1973: Ensenada, Baja California

                                                 By kiki

 

In late spring of 1973 I received a phone call from a representative of the I.Y.B.C. The International Youth Boxing Club located in Montebello, CA. was a youth organization headed by Southern California boxing figures such as Rudy Jordan and Mando Muniz.

 

The caller explain to me that the I.Y.B.C. was hosting a boxing meet between an Ensenada, Baja California based team and a team made up of local amateur boxers. The caller asked me if I would allow Frankie to fight in the 125 pound class. Frankie at age 15 had just come back from a two year lay-off to fight in the Junior Golden Gloves, which he won against Francisco Flores. After been told that the event would take place in ten days at the I.Y.B.C. Gym I ok’d Frankie’s partaking in the event.

 

I don’t remember much about any of the fights as I was just focus on Frankie’s fight. Frankie’s opponent was a dead-ringer of a young Mando Ramos, in facial looks and boxing style. Frankie won an exciting hard fought three round fight by UD…After the bouts were all fought and as we enjoyed a beer or two with our Baja California counterparts they invited us to Ensenada to do it all over again. They made it a point about Frankie fighting the Mando Ramos lookalike again, we accepted the challenge.

                                     

                                     Ensenada, Baja California

 

We were told that since the event was going to be during mid-summer we were going to be put-up at a private Ensenada Beach campground. Owning a motorhome at the time it was something we were looking forward to.

 

With my boxing partner John Martinez, his wife Bea, Frankie, our daughter Linda and Connie and me behind the wheel of our motorhome we left La Puente on Thursday afternoon (fights were schedule for Saturday night) we arrived in Tijuana two and half hours later. After doing a little shopping and having dinner we left Tijuana on the Tijuana/Ensenada toll road, and a toll road it was, it seem like every five miles we had to pay a toll. We arrived at the gated beach campground around midnight. Standing in front of the gate was an armed sentry. With rife across his chest he stopped us at the gate, I rolled my window down to tell him we were with the boxing club, and to my surprise I found the young sentry to be mentally challenged. I was thinking, why is this fella allowed to walk around with a loaded rife? Well we later founded out that he was the owner’s son. As I was parking the motorhome on the beach I told everybody to make sure they stayed out of his way, and not to forget that we were in Mexico and that we had to obey their laws. We spent Friday taking in the sights, eating and drinking a Mexican beer (Bohemia) here and there. By Friday afternoon the rest of the team had arrived, I don’t remember who else was on our team, I remember that the Montes’s were there, not sure if both Herman and John fought. I do remember that Eddie “Animal” Lopez was there, not sure if he fought though, he might had been a pro by that time was just along for the ride. Friday night we a had a big beach fire going, we sat around the fire telling fishing lies and drinking a beer or two.

 
Weigh-ins for the fights were early Saturday morning. Frankie and the Mando Ramos lookalike weighted in the low 120’s. After the weight-ins we had a Mexican breakfast at a local restaurant. Frankie had a mid-afternoon dinner of seafood. It was soon time for us to make our way to the arena. Fights were fought in front of a packed arena, but been focus on Frankie’s fight I can’t tell you who fought them. Fight time! We enter the ring first, a few minutes later Frankie’s opponent enter the ring, but it was not the Mando Ramos lookalike! I looked at the guy and told the referee that that was not our opponent, and that the guy had to had being in his mid-20’s. I looked around the arena and I spotted Mando Ramos’s twin gloved and leaning against a back wall. I told the referee as I pointed to the guy “that’s the guy we are fighting or we won’t fight. The “old” guy walked out of the ring as the twin walked in. They were trying put a ringer in with Frankie!..The fight was give and take for the first two rounds, but Frankie pulled it out by scoring a knockdown in the third and final round of a-great amateur fight. After the fights it was party time at the beach fire. As we were bullshitting around the fire we spotted two horses with riders making their way in the dark toward the fire. The horsemen were Frankie and Eddie “Animal” Lopez. First thing I said to them was “what the hell are you two doing, don’t you know that they still hang horse thieves in Mexico?” They jumped of the horses faster than you can say “thieves” and gave the horses a slap on the ass. Good thing the “Rife man” wasn’t around to see our horse “thieves” otherwise we would had had to attend a hanging…Sunday as we drove back home I notice Frankie rubbing his neck, he told me “don’t stop in Tijuana” We arrived home alive and well.

Lena, Joe and Johnnie

                                                     By kiki

The late Los Angeles boxing trainer, Johnnie “Mr. Golden Gloves” Flores once told me a story about how he met the beautiful Lena Horn. I was reminded of Johnnie’s story last night as I was watching Lena Horn in ‘Stormy Weather’

Johnnie’s story: soon after WWII ended Johnnie was in a fancy restaurant in New York City with WWII buddy; long time heavyweight champ Joe Louis. I don’t know if this was in the late 1940's or early 1950's. According to Johnnie, both he and Louis were broke. They were sitting there trying to figure out how to pay for dinner when in walked Lena Horn with a friend. Louis stood up and invited Horn and her friend to his and Johnnie’s table, and as he was doing so he told Johnnie to order anything he wanted.

They all had a fancy dinner with fancy drinks. After dinner Louis asked the waiter for the check, which he got, he then proceeded to check it out real good, making sure they were not over-charge, after making sure they were not, he handed the check to Lena Horn telling her “take care of this and don’t forget to add the tip to it”

Jo Jo Torres vs Stan Ward

                                      

                                                   By kiki

In spring of 1973, I and the Southern California Coaches and Managers Association took a Los Angeles amateur boxing team to the state Capital, Sacramento, for a box off against their local champs. Our heavyweight was a part time amateur boxer, Jo Jo Torres, whom real passion was been a playboy. But for the Torres vs Ward fight it was for the most part a forgettable trip in which we lost 7 out of 10 fights. When Jo Jo found out he was fighting Ward, who was known to be the best amateur heavyweight in California, I could see in his eyes that he would rather be in some nite club in LA then in a boxing ring in Sacramento. In the first round Jo Jo went down from what seemed like a so-so right hand. Down on one knee he kept looking at the canvas as the referee counted. I could see that he wasn’t going to get up, even though he could have. As the ref was about to count nine I jumped in the ring and stopped the fight to save him face. As soon as I jumped in the ring Jo Jo jumped up too and he said to me “why did you stop the fight? I was going to get up” I said to him “of course you were” As we were flying back home he kept telling anybody on the plane that would listen “I was going to get up” Of course he was!

Pencils for the Blind

 

                                               By kiki

Back in 1950’s and well into the ‘60’s there was a middle age black man that used to sit cross-legged outside the main entrance of the Olympic Auditorium on fite nite. He would sit wearing dark glasses with a white cane with a red tip near-by. His hat sitting on the sidewalk was turned upside down and full of pencils. Fans as they walked into the arena would drop coins and paper money into his hat. Very few would take a pencil. Anything to help the blind, right?....Well one night as I was milling among the crowd in front of the arena I spotted local boxing manager Ralph Gambina walking across the street, so did our blind friend, because he jumped up and yelled “hey Ralph” He caught himself but it was too late; many of the fans had seen what he had done. Soon he was gone, only to be back sitting in the same spot the following week.

What’s that old adage? “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”

DQ=T.D.

I remember back in 1980 when Tony Baltazar was making his 13^th  start against an old veteran by the name of Chuy Rodriguez, Rodriguez was making his 43^rd pro start. After the bell sounded to end the 4^th round Rodriguez hit Tony, Tony hit him back causing a nasty cut over one of Rodriguez’s eyes. The referee called Dr. Bernhart Schwartz up into the ring to examine the cut, the good doctor did so and he told the referee that Rodriguez couldn’t continue the fight. When the referee signal that the fight was over all hell broke loose. Cups full of beer and maybe piss started raining into the ring. We jumped out of the ring before the TD decision was announced and with cops around us we made it by the skin of our teeth to our dressing room. We stay in the catacombs till way after the last fight was over. We were saved to fight another day!

Boxing Books

                                                      By kiki

In the last few weeks I read two great booking books. Let me say here that I am not a big fan of boxing books because there is not much I can learn from them, after all I’ve been around the sport for over 65 Years, first as a very young fan, than as an amateur boxer, amateur/pro trainer/manager, amateur matchmaker and the list goes on.

Now the books: first I read “Mexican American Boxing in Los Angeles” authored by Gene Aguilera. Gene’s book is a pictorial of Mexican American boxers that practiced their trade in Los Angeles and Southern California rings. Gene book covers Los Angeles Mexican American boxing from the 1900’s to 1990’s. I was most interesting in reading the 1940-’50-’60-’70 and 80’s chapters because that was my time in boxing...I read about many of the now forgotten fighters that I grew up watching at venues like the Olympic Auditorium, Hollywood Legion Stadium and the Ocean Park Arena et al….Gene did a great job researching the lives and careers of the boxers he covered in his book. Gene’s book is not about one boxer and any fight in particular. He also didn’t give us his opinion on any boxer or their fights that he wrote about, I liked that.

I next read “Becoming Taz: Writing from the Southpaw stance” authored by former professional boxer, Jeff Bumpus. In his book Jeff writes about his career as a pro boxer. He tells us what he went through in trying to be a champion in a very tough sport, only to fall short of his goal….He digs deep into every nook and cranny of the boxing business, he find that as a prospect you are cater to, only to lose favor as your career starts sliding down…What I liked about Jeff’s book is the human element he inserted in his book, his sister ready to stand up to some loud mouth “motherfucker”, his dad banging his fist on the ring apron ready to take on any sonofabitch that bad mouth his son. Yes, the book is a boxing book, but also about human nature.

As you open Jeff’s book you’ll find after the title page a page with this ‘To the dreamers and the journeymen’ Like all of us, Jeff, you might had been a dreamer, but you were not a journeyman fighter, you beat some top prospects, who were also dreamers, you fought great champions and some good contenders, you won some and lost some, and that my friend does not make you a journeyman boxer, what it does make you is a quality fighter.

I highly recommend both books.

Canelo vs Lara

                                                      By kiki

My take on the fight: I re-watched the fight this morning and in my opinion Lara took Canelo to school. He gave Canelo a boxing lesson, hit and move, a la Willie Pep. Lara had Canelo missing throughout the fight, and when he didn’t have him missing he was blocking his punches. Sure Canelo landed a hard shot here and there, his problem was that he didn’t follow through with more punches. He also never double-up on his punches. There was few times when Canelo threw in bunches, but for the most they were harmless punches as he was hitting gloves and elbows.

I didn’t score the fight, I instead drew on my 65+ years of watching fights to call Lara the winner.

R.I.P. Bobby Padilla

                                          R.I.P. Bobby Padilla

Bobby Padilla, A junior boxing champion out of the Resurrection Gym has passed. Bobby was, along with Tony Valle, Angel Soto, Art Frias, et al. one of the junior boxing stars boxing under Jim Lopez wing in those early years of the Resurrection Gym (mid-‘60s) Bobby was one of the guys we could always depend to be ready to spar with my son Frankie on our weekend visits to the Resurrection Gym in those early years. I hadn’t been in contact with Bobby in over forty years, but thanks to Facebook we were able to reconnect last year. Soon after reconnecting I invited Bobby to join us in a couple of Facebook boxing pages ‘Classic American West-Coast Boxing’ and ‘Fight Group’ he joined gladly. He too joined my music page ‘Music and Cigar Lounge’ at first Bobby was posting regularly on all three pages, then as the month passed by due to his illness; he was posting less and less. His last posts were on the first week of June, after that I was fearing the bad news. Bobby I am sorry we never got together for breakfast at ‘Mike’s Puck’ … Our new friendship was cut short as Bobby’s life journey came to an end yesterday (6-22-14) due to throat cancer. R.I.P. Champ!

Mexican-American Boxing in Los Angeles

                        

                                

 Had lunch with Gene Aguilera, author of “Mexican-American Boxing in Los Angeles”…It’s a great book that covers the Los Angeles chicano boxing community from the early days of Aurelio Herrera and Joe Rivers to the later days of Oscar De La Hoyo and Chicanito Hernandez, and in between there is Baby Arizmendi, Manuel Ortiz, Enrique Bolanos, Art Aragon, Carlos and Al Chavez, Keeny Teran, Gil Cadilli, Mando Muniz, the Montes brothers, Frankie and Tony Baltazar, and many more that made boxing come alive in the City of Angels in those golden years when the chicano boxer was a star….I highly recommend this great book.

Church Boxing

                                                       

Circa 1973, shortly after winning the lightweight title from Chango Carmona, Rodolfo Gonzalez had a boxing show (smoker) at a church in Long Beach, CA. He invited me to bring the boys to box in his show. Frankie was 15 years old at the time, Tony was 12, Bobby 10. As soon as we got there we run into many old friends, including Jackie McCoy and Freddy Merino, who had some young boxers ready to box.

Freddy had two brothers who were match with Tony and Bobby. I was having a hard time finding an opponent for Frankie when Freddy said "I got somebody for him" I looked at the guy and I told Freddy "he is kind of old for Frankie" he had to be about 22-23 years old, Freddy replied, "yeah, but he just started boxing" I took the fight.

Tony and Bobby made quick work of their opponents, both won by second round TKO.

Now it was Frankie's turn, we got into the ring and Frankie kept looking at his opponent, After the introduction we got called to the center of the ring to get our instructions from the referee, (have you notice how I always say “WE”) as we headed back to our corner to start round one, Frankie looked at me and said "dad, that guy is a grown man" I asked him, “why do you say that” and he replied "Because he has hair under his arms", well, Frankie won by decision and Freddy couldn’t believe it, I was to find out later why. After the fight while we were in the dressing room Jackie McCoy came in laughing his ass off, I asked him "what so funny?" he told me that Freddy thought he was going to pull one over on me, I asked him what he meant by that, he said that the guy Frankie fought was a pro, Frankie looked at Jackie and pointing at me told Jackie "with his guts and my blood we're going places" at that moment Freddy walked in and asked me if I had any more kids, Jackie started laughing again and told Freddy "Freddy, he beat you three out of three, two by KO and one against a pro, and you’re still looking for more?"

“Memories”

Jerry Moore

In the early 1970s Jerry and I served as President and Vice-President, respectively, at the Southern California Coaches and Managers Association.

In 1973-’74 I was the head coach of the Los Angeles National Golden Gloves Teams. In ’73 we traveled to Lowell MA. For the national tournament, and in ’74 we made the trip to Denver, CO. for the same tournament. In both cases Jerry as president of the SCC&MA made the trip. Back in those years the SCC&MA run the Los Angeles Golden Gloves tourney.

I also made a couple of trips to New York City with Jerry, Jerry who was from NYC showed me the sights (i.e. Harlem)