.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

BOXING UPDATE MAGAZINE JUNE 1996: DEATH OF A BOXING SCOUNDREL

BOXING UPDATE MAGAZINE JUNE 1996: DEATH OF A BOXING SCOUNDREL


-Frank Blinky Palermo died a month ago at 91 but it was 50-60 years too late for boxing. The convicted extortionist who, along with Frankie Carbo and three other less lights, went to Federal prison in the mid 50s, passed away in Philadelphia, his long time fief. Hardly anybody realized he was still living let alone dying and the list of mourners was blank. Those who found out later did not shed a tear.

Plain and simple, Palermo was an undercover fight manager, a fight fixer and gangland figure who got rich directing the careers of such as Ike Williams, Johnny Saxton, Coley Wallace, Virgil Akins, Billy Fox, Clarence Henry, Dan Bucceroni, in between operating the biggest numbers (illegal lottery) game in Philadelphia. With Carbo (allegedly the brains of the fight fixing practice) Blinkys stable of fighters would win or lose on command and the payoffs in betting were astronomical. And of course, there was the almost always mandatory rematch fight with surprising results. Blinkys biggest heist was the importation of his undefeated middleweight Blackjack Billy Fox from Philly into Madison Square Garden and subsequent knockout of Jake LaMotta in 1947.

LaMotta was popularly known as “king of the middleweights and was a heavy early betting favorite. But shortly before the bell the air of a fix was in the air and the bookmakers refused to take any more bets. In the ring, Jake permitted himself to absorb countless punches from Fox without any retaliation. The referee stopped the bout with the customers convinced they had witnessed a fraud.

Years later, in front of a Congressional hearing into the evils of boxing, LaMotta admitted he took a dive. In the same hearing, former great lightweight champion Williams testified that Palermo had given him a short count on the purses and the fighter was barely getting existing on welfare checks.

While the Fox fight may have been Blinkys biggest coup, his failed attempt as one of five extortionists in 1959 to steal away welterweight champion Don Jordan from his legal manager in Los Angeles was his biggest mistake. Truman Gibson Jr., a vice president and lawyer for the reigning International Boxing Club monopoly, and two Los Angeles strong-arm guys Joe Di Sica and Louis Dragna were in on the plot together with Palermo and Carbo.

The FBI handled the case which involved beating of witnesses. All five were indicted, convicted, and sentenced to Federal prison. Blinky did seven and a half years and Carbo 15 years of a 25-year sentence, dying in jail. Their power had run out, but too many years too late.