A Las Vegas newspaper says the boxer will plead guilty to misdemeanor counts in an incident involving a girlfriend.
By Lance Pugmire
December 20, 2011
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. will reportedly accept a plea bargain to avoid a felony conviction in connection with a domestic violence case involving the mother of three of his children, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday.
Calls to Mayweather and his representatives were not returned.
Clark County (Nev.) District Attorney David Roger told the newspaper that Mayweather on Wednesday will plead guilty to one count of battery domestic violence and two counts of harassment, all misdemeanors. Mayweather is subject to $3,000 in fines and a jail sentence ranging from two days to 18 months, the newspaper reported.
Mayweather, 34, originally faced felony charges for his alleged attack against girlfriend Josie Harris and his treatment of the children after reportedly learning Harris was dating another man in September 2010.
The conclusion of Mayweather's criminal case helps promoters move forward with plans to stage a super-fight next year between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, told The Times that Mayweather's legal case has created uncertainty because of a possible trial date and how much jail time he could serve if convicted. Arum still cautioned, "I have no idea what's going to happen. We'll see tomorrow. So let's wait until tomorrow."
Arum said a likely date for the mega-fight between the sport's top two fighters would be in June. Arum said he's pursuing the idea of building a 45,000-seat venue on the Las Vegas Strip near the Wynn and Venetian properties. Arum said the additional time will assist the construction plan, even though Mayweather's advisor previously said he's cleared May 5 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas for a fight date against Pacquiao.
"That's Cinco de Mayo and too early," said Arum of the May 5 date; he added that fight talks won't take place during the holiday break.
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Words don't hurt Antonio Margarito
Margarito, who was suspended for having plaster in his hand wraps, has a rematch with Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
By Lance Pugmire
November 30, 2011
Reporting from New York — At this point, Antonio Margarito realizes he's not going to change anyone's opinion about whether he knew there was plaster inside his hand wraps before a title fight in 2009 — which led to him being suspended from boxing.
If fans wants to think of him as a "criminal," as his Saturday-night opponent Miguel Cotto does, then so be it.
"Here comes a criminal, open the doors for the criminal," Margarito said Wednesday, his first words upon being introduced at a Madison Square Garden news conference for his junior-middleweight title bout against Cotto. "They say I'm not a gentleman, not a great person. I don't know why they say that."
Those closest to the "Tijuana Tornado" say Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) doesn't care much about what others think.
The controversy dates to January 2009, when the California State Athletic Commission removed plaster-caked inserts from inside Margarito's hand wraps before his welterweight title defense against Shane Mosley at Staples Center. Margarito denied knowing his gloves were loaded, but his license was revoked for a year.
Some in the boxing community also wondered if Margarito had used loaded gloves five months earlier when he knocked out then-unbeaten champion Cotto in their July 2008 bout.
Certainly, Margarito is likely to be booed unmercifully Saturday at Madison Square Garden by supporters by of the popular Puerto Rican star Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs), who is defending his WBA junior-middleweight title.
"It's been going on for more than two years now," said Robert Garcia, Margarito's trainer. "If anything, those people saying negative things about him motivates him to do better."
Margarito's promoter Bob Arum said his Mexican fighter's tough attitude defines his come-forward fighting style. However, that style didn't serve Margarito well in losses to Mosley or to Manny Pacquiao in November 2010.
But it convinced Arum to invest what he said was more than $1 million to fight legal challenges for Margarito to regain his boxing license. Arum also paid for Margarito's cataract surgery in May after Pacquiao broke an orbital bone.
Margarito, 33, said he is healthy and expects to beat Cotto, 31, again. Margarito says a win in their rematch will prove that his 11th-round knockout of Cotto in 2008 wasn't spoiled by loaded gloves.
"He'll feel my power," Margarito said. "I fight clean. Cotto will see that. I'll impose my strength on him."
Margarito also said that Cotto's lack of interest in moving their bout to a different state if Margarito couldn't get a license in New York showed "he's just a big baby."
"He feels an advantage here [in New York]. He needs that security. I don't understand that. It makes me believe, 'Does he really want this fight?' " Margarito said.
When told Cotto will try to exploit Margarito's weakened eye, the challenger said, "There's a lot of anger. A lot of hatred. Someone will be hurt in this fight."
Things were so testy at the news conference that Arum stood between Cotto and Margarito as they posed for typical face-off pictures.
"He can hit at my eye as much as he wants, he hits like a little girl," Margarito said.
Cotto answered, "Say that in the ring."
Then Cotto defended his use of the word "criminal" in describing Margarito: "You can look it up in the dictionary. It's someone who uses a weapon. You're an embarrassment to boxing."
Like Arum said last week when New York gave Margarito a boxing license: "We have a fight!"
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
By Lance Pugmire
November 30, 2011
Reporting from New York — At this point, Antonio Margarito realizes he's not going to change anyone's opinion about whether he knew there was plaster inside his hand wraps before a title fight in 2009 — which led to him being suspended from boxing.
If fans wants to think of him as a "criminal," as his Saturday-night opponent Miguel Cotto does, then so be it.
"Here comes a criminal, open the doors for the criminal," Margarito said Wednesday, his first words upon being introduced at a Madison Square Garden news conference for his junior-middleweight title bout against Cotto. "They say I'm not a gentleman, not a great person. I don't know why they say that."
Those closest to the "Tijuana Tornado" say Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) doesn't care much about what others think.
The controversy dates to January 2009, when the California State Athletic Commission removed plaster-caked inserts from inside Margarito's hand wraps before his welterweight title defense against Shane Mosley at Staples Center. Margarito denied knowing his gloves were loaded, but his license was revoked for a year.
Some in the boxing community also wondered if Margarito had used loaded gloves five months earlier when he knocked out then-unbeaten champion Cotto in their July 2008 bout.
Certainly, Margarito is likely to be booed unmercifully Saturday at Madison Square Garden by supporters by of the popular Puerto Rican star Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs), who is defending his WBA junior-middleweight title.
"It's been going on for more than two years now," said Robert Garcia, Margarito's trainer. "If anything, those people saying negative things about him motivates him to do better."
Margarito's promoter Bob Arum said his Mexican fighter's tough attitude defines his come-forward fighting style. However, that style didn't serve Margarito well in losses to Mosley or to Manny Pacquiao in November 2010.
But it convinced Arum to invest what he said was more than $1 million to fight legal challenges for Margarito to regain his boxing license. Arum also paid for Margarito's cataract surgery in May after Pacquiao broke an orbital bone.
Margarito, 33, said he is healthy and expects to beat Cotto, 31, again. Margarito says a win in their rematch will prove that his 11th-round knockout of Cotto in 2008 wasn't spoiled by loaded gloves.
"He'll feel my power," Margarito said. "I fight clean. Cotto will see that. I'll impose my strength on him."
Margarito also said that Cotto's lack of interest in moving their bout to a different state if Margarito couldn't get a license in New York showed "he's just a big baby."
"He feels an advantage here [in New York]. He needs that security. I don't understand that. It makes me believe, 'Does he really want this fight?' " Margarito said.
When told Cotto will try to exploit Margarito's weakened eye, the challenger said, "There's a lot of anger. A lot of hatred. Someone will be hurt in this fight."
Things were so testy at the news conference that Arum stood between Cotto and Margarito as they posed for typical face-off pictures.
"He can hit at my eye as much as he wants, he hits like a little girl," Margarito said.
Cotto answered, "Say that in the ring."
Then Cotto defended his use of the word "criminal" in describing Margarito: "You can look it up in the dictionary. It's someone who uses a weapon. You're an embarrassment to boxing."
Like Arum said last week when New York gave Margarito a boxing license: "We have a fight!"
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Joey Barnum
Manager and ex-fighter, Joey Barnum came out of retirement, circa 1949 to beat his fighter, Mario Trigo after they argued in the gym.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Junior Golden Gloves Finals 1964
I had Romulo Ventura fighting Andy “The Hawk” Price in the finals of the 1964 Junior golden Gloves at the Valley Garden Arena. Both were 12 years old. Andy got in the ring first, we made our way to the ring, Romulo started his climb up the stairs, he puts one leg over the bottom rope and he saw Andy shadow boxing and looking like a miniature Sugar Ray Robinson, Romluo turned around and looked me in the eye and said to me: “I don't feel like fighting tonight after all”.
I gave Romulo a shove into the ring and told him: “he looks pretty, but can he fight?” Romulo fought that night and gave Andy a good scrap losing by decision.
I gave Romulo a shove into the ring and told him: “he looks pretty, but can he fight?” Romulo fought that night and gave Andy a good scrap losing by decision.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Alvarez breaks fellow champion's jaw
The Boxing Tribune
Paul Magno
Oct 26, 2011
Tuesday in Guadalajara, Mexico, WBC junior middleweight champ Saul Alvarez and 108-pound titlist Ulises Solis were involved in an altercation that left the smaller fighter with a broken jaw and a cracked tooth.
According to Solis, the incident began while both fighters were doing their road work and Alvarez confronted him.
“I ran into Alvarez after training and I moved to the side to let him pass,” Solis told El Universal newspaper, “but he ran into me. He asked me, ‘Why are you messing with my woman?’ I told him that I don’t even know her and all of a sudden he hit me with a left and right cross that fractured my jaw. I fell back and he hit me with two more punches — to the temple and the chest.”
Solis’ brother ran to help and took the fighter to the hospital for evaluation and then to the local authorities to file a complaint.
The fighter is set to undergo surgery shortly and will miss his scheduled title defense in December.
Alvarez, in a statement made to the media shortly after the incident, denied being the aggressor and indicated that it was actually his brother who had attacked the junior flyweight star.
Paul Magno
Oct 26, 2011
Tuesday in Guadalajara, Mexico, WBC junior middleweight champ Saul Alvarez and 108-pound titlist Ulises Solis were involved in an altercation that left the smaller fighter with a broken jaw and a cracked tooth.
According to Solis, the incident began while both fighters were doing their road work and Alvarez confronted him.
“I ran into Alvarez after training and I moved to the side to let him pass,” Solis told El Universal newspaper, “but he ran into me. He asked me, ‘Why are you messing with my woman?’ I told him that I don’t even know her and all of a sudden he hit me with a left and right cross that fractured my jaw. I fell back and he hit me with two more punches — to the temple and the chest.”
Solis’ brother ran to help and took the fighter to the hospital for evaluation and then to the local authorities to file a complaint.
The fighter is set to undergo surgery shortly and will miss his scheduled title defense in December.
Alvarez, in a statement made to the media shortly after the incident, denied being the aggressor and indicated that it was actually his brother who had attacked the junior flyweight star.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Manny Pacquiao training harder than usual
Pacquiao doesn't want his third fight against Juan Manuel Marquez left in the hands of the judges.
Manny Pacquiao
By Lance Pugmire
October 18, 2011
The man who has watched boxers prepare for fights since the 1960s approached the trainer of the sport's current king and expressed some cautionary words.
"Slow him down, Freddie," veteran fight promoter Bob Arum said near the sweat-soaked ring in Hollywood.
It's there where Manny Pacquiao has returned to train under Freddie Roach for the final four weeks before his third fight against bitter rival Juan Manuel Marquez on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas.
"Slow him down," Arum repeated.
Almost from the moment the fight was announced, there have been concerns about properly pacing Pacquiao, who didn't even wait for the introductory news conference in the Philippines to start running.
Pacquiao, 32, is telling those close to him he doesn't want this fight in the hands of the judges after his prior battles with Marquez resulted in a 2004 draw and a 2008 Pacquiao victory by split-decision. The decisive score was a one-point margin.
He wants the knockout, and Roach says, "That's what we're training him for."
But there's danger in peaking too early, of working so hard in the first month-plus of training that the body inevitably fatigues in the final weeks before a fight.
"We're way ahead of where we usually are, like 75-80% of where we should be by fight night," Roach said. "We're usually around 50% right now. I have to make sure we don't overdo it."
Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 knockouts) grinned his way through being questioned about his fervent effort to get ready for the 38-year-old Marquez.
"I'm focusing on my strength and speed," Pacquiao said. "They're watching my body, so I don't become too big. I control my training, step by step, until the time comes to fight. I want to be gradual in my training."
Pacquiao's words aren't matching his actions, conditioning coach Alex Ariza says. Pacquiao and Ariza had an occasionally animated conversation in the ring last week. Ariza said he convinced Pacquiao that drills to build up strength in the feet and legs are more important at this juncture than upper-body strength training.
"He wants to be as big as he was against Miguel Cotto," Ariza said of Pacquiao's last knockout two years ago — which has been followed by three consecutive unanimous decisions versus larger opponents. "But Cotto was the equivalent of a linebacker, and Marquez is a free safety.
"I think he just wants to kill Marquez."
Pacquiao has never forgiven Marquez (53-5-1, 39 KOs) for not only complaining incessantly after the 2008 loss, but traveling to the Philippines to wear T-shirts saying he was robbed of victory and pleading for a third fight.
"This fight," Pacquiao said, "will be the answer to all those doubts."
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Manny Pacquiao
By Lance Pugmire
October 18, 2011
The man who has watched boxers prepare for fights since the 1960s approached the trainer of the sport's current king and expressed some cautionary words.
"Slow him down, Freddie," veteran fight promoter Bob Arum said near the sweat-soaked ring in Hollywood.
It's there where Manny Pacquiao has returned to train under Freddie Roach for the final four weeks before his third fight against bitter rival Juan Manuel Marquez on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas.
"Slow him down," Arum repeated.
Almost from the moment the fight was announced, there have been concerns about properly pacing Pacquiao, who didn't even wait for the introductory news conference in the Philippines to start running.
Pacquiao, 32, is telling those close to him he doesn't want this fight in the hands of the judges after his prior battles with Marquez resulted in a 2004 draw and a 2008 Pacquiao victory by split-decision. The decisive score was a one-point margin.
He wants the knockout, and Roach says, "That's what we're training him for."
But there's danger in peaking too early, of working so hard in the first month-plus of training that the body inevitably fatigues in the final weeks before a fight.
"We're way ahead of where we usually are, like 75-80% of where we should be by fight night," Roach said. "We're usually around 50% right now. I have to make sure we don't overdo it."
Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 knockouts) grinned his way through being questioned about his fervent effort to get ready for the 38-year-old Marquez.
"I'm focusing on my strength and speed," Pacquiao said. "They're watching my body, so I don't become too big. I control my training, step by step, until the time comes to fight. I want to be gradual in my training."
Pacquiao's words aren't matching his actions, conditioning coach Alex Ariza says. Pacquiao and Ariza had an occasionally animated conversation in the ring last week. Ariza said he convinced Pacquiao that drills to build up strength in the feet and legs are more important at this juncture than upper-body strength training.
"He wants to be as big as he was against Miguel Cotto," Ariza said of Pacquiao's last knockout two years ago — which has been followed by three consecutive unanimous decisions versus larger opponents. "But Cotto was the equivalent of a linebacker, and Marquez is a free safety.
"I think he just wants to kill Marquez."
Pacquiao has never forgiven Marquez (53-5-1, 39 KOs) for not only complaining incessantly after the 2008 loss, but traveling to the Philippines to wear T-shirts saying he was robbed of victory and pleading for a third fight.
"This fight," Pacquiao said, "will be the answer to all those doubts."
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Monday, October 17, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Tim Bradley is closer to Manny Pacquiao with move to Top Rank
The 28-year-old boxer signed with Bob Arum's promotions company and could be in line eventually to face Pacquiao. Bradley is on the undercard for Pacquiao's Nov. 12 bout in Las Vegas.
By Bill Dwyre
October 10, 2011.
Think of boxing's quest for fame and fortune as a game of musical chairs. Recently, the song stopped and Tim Bradley quickly sat down.
The 28-year-old fire hydrant, a 140-pounder from Palm Springs with lightning-quick hands and feet, signed with Top Rank Promotions. That's Bob Arum's company, and 46 years after he quit being a Harvard lawyer and found Muhammad Ali, Arum's is still the logo you want on your boxing gloves.
Bradley had been with Gary Shaw's promotions, but when his contract ran out this summer, Bradley ran out too. Right to Arum.
And once that happened, the never-ending game of Who's Got Next increased in intrigue.
Boxing these days is like a Depression food line. Everybody queues up, waiting for Manny Pacquiao to hand out the bread. A fight with Pacquiao is an instant retirement plan, usually both financially and physically. Get in the ring with him, last as many rounds as you can without being totally embarrassed, then climb into the Brink's truck and ride away while they stitch up your eyes, nose and mouth and ask whether you remember your wife's name.
To a man, any fighter weighing anything close to Pacquiao's favored 147 pounds, and having shown indications that he can limit his bleeding to less than a pint and return punches long enough to justify $3,000 ringside seats, wants into the lineup. They all say the same thing. They want to fight the best, which Pacquiao is. But what they really mean is: "Show Me the Money."
Arum is nothing if not clever, even devious.
He says he has not promised Bradley a Pacquiao fight, nor even mentioned his name to Pacquiao. That's probably true.
But he quickly made Bradley the semi-main event for Pacquiao's Nov. 12 fight at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas against Juan Manuel Marquez, who has proved, indeed, in his two previous fights with Pacquiao that he can last awhile and bleed a lot. On the undercard, Bradley will fight Joel Casamayor, the Cuban who defected to the United States just before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and has had a nice capitalistic career ever since. His record is 38-5-1, and he has fought only three times since his biggest payday, a knockout at the hands of Marquez on Sept. 13, 2008.
The two pertinent things about Casamayor, relative to this fight, are that he is 40 and left-handed. Pacquiao is left-handed. Fill in the blanks.
Bradley gives Arum another option, as he masterfully delivers a couple of $20-million paydays each year to Pacquiao, who then fits them in between his duties as a congressman in the Philippines. For Pacquiao, the boxing world wants Floyd Mayweather Jr. Sadly, so do several judges in Las Vegas, where Floyd is accused of sucker-punching more than just Victor Ortiz.
"Floyd may have the biggest fight of his life ahead," says Arum, referring to several assault charges Mayweather faces. He says it with the look of a concerned parent. The proper reaction is to suppress a giggle.
If Pacquiao fights Mayweather, it will come to pass because there is so much money at stake that it can't be rejected. But if Arum goes to his grave never having put on the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, he will certainly rest in peace. He once promoted Mayweather, through much of his early success. But that didn't end well and now Arum speaks in amazement at what has become of his former client.
"First of all, he is a terrific fighter," Arum says. "At one point, he appeared to be a good guy. But then, his people [handlers after he left Arum] got this idea to make him into a villain. They thought they could attract an audience that comes to see him get beat. Let me tell you. It's tough to promote a villain."
Bradley is the countervillain. He is well-spoken, friendly, accommodating and unbeaten in 27 fights.
Arum says, "Our goal is to make Tim Bradley one of the major stars in boxing. We know he is one of the best fighters, but that doesn't make him a star."
Todd DuBoeff, Arum's stepson and the president of Top Rank, says of Bradley, "He has marketability and ability." In a recent media gathering, Bradley spoke for about 10 minutes and DuBoeff said later that he "lights up the room." Which he did.
So, with Bradley, the line to Pacquiao just got longer.
Mayweather is the obvious first choice, but Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito might like another shot, despite the beatings they took by Pacquiao. Circumstances could give the shot to Amir Khan, Andre Berto or Marcos Maidana. Erik Morales could find his way back to Pacquiao, though the public probably wouldn't buy that. Saul Alvarez is Golden Boy's hot fighter right now, but he'd have to lose lots of weight, as would impressive middleweight Sergio Martinez, who says he could and would get down to 154 or lower, to fight Pacquiao.
The permutations are endless. The line snakes around the block. Arum loves it.
By Bill Dwyre
October 10, 2011.
Think of boxing's quest for fame and fortune as a game of musical chairs. Recently, the song stopped and Tim Bradley quickly sat down.
The 28-year-old fire hydrant, a 140-pounder from Palm Springs with lightning-quick hands and feet, signed with Top Rank Promotions. That's Bob Arum's company, and 46 years after he quit being a Harvard lawyer and found Muhammad Ali, Arum's is still the logo you want on your boxing gloves.
Bradley had been with Gary Shaw's promotions, but when his contract ran out this summer, Bradley ran out too. Right to Arum.
And once that happened, the never-ending game of Who's Got Next increased in intrigue.
Boxing these days is like a Depression food line. Everybody queues up, waiting for Manny Pacquiao to hand out the bread. A fight with Pacquiao is an instant retirement plan, usually both financially and physically. Get in the ring with him, last as many rounds as you can without being totally embarrassed, then climb into the Brink's truck and ride away while they stitch up your eyes, nose and mouth and ask whether you remember your wife's name.
To a man, any fighter weighing anything close to Pacquiao's favored 147 pounds, and having shown indications that he can limit his bleeding to less than a pint and return punches long enough to justify $3,000 ringside seats, wants into the lineup. They all say the same thing. They want to fight the best, which Pacquiao is. But what they really mean is: "Show Me the Money."
Arum is nothing if not clever, even devious.
He says he has not promised Bradley a Pacquiao fight, nor even mentioned his name to Pacquiao. That's probably true.
But he quickly made Bradley the semi-main event for Pacquiao's Nov. 12 fight at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas against Juan Manuel Marquez, who has proved, indeed, in his two previous fights with Pacquiao that he can last awhile and bleed a lot. On the undercard, Bradley will fight Joel Casamayor, the Cuban who defected to the United States just before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and has had a nice capitalistic career ever since. His record is 38-5-1, and he has fought only three times since his biggest payday, a knockout at the hands of Marquez on Sept. 13, 2008.
The two pertinent things about Casamayor, relative to this fight, are that he is 40 and left-handed. Pacquiao is left-handed. Fill in the blanks.
Bradley gives Arum another option, as he masterfully delivers a couple of $20-million paydays each year to Pacquiao, who then fits them in between his duties as a congressman in the Philippines. For Pacquiao, the boxing world wants Floyd Mayweather Jr. Sadly, so do several judges in Las Vegas, where Floyd is accused of sucker-punching more than just Victor Ortiz.
"Floyd may have the biggest fight of his life ahead," says Arum, referring to several assault charges Mayweather faces. He says it with the look of a concerned parent. The proper reaction is to suppress a giggle.
If Pacquiao fights Mayweather, it will come to pass because there is so much money at stake that it can't be rejected. But if Arum goes to his grave never having put on the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, he will certainly rest in peace. He once promoted Mayweather, through much of his early success. But that didn't end well and now Arum speaks in amazement at what has become of his former client.
"First of all, he is a terrific fighter," Arum says. "At one point, he appeared to be a good guy. But then, his people [handlers after he left Arum] got this idea to make him into a villain. They thought they could attract an audience that comes to see him get beat. Let me tell you. It's tough to promote a villain."
Bradley is the countervillain. He is well-spoken, friendly, accommodating and unbeaten in 27 fights.
Arum says, "Our goal is to make Tim Bradley one of the major stars in boxing. We know he is one of the best fighters, but that doesn't make him a star."
Todd DuBoeff, Arum's stepson and the president of Top Rank, says of Bradley, "He has marketability and ability." In a recent media gathering, Bradley spoke for about 10 minutes and DuBoeff said later that he "lights up the room." Which he did.
So, with Bradley, the line to Pacquiao just got longer.
Mayweather is the obvious first choice, but Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito might like another shot, despite the beatings they took by Pacquiao. Circumstances could give the shot to Amir Khan, Andre Berto or Marcos Maidana. Erik Morales could find his way back to Pacquiao, though the public probably wouldn't buy that. Saul Alvarez is Golden Boy's hot fighter right now, but he'd have to lose lots of weight, as would impressive middleweight Sergio Martinez, who says he could and would get down to 154 or lower, to fight Pacquiao.
The permutations are endless. The line snakes around the block. Arum loves it.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Touching gloves with…Sammy Goss
by Dan Hanley
In the summer of ‘73 during a series of telecasts on ABC from New York’s Felt Forum, I was introduced to the east coast’s version of Mexican featherweight warfare. And I was absolutely smitten with the rampaging style of Sammy Goss as I watched this ’sure thing’ in action on those Saturday afternoons. Catching up with Sammy takes me back to the days of network TV and the efforts displayed which drew rabid crowds into unforgiving arenas of attrition. Good times.
DH: Sammy, you’re originally from Trenton, New Jersey, is that right?
SG: Born and bred and still here to this day.
DH: You’ve got quite the family background in boxing. Tell me about it.
SG: Well, my Dad was Jesse Goss. He was a fighter and eventually a trainer. As a matter of fact he trained Ike Williams back in the day. I started boxing around the age of 6 or 7 and all my brothers boxed. But boxing was not just in the family but also in the entire neighborhood. Everything was about boxing.
DH: How old were you when you formally started?
SG: I was 15. My father brought me down to the Trenton PAL to Percy Richardson for instruction.
DH: You had a remarkable amateur career. What are your stats?
SG: Well, I came along very fast. I was 5 time N.J. Golden Glove champ, 5 time state AAU champ, 1965 National AAU flyweight champ, 1968 National AAU bantamweight champ and 1968 National Golden Glove runnerup, losing in the finals to Earl Large of New Mexico.
DH: Now didn’t the AAU title grant you a berth at the ‘68 Olympic Trials?
SG: Yes it did. And in the finals of the trials I beat Earl Large. However, since I had lost to him recently in the Nationals it was decided we had to have a boxoff. So I beat him again for the bantamweight spot on the 1968 Olympic team.
DH: Tell me about Mexico City 1968.
SG: I would have had to win 5 fights to medal in the tournament, I received a bye in the 1st round and the second round I was fighting an eastern European. Now remember, Percy Richardson was not in my corner. I got to that point with Percy Richardson, who knew my style. In the Olympics we all had the National Coach, who was Pappy Gault. In the first round of my bout I had my opponent hurt bad but when I got back to my corner Gault jumped all over me. He wanted me to go to the body and nothing but. Well, he’s the coach and I had to do as I was told but I had to try and get under and in there and ate nothing but jabs trying to get in. He just kept popping me as I bore in and I lost the decision. That was all for me and I went pro after that.
DH: Who did you turn pro with?
SG: Well, Percy Richardson of course along with Frank Cariello were my trainers and I was managed by Pinny Schaeffer and Pat Duffy. We were together from beginning to end and we had the best time. (laughing) Those crazy guys could joke, let me tell you.
DH: You were up and down the eastern seaboard after turning pro. Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts. Was it an issue getting fights for you?
SG: Well, I was taking the fights as they were coming to me, but then we hooked up with Promoter Russell Peltz in Philadelphia. And now, although I still lived in Trenton, I would take the train into Philly on weekends for some real serious sparring.
DH: I take it you were introduced to the Philadelphia gym wars?
SG: Oh man, you had to be on your toes. Sparring in Philly, to me, meant working on defense because every sparring partner was looking to beat on me in order to make a reputation for himself.
DH: You were a very busy fighter. In a year and half after turning pro you were 18-1 and went into a fight which smacked of old school rivalry. You and Augie Pantellas had been making a lot of noise out of Philly. In fact, Marty Feldman, Pantellas’ trainer, said that this had been brewing for two years. Tell me about the fight.
SG: Well, you’re right, this really was a rivalry. We packed them into the Philadelphia Spectrum that night, which was one of my best paydays. I don’t recall the figures but I remember I made enough to put a down payment on a house. As for Augie Pantellas, he was a puncher and this was going to be a very tough fight if I fought him the same way. But during training I watched the tape of the Sugar Ray Robinson - Jake LaMotta title fight every single night. I copied the same moves. I boxed, I spun him and countered him and took an easy decision.
DH: Were you aware that Promoter Lou Lucchese offered to bring lightweight champ Ken Buchanan to Philly to fight the winner in a non-title?
SG: I was not. And obviously I never heard anymore about it. See, Lucchese was more Pantellas’ promoter, whereas I was affiliated with Russell Peltz. But Buchanan would have been too big for me anyway. I was comfortable between 126-130.
DH: Your next fight set you back a bit. That was one bad dude you fought in Ricardo Arredondo. Does the fact that he would become world champ less than a year later suggest that you may have been overmatched at this stage of your career?
SG: Yes, he was far more polished than I was.
DH: Were you ‘in’ the fight at all?
SG: No, to tell you the truth, he was picking me off coming in. He had reach on me and could hit. But it was a learning experience.
DH: Several fights later you had a similar result against Jose Luis Lopez, getting stopped in 6. Was it simply a case of having a problem solving the Mexican style?
SG: Yeah, it was the same thing. He was a tall guy and he caught me with an uppercut. But we rematched about a year later and I had it down. I made him chase me, boxed and took the fight easily. See, the first fight I was going after him and walking into the shots.
DH: It does seem like you had it figured out with a two round blowout of Raul Cruz in your next fight. But thinking of some of these Mexican fighters made me wonder why you never relocated to the west coast for more work.
SG: I suppose I should have but Russell Peltz was bringing in the talent for me, so I didn’t have any complaints.
DH: In March of ‘73 you fought for the first and only time in Madison Square Garden. A 12 rounder against Walter Seeley. It was a brilliant win, but whatever happened to Garden matchmaker Teddy Brenner’s promise of an October title fight for the winner at the Garden against featherweight champ Ernesto Marcel?
SG: Don’t know. Nothing ever came of it. Of course, like Lucchese and Pantellas in Philly, the Garden was Seeley’s promoter.
DH: Jose Fernandez of the Dominican Republic was coming off of a tremendous result over in Europe when you beat him at the Felt Forum. Then you rematched on National TV for the newly created American Jr. Lightweight title. Tell me about the fight.
SG: Everything was right that night. He came right at me, I boxed, I punched. I couldn’t miss.
DH: The following month you were back on the air against undefeated Edwin Viruet. But you came in as a late substitute for Chango Carmona. Were you ready for this fight?
SG: I was staying in shape, so yes, I was ready and won a close decision.
DH: There was some controversey over your 8th round knockdown, wasn’t there?
SG: (laughing) Yeah, I caught him good with a leaping left hook, but he couldn’t pull away because I came down on his foot. He was a good fighter but I beat him with body punches.
DH: At this time you were Ring Magazine’s #1 contender for the 130 lb. title. What kind of efforts were there to get you a title shot?
SG: I know Russell Peltz was working on it but the only one we heard from was Ricardo Arredondo offering us a non-title fight. I was the #1 contender, I wasn’t going to go for that.
DH: For the first time in your career you took time off. It was seven months before you fought again and looked very ring rusty against a club fighter. Why the inactivity?
SG: I think it was a combination of me needing a rest and them working on a title fight.
DH: In August of ‘74 you signed to defend your American title in an all-Philly affair with undefeated rival Tyrone Everett. I understand the fight reeked of bad blood. Tell me about it.
SG: Tyrone was saying a lot of nasty things in the press, which really angered me and I was responding to it, which really heated things up. As for the fight, he dropped me around the 3rd round. I then began doing well with body punches but then he began running and boxing on the retreat. Percy was telling me between rounds to chase him and I was saying, “I’ll chase him but I don’t know if I can catch him.” And he won the fight. Afterwards Tyrone shook hands with me and apologized for the things he was saying and that it was just to hype the fight and pump up the gate.
Goss (right) seen here dropping Raul Cruz.
DH: After that fight you began fighting on the road more. You fought Flipper Uehara over in Japan and held him to a draw. He was one of Japan’s hotshots at the time. How do you perceive the draw?
SG: That was no draw. I gave him one severe body beating. He came up to me after the fight and said, “I never fought anybody that hit to the body like you.”
DH: Something happened around this time that really bummed me out. You started losing to guys you had once dominated such as Jose Fernandez and Augie Pantellas. Were you spent after such a long amateur and pro career?
SG: I really think I was. I was just tired by that point.
DH: While on the road you fought twice in South Africa when apartheid was at its height. How were you treated over there?
SG: Oh, I was treated alright, like one of their own. I had no issues. As for my two fights over there, the first fight was against ‘Happy Boy’ Mgxaji and I thought I beat him. From bell to bell I pounded his body but they gave it to him. My fight with Brian Baronet was also my last. In the 7th round I was hit with a right and something happened to me. I went down and just sat there and let them count me out. Percy asked me afterwards what happened and I told him that my head felt like a bottle of coca-cola after you shook it up. I felt something rushing to the top of my head. It was enough. And I never fought again.
DH: What have you been doing with yourself over the years?
SG: I have been running the Goss & Goss Gym in Trenton along with my brothers Barry and Tommy. We’re giving kids the same chance we had.
DH: Sammy, if there was one fight you wanted that you never got an opportunity at, what would it be?
SG: A third fight with Augie Pantellas.
DH: Whooa! I thought for sure you were going to say a title fight with Ben Villaflor or Kuniaki Shibata.
SG: (laughing) Nope! I felt I beat him again in our rematch. I wanted a third fight with Augie Pantellas to set things straight.
DH: Sammy, last question, while we’ve been talking I’ve been noticing that fighters you beat such as Jose Marin, Jose Fernandez and Edwin Viruet along with fighters you felt you beat such as Flipper Uehara and Happy Boy Mgxaji all received title shots sometime after fighting you. Where was the justice?
SG: Really? All of them? Well, I don’t know how those guys made out in life, but I’m healthy, have all my senses, have my family and my own home from my ring earnings. So…maybe I did OK.
Alas, in the fight game, fate can be a cruel bitch. She provides amateur silverware to adorn the shelves, grants Olympian status to enhance the transition to pro and even bestows the ranking of #1 contender for world laurels. Yet, obstinately withholds the elusive shot at that very same world title. Cruel indeed. However, cruel fate has left no malice in the heart of Sammy Goss as he teaches the very same sport which left him marooned from the brass ring. For that alone I say, way to go champ.
See ya next round
Dan Hanley
pugnut23@yahoo.com
In the summer of ‘73 during a series of telecasts on ABC from New York’s Felt Forum, I was introduced to the east coast’s version of Mexican featherweight warfare. And I was absolutely smitten with the rampaging style of Sammy Goss as I watched this ’sure thing’ in action on those Saturday afternoons. Catching up with Sammy takes me back to the days of network TV and the efforts displayed which drew rabid crowds into unforgiving arenas of attrition. Good times.
DH: Sammy, you’re originally from Trenton, New Jersey, is that right?
SG: Born and bred and still here to this day.
DH: You’ve got quite the family background in boxing. Tell me about it.
SG: Well, my Dad was Jesse Goss. He was a fighter and eventually a trainer. As a matter of fact he trained Ike Williams back in the day. I started boxing around the age of 6 or 7 and all my brothers boxed. But boxing was not just in the family but also in the entire neighborhood. Everything was about boxing.
DH: How old were you when you formally started?
SG: I was 15. My father brought me down to the Trenton PAL to Percy Richardson for instruction.
DH: You had a remarkable amateur career. What are your stats?
SG: Well, I came along very fast. I was 5 time N.J. Golden Glove champ, 5 time state AAU champ, 1965 National AAU flyweight champ, 1968 National AAU bantamweight champ and 1968 National Golden Glove runnerup, losing in the finals to Earl Large of New Mexico.
DH: Now didn’t the AAU title grant you a berth at the ‘68 Olympic Trials?
SG: Yes it did. And in the finals of the trials I beat Earl Large. However, since I had lost to him recently in the Nationals it was decided we had to have a boxoff. So I beat him again for the bantamweight spot on the 1968 Olympic team.
DH: Tell me about Mexico City 1968.
SG: I would have had to win 5 fights to medal in the tournament, I received a bye in the 1st round and the second round I was fighting an eastern European. Now remember, Percy Richardson was not in my corner. I got to that point with Percy Richardson, who knew my style. In the Olympics we all had the National Coach, who was Pappy Gault. In the first round of my bout I had my opponent hurt bad but when I got back to my corner Gault jumped all over me. He wanted me to go to the body and nothing but. Well, he’s the coach and I had to do as I was told but I had to try and get under and in there and ate nothing but jabs trying to get in. He just kept popping me as I bore in and I lost the decision. That was all for me and I went pro after that.
DH: Who did you turn pro with?
SG: Well, Percy Richardson of course along with Frank Cariello were my trainers and I was managed by Pinny Schaeffer and Pat Duffy. We were together from beginning to end and we had the best time. (laughing) Those crazy guys could joke, let me tell you.
DH: You were up and down the eastern seaboard after turning pro. Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts. Was it an issue getting fights for you?
SG: Well, I was taking the fights as they were coming to me, but then we hooked up with Promoter Russell Peltz in Philadelphia. And now, although I still lived in Trenton, I would take the train into Philly on weekends for some real serious sparring.
DH: I take it you were introduced to the Philadelphia gym wars?
SG: Oh man, you had to be on your toes. Sparring in Philly, to me, meant working on defense because every sparring partner was looking to beat on me in order to make a reputation for himself.
DH: You were a very busy fighter. In a year and half after turning pro you were 18-1 and went into a fight which smacked of old school rivalry. You and Augie Pantellas had been making a lot of noise out of Philly. In fact, Marty Feldman, Pantellas’ trainer, said that this had been brewing for two years. Tell me about the fight.
SG: Well, you’re right, this really was a rivalry. We packed them into the Philadelphia Spectrum that night, which was one of my best paydays. I don’t recall the figures but I remember I made enough to put a down payment on a house. As for Augie Pantellas, he was a puncher and this was going to be a very tough fight if I fought him the same way. But during training I watched the tape of the Sugar Ray Robinson - Jake LaMotta title fight every single night. I copied the same moves. I boxed, I spun him and countered him and took an easy decision.
DH: Were you aware that Promoter Lou Lucchese offered to bring lightweight champ Ken Buchanan to Philly to fight the winner in a non-title?
SG: I was not. And obviously I never heard anymore about it. See, Lucchese was more Pantellas’ promoter, whereas I was affiliated with Russell Peltz. But Buchanan would have been too big for me anyway. I was comfortable between 126-130.
DH: Your next fight set you back a bit. That was one bad dude you fought in Ricardo Arredondo. Does the fact that he would become world champ less than a year later suggest that you may have been overmatched at this stage of your career?
SG: Yes, he was far more polished than I was.
DH: Were you ‘in’ the fight at all?
SG: No, to tell you the truth, he was picking me off coming in. He had reach on me and could hit. But it was a learning experience.
DH: Several fights later you had a similar result against Jose Luis Lopez, getting stopped in 6. Was it simply a case of having a problem solving the Mexican style?
SG: Yeah, it was the same thing. He was a tall guy and he caught me with an uppercut. But we rematched about a year later and I had it down. I made him chase me, boxed and took the fight easily. See, the first fight I was going after him and walking into the shots.
DH: It does seem like you had it figured out with a two round blowout of Raul Cruz in your next fight. But thinking of some of these Mexican fighters made me wonder why you never relocated to the west coast for more work.
SG: I suppose I should have but Russell Peltz was bringing in the talent for me, so I didn’t have any complaints.
DH: In March of ‘73 you fought for the first and only time in Madison Square Garden. A 12 rounder against Walter Seeley. It was a brilliant win, but whatever happened to Garden matchmaker Teddy Brenner’s promise of an October title fight for the winner at the Garden against featherweight champ Ernesto Marcel?
SG: Don’t know. Nothing ever came of it. Of course, like Lucchese and Pantellas in Philly, the Garden was Seeley’s promoter.
DH: Jose Fernandez of the Dominican Republic was coming off of a tremendous result over in Europe when you beat him at the Felt Forum. Then you rematched on National TV for the newly created American Jr. Lightweight title. Tell me about the fight.
SG: Everything was right that night. He came right at me, I boxed, I punched. I couldn’t miss.
DH: The following month you were back on the air against undefeated Edwin Viruet. But you came in as a late substitute for Chango Carmona. Were you ready for this fight?
SG: I was staying in shape, so yes, I was ready and won a close decision.
DH: There was some controversey over your 8th round knockdown, wasn’t there?
SG: (laughing) Yeah, I caught him good with a leaping left hook, but he couldn’t pull away because I came down on his foot. He was a good fighter but I beat him with body punches.
DH: At this time you were Ring Magazine’s #1 contender for the 130 lb. title. What kind of efforts were there to get you a title shot?
SG: I know Russell Peltz was working on it but the only one we heard from was Ricardo Arredondo offering us a non-title fight. I was the #1 contender, I wasn’t going to go for that.
DH: For the first time in your career you took time off. It was seven months before you fought again and looked very ring rusty against a club fighter. Why the inactivity?
SG: I think it was a combination of me needing a rest and them working on a title fight.
DH: In August of ‘74 you signed to defend your American title in an all-Philly affair with undefeated rival Tyrone Everett. I understand the fight reeked of bad blood. Tell me about it.
SG: Tyrone was saying a lot of nasty things in the press, which really angered me and I was responding to it, which really heated things up. As for the fight, he dropped me around the 3rd round. I then began doing well with body punches but then he began running and boxing on the retreat. Percy was telling me between rounds to chase him and I was saying, “I’ll chase him but I don’t know if I can catch him.” And he won the fight. Afterwards Tyrone shook hands with me and apologized for the things he was saying and that it was just to hype the fight and pump up the gate.
Goss (right) seen here dropping Raul Cruz.
DH: After that fight you began fighting on the road more. You fought Flipper Uehara over in Japan and held him to a draw. He was one of Japan’s hotshots at the time. How do you perceive the draw?
SG: That was no draw. I gave him one severe body beating. He came up to me after the fight and said, “I never fought anybody that hit to the body like you.”
DH: Something happened around this time that really bummed me out. You started losing to guys you had once dominated such as Jose Fernandez and Augie Pantellas. Were you spent after such a long amateur and pro career?
SG: I really think I was. I was just tired by that point.
DH: While on the road you fought twice in South Africa when apartheid was at its height. How were you treated over there?
SG: Oh, I was treated alright, like one of their own. I had no issues. As for my two fights over there, the first fight was against ‘Happy Boy’ Mgxaji and I thought I beat him. From bell to bell I pounded his body but they gave it to him. My fight with Brian Baronet was also my last. In the 7th round I was hit with a right and something happened to me. I went down and just sat there and let them count me out. Percy asked me afterwards what happened and I told him that my head felt like a bottle of coca-cola after you shook it up. I felt something rushing to the top of my head. It was enough. And I never fought again.
DH: What have you been doing with yourself over the years?
SG: I have been running the Goss & Goss Gym in Trenton along with my brothers Barry and Tommy. We’re giving kids the same chance we had.
DH: Sammy, if there was one fight you wanted that you never got an opportunity at, what would it be?
SG: A third fight with Augie Pantellas.
DH: Whooa! I thought for sure you were going to say a title fight with Ben Villaflor or Kuniaki Shibata.
SG: (laughing) Nope! I felt I beat him again in our rematch. I wanted a third fight with Augie Pantellas to set things straight.
DH: Sammy, last question, while we’ve been talking I’ve been noticing that fighters you beat such as Jose Marin, Jose Fernandez and Edwin Viruet along with fighters you felt you beat such as Flipper Uehara and Happy Boy Mgxaji all received title shots sometime after fighting you. Where was the justice?
SG: Really? All of them? Well, I don’t know how those guys made out in life, but I’m healthy, have all my senses, have my family and my own home from my ring earnings. So…maybe I did OK.
Alas, in the fight game, fate can be a cruel bitch. She provides amateur silverware to adorn the shelves, grants Olympian status to enhance the transition to pro and even bestows the ranking of #1 contender for world laurels. Yet, obstinately withholds the elusive shot at that very same world title. Cruel indeed. However, cruel fate has left no malice in the heart of Sammy Goss as he teaches the very same sport which left him marooned from the brass ring. For that alone I say, way to go champ.
See ya next round
Dan Hanley
pugnut23@yahoo.com
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon
In spite of the obvious contempt which the greater portion of latin fans hold for him, Art already has been successful in swaying there emotions. It has only happened once and possibly will never happen again. That was when he faced Jimmy Carter for the crown. Sweating off valuable pounds from a body rippling with lean muscles so as to make the weight limit, Art blew his chances for success. But he fought one of the most valiant he-man matches ever seen on the coast. He was punished severly, he hit the canvas twice and the easiness by which Carter maneuvered around him made Art look sick. When the much -one-sided tiff came to an end Aragon's granite-like jaw almost rubbed his chest admitting defeat. Just before leaving the ring exploded the sweetest music ever heard by Aragon. The fight mob, sensing they had seen a hero in action, let go with a tremendous roar of effection for the man they had despised for so long. But Aragon couldn't take that standing up. He sat in his corner stool. Then he wept, he sobbed shaking in convulsions like a broken child..
Frank, The Aragon/Carter title fight will be 60 years ago this November 14.
Paul
----------------------------------------------------
I was there...I seen a very courageous fighter that night in Art Aragon....Art beat Carter in an earlier fight at a higher weight, but at 135 he was out of the fight after four rounds, he lasted the fifteen rounds just on courage and pride...Art was a very proud fighter at a time when fighters carried themselves like stars, and stars they were...I could have called him a great warrior, but I hate that word, seems to me like that word is overuse this days...
Frank
Frank, The Aragon/Carter title fight will be 60 years ago this November 14.
Paul
----------------------------------------------------
I was there...I seen a very courageous fighter that night in Art Aragon....Art beat Carter in an earlier fight at a higher weight, but at 135 he was out of the fight after four rounds, he lasted the fifteen rounds just on courage and pride...Art was a very proud fighter at a time when fighters carried themselves like stars, and stars they were...I could have called him a great warrior, but I hate that word, seems to me like that word is overuse this days...
Frank
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Floyd Mayweather basks in aftermath of knockout of Victor Ortiz
Outspoken fighter, 34, says the decisive punch that caught his 24-year-old opponent off guard right after the referee gave the OK to resume fighting was the result of his vast experience.
Floyd Mayweather
Floyd Mayweather celebrates his fourth-round knockout victory over Victor Ortiz on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus / Reuters
By Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times
September 18, 2011
Floyd Mayweather Jr. enhanced his villainous image by the way he registered a fourth-round knockout of Victor Ortiz on Saturday night.
By striking the instant he was allowed to punch after referee Joe Cortez stopped action to deduct a point from Ortiz for a head butt, Mayweather landed a left hand to Ortiz's face that stunned the welterweight champion from Ventura.
With Cortez and Ortiz caught off guard, Mayweather (42-0, 26 knockouts) then finished the fight with a devastating straight right hand to Ortiz's jaw that sent the 24-year-old to la-la land.
"I spaced a bit," said Ortiz, who asked Mayweather for a rematch, contending the punches were "not fair."
Mayweather, 34, chalked up the ending to his advantage in experience, and expressed no remorse after the frustrated, beaten-to-the-punch Ortiz (29-3-2) bloodied Mayweather's lip and mouth with the head butt.
"What goes around," Mayweather said, "comes around."
When HBO's Larry Merchant tried to interview Mayweather after the fight, Mayweather suggested the 80-year-old boxing analyst talk to Ortiz "since you've never given me a fair shake." Mayweather used an expletive and questioned Merchant's knowledge of the sport, to which Merchant replied, "If I was 50 years younger, I'd kick your [rear]."
Mayweather didn't exactly embrace Ortiz's rematch request.
"If he feels it was a fluke, I'll do the same thing again," Mayweather said. "But he was slowly breaking down as each round went. He was going to go down, anyway."
It's more likely that Ortiz will end up as a participant in a welterweight tournament his promoter, Richard Schaefer, will propose to HBO and Showtime this week.
Schaefer signed former junior-welterweight world champion Devon Alexander on Saturday, and said Alexander, Ortiz, Marcos Maidana, Andre Berto, Paulie Malignaggi and Lucas Matthysse are candidates to participate in a 147-pound tournament that will help increase those fighters' recognition.
Mayweather has more thoughts to ponder beyond a possible 2012 matchup with Manny Pacquiao, who fights Nov. 12 against Juan Manuel Marquez.
"I move when I want to move, and I fight when I want to fight," Mayweather said.
First, he has to deal with his criminal case.
Mayweather is due in Clark County (Nev.) Court on Oct. 15 for a preliminary hearing in his multi-felony domestic violence case in which the mother of his three children and some of the children are alleged victims.
"The only thing I can do is keep my fingers crossed," Mayweather said. "I chose the best team of attorneys I know. I know I haven't done anything. People want to create something because of who you are. With that [domestic] case, I say, 'Where are the pictures?'.
"The rest [claims by security guards] it's a bunch of bull. These guys say they got beat up, but they could walk to the hospital? It's not real."
Mayweather said after the bout he was unsure how much time he'd be away from the ring.
"I hope it's not this long," he said, referring to the 16-month layoff before he fought Ortiz.
He spent several minutes of his postfight news conference expressing skepticism about the Pacquiao fight, even though their schedules are close enough to meet in May.
Mayweather again pressed Pacquiao to commit to Olympic-standard testing for performance-enhancing drugs — Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum says the Filipino superstar will — and continued insinuating Pacquiao has engaged in doping even though Mayweather faces a defamation lawsuit on that matter.
"To say a guy goes from 105 pounds to this, and it's all natural … come on, man," Mayweather said.
He chided Pacquiao for "fighting all my leftovers," and lashed out at critics, complaining, "When I beat that little dude [Pacquiao], they're going to say he was too small or too old. They never appreciate me."
Mayweather said Pacquiao "doesn't want to fight me. Once he loses, it's over. They're tricking y'all saying they'll fight me. Don't be tricked."
Schaefer said he expects to discuss Mayweather's future with the fighter and his representatives within the next two or three weeks.
One of the top alternatives to Pacquiao is England's Amir Khan, the junior-welterweight world champion who could help create a major boxing event at London's Wembley Stadium.
Mayweather said, "I'm more popular in England than Khan," and added, "I'm loyal to MGM."
What mattered most to Mayweather was victory, and he appreciated being told his speed, defense and counter-punching were as strong as ever Saturday.
"Did I look sharp?" he said, smiling widely.
[email]lance.pugmire@latimes.com[/email]
Floyd Mayweather
Floyd Mayweather celebrates his fourth-round knockout victory over Victor Ortiz on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus / Reuters
By Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times
September 18, 2011
Floyd Mayweather Jr. enhanced his villainous image by the way he registered a fourth-round knockout of Victor Ortiz on Saturday night.
By striking the instant he was allowed to punch after referee Joe Cortez stopped action to deduct a point from Ortiz for a head butt, Mayweather landed a left hand to Ortiz's face that stunned the welterweight champion from Ventura.
With Cortez and Ortiz caught off guard, Mayweather (42-0, 26 knockouts) then finished the fight with a devastating straight right hand to Ortiz's jaw that sent the 24-year-old to la-la land.
"I spaced a bit," said Ortiz, who asked Mayweather for a rematch, contending the punches were "not fair."
Mayweather, 34, chalked up the ending to his advantage in experience, and expressed no remorse after the frustrated, beaten-to-the-punch Ortiz (29-3-2) bloodied Mayweather's lip and mouth with the head butt.
"What goes around," Mayweather said, "comes around."
When HBO's Larry Merchant tried to interview Mayweather after the fight, Mayweather suggested the 80-year-old boxing analyst talk to Ortiz "since you've never given me a fair shake." Mayweather used an expletive and questioned Merchant's knowledge of the sport, to which Merchant replied, "If I was 50 years younger, I'd kick your [rear]."
Mayweather didn't exactly embrace Ortiz's rematch request.
"If he feels it was a fluke, I'll do the same thing again," Mayweather said. "But he was slowly breaking down as each round went. He was going to go down, anyway."
It's more likely that Ortiz will end up as a participant in a welterweight tournament his promoter, Richard Schaefer, will propose to HBO and Showtime this week.
Schaefer signed former junior-welterweight world champion Devon Alexander on Saturday, and said Alexander, Ortiz, Marcos Maidana, Andre Berto, Paulie Malignaggi and Lucas Matthysse are candidates to participate in a 147-pound tournament that will help increase those fighters' recognition.
Mayweather has more thoughts to ponder beyond a possible 2012 matchup with Manny Pacquiao, who fights Nov. 12 against Juan Manuel Marquez.
"I move when I want to move, and I fight when I want to fight," Mayweather said.
First, he has to deal with his criminal case.
Mayweather is due in Clark County (Nev.) Court on Oct. 15 for a preliminary hearing in his multi-felony domestic violence case in which the mother of his three children and some of the children are alleged victims.
"The only thing I can do is keep my fingers crossed," Mayweather said. "I chose the best team of attorneys I know. I know I haven't done anything. People want to create something because of who you are. With that [domestic] case, I say, 'Where are the pictures?'.
"The rest [claims by security guards] it's a bunch of bull. These guys say they got beat up, but they could walk to the hospital? It's not real."
Mayweather said after the bout he was unsure how much time he'd be away from the ring.
"I hope it's not this long," he said, referring to the 16-month layoff before he fought Ortiz.
He spent several minutes of his postfight news conference expressing skepticism about the Pacquiao fight, even though their schedules are close enough to meet in May.
Mayweather again pressed Pacquiao to commit to Olympic-standard testing for performance-enhancing drugs — Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum says the Filipino superstar will — and continued insinuating Pacquiao has engaged in doping even though Mayweather faces a defamation lawsuit on that matter.
"To say a guy goes from 105 pounds to this, and it's all natural … come on, man," Mayweather said.
He chided Pacquiao for "fighting all my leftovers," and lashed out at critics, complaining, "When I beat that little dude [Pacquiao], they're going to say he was too small or too old. They never appreciate me."
Mayweather said Pacquiao "doesn't want to fight me. Once he loses, it's over. They're tricking y'all saying they'll fight me. Don't be tricked."
Schaefer said he expects to discuss Mayweather's future with the fighter and his representatives within the next two or three weeks.
One of the top alternatives to Pacquiao is England's Amir Khan, the junior-welterweight world champion who could help create a major boxing event at London's Wembley Stadium.
Mayweather said, "I'm more popular in England than Khan," and added, "I'm loyal to MGM."
What mattered most to Mayweather was victory, and he appreciated being told his speed, defense and counter-punching were as strong as ever Saturday.
"Did I look sharp?" he said, smiling widely.
[email]lance.pugmire@latimes.com[/email]
I'm a fan of boxing
By Randy De La O
I'm no fan of Floyd Mayweather Jr, never have been and most likely, never will be. What I am is a fan of the sport of boxing. As difficult as that can be at times, especially when someone like Mayweather is involved, I do try my absolute best to put aside my own personal bias and dislikes and focus just on the fighter and the fights. It's not always easy. Saturday night's fight between Mayweather and Victor Ortiz is a good example. Coming into this fight I wanted Ortiz to put the trash talking Mayweather in his place. I wasn't 100% sure he could but I was rooting for him to pull it off. The other reason I was rooting for Ortiz was that I wanted to see the guy redeem himself. I was hoping he would prove once and for all, that his blatant quitting in the Marcos Maidana fight was an anomaly, just something that happened, a one time quirky act. I thought that Ortiz understood what true character was, and that he was going to work like hell to prove himself. Maybe position himself along side some of the great fighters of the past.
Us guys from the West Coast and the L.A. fight scene are a proud bunch, We love our fighters and their exploits passionately. We have as rich a history in the sport as any town in the country, or the world too for that matter. We cherish and defend that history. The fighters that were either born here or came here to live and fight, range from the completely mediocre to the legendary. They trained at the Main Street Gym, the Teamsters Gym, the Hoover Street Gym and Canto Robledo's backyard gym. The names of these fighters stand with the best from anywhere in the world when it comes to courage, heart and fair play and they include fighters such as Manny Ortiz, Gil Cadilli, Kenny Teran, Art Aragon, Enrique Bolanos,Lauro Salas, Denny Moyer, Mando Ramos, Hedgeman Lewis, Randy Shields, Mando Muniz, Bobby Chacon, Danny "Little Red" Lopez, Rick Farris, Frankie Baltazar, Tony Baltazar, and more recently, Sugar Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya. I couldn't begin to list them all. Guys like Ruben Olivares, Chucho Castillo, Jesus Pimental came north from Mexico to lay it on the line at the Olympic Auditorium and the Forum because they knew L.A. was a fight town like no other and appreciated a fighter worth his salt. Art Hafey headed south from Canada to Southern California, to jump into the midst of what has come to be known as the "West Coast Featherweight Wars". The West Coast has been a hot bed of boxing for decades and L.A. has been the epicenter of it all. We don't care what nationality you are, what color you are are what your religion is. If you can fight and are willing, and can take it as good as you can give, than you are our kind of fighter. it's as simple as that. We'll be with you all the way.
Then along comes Victor Ortiz, wanting to stand tall with all the rest. Quit against Maidana and was given a second chance at a career. Positioned himself with one of the two pound for pound best fighters in the world, and was making a fight of it. Mayweather began picking up some steam and the fighter who has ironically come to be known as "Vicious" began to crumble. Ortiz had Mayweather against the ropes and was actually landing some good shots, when for reasons known only to him, he decided to take the low road with a headbutt so obviously intentionally a blind man would have had no trouble seeing it. Anomaly? No, lack of character, lack of true courage, a complete lack of fair play.
Am I being too harsh here? I don't think so. Given that Ortiz had a shot at redemption and spit in our eyes in the process, I think he's getting off easy. The crowd at the Staples Center, judging by the boos for Mayweather seem to be excusing Ortiz' behavior. Mayweather did what any sane fighter would and should do when facing a man who has already shown himself to be a cheater. I would lay some pretty good money that many of the same people that think Floyd sucker punched Ortiz, were jumping for joy a few years back when, Marco Antonio Barrera, like Mayweather, took matters into his own hands and grabbed Nassem Hamed in a half nelson and rammed him face first into the ring post. I don't recall ever hearing of one fan that thought Barrera was in the wrong. Neither was Floyd Mayweather in the wrong. But for the headbutt there would have been no controversy or knockout, at least not that particular knockout.
To borrow quote from Dorothy and "The Wizard of Oz", "Victor, you're not in Kansas anymore!"
I'm no fan of Floyd Mayweather Jr, never have been and most likely, never will be. What I am is a fan of the sport of boxing. As difficult as that can be at times, especially when someone like Mayweather is involved, I do try my absolute best to put aside my own personal bias and dislikes and focus just on the fighter and the fights. It's not always easy. Saturday night's fight between Mayweather and Victor Ortiz is a good example. Coming into this fight I wanted Ortiz to put the trash talking Mayweather in his place. I wasn't 100% sure he could but I was rooting for him to pull it off. The other reason I was rooting for Ortiz was that I wanted to see the guy redeem himself. I was hoping he would prove once and for all, that his blatant quitting in the Marcos Maidana fight was an anomaly, just something that happened, a one time quirky act. I thought that Ortiz understood what true character was, and that he was going to work like hell to prove himself. Maybe position himself along side some of the great fighters of the past.
Us guys from the West Coast and the L.A. fight scene are a proud bunch, We love our fighters and their exploits passionately. We have as rich a history in the sport as any town in the country, or the world too for that matter. We cherish and defend that history. The fighters that were either born here or came here to live and fight, range from the completely mediocre to the legendary. They trained at the Main Street Gym, the Teamsters Gym, the Hoover Street Gym and Canto Robledo's backyard gym. The names of these fighters stand with the best from anywhere in the world when it comes to courage, heart and fair play and they include fighters such as Manny Ortiz, Gil Cadilli, Kenny Teran, Art Aragon, Enrique Bolanos,Lauro Salas, Denny Moyer, Mando Ramos, Hedgeman Lewis, Randy Shields, Mando Muniz, Bobby Chacon, Danny "Little Red" Lopez, Rick Farris, Frankie Baltazar, Tony Baltazar, and more recently, Sugar Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya. I couldn't begin to list them all. Guys like Ruben Olivares, Chucho Castillo, Jesus Pimental came north from Mexico to lay it on the line at the Olympic Auditorium and the Forum because they knew L.A. was a fight town like no other and appreciated a fighter worth his salt. Art Hafey headed south from Canada to Southern California, to jump into the midst of what has come to be known as the "West Coast Featherweight Wars". The West Coast has been a hot bed of boxing for decades and L.A. has been the epicenter of it all. We don't care what nationality you are, what color you are are what your religion is. If you can fight and are willing, and can take it as good as you can give, than you are our kind of fighter. it's as simple as that. We'll be with you all the way.
Then along comes Victor Ortiz, wanting to stand tall with all the rest. Quit against Maidana and was given a second chance at a career. Positioned himself with one of the two pound for pound best fighters in the world, and was making a fight of it. Mayweather began picking up some steam and the fighter who has ironically come to be known as "Vicious" began to crumble. Ortiz had Mayweather against the ropes and was actually landing some good shots, when for reasons known only to him, he decided to take the low road with a headbutt so obviously intentionally a blind man would have had no trouble seeing it. Anomaly? No, lack of character, lack of true courage, a complete lack of fair play.
Am I being too harsh here? I don't think so. Given that Ortiz had a shot at redemption and spit in our eyes in the process, I think he's getting off easy. The crowd at the Staples Center, judging by the boos for Mayweather seem to be excusing Ortiz' behavior. Mayweather did what any sane fighter would and should do when facing a man who has already shown himself to be a cheater. I would lay some pretty good money that many of the same people that think Floyd sucker punched Ortiz, were jumping for joy a few years back when, Marco Antonio Barrera, like Mayweather, took matters into his own hands and grabbed Nassem Hamed in a half nelson and rammed him face first into the ring post. I don't recall ever hearing of one fan that thought Barrera was in the wrong. Neither was Floyd Mayweather in the wrong. But for the headbutt there would have been no controversy or knockout, at least not that particular knockout.
To borrow quote from Dorothy and "The Wizard of Oz", "Victor, you're not in Kansas anymore!"
There is an age old adage in boxing that goes something like this
"You are never so naked as when you are standing in the ring". It's not the physical nakedness they are referring to, it's the character of a man (or a women) that's exposed. Your courage and heart and sense of fair play, and your ability or inability to handle pressure, or the propensity to resort to cowardly acts and cheat when frustrated, or a lack of character when it's time to face your actions when caught. You are never so naked a when you are standing in the ring. Ask Victor Ortiz, he got caught completely naked last night.
Lou Filippo
By Rick Farris
I had the pleasure of meeting Lou Filippo in 2006, when I joined the Board of Directors of the World Boxing Hall of Fame. I didn't have time to get to know Lou Filippo very well, but I was well aware of his career in the ring, both as a rough lightweight fighting out of the Jackie McCoy stable in the 50's, and also as a referee/ringside official. My boxing partner Dan Hanley and I had the opportunity to interview Lou in 2007. It would be the Hall of Famer's last interview, and it was a good one.
Shortly after we interviewed Lou, I learned that around the time I was born, Frank Baltazar worked at a car wash where Lou would take his car every week. It was a flashy blue Pontiac and Frank told of how Lou would keep his gym bag on the back seat of the car. I believe the car was was on Whittier Blvd. From that, I spoke with Lou at a WBHOF meeting one day and mentioned "that flashy blue Pontiac" he used to have. Filippo would look at me suprised, and then I would say, "you remember the one you used to take to the so& so car wash. I used to work there and recall seeing your equipment in the back seat." This would have taken place around the time I was born, so Lou is now really confused . . . "How could you, uh?
Yeah, I remember that Pontiac, but, uh . . . How old are you?"
Well that little incident was the start of a respectful relationship between Lou Filippo and myself. I appreciate Frank's sharing that little piece of knowledge, because it led to a positive moment between myself and an L.A. boxing legend.
Below is Lou Filippo's Boxrec bio:
Attended John C. Fremont High School in south Los Angeles, and began boxing at the 97th Street Arena to become one of California's top amateur boxers of the 1940s. He joined the U.S. Navy during World War II, became a Pharmacist Mate, 2nd Class (medic), serving aboard the USS South Dakota. He won the South Pacific All-Services 125-pound title in 1944 at Guadacanal, South Pacific; as well as the 1945 Naval Base 125-pound Championship. After his discharge from the Navy, Filippo won the US Diamond Belt (in the lightweight division). He had more than 250 amateur bouts before embarking on a professional career.
Filippo fought professionally from 1947-1957, compiling a record of 28-9-3 (8), and was named Action Fighter of the Year in Los Angeles (1957). During his career he fought former lightweight champions Carlos Ortiz and Lauro Salas. Filippo was known to cut easily, and once quipped that he would start bleeding while the referee was still giving opening instructions.
He later became a boxing manager and trainer (he trained World Champion Don Jordan for a couple of fights). Filippo went into refereeing and judging in the early 1970s at the suggestion of Olympic Auditorium promoter Aileen Eaton, and eventually officiated over 85 championship bouts. He was the judge who favored Hagler 115-113 in the controversial Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard middleweight championship fight in Las Vegas. Filippo also handled the first Shane Mosley-Oscar De La Hoya welterweight championship fight in 2000 in Los Angeles.
Filippo appeared as either a referee or announcer in five of the six "Rocky" boxing movies. (He was not in the sixth installment, "Rocky Balboa.") Filippo's reputation as a "loyal, straight-up guy" helped him win Sylvester Stallone's attention. (In "Rocky II" Filippo tells Stallone's bloodied character Rocky Balboa before the epic 15th round: "Hey, Rock, you get in trouble one more time...," to which Balboa answers: "Don't stop nothing!" When both fighters fall to the canvas on a Balboa punch and opponent Apollo Creed slumps in a corner, Filippo tells Rocky: "You're out!")
He also spent 43 years working for Thermo-Electron, Cal Duran Division. And, from 1983 to about 2005, Filippo served as an executive with the World Boxing Hall of Fame--serving two terms as its President from 1993.
He was the husband of Pat (who died in 2007), and father of Debbye and Patti.
Lou Filippo passed away Nov. 2, 2009, in Los Angeles, of a stroke--having judged his final bout only two weeks earlier.
Photo-Dawn Paradis
I had the pleasure of meeting Lou Filippo in 2006, when I joined the Board of Directors of the World Boxing Hall of Fame. I didn't have time to get to know Lou Filippo very well, but I was well aware of his career in the ring, both as a rough lightweight fighting out of the Jackie McCoy stable in the 50's, and also as a referee/ringside official. My boxing partner Dan Hanley and I had the opportunity to interview Lou in 2007. It would be the Hall of Famer's last interview, and it was a good one.
Shortly after we interviewed Lou, I learned that around the time I was born, Frank Baltazar worked at a car wash where Lou would take his car every week. It was a flashy blue Pontiac and Frank told of how Lou would keep his gym bag on the back seat of the car. I believe the car was was on Whittier Blvd. From that, I spoke with Lou at a WBHOF meeting one day and mentioned "that flashy blue Pontiac" he used to have. Filippo would look at me suprised, and then I would say, "you remember the one you used to take to the so& so car wash. I used to work there and recall seeing your equipment in the back seat." This would have taken place around the time I was born, so Lou is now really confused . . . "How could you, uh?
Yeah, I remember that Pontiac, but, uh . . . How old are you?"
Well that little incident was the start of a respectful relationship between Lou Filippo and myself. I appreciate Frank's sharing that little piece of knowledge, because it led to a positive moment between myself and an L.A. boxing legend.
Below is Lou Filippo's Boxrec bio:
Attended John C. Fremont High School in south Los Angeles, and began boxing at the 97th Street Arena to become one of California's top amateur boxers of the 1940s. He joined the U.S. Navy during World War II, became a Pharmacist Mate, 2nd Class (medic), serving aboard the USS South Dakota. He won the South Pacific All-Services 125-pound title in 1944 at Guadacanal, South Pacific; as well as the 1945 Naval Base 125-pound Championship. After his discharge from the Navy, Filippo won the US Diamond Belt (in the lightweight division). He had more than 250 amateur bouts before embarking on a professional career.
Filippo fought professionally from 1947-1957, compiling a record of 28-9-3 (8), and was named Action Fighter of the Year in Los Angeles (1957). During his career he fought former lightweight champions Carlos Ortiz and Lauro Salas. Filippo was known to cut easily, and once quipped that he would start bleeding while the referee was still giving opening instructions.
He later became a boxing manager and trainer (he trained World Champion Don Jordan for a couple of fights). Filippo went into refereeing and judging in the early 1970s at the suggestion of Olympic Auditorium promoter Aileen Eaton, and eventually officiated over 85 championship bouts. He was the judge who favored Hagler 115-113 in the controversial Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard middleweight championship fight in Las Vegas. Filippo also handled the first Shane Mosley-Oscar De La Hoya welterweight championship fight in 2000 in Los Angeles.
Filippo appeared as either a referee or announcer in five of the six "Rocky" boxing movies. (He was not in the sixth installment, "Rocky Balboa.") Filippo's reputation as a "loyal, straight-up guy" helped him win Sylvester Stallone's attention. (In "Rocky II" Filippo tells Stallone's bloodied character Rocky Balboa before the epic 15th round: "Hey, Rock, you get in trouble one more time...," to which Balboa answers: "Don't stop nothing!" When both fighters fall to the canvas on a Balboa punch and opponent Apollo Creed slumps in a corner, Filippo tells Rocky: "You're out!")
He also spent 43 years working for Thermo-Electron, Cal Duran Division. And, from 1983 to about 2005, Filippo served as an executive with the World Boxing Hall of Fame--serving two terms as its President from 1993.
He was the husband of Pat (who died in 2007), and father of Debbye and Patti.
Lou Filippo passed away Nov. 2, 2009, in Los Angeles, of a stroke--having judged his final bout only two weeks earlier.
Photo-Dawn Paradis
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Floyd Mayweather Jr. pours salt in Victor Ortiz's wounds
September 15, 2011
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has launched mental warfare against his 10-years-younger Saturday night opponent Victor Ortiz, inviting Ortiz's ex-trainer Robert Garcia and Ventura County rival world champion Brandon Rios to watch near ringside.
"I saw Garcia at a fight at state line [Primm, Nev.] not too long ago. He asked to come to my next fight, and I said that'd be great," Mayweather said. "I'm a man of my word."
Especially when it's this irritating to the opposition's camp.
Not only did Ortiz drop Garcia as his trainer after a 2007 bout, claiming the trainer was "mean," he hired Garcia's brother, Danny, as his new trainer.
That created such a severe falling out in the Garcia family that Robert and Danny are not on speaking terms. It doesn't help that their backyards in Oxnard butt up against each other.
Mayweather claimed Wednesday that Ortiz's explanation that he was abandoned by his father at the age of 12 was "not true," counting Robert Garcia and Internet reports as his "research."
Ortiz insists his father was abusive and walked away after Ortiz's mother quit parenting.
Contacted by telephone, Robert Garcia told The Times he's heard from a former neighbor of the Ortiz family that Ortiz's "dad never left him, was always there for him."
Garcia said he couldn't remember Ortiz's father ever checking in by telephone or any other means after Garcia and his father effectively took over guardianship of Ortiz at age 16, with the then-amateur boxer relocating from Garden City, Kan., to Oxnard.
On Wednesday, Ortiz gave Mayweather's claims little attention, though Danny Garcia announced he "loves his brother" and expressed hope for a reunion someday soon. Robert Garcia said he agreed with that sentiment but first wanted Danny "to admit" he was wrong by not alerting the Garcia family to his intentions to replace Robert as Ortiz's trainer.
"He knows why I don't want to talk to him," Robert Garcia said. "I had brought Danny in to help me train fighters and get a piece of every guy. Then we find out by surprise that Victor wants to go somewhere else, and that Danny is training him. If he wanted to do that in the first place, all he had to do was tell us. Fine, go make some money.
"Finding out without him telling us, it's ugly now. I've learned when there's money involved, it can change people. I just want Danny to tell me why he did it.
Mayweather was reportedly contemplating asking Robert Garcia and his star fighter Rios to accompany him into the ring with Ortiz, but Robert Garcia said he "wouldn't be comfortable" doing so. He said he did want to attend the fight, however, and was pleased to receive an invitation from Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe on Wednesday.
"I think Mayweather wins, and I'm not the only one," Robert Garcia said. "Victor does hit hard, and he has power, but I believe Floyd will pick him apart.
'Victor is weak-minded. If Floyd starts landing [punches] on him, Victor will lose it. I know he will. It happened when I had him in the amateurs. It happened [two years ago] against [Marcos] Maidana."
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has launched mental warfare against his 10-years-younger Saturday night opponent Victor Ortiz, inviting Ortiz's ex-trainer Robert Garcia and Ventura County rival world champion Brandon Rios to watch near ringside.
"I saw Garcia at a fight at state line [Primm, Nev.] not too long ago. He asked to come to my next fight, and I said that'd be great," Mayweather said. "I'm a man of my word."
Especially when it's this irritating to the opposition's camp.
Not only did Ortiz drop Garcia as his trainer after a 2007 bout, claiming the trainer was "mean," he hired Garcia's brother, Danny, as his new trainer.
That created such a severe falling out in the Garcia family that Robert and Danny are not on speaking terms. It doesn't help that their backyards in Oxnard butt up against each other.
Mayweather claimed Wednesday that Ortiz's explanation that he was abandoned by his father at the age of 12 was "not true," counting Robert Garcia and Internet reports as his "research."
Ortiz insists his father was abusive and walked away after Ortiz's mother quit parenting.
Contacted by telephone, Robert Garcia told The Times he's heard from a former neighbor of the Ortiz family that Ortiz's "dad never left him, was always there for him."
Garcia said he couldn't remember Ortiz's father ever checking in by telephone or any other means after Garcia and his father effectively took over guardianship of Ortiz at age 16, with the then-amateur boxer relocating from Garden City, Kan., to Oxnard.
On Wednesday, Ortiz gave Mayweather's claims little attention, though Danny Garcia announced he "loves his brother" and expressed hope for a reunion someday soon. Robert Garcia said he agreed with that sentiment but first wanted Danny "to admit" he was wrong by not alerting the Garcia family to his intentions to replace Robert as Ortiz's trainer.
"He knows why I don't want to talk to him," Robert Garcia said. "I had brought Danny in to help me train fighters and get a piece of every guy. Then we find out by surprise that Victor wants to go somewhere else, and that Danny is training him. If he wanted to do that in the first place, all he had to do was tell us. Fine, go make some money.
"Finding out without him telling us, it's ugly now. I've learned when there's money involved, it can change people. I just want Danny to tell me why he did it.
Mayweather was reportedly contemplating asking Robert Garcia and his star fighter Rios to accompany him into the ring with Ortiz, but Robert Garcia said he "wouldn't be comfortable" doing so. He said he did want to attend the fight, however, and was pleased to receive an invitation from Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe on Wednesday.
"I think Mayweather wins, and I'm not the only one," Robert Garcia said. "Victor does hit hard, and he has power, but I believe Floyd will pick him apart.
'Victor is weak-minded. If Floyd starts landing [punches] on him, Victor will lose it. I know he will. It happened when I had him in the amateurs. It happened [two years ago] against [Marcos] Maidana."
Victor Ortiz vows to 'teach' Floyd Mayweather Jr.
oxers trade pointed comments in advance of bout at Las Vegas' MGM Grand on Saturday, and Ortiz's trainer has something to say too.
By Lance Pugmire
September 14, 2011
Reporting from Las Vegas — The most modest man at the podium made the boldest statement Wednesday.
Danny Garcia, a soda truck driver who also trains world welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, turned to multimillionaire Floyd Mayweather Jr. and made a simple, passionate plea that will resonate until the boxers square off at the MGM Grand on Saturday night.
"Floyd, at least for this fight, fight a good clean fight for the people," Garcia said as he stared down at Mayweather, who was seated at a news conference dais. "We all know how you fight.
"Don't put up your elbow, don't turn your back. That tells me you're scared of fighting."
Strong words from a working-class man whose morning delivery route includes stops in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo.
It wasn't Mayweather's turn to speak, but as he showed HBO cameras during training camp, when he threw his father out of his gym in an expletive-filled tirade, he doesn't have much patience in debate.
"Yeah, I am scared of fighting," answered Mayweather, mocking Garcia's accusation. "That's why I've been dominating here for 16 years. I'm the one doing the [pay-per-view] numbers. I'm not worried about you. You're the trainer. Let your fighter fight."
Ortiz, 24, who claimed the World Boxing Council title with a stirring exchange-of-knockdowns battle with Andre Berto in April, took up his trainer's cause.
"You have 41 [victories], but none of those 41 were against me," said the Ventura boxer, who has a record of 29-2-2 with 22 knockouts. "I sense some nervousness. I am the current WBC champion. I'm going to teach you what it's like to have that one [loss]."
Mayweather, 34, whose 41-0 record includes 25 knockouts, cautioned his younger foe — a 51/2-1 underdog at the MGM Resorts' Race and Sports Book — telling Ortiz to stay "classy."
Ortiz responded with a dig at Mayweather's involvement in a felony domestic violence case in which the mother of his three children was allegedly a victim.
"Oh, we're talking about class here? I'm going to put you on your [rear]," Ortiz said.
When it was Mayweather's turn, he expressed surprise that the Ortiz camp had turned scornful.
"The trainer says I'm a dirty fighter. Well, it's a dirty sport," Mayweather said. "It's the hurt business. How can it be clean?"
He added, "Don't worry about me backpedaling. I'll come straight ahead. The fight's not going the distance. When I hit you and hurt you, don't grab me. I'm going to finish you off."
Mayweather also claimed Ortiz's sad story of being abandoned in his youth by his father is "not true" — citing Internet talk as his source of information. Mayweather said he's grown tired of Ortiz's repeating, "Dude, I grew up with nothing."
There was another message: Welcome to big-time boxing, kid.
"It didn't bother me. I'm a tree stump, man," Ortiz said afterward. "You can say whatever you want. I know when you do something well, everyone's your friend, and when you hit the floor, everyone forgets you.
"It's going to be a sad moment for Floyd Saturday night."
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
By Lance Pugmire
September 14, 2011
Reporting from Las Vegas — The most modest man at the podium made the boldest statement Wednesday.
Danny Garcia, a soda truck driver who also trains world welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, turned to multimillionaire Floyd Mayweather Jr. and made a simple, passionate plea that will resonate until the boxers square off at the MGM Grand on Saturday night.
"Floyd, at least for this fight, fight a good clean fight for the people," Garcia said as he stared down at Mayweather, who was seated at a news conference dais. "We all know how you fight.
"Don't put up your elbow, don't turn your back. That tells me you're scared of fighting."
Strong words from a working-class man whose morning delivery route includes stops in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo.
It wasn't Mayweather's turn to speak, but as he showed HBO cameras during training camp, when he threw his father out of his gym in an expletive-filled tirade, he doesn't have much patience in debate.
"Yeah, I am scared of fighting," answered Mayweather, mocking Garcia's accusation. "That's why I've been dominating here for 16 years. I'm the one doing the [pay-per-view] numbers. I'm not worried about you. You're the trainer. Let your fighter fight."
Ortiz, 24, who claimed the World Boxing Council title with a stirring exchange-of-knockdowns battle with Andre Berto in April, took up his trainer's cause.
"You have 41 [victories], but none of those 41 were against me," said the Ventura boxer, who has a record of 29-2-2 with 22 knockouts. "I sense some nervousness. I am the current WBC champion. I'm going to teach you what it's like to have that one [loss]."
Mayweather, 34, whose 41-0 record includes 25 knockouts, cautioned his younger foe — a 51/2-1 underdog at the MGM Resorts' Race and Sports Book — telling Ortiz to stay "classy."
Ortiz responded with a dig at Mayweather's involvement in a felony domestic violence case in which the mother of his three children was allegedly a victim.
"Oh, we're talking about class here? I'm going to put you on your [rear]," Ortiz said.
When it was Mayweather's turn, he expressed surprise that the Ortiz camp had turned scornful.
"The trainer says I'm a dirty fighter. Well, it's a dirty sport," Mayweather said. "It's the hurt business. How can it be clean?"
He added, "Don't worry about me backpedaling. I'll come straight ahead. The fight's not going the distance. When I hit you and hurt you, don't grab me. I'm going to finish you off."
Mayweather also claimed Ortiz's sad story of being abandoned in his youth by his father is "not true" — citing Internet talk as his source of information. Mayweather said he's grown tired of Ortiz's repeating, "Dude, I grew up with nothing."
There was another message: Welcome to big-time boxing, kid.
"It didn't bother me. I'm a tree stump, man," Ortiz said afterward. "You can say whatever you want. I know when you do something well, everyone's your friend, and when you hit the floor, everyone forgets you.
"It's going to be a sad moment for Floyd Saturday night."
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Victor Ortiz keeps camp loose before fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr.
In contrast to his opponent, WBC champion Ortiz likes to interrupt the grind of training with 'fun days' to give his team a break from tension. It fits the persona of a boxer who says, 'I love life.'
Victor Ortiz
By Lance Pugmire
September 13, 2011, 4:46 p.m.
As much as Victor Ortiz has in common with Floyd Mayweather Jr. — neither is talking to his father, both left veteran promoter Bob Arum for greater riches, and they're fighting each other Saturday — there's one dominant difference.
Mayweather's gym maintains a consistently tense mood, saying that the fighter is there training hard to avoid the damage that occurs in the blood sport. Ortiz routinely halts everything for a "fun day."
Recently, Ortiz took everyone on a chartered deep-sea fishing boat off the Channel Islands. He's also invited the group to surf, enter a Camp Pendleton triathlon race with him, paddleboard, get massages in Ojai and sky dive.
"I'm not going to live forever. So you better have fun while you're here," Ortiz said from his home on Ventura Harbor.
That's the unmistakable vibe exuding from Ortiz, the 24-year-old World Boxing Council welterweight champion. He will make his first title defense in Las Vegas in a bout dominated by the story line of his celebrated opponent, the unbeaten Mayweather, who returns to the ring after 16 months.
"I think everyone is tired of him," Ortiz said of his foe. "I'm here to win this."
Ortiz is an aggressive puncher, with a 29-2-2 record and 22 knockouts, but oddsmakers say he's a 7-to-1 underdog.
Those close to Ortiz say that if victory is at hand, it will be because of the drive he's shown by overcoming numerous obstacles to win a world title.
"He takes his energy as a fighter into everything he does, and our kids need to hear that story," said Hector Cortez, chief diversity officer of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, a youth mentoring organization based in Philadelphia. Ortiz, a spokesman for the organization, recently hosted some youths from a gang-intervention program at his Ventura gym.
"To respond to the environment he came from is a testament to his resolve," Cortez said. "Everything around you comes from something deep within you, and tapping into that can be transformative."
Ortiz grew up in Garden City, Kan., and he and his siblings endured a difficult childhood as their parents abandoned them.
Mayweather, similarly scarred by unstable parenting, remains saddled with a reputation for being moody and difficult. He's facing felony charges stemming from allegations that he struck the mother of his three children, and he recently split with his father in an expletive-filled exchange on HBO's "24/7" reality series.
Ortiz has taken another tack. He simply doesn't speak to the father who left him.
Last winter, Ortiz said, he faced his own domestic crisis — he came home early one day and found his girlfriend of four years with another man, a U.S. serviceman. He recalled telling the soldier, "I should hit you, but I won't, because all the stories will say, 'Boxer beats up military hero.'" Ortiz ended the relationship.
In April, Ortiz's boxing career reached a pinnacle. He won the WBC belt from then-unbeaten Andre Berto in a stirring unanimous decision, a bout in which both men were knocked down twice, with Mayweather watching ringside.
"I could have easily headed in other directions throughout my life," Ortiz said. "Luckily, I was surrounded by a lot of positive people. I knew right from wrong. And it meant something to me to not be that person who in people's eyes was all messed up."
Ortiz credits his youth boxing mentor, the late Ignacio "Bucky" Avila. The trainer kept repeating the phrase "You can do it, Junior" so often that Ortiz said he heard the words echo during the Berto fight.
Ortiz values support from those close to him. It was a key reason why he dumped his former trainer Robert Garcia. The trainer was "mean" and not supportive, Ortiz said.
Rosas recalled that during the weigh-in for a 2006 fight in San Antonio against a then-unbeaten opponent named Nestor Rosas, he ended a verbal exchange by betting Rosas $100 that he'd win the fight. Instead of drawing admiration from Garcia for being confident, the trainer scolded Ortiz and warned him he faced a difficult fight.
"[Garcia was] always bringing me down," Ortiz said.
Ortiz knocked out Rosas in the fifth round.
Fight fans, though, haven't always been on Ortiz's side. In June 2009 Ortiz lost to Marcos Maidana on a sixth-round technical knockout at Staples Center when it appeared Ortiz could have continued. Fans shouted at Ortiz: "You're not a true Mexican!"
Ortiz believes that if he fought Maidana 10 times he'd win nine of the bouts. "Sorry for the mistake of being human" and losing one, Ortiz said.
Rolando Arellano, Ortiz's manager, added, "There's a reason the front windshield of a car is bigger than the rear mirror: You should look forward most of the time, and only occasionally check behind you."
On Ortiz's dinner table is the volume "The Book of Positive Quotations." His manager frequently reads passages from it to Ortiz. They also watch Anthony Robbins' motivational videos together.
"It's not what people think of you, it's what you believe about yourself," Arellano said, fixing his eyes on his fighter. "There are excuses to fail and excuses to succeed. . . . It's the story between the ears that determines your life."
Ortiz nods, relishing his own path.
"You've got to get over things," Ortiz said. "Otherwise, you'd sit there and want to kill yourself. I love life."
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Victor Ortiz
By Lance Pugmire
September 13, 2011, 4:46 p.m.
As much as Victor Ortiz has in common with Floyd Mayweather Jr. — neither is talking to his father, both left veteran promoter Bob Arum for greater riches, and they're fighting each other Saturday — there's one dominant difference.
Mayweather's gym maintains a consistently tense mood, saying that the fighter is there training hard to avoid the damage that occurs in the blood sport. Ortiz routinely halts everything for a "fun day."
Recently, Ortiz took everyone on a chartered deep-sea fishing boat off the Channel Islands. He's also invited the group to surf, enter a Camp Pendleton triathlon race with him, paddleboard, get massages in Ojai and sky dive.
"I'm not going to live forever. So you better have fun while you're here," Ortiz said from his home on Ventura Harbor.
That's the unmistakable vibe exuding from Ortiz, the 24-year-old World Boxing Council welterweight champion. He will make his first title defense in Las Vegas in a bout dominated by the story line of his celebrated opponent, the unbeaten Mayweather, who returns to the ring after 16 months.
"I think everyone is tired of him," Ortiz said of his foe. "I'm here to win this."
Ortiz is an aggressive puncher, with a 29-2-2 record and 22 knockouts, but oddsmakers say he's a 7-to-1 underdog.
Those close to Ortiz say that if victory is at hand, it will be because of the drive he's shown by overcoming numerous obstacles to win a world title.
"He takes his energy as a fighter into everything he does, and our kids need to hear that story," said Hector Cortez, chief diversity officer of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, a youth mentoring organization based in Philadelphia. Ortiz, a spokesman for the organization, recently hosted some youths from a gang-intervention program at his Ventura gym.
"To respond to the environment he came from is a testament to his resolve," Cortez said. "Everything around you comes from something deep within you, and tapping into that can be transformative."
Ortiz grew up in Garden City, Kan., and he and his siblings endured a difficult childhood as their parents abandoned them.
Mayweather, similarly scarred by unstable parenting, remains saddled with a reputation for being moody and difficult. He's facing felony charges stemming from allegations that he struck the mother of his three children, and he recently split with his father in an expletive-filled exchange on HBO's "24/7" reality series.
Ortiz has taken another tack. He simply doesn't speak to the father who left him.
Last winter, Ortiz said, he faced his own domestic crisis — he came home early one day and found his girlfriend of four years with another man, a U.S. serviceman. He recalled telling the soldier, "I should hit you, but I won't, because all the stories will say, 'Boxer beats up military hero.'" Ortiz ended the relationship.
In April, Ortiz's boxing career reached a pinnacle. He won the WBC belt from then-unbeaten Andre Berto in a stirring unanimous decision, a bout in which both men were knocked down twice, with Mayweather watching ringside.
"I could have easily headed in other directions throughout my life," Ortiz said. "Luckily, I was surrounded by a lot of positive people. I knew right from wrong. And it meant something to me to not be that person who in people's eyes was all messed up."
Ortiz credits his youth boxing mentor, the late Ignacio "Bucky" Avila. The trainer kept repeating the phrase "You can do it, Junior" so often that Ortiz said he heard the words echo during the Berto fight.
Ortiz values support from those close to him. It was a key reason why he dumped his former trainer Robert Garcia. The trainer was "mean" and not supportive, Ortiz said.
Rosas recalled that during the weigh-in for a 2006 fight in San Antonio against a then-unbeaten opponent named Nestor Rosas, he ended a verbal exchange by betting Rosas $100 that he'd win the fight. Instead of drawing admiration from Garcia for being confident, the trainer scolded Ortiz and warned him he faced a difficult fight.
"[Garcia was] always bringing me down," Ortiz said.
Ortiz knocked out Rosas in the fifth round.
Fight fans, though, haven't always been on Ortiz's side. In June 2009 Ortiz lost to Marcos Maidana on a sixth-round technical knockout at Staples Center when it appeared Ortiz could have continued. Fans shouted at Ortiz: "You're not a true Mexican!"
Ortiz believes that if he fought Maidana 10 times he'd win nine of the bouts. "Sorry for the mistake of being human" and losing one, Ortiz said.
Rolando Arellano, Ortiz's manager, added, "There's a reason the front windshield of a car is bigger than the rear mirror: You should look forward most of the time, and only occasionally check behind you."
On Ortiz's dinner table is the volume "The Book of Positive Quotations." His manager frequently reads passages from it to Ortiz. They also watch Anthony Robbins' motivational videos together.
"It's not what people think of you, it's what you believe about yourself," Arellano said, fixing his eyes on his fighter. "There are excuses to fail and excuses to succeed. . . . It's the story between the ears that determines your life."
Ortiz nods, relishing his own path.
"You've got to get over things," Ortiz said. "Otherwise, you'd sit there and want to kill yourself. I love life."
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon/Charlie Sawyer Jan. 31, 1959..
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon/Charlie Sawyer Jan. 31, 1959..
"Headlines ARAGON IN TROUBLE AGAIN; 4-ROUND 'KAYO' A FIASCO, Los Angeles-A four -round fiasco with his ex-sparring partner has plunged Art Aragon into hot water with the boxing commission and has cost him a shot at Don Jordan's welterweight title. The State Athletic Commission has ordered both fighter's purses held up pending a hearing Saturday of Aragon's knockout of Charlie Sawyer. "As soon as they started there movements in the first round, I knew something was wrong." said Tommy Hart, who refereed the scheduled 10-rounder Saturday night at Legion Stadium. Hart refused to count three times in the first round when Sawyer hit the deck. "It was just horseplay," said Hart. "Sawyer got hit on the shoulder and went into his elevator act." RUMORS BEFORE FIGHT. However, Hart conceded that Sawyer was really tagged when he went down and was counted out in the fourth. (Commission Secretary Clayton Frye told United Press International today that Sawyer "was trying to go down, it was obvious. (Aragon, a veteran of 16 years in the pro fight game, was convicted in 1957 of offering another fighter, Dick Goldstein, $500 to throw a fight, but a California District Court of Appeals subsequently reversed this conviction. ("There were rumors about the fight," Frye said, "and both boxers were warned at the weigh-in...We simply wanted to put them on notice that we wanted the best effort." Aragon, who could have won a shot at the welter title with a good showing, said the fight was on the up-and-up as far as he was concerned. "I'm not responsible for what Sawyer does," "I'm not the matchmaker." Sawyer, a 10-year ring veteran, said "Those knockdowns were good. Did the referee want me to get killed?" Sawyer worked as a sparmate for Aragon's ill-fated tilt with Carmen Basilio last September. Aragon said "Sawyer is washed up. That's what caused the trouble. I knocked him down with big gloves three times when i was training for Basilio."
Frank, Do you remember this fight, like you said before, "when wasn't Art in trouble," never a dull moment with Golden Boy"....Paul
--------------------------------------------------------
I remember it Paul,I didn't see it though. Sawyer was Joe Kelly's fighter. Kelly was the door man at the Teamsters gym in the '50's, Kelly also was one of the last owner's of the Knockout Magazine...
"Headlines ARAGON IN TROUBLE AGAIN; 4-ROUND 'KAYO' A FIASCO, Los Angeles-A four -round fiasco with his ex-sparring partner has plunged Art Aragon into hot water with the boxing commission and has cost him a shot at Don Jordan's welterweight title. The State Athletic Commission has ordered both fighter's purses held up pending a hearing Saturday of Aragon's knockout of Charlie Sawyer. "As soon as they started there movements in the first round, I knew something was wrong." said Tommy Hart, who refereed the scheduled 10-rounder Saturday night at Legion Stadium. Hart refused to count three times in the first round when Sawyer hit the deck. "It was just horseplay," said Hart. "Sawyer got hit on the shoulder and went into his elevator act." RUMORS BEFORE FIGHT. However, Hart conceded that Sawyer was really tagged when he went down and was counted out in the fourth. (Commission Secretary Clayton Frye told United Press International today that Sawyer "was trying to go down, it was obvious. (Aragon, a veteran of 16 years in the pro fight game, was convicted in 1957 of offering another fighter, Dick Goldstein, $500 to throw a fight, but a California District Court of Appeals subsequently reversed this conviction. ("There were rumors about the fight," Frye said, "and both boxers were warned at the weigh-in...We simply wanted to put them on notice that we wanted the best effort." Aragon, who could have won a shot at the welter title with a good showing, said the fight was on the up-and-up as far as he was concerned. "I'm not responsible for what Sawyer does," "I'm not the matchmaker." Sawyer, a 10-year ring veteran, said "Those knockdowns were good. Did the referee want me to get killed?" Sawyer worked as a sparmate for Aragon's ill-fated tilt with Carmen Basilio last September. Aragon said "Sawyer is washed up. That's what caused the trouble. I knocked him down with big gloves three times when i was training for Basilio."
Frank, Do you remember this fight, like you said before, "when wasn't Art in trouble," never a dull moment with Golden Boy"....Paul
--------------------------------------------------------
I remember it Paul,I didn't see it though. Sawyer was Joe Kelly's fighter. Kelly was the door man at the Teamsters gym in the '50's, Kelly also was one of the last owner's of the Knockout Magazine...
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Tony Baltazar/Howard Davis Post-Fight Press Conference.
At a press conference after the Tony Baltazar/Howard Davis fight a reporter asked Tony a question.
Reporter: Tony, after dropping Howard twice; were you surprise at the decision?
Tony: well, you know; I am a long way from home.
Reporter: Tony, after dropping Howard twice; were you surprise at the decision?
Tony: well, you know; I am a long way from home.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Frankie Baltazar v Chango Cruz
http://youtu.be/tgDI91Q81p0
Frankie Baltazar v Chango Cruz
October 28, 1976
On Monday, October 25, 1976, Frankie and I were working at a Ford dealership (paint shop) in Alhambra, Ca. That morning I told Frankie that on our lunch hour I was going to go see Don Chargin at the Olympic Auditorium to see if I could set up a six-round fight for him for that coming Thursday night.
I left Alhambra about 11:30 AM. and got to the Olympic about 25 minutes later. As I parked the car I was thinking about how hard it had become to get Frankie fights. His record stood at 4-1 with 2 knockouts. The one decision loss was an out-of-town (Stockton, Ca.) fight against Reynaldo Zaragoza, a fight that just about everybody in the house thought Frankie had won.
As I entered the Olympic I was hoping that I wasn't again wasting my time as I had been doing lately in talking to Chargin. I climbed the stairs to his office and as I got to the door I could hear Harry Kabakoff saying, "What are we going to do Don? Castillo won't fight Cruz."
"We'll find somebody for him to fight, so don't worry Harry," I heard Don say. As I walked in I could see that Harry looked like he was about to start crying, but he smiled a big smile when he saw me walk in.
"Is your boy ready to fight?" Harry asked me.
"Yes, that's why I'm here, to see if I can get Frankie a six-round fight," I answered.
"How about Thursday night in the main event?" Harry asked.
"Against who?" I countered.
"Chango Cruz."
"C'mon Harry. Cruz has had 12 fights with 8 KO's, Frankie only has five fights. By the way, what happened to Castillo?"
"Castillo got sick, so they say. I think they are afraid to fight my new champ," said Harry.
I turned to Chargin and asked him about getting a six-round fight, and he said that none of the local fighters wanted to fight Frankie and that it was too expensive to bring in out-of-town fighters for a six-round fight. At that point Harry jumped in and told me to forget about a six rounder and to take the Cruz fight. Chargin then said, "Frank, we'll pay you XXX dollars."
"I don't know, Don. Like I said, Frankie only has had five fights, and he has never gone more than seven rounds. This would be a ten-round fight against a guy with 12 wins, 8 by knockout. I don't want to put Frankie in over his head," I said to Chargin. Harry again jumped in and said they would pay us more than they first offered. After going around for about an hour and seeing the offer go up a few more times and being told not to worry about the weight, I accepted the fight.
I got back to the shop and told Frankie to go home, that he was fighting the main on Thursday. "Who am I fighting Pops?" he asked.
"You are fighting Chango Cruz, mijo," I said.
"But Pops! Cruz has 12 wins and 8 by knockout. I only have five fights. What happened to Castillo?"
"Castillo got sick, mijo. Now go home, I'll see you at the gym," I told him.
I wasn't sure that Frankie would beat Cruz, but I was sure that he wouldn't get hurt. After all, Frankie had been boxing since he was six years old.
Frankie won by ninth-round knockout, and Harry didn't talk to me for about six months after that. . . . .
----------------
LOL!!..soon after this fight I got fired and since Frankie was working for me; he had to go too. The owner said we were spending too much time on the fight game. It worked out for us though, within a couple of week I landed a better paying job, one mile from our house, at our local Chevy dealer. There the owner loved us, we couldn't do no wrong. He and his wife started attending Frankie and Tony's fights, on our dime of course....LOL!!
Frankie Baltazar v Chango Cruz
October 28, 1976
On Monday, October 25, 1976, Frankie and I were working at a Ford dealership (paint shop) in Alhambra, Ca. That morning I told Frankie that on our lunch hour I was going to go see Don Chargin at the Olympic Auditorium to see if I could set up a six-round fight for him for that coming Thursday night.
I left Alhambra about 11:30 AM. and got to the Olympic about 25 minutes later. As I parked the car I was thinking about how hard it had become to get Frankie fights. His record stood at 4-1 with 2 knockouts. The one decision loss was an out-of-town (Stockton, Ca.) fight against Reynaldo Zaragoza, a fight that just about everybody in the house thought Frankie had won.
As I entered the Olympic I was hoping that I wasn't again wasting my time as I had been doing lately in talking to Chargin. I climbed the stairs to his office and as I got to the door I could hear Harry Kabakoff saying, "What are we going to do Don? Castillo won't fight Cruz."
"We'll find somebody for him to fight, so don't worry Harry," I heard Don say. As I walked in I could see that Harry looked like he was about to start crying, but he smiled a big smile when he saw me walk in.
"Is your boy ready to fight?" Harry asked me.
"Yes, that's why I'm here, to see if I can get Frankie a six-round fight," I answered.
"How about Thursday night in the main event?" Harry asked.
"Against who?" I countered.
"Chango Cruz."
"C'mon Harry. Cruz has had 12 fights with 8 KO's, Frankie only has five fights. By the way, what happened to Castillo?"
"Castillo got sick, so they say. I think they are afraid to fight my new champ," said Harry.
I turned to Chargin and asked him about getting a six-round fight, and he said that none of the local fighters wanted to fight Frankie and that it was too expensive to bring in out-of-town fighters for a six-round fight. At that point Harry jumped in and told me to forget about a six rounder and to take the Cruz fight. Chargin then said, "Frank, we'll pay you XXX dollars."
"I don't know, Don. Like I said, Frankie only has had five fights, and he has never gone more than seven rounds. This would be a ten-round fight against a guy with 12 wins, 8 by knockout. I don't want to put Frankie in over his head," I said to Chargin. Harry again jumped in and said they would pay us more than they first offered. After going around for about an hour and seeing the offer go up a few more times and being told not to worry about the weight, I accepted the fight.
I got back to the shop and told Frankie to go home, that he was fighting the main on Thursday. "Who am I fighting Pops?" he asked.
"You are fighting Chango Cruz, mijo," I said.
"But Pops! Cruz has 12 wins and 8 by knockout. I only have five fights. What happened to Castillo?"
"Castillo got sick, mijo. Now go home, I'll see you at the gym," I told him.
I wasn't sure that Frankie would beat Cruz, but I was sure that he wouldn't get hurt. After all, Frankie had been boxing since he was six years old.
Frankie won by ninth-round knockout, and Harry didn't talk to me for about six months after that. . . . .
----------------
LOL!!..soon after this fight I got fired and since Frankie was working for me; he had to go too. The owner said we were spending too much time on the fight game. It worked out for us though, within a couple of week I landed a better paying job, one mile from our house, at our local Chevy dealer. There the owner loved us, we couldn't do no wrong. He and his wife started attending Frankie and Tony's fights, on our dime of course....LOL!!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Floyd Mayeather vs Victor Ortiz
It's hard for me to see Victor Ortiz beating Floyd Mayweather because I seen what happened when Ortiz fought a decent fighter, he "No Mas" on one (Maidana) , then was up and down like some old whore's panties on another (Berto), those were the only two fighters of note that he has fought and he was in deep caca in both of those fights..Yes I agree that Floyd is getting old and hasn't fought in months, but imo against Ortiz that won't matter much
Frank Baltazar
Frank Baltazar
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Having Doubts about Canelo Alvarez
By Gabreal Gallegos
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. The youngest EVER to win the Light Middleweight belt.
It just doesn’t sound right saying that sentence. Let’s be clear about one thing. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is a good boxer, however, is he a deserving champion that won the belt by beating the best in his weight division. No.
His promoters will have you believe that while he is a good boxer on the cusp of being a great if not legendary champion, he still needs work…and by work what his promoters are really saying is, he needs more fights under his belt. The statement is not a shock nor is it typically surprising a fighter that is only 21 years old to be still finding his rhythm, power, mental game and many other attributes a professional boxer needs to stay competitive. This is especially true for a young up and coming fighter such as Canelo. However, Alvarez has been a pro since 15 and now he is the WBC Light Middleweight Champion of the world. Therefore, the words such as time, progress, develop should have been established well before Alvarez won a title. This is not the case and now, Alvarez and Goldenboy have to decide how they are going to move forward with his career.
On September 17th Canelo will face reality TV contestant on The Contender season 1 member Alfonso Gomez. Gomez is not a bad choice; it’s a safe choice with a name. Gomez is not a deserving contender for the Light Middleweight belt. So, why is Gomez fighting for a title in less than 3 weeks? It’s because Alvarez is not ready for any of the big names that can not only beat him but could ruin his very promising career. It’s because Alvarez is still a work in progress, he has good power, nice range and a decent chin- but his defense, footwork, speed and power still need some work. Yes, he has some power but not nearly the power he needs to stay competitive at 154lb or 160lb if he ever decides to move up in weight.
His boxing tool chest needs to get more complete and until he is able to face real competition fans will never know if he has the ability to beat the likes of Cotto, Margarito or Paul Williams. This is the issue with Canelo, he is getting a pass and being allowed to fight the Gomez’s, Matthew Hatton’s and over the hill Baldomir’s in the boxing game today; instead of facing the best fighters the Light Middleweight class has to offer. This is a safe move by Goldenboy as it seems Goldenboy had a bit of a struggle of matching some of their fighters up with tougher competition then they should have been facing early in their career only to see them lose and never quit live up to the potential Goldenboy had hoped. (anyone remember Vicente Escobedo)
In the end Alvarez and Goldenboy have made their plan clear-set Canelo up with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr route. Play it safe, but talk Canelo up as if he is one fight away from fighting the toughest guys in his division only keep him away from any potential threat for at least another year or so. It’s not a plan that you can blame a team that is aware their prize fighter is not ready for a real test. Alvarez already has the belt all they have to do now is match make Alvarez with boxers that have a name but not much more. No speed, no power and definitely no one that can be a threat, This will work and I for one wouldn’t be surprised if they attempt to match Bernard Hopkins 20 win record…Only kidding, but..You never know.
And then…
Canelo, is a huge star in the making, he just needs to be matched correctly for a while, but the issue I have with that is he is a champion. Champions fight the best fighters out there…Well at least they used to. Today fighters are all about the business. The promoters make fans think that Clottey, Gomez, and Mosley are the best possible fights that can be made. Roy Jones Jr was the best at making bullshit fights seem relevant and now we will see how Goldenboy and company make out with Canelo’s and his career.
Low blows and cancellations seem to be the theme of August. Let’s hope that September brings what fans have been waiting for. Andre Berto is back in the ring, an exciting fight between Gamboa and DeLeon, Mayweather Ortiz fight, add that with HBO 24/7, College and NFL football season getting under way and the next 3 weeks should be pretty entertaining.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. The youngest EVER to win the Light Middleweight belt.
It just doesn’t sound right saying that sentence. Let’s be clear about one thing. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is a good boxer, however, is he a deserving champion that won the belt by beating the best in his weight division. No.
His promoters will have you believe that while he is a good boxer on the cusp of being a great if not legendary champion, he still needs work…and by work what his promoters are really saying is, he needs more fights under his belt. The statement is not a shock nor is it typically surprising a fighter that is only 21 years old to be still finding his rhythm, power, mental game and many other attributes a professional boxer needs to stay competitive. This is especially true for a young up and coming fighter such as Canelo. However, Alvarez has been a pro since 15 and now he is the WBC Light Middleweight Champion of the world. Therefore, the words such as time, progress, develop should have been established well before Alvarez won a title. This is not the case and now, Alvarez and Goldenboy have to decide how they are going to move forward with his career.
On September 17th Canelo will face reality TV contestant on The Contender season 1 member Alfonso Gomez. Gomez is not a bad choice; it’s a safe choice with a name. Gomez is not a deserving contender for the Light Middleweight belt. So, why is Gomez fighting for a title in less than 3 weeks? It’s because Alvarez is not ready for any of the big names that can not only beat him but could ruin his very promising career. It’s because Alvarez is still a work in progress, he has good power, nice range and a decent chin- but his defense, footwork, speed and power still need some work. Yes, he has some power but not nearly the power he needs to stay competitive at 154lb or 160lb if he ever decides to move up in weight.
His boxing tool chest needs to get more complete and until he is able to face real competition fans will never know if he has the ability to beat the likes of Cotto, Margarito or Paul Williams. This is the issue with Canelo, he is getting a pass and being allowed to fight the Gomez’s, Matthew Hatton’s and over the hill Baldomir’s in the boxing game today; instead of facing the best fighters the Light Middleweight class has to offer. This is a safe move by Goldenboy as it seems Goldenboy had a bit of a struggle of matching some of their fighters up with tougher competition then they should have been facing early in their career only to see them lose and never quit live up to the potential Goldenboy had hoped. (anyone remember Vicente Escobedo)
In the end Alvarez and Goldenboy have made their plan clear-set Canelo up with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr route. Play it safe, but talk Canelo up as if he is one fight away from fighting the toughest guys in his division only keep him away from any potential threat for at least another year or so. It’s not a plan that you can blame a team that is aware their prize fighter is not ready for a real test. Alvarez already has the belt all they have to do now is match make Alvarez with boxers that have a name but not much more. No speed, no power and definitely no one that can be a threat, This will work and I for one wouldn’t be surprised if they attempt to match Bernard Hopkins 20 win record…Only kidding, but..You never know.
And then…
Canelo, is a huge star in the making, he just needs to be matched correctly for a while, but the issue I have with that is he is a champion. Champions fight the best fighters out there…Well at least they used to. Today fighters are all about the business. The promoters make fans think that Clottey, Gomez, and Mosley are the best possible fights that can be made. Roy Jones Jr was the best at making bullshit fights seem relevant and now we will see how Goldenboy and company make out with Canelo’s and his career.
Low blows and cancellations seem to be the theme of August. Let’s hope that September brings what fans have been waiting for. Andre Berto is back in the ring, an exciting fight between Gamboa and DeLeon, Mayweather Ortiz fight, add that with HBO 24/7, College and NFL football season getting under way and the next 3 weeks should be pretty entertaining.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The now defunct Teamsters Gym. Where Frankie, Tony and Bobby Baltazar started their boxing careers in 1964.
Boxing is build on a foundation of sepia tone memories passed on from generation to generation and the Teamsters gym produce plenty.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Frankie Baltazar's Last Fight
By Frank Kiki Baltazar
October 24, 1991: Frankie is to fight Charlie “Mad Dog” Young for Don Fraser at the Marriott Hotel at Irvine, Ca. We arrived early for the same fight day Weight-in. Contract weight was 143 give or take. Frankie was right on the money at 143. Mad Dog came in 148, five over the contract agreement. The CSAC only allows a fighter to lose two pounds on the day of the fight, so that meant Mad Dog could only come in at 146, still three pounds over. Don Fraser is ready to have a heart attack as he is about to lose his main event. Don asked me if we would fight Mad Dog at ‘46, I said yes,” but that we get 10 % of Mad Dog purse”, the CSAC inspector jumped at that and said “no way are you getting 10 % of Young’s purse”, I told the inspector that if the fight was to go on we were getting 10% of Young’s purse and that if he read his rule book he would find out that we could get it, he called out to his flunky to get him the rule book, he read the rule book and he say “yes you can get 10 % and the CSAC get another 10 %!”. Poor Mad Dog just lost 20 % of his purse. After the inspector and Don Fraser explain things to him, he agree to lose two pounds, don’t think he understood about the 20%.
Mad dog came to the fight without a corner, so he asked Hall Of fame Corner Man Chuck Bodak and Jerry Boyed if they would work his corner, that he would pay them he said. Jerry Boyd in 2004 had a book published “Rope Burns” under the pen name F.X. Toole. The Oscar winning movie “Million Dollar Baby” was made from that book.
Two or three hours later Mad Dog made 146, so the fight is on. Later on in afternoon, I was sitting with Pat Russell who was to be the main event referee at the hotel's coffee shop; as we were sitting there Mad Dog came over to our table to talk trash, about how he was going knock Frankie out. I told him that that was okay with me. That either way I would walk out with the winner, he asked me “whatcha ya mean, whatcha ya mean?”; I told him; you and Frankie are my fighters, he tells me “I am not your fighter”. I than told him that for tonight’s fight I owned 10 % of him, Pat Russell told him that that was true; he then walked away muttering.
The fight went all Frankie’s way. He stopped Mad Dog in the ninth round. After the fight in the dressing room I told Frankie that we needed to talk about his boxing career and where he was going from here, well the rest is history.
Afterward I was in the hotel bar having a drink with some friends and fans of Frankie when Chuck Bodak and Jerry Boyd came up to me and asked me if I have seen Mad Dog, I said no, what happened I asked them “The S-B didn’t pay us”..... The Mad Dog was long gone…
October 24, 1991: Frankie is to fight Charlie “Mad Dog” Young for Don Fraser at the Marriott Hotel at Irvine, Ca. We arrived early for the same fight day Weight-in. Contract weight was 143 give or take. Frankie was right on the money at 143. Mad Dog came in 148, five over the contract agreement. The CSAC only allows a fighter to lose two pounds on the day of the fight, so that meant Mad Dog could only come in at 146, still three pounds over. Don Fraser is ready to have a heart attack as he is about to lose his main event. Don asked me if we would fight Mad Dog at ‘46, I said yes,” but that we get 10 % of Mad Dog purse”, the CSAC inspector jumped at that and said “no way are you getting 10 % of Young’s purse”, I told the inspector that if the fight was to go on we were getting 10% of Young’s purse and that if he read his rule book he would find out that we could get it, he called out to his flunky to get him the rule book, he read the rule book and he say “yes you can get 10 % and the CSAC get another 10 %!”. Poor Mad Dog just lost 20 % of his purse. After the inspector and Don Fraser explain things to him, he agree to lose two pounds, don’t think he understood about the 20%.
Mad dog came to the fight without a corner, so he asked Hall Of fame Corner Man Chuck Bodak and Jerry Boyed if they would work his corner, that he would pay them he said. Jerry Boyd in 2004 had a book published “Rope Burns” under the pen name F.X. Toole. The Oscar winning movie “Million Dollar Baby” was made from that book.
Two or three hours later Mad Dog made 146, so the fight is on. Later on in afternoon, I was sitting with Pat Russell who was to be the main event referee at the hotel's coffee shop; as we were sitting there Mad Dog came over to our table to talk trash, about how he was going knock Frankie out. I told him that that was okay with me. That either way I would walk out with the winner, he asked me “whatcha ya mean, whatcha ya mean?”; I told him; you and Frankie are my fighters, he tells me “I am not your fighter”. I than told him that for tonight’s fight I owned 10 % of him, Pat Russell told him that that was true; he then walked away muttering.
The fight went all Frankie’s way. He stopped Mad Dog in the ninth round. After the fight in the dressing room I told Frankie that we needed to talk about his boxing career and where he was going from here, well the rest is history.
Afterward I was in the hotel bar having a drink with some friends and fans of Frankie when Chuck Bodak and Jerry Boyd came up to me and asked me if I have seen Mad Dog, I said no, what happened I asked them “The S-B didn’t pay us”..... The Mad Dog was long gone…
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon/Tommy Campbell, May. 16, 1950
At the Olympic Auditorium at Los Angeles, Art "Golden Boy" Aragon scored a three-round knockout over Tommy Campbell after a questionable second round which saw Aragon decked for a seven count. Midway in the second round Campbell caught Aragon flush on the jaw with a right cross to the chin which sent Aragon careening through the ropes and onto the apron of the ring. Referee Reggie Gilmore waved Campbell to a neutral corner and began counting over Aragon, the 1 to 5 favorite. Golden Boy stood up on wobbly legs, but Campbell made no move to step into action and as Aragon moved across the ring they fell into a clinch without throwing a punch. At the end of the round the referee went to Campbell's corner and told him to get in there and fight or his license would be taken away. Campbell made an effort in the third, but Aragon came out like a tiger and a vicious left hook followed by a powerful right cross dropped Campbell for a nine count. As he arose Aragon rushed him and with a crushing right dropped him for the full count. An investigation the day following the fight saw both fighters cleared on all counts but Campbell's California license was taken away because he has failing sight in one eye. A crowd of 7,500 was on hand, contributing a gross of $16,558.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
IBF orders Agbeko-Mares rematch
from Fight News
IBF President Daryl Peoples and IBF Championships Chairman Lindsey Tucker completed their review of the IBF Optional Bantamweight Championship bout that took place on August 13, 2011 in Las Vegas, NV, between Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares. Peoples and Tucker observed several low blow fouls committed by Abner Mares. While the referee, Russell Mora, issued numerous warnings for low blows during the course of the bout, he neglected to deduct points for these fouls. With 1:03 left in round eleven, Joseph Agbeko was hit with a low blow foul that forced him to the canvas. Mr. Mora determined that the blow landed by Mares was legal and began to count indicating that a knockdown had occurred.
Based upon their review of the bout, it has been determined by the IBF that inappropriate conduct by the referee affected the outcome of the fight. In accordance with IBF/USBA Rule 3.D., the IBF is ordering a rematch between Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares for the IBF Bantamweight title which must be held within the next 120 days or by December 14, 2011.
IBF President Daryl Peoples and IBF Championships Chairman Lindsey Tucker completed their review of the IBF Optional Bantamweight Championship bout that took place on August 13, 2011 in Las Vegas, NV, between Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares. Peoples and Tucker observed several low blow fouls committed by Abner Mares. While the referee, Russell Mora, issued numerous warnings for low blows during the course of the bout, he neglected to deduct points for these fouls. With 1:03 left in round eleven, Joseph Agbeko was hit with a low blow foul that forced him to the canvas. Mr. Mora determined that the blow landed by Mares was legal and began to count indicating that a knockdown had occurred.
Based upon their review of the bout, it has been determined by the IBF that inappropriate conduct by the referee affected the outcome of the fight. In accordance with IBF/USBA Rule 3.D., the IBF is ordering a rematch between Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares for the IBF Bantamweight title which must be held within the next 120 days or by December 14, 2011.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon/Mario Trigo, May. 8, 1951
In defeating Mario Trigo at Los Angeles Olympic, Art Aragon won the California lightweight title and the dubious distinction of being the foremost contender (California version) for world title. And some of the local scribes stated that he looked the part. It was an action scrap and although not one-sided, Trigo was the recipient of much punisment. Mario was not as elusive as usual, in fact, was an easy target, but, due to poor timing, Aragon missed half his punches. Aragon, set on a kayo victory, stalked Trigo continually and had his jinx opponent hurt and wobbly several times, but couldn't put over the finisher. Trigo appeared about to cave in numerous times, but he recuperates quickly, and would always come back with a counter-attack. Mario was decked once, a short hook dropping him for a 1-count in the second.
Trigo outslugged the tired Aragon in the 8th, and came out fast in the 9th, forcing Art to give ground, but shortly after was knocked into the ropes from a left hook to the jaw. Seeing his foe was hurt, Aragon tore in with a vengeance, raining lefts and rights to Mario's head. Trigo was being badly pounded but appeared in no worst shape then on several previous occasions and the referee's action in halting the fight at this point brought forth considerable booing. Aragon looked drawn and pasty at 134 1/2, Trigo came in at 135.
Trigo outslugged the tired Aragon in the 8th, and came out fast in the 9th, forcing Art to give ground, but shortly after was knocked into the ropes from a left hook to the jaw. Seeing his foe was hurt, Aragon tore in with a vengeance, raining lefts and rights to Mario's head. Trigo was being badly pounded but appeared in no worst shape then on several previous occasions and the referee's action in halting the fight at this point brought forth considerable booing. Aragon looked drawn and pasty at 134 1/2, Trigo came in at 135.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
When Boxers were expected to "Step Up". . .
By Rick Farris
If Floyd & Pac came up in L.A. when Aileen Eaton & George Parnassus controlled our big time boxing, they'd have fought long ago.
You cash in on the event while it is hot, when it's wanted. A simple injury to either boxer eliminates a nine figure revenue today.
Back in the day in L.A. there was no waiting to settle a grudge match, cross town rivalry, or whatever the interest in a competitive match.
No boys "protected" in L.A. rings back then, not like what you see today. We had guys that got better breaks, but they fought competitive opponents.
When Keeny Teran and Gil Cadilli were the hottest homegrown talents, the two ELA hot shots were matched.
When Mando Ramos and Frankie Crawford needed to fight, they did. Twice.
When Quarry and Orbillo was a hot ticket, they got it on. Winning records were put in jeopardy, not like today.
And what about Kelly Pavlik? It's time to punch his time card and dismiss him. Disgrassa!
If Floyd & Pac came up in L.A. when Aileen Eaton & George Parnassus controlled our big time boxing, they'd have fought long ago.
You cash in on the event while it is hot, when it's wanted. A simple injury to either boxer eliminates a nine figure revenue today.
Back in the day in L.A. there was no waiting to settle a grudge match, cross town rivalry, or whatever the interest in a competitive match.
No boys "protected" in L.A. rings back then, not like what you see today. We had guys that got better breaks, but they fought competitive opponents.
When Keeny Teran and Gil Cadilli were the hottest homegrown talents, the two ELA hot shots were matched.
When Mando Ramos and Frankie Crawford needed to fight, they did. Twice.
When Quarry and Orbillo was a hot ticket, they got it on. Winning records were put in jeopardy, not like today.
And what about Kelly Pavlik? It's time to punch his time card and dismiss him. Disgrassa!
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon/Morris Leviege April. 21, 1955
Art Aragon the Golden Boy, who attracted over $9000,000 into the till of promoter Cal Eaton in his last 26 fights, returned to a California ring after an absence of ten months to score a 7-round knockout over Morris Leviege, Eureka, at the Olympic Auditorium. Aragon somewhat slow and rusty after his long lay-off, flashed his old-time form in the 7th, after being nailed by some hard punches. He flamed into action with a sharp left hook which set Leviege back on his heels, then followed up with a blistering barrage for which he is famed. Referee Lou Grossman, sensing the helplessness of Leviege, halted hostilities after 1 :25 of the 7th. Aragon weighed 146 1/2; Leviege 140.
Leviege is the lad who had Cisco Andrade on the canvas last November, up in San Jose, though Cisco won the duke. In his last appearence in Los Angeles. Aragon drew a gate of $130, 000 with Vince Martinez at Hollywood Ball Park, to establish a California record for a non-title fight. Despite a driving rain, a crowd of 4,038 cash customers paid a gross $6,388 to see the rukus. As one scribe put it; "only with Aragon could this happen". This fight was not televised.
Leviege is the lad who had Cisco Andrade on the canvas last November, up in San Jose, though Cisco won the duke. In his last appearence in Los Angeles. Aragon drew a gate of $130, 000 with Vince Martinez at Hollywood Ball Park, to establish a California record for a non-title fight. Despite a driving rain, a crowd of 4,038 cash customers paid a gross $6,388 to see the rukus. As one scribe put it; "only with Aragon could this happen". This fight was not televised.
Enrique Bolanos/Manny Madrid, May. 25, 1951
A low blow landed by Manny Madrid, 138, was all that saved Enrique Bolanos, 136, from suffering his first defeat in the Hollywood Stadium ring. Madrid was penalized one point for the foul, which made their total points add up even at the end of the bout-and the contest was declared a draw. Madrid had led in 5 of the first 7 rounds, but faded in the stretch, possibly due, in part, to a psychological effect, as Bolanos moved out in front immediately after being given a rest to recuperate from the low blow. When the bout resumed in the 7th. Bolanos fought with renewed vigor, while Madrid slowed up and became wild in his punching, Enrique won the final three rounds, mostly with an effective left hook to the body. Although Bolanos is the puncher of the two, it was Madrid who came closest to scoring a knockdown, having Enrique in trouble late in the 6th.
Keeny Teran/Pappy Gault, April. 9, 1955
Keeny Teran, 113, one of the most controversial figures in California ring history, was declared the winner by TKO, in round two, over Pappy Gault, 118, former American bantam champ, at Hollywood Legion Stadium. There was a storm of protest from many ringsiders who felt that referee Tommy Hart had been over-hasty in the stoppage of hostilities. Gault had not been floored. He was staggered by a right to the chin, but seemed to be possession of all his faculties when the referee stopped it.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon 1954
Much of the sheen of the "Golden Boy," Art Aragon, has worn off in recent years because of bad showings he's made and because of the defeats he's suffered, but the cocky welterweight still must be considered a top man in his class. Art, for example, has been decisively whipped when he's tackled the champions or top contenders. Jimmy Carter gave Aragon his worst trouncing in 1951 when Art tried to win the lightweight crown. Earlier Carter had lost to Aragon in a non-title match. Billy Graham decisioned Art early to halt a six-match victory string. And while Aragon bested Chuck Davey in Los Angeles, the verdict was questionable and unpopular. But Art's over-all record is good.
Unpopularity is nonthing new to Aragon, who works out of Los Angeles. His sneering remarks about other fighters, his cafe brawls, his showy behavior has long had press and public alike against him. Nevertheless, arrogant Art is a torrid box-office attraction on the West Coast. From 1950 through 1953, for example, his 23 bouts drew over $620,000 in gate revenue. The fans flock to the Stadium to see the brash, 26-year-old welterweight get his just deserts. He's always booed upon entering the ring wearing a gold robe. Once Aragon retaliated by thumbing his nose at the crowd.
The controversial, "colorful" Aragon hails from the sunbaked state of New Mexico. He turned professional at Los Angeles in 1944, after having worked as a laborer in a dairy plant. A speedy boxer with concealed dynamite in both hands, he ran up a phenomenal string of kayoes although his opposition at first was limited solely to West Coast local talent. His initail big win was over Enrique Bolanos and he's had good wins over Johnny Gonsalves and Lauro Salas. Art is managed by patient Jimmy Roach who has made Aragon rich beyond his dreams. Most boxing insiders feel Aragon hasn't a chance to cop welterweight honors unless he trains seriously and cuts out his screwball tactics. Meanwhile, though, they're paying off.
Unpopularity is nonthing new to Aragon, who works out of Los Angeles. His sneering remarks about other fighters, his cafe brawls, his showy behavior has long had press and public alike against him. Nevertheless, arrogant Art is a torrid box-office attraction on the West Coast. From 1950 through 1953, for example, his 23 bouts drew over $620,000 in gate revenue. The fans flock to the Stadium to see the brash, 26-year-old welterweight get his just deserts. He's always booed upon entering the ring wearing a gold robe. Once Aragon retaliated by thumbing his nose at the crowd.
The controversial, "colorful" Aragon hails from the sunbaked state of New Mexico. He turned professional at Los Angeles in 1944, after having worked as a laborer in a dairy plant. A speedy boxer with concealed dynamite in both hands, he ran up a phenomenal string of kayoes although his opposition at first was limited solely to West Coast local talent. His initail big win was over Enrique Bolanos and he's had good wins over Johnny Gonsalves and Lauro Salas. Art is managed by patient Jimmy Roach who has made Aragon rich beyond his dreams. Most boxing insiders feel Aragon hasn't a chance to cop welterweight honors unless he trains seriously and cuts out his screwball tactics. Meanwhile, though, they're paying off.
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon On Oscar De La Hoya,
"He can use the nickname, good fighter," " Reminds me a little of me. Glad we came in different eras, wouldn't have been room for both of us."
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon, November. 1949
Art Aragon, billed as The Golden Boy, is taking the title quite seriously. He wears a gold colored robe and drives a gold colored Cadillac..
Art "Golden Boy" Aragon/Joey Abasta Jan. 6, 1958
Arthur Anthony Aragon, erstwhile Golden Boy, scored a 6th round TKO over Joey Abasta, Aragon, 154, Abasta, 146. A near-capacity crowd of 2500 saw the bout in Tucson Arizona. It was Art's second scrap since his license was issued by the State Athletic Commission, following the court reversal of the 1 to 5 year sentence imposed on him last year on the charge of fixing a fight. In his first scrap, he whipped Woody Winslow in San Diego before a near-capacity crowd of 3400. that was in December. Evidently the Golden Boy has not lost his box-office appeal..
Ramon Tiscareno/Alvaro Guttierez April. 27 1957
His long, enforced vacation evidently didn't hurt Ramon Tiscareno, 146 for he outslugged newly -arrived Alvaro Guttierez of Mexico, 146 at Hollywood Legion Stadium to win by TKO in the 6th. Guttierez' right eye was cut, and there seemed to be an assortment of cuts inside his mouth. He was spouting blood like a geyser.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Baby Arizmendi/Irish Jackie Carter August. 22, 1939
Baby Arizmendi turned "killer" in his clash with Irish Jackie Carter at the Olympic Auditorium, knocking the Washington D.C. kid stiff in the first round. Although the first hard right that floored Carter for nine really spelled his doom. Arizmendi had to drop the baby-faced Irishman four times to keep him down for the count. Arizmendi weighed 137 1/2, Carter 136.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
'GOLDEN BOY' ART ARAGON QUITS BOXING
Los Angeles, Jan 23 1960
Art Aragon "Golden Boy" of boxing, has called it quits after a 16 year career in which he received more than a million dollers in purses. The 32 year old native of New Mexico reached his decision here thursday night after suffering a ninth round technical knockout by Alvaro Gutierrez. "I'm glad I didn't win" Aragon said after the defeat. "If I had won I would have fought again and I'd wind up getting hurt. I'm glad it's over."
Art Aragon "Golden Boy" of boxing, has called it quits after a 16 year career in which he received more than a million dollers in purses. The 32 year old native of New Mexico reached his decision here thursday night after suffering a ninth round technical knockout by Alvaro Gutierrez. "I'm glad I didn't win" Aragon said after the defeat. "If I had won I would have fought again and I'd wind up getting hurt. I'm glad it's over."
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.
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
(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.
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
Junior-welterweight champion turned down a chance for a unification bout against Amir Khan this weekend, primarily because of financial squabble with his promoters.
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.
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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....
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.
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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
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
Davey Moore
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
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