West Coast Boxers of Times Gone By: Tony and His Hair

Tony and friend

Green Bay-De Pere Wis,

1976

In Tony Baltazar’s first fight in the 1976 AAU Junior Olympic National Tournament he came close to been disqualified because of his hair. All our boys have lots of hair and in the 1970s they wore their long hair, which was the style back then.

Before we left for Green Bay-De Pere, Wis., I tried to get Tony to cut his hair, but to no avail, as he told me “don’t even think about it, Pops”

We flew into Green Bay and were met at the airport by Penny, a fella I had known for about ten years. He told us “follow me” we did as he walked us to a school bus where a driver was waiting. We were driven to St. Norbert College, where we were to be housed during the week we were going to be there. St. Norbert is a private Roman Catholic liberal art college in the Green Bay suburb of De Pere. The fights were also to be held at the college.

The day after arriving was spend with the boys weighting-in, checking out the possible opponents, etc. Tony was fighting in the 125 pound class even though he was weighing 121 pounds and could’ve fought in the 119 class. But I figure that by putting him in the 125 class we didn’t have to worry about him making weight.

After checking out and learning as much as we could about the boys in the 125 pound class it was pretty clear who the betting favorite was, yes, there was some betting going on from the get go, it was a boy (don’t remember his name) who represented The Henry Armstrong Boys and Girls Club out of St Louis, Mo.

Boxing got started on the third day we were there. Tony’s first opponent was a kid from Oregon. In the first round, which Tony was winning, the referee called time to get Tony’s hair, which was coming out from under his head gear, away from his eyes. In the second round Tony hit the kid with a left hook and the kid went down, right after they resumed fighting the referee called time and did the hair thing with Tony again. In the rest period between the second and third round the referee came to our corner and told me that if he had to do the hair thing again in the third round he was going disqualify Tony. Out came my scissors and I chopped Tony’s hair that was sticking out from under the head gear, Tony couldn’t believe what I had just done!! Tony went on to win a unanimous decision.

Tony was really pissed at me, but he cooled down once I was able to convince him that hair grows back. In his second fight of the tourney Tony fought a kid from Michigan. Dropping the kid down twice, he again won by unanimous decision.

Tony’s next opponent in the semi-final was the one I had being dreading, the favorite to win the whole enchilada in the 125 pound class, the kid from the Henry Armstrong Boys and Girls Club.

After all the formality the bell rang for the first round, about thirty second into the round Tony nailed the favorite with a left hook and the kid eyes went blank but, he didn’t go down, the referee jumped in and gave him a standing eight count, told to resume fighting Tony walked up to the kid who had his hands down and nailed him again with that hook of his, again the referee jumped in, at this point I thought the referee was going to stop the fight as the kid was literally out on his feet, but the referee thought otherwise as he motion Tony back into action after giving the kid another standing eight count, again Tony nailed the kid who still had his hands down with that monster hook of his. That was enough for his corner as they jumped in the ring and stopped the fight, damn the referee! To his credit the favorite never went down!

Tony was now in the championship bout, his opponent was from Arkansas, a kid whom last name was Fuller. Tony dropped Fuller down once in the second round and won a unanimous decision. Tony was now the 1976 AAU National Junior Olympic 125 pound class Champion. But it was not to end there, as he was chosen the outstanding fighter of the first four weight classes in the tournament. All in all it was a great trip for us.