Jesus Pimentel & Frank Baltazar

"Little Poison" . . .

By Rick Farris

Two of my all-time favorite West Coast Hall of Famer's, Frank & Jesus Pimentel.

Jesus Pimentel was an early favorite of mine, one of the grestest punchers ever at 118 pounds. I always thought he should have been a world champ, yet due to his management, he didn't actually step into the ring to fight for a title until his last pro fight. He was way past prime when he challenged one of the greatest champs ever in Ruben Olivares, in December 1971.

A few years earlier, the title was there for him to take in a 1968 title fight against a weak Fighting Harada. The Japanese world bantam champ was having difficulty making weight for the scheduled defense against Pimentel in Tokyo. His wise manager Harry Kabakoff tries pulling a fast one on the Japanses promoter and says they will not fight unless Pimentel gets a greater percentage. Three days before the fight he pulls Jesus out of the fight, just as they did a few years earlier when Pimentel was scheduled to fight Eder Jofre. The promoter refused to bend to Harry's demands and found Lionel Rose to fill in. The light hitting Rose floored Harada and took the title, just as Pimentel likely would have.

Regardless, over the years I loved watching Little Poison in action. The first time I saw him fight live was in 1966, at the Olympic, when he flattened Canadian champ Jackie Burke in four rounds. A few years later we'd box together in the gym. When he and Olivares tangled, I knew that Jesus would have little chance of winning, but I knew there was a great chance for a KO (Just looking at the more than 120 KO's between the two men). Sure enough, Olivares stopped Jessie, and Pimentel wisely called it a career.

Here's how George Parnassus handled Harry Kabakoff prior to the Olivares-Pimentel title bout. Knowing the Harry might try to renegotiate, George brought in another challeneger, Rafael Herrera, as a stnd-by opponent for Olivares should Pimentel pull out. Harry stayed quiet and Herrera would fight Olivares later, taking the title from "Rock-a-bye Ruben".