The Sad Tale of Two Dannys

                                                  By kiki

In the late 1960s and into the early ‘70s I trained two amateur fighters, both named Danny. Out of respect for their families I will omit their last names. One Danny was called “Black Danny” by his friends because he was very dark skinned, the other Danny was called “Big Danny” because he was a big guy, a heavyweight.

The two Danny’s who came from a gang infested area, known as Bassett, which is in the San Gabriel Valley, ran together with the same friends, but were very different guys, Black Danny was a shy and easy going guy, whereas Big Danny was loud and a bully.

                                                           

                                                Black Danny

I started training Black Danny in early 1968, and fought him at amateur shows around the southland. Danny was a hard worker in the gym and it paid off for him when he won the 1969 novice 139 pound Los Angeles Golden Gloves title. After winning the Golden Gloves he told me that he was going take about six months off from boxing. He said that after he came back he would like to turn pro. In the proceeding weeks and months I ran into Danny around town a few times, he always looked in great shape, like he was ready to fight. I would always tell him not to wait too long in getting back to the gym “don’t want to lose too must of that fighting edge” I would tell him…One night I got a phone call from Danny’s dad “Danny is dead” he told me. In between sobs he told me that since Danny had stopped boxing he had gotten heavy into the gang life. He said he tried to stop him; but how do you stop a seventeen year old from doing what he wants to do, he asked. I knew the man to be a good father, I also knew it was not his fault and I told him so, but in losing a son I don’t know that meant much…I waited till the after the services to asked about the details as to how Danny died, his dad told me that Danny was sitting in a car on Whittier Blvd in East Los Angeles when a guy approached the car and through the window shot Danny in the chest….Danny was a great kid that I believe was a victim of circumstances, in that he lived among the gangs…Danny’s boxing record was 18-1….R.I.P

                                                    

                                                  Big Danny

Big Danny was the complete opposite of Black Danny. Big Danny was a big guy who didn’t hesitate to push his weight around with the smaller guys. I started training Big Danny in 1969. I would take him to the local gyms to get some sparring, but not many wanted to spar with him because if they kicked his ass in the ring he wanted to continue the sparring in the parking lot. One Friday afternoon around 1970 or so I drove Big Danny and other boys to the Chino Boxing gym in Chino, Calif. The boys all sparred and did real good, Danny held his own with his sparring partner and he was a happy guy, I was happy too that there was no need to go into the parking lot. The next day as I was reading the newspaper I saw a mug shot of a guy that looked like Big Danny. I read the story and sure enough it was Big Danny’s mug shot. The story said that Big Danny had been at a seedy hotel in downtown Los Angeles where a guy had gotten shot by the cops at the same time we were in Chino the previous day. What happened was that the cops were looking for Danny, for what? I never found out. ..In looking for Danny the cops broke in the door of a second story room at the seedy hotel, the room was full of illegal immigrants who thinking it was la migra (immigration) jumped out the windows, besides the guy that got shot by a trigger happy cop some other guys suffered broken bones. Somehow the FBI got involved, they came to my house and interviewed me, asked me if I was sure Danny was with me on that day; on that hour, I told them that, yes, Danny was with me on that given time, they seem satisfied and I never heard from them again. I found out later that the FBI were investigating the LAPD for violating the illegals civil rights. Danny never went back to the gym, and I lost touch with him. About a year or two later I heard that he had been shot and killed by somebody that got tired of been pushed around by him…Big Danny never did have any fights in the ring, too bad about his life choices because he had boxing talent….R.I.P.