Friday, March 29, 2013

1981 BOXING moments

the pages of "The RING" magazine: by brian zelley

Introduction:
Throughout the eighties there was a lot of action in the ring.  the following
is a look back at the magazine in 1981:
Champions listed by "The RING"

LARRY HOLMES,
MATHEW SAAD
MUHAMMAD,
MARVIN HAGLER,
AYUB KALULE,
RAY LEONARD,
AARON PRYOR,
Y.  UEHARA,
S. SANCHEZ,
W. GOMEZ, 
JEFF CHANDLER,
S. OGUMA.



California Moments:

California based boxers in the top ten:
Mike Weaver, Marty Monroe, Ken Norton,
Yaqui Lopez, Randy Shields, Pete Ranzany,
Bruce Curry, Monroe Brooks, Johnny Sato,
Frankie Baltazar, Ruben Castillo, Juan Meza,
Albert Davila, and  Oscar Muniz.

Canadians in the Commonwealth Ratings:

Trevor Berbick, Conroy Nelson, Eddie Melo,  
Gary Summerhayes, Wayne Caplette,
Fernand Marcotte, Chris Clarke,
Gaetan Hart, John Summerhayes, 
Nicky Furlano, Thomas Gourley, 
 and Leonard Pennock, 

Boxing results:
Of interest to Canadian fans and friends of
NICKY FURLANO, he is mentioned in the 
"Rings Around The World" section.

Nicky headlined a card in Niagara Falls.
* "Nicky Furlano won a unanimous decision
after a good action fight."
Also, on the card was Bobby Bland who 
stopped one Preston Jones in the 4th rd.








Monday, March 18, 2013

1980 to 1989 World Boxing Champions

THE CHAMPIONS 1980 to 1989: 

 By Brian Zelley
Introduction:
A brief look at the world champions
and some of the top title bouts in
the Eighties.

There were plenty of names to go 
around from heavyweights such as
Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson,  to many
others with some of the best being
Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran, 
Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns.
But, there would be many other greats
or near greats such as:
Aaron Pryor, Salvador Sanchez,
Wilfredo Benitez, Alexis Arguello,Wilfredo Gomez, Michael Spinks,      Ray Mancini,  Barry McGuigan,and Julio Cesar Chavez.

Mike Tyson:

Of all the champions in the eighties, it was MIKE TYSON that appeare
to be the most controversial for some of his antics, but one would have
to look long and hard to find a fighting force like Tyson.  Mike began
his pro journey under the guidance of Cus D'Amato who had previously
guided Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres.

It would be November 22, 1986 when the power punching
Mike Tyson would fight for a piece of the world 
heavyweight title against  Trevor Berbick.  Well,
it came as no shock to many when Tyson stopped
Berbick early in the fight. After two knockdowns 
by power left hooks, referee Mills Lane  stopped the
slaughter to save Berbick and now Tyson was a partial
champion.  But, it  would be his March 7, 1987 12-round
 decision over "Bonecrusher" Smith that would make him
 an almost complete world  champion with the WBA and WBC
versions of the world heavyweight title but he would need
 to defeat the IBF title holder Tony Tucker  to become the
real deal in heavyweight history.  

And, once again Mike proved that he was not just a quick
knockout king but could also go the distance when he defeated 
Tucker in the 12-rounds on August 1, 1987.  

Throughout the rest of the eighties, "Mighty" Mike 
continued to win over various boxers such as
Tyrell Biggs,  Larry Holmes, Tony Tubbd,  
Michael Spinks, Frank Bruno and Carl Williams./

Other Names in the Eighties: 
*  Aside from the names previously mentioned there were
 some interesting  bouts by others. One was British  middleweight
Alan Minter who would win the title from Vito Antuofermo 
by a split decision in  Las Vegas.  

But, in a rematch with Vito later in the year in London, Minter would
eliminate any controversial decisions by stopping Antuofermo in 9 rds.
Before the year ended, Alan would lose the title to one of the best in 
the eighties by the name of Marvin Hagler.

* In 1980, tragedy would rear it's ugly head on September 19, 1980
when bantamweight champion Lupe Pintor  stopped Welsh boxer
Johnny Owen in Los Angeles.  

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

1920 to 1929, The Golden Age of Boxing

THE FORGOTTEN YEARS of BOXING: by Brian Zelley

The Roaring Twenties was a time of some of the greatest boxing,
but in the here and now of the 21st Century many boxing fans
minimize and overlook the greats of the Roaring Twenties.

One only has to look at the various polls of the modern age and
those champions  hare often overlooked in the listings or choices.
But, then again look at some of the champions of that era.

The Champions:
Heavyweight:  Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney. 

Light Heavy:  George Carpentier, Battling Siki, Mike McTighe,
Paul Berlenback, Jimmy Slattery, Tommy Loughran.

Middleweight: Mike O'Dowd, Johnny Wilson, Harry Greb, 
and Mickey Walker,

Welterweight: Jack Britton, Mickey Walker, Joe Dundee, 
 and Jackie Fields

Lightweights:  Benny Leonard, Rocky Kansas, Jimmy Goodrich,
and Sammy Mandell,.

Featherweight: Johnny Kilbane, Johnyy Dundee, Eugene Crique,
Steve Sullivan, Kid Kaplan, Benny Bass, Tony Canzoneri, 
Andre Routis and Bat Battalino.

Bantamweight: Joe Lynch, Pete Herman, Johnny Buff, Abe Goldstein,
Cannonball Martin, Charlie Rosenberg, Bud Taylor, Bushy Graham
and Panama Al Brown.

Flyweight:  Jimmy Wilde, Pncho Villa and others.












































There were also a number of Jr. welterweight and lightweight 
champions many of which also won other titles such as:
Johnny Dundeek and Barney Ross,   But, one of the active 
champions was Todd Morgan  from the Pacific Northwest
who fought the likes of Vic Foley in Vancouver and Joe Glick
in New York.





BOXING in JANUARY

BOXING's JANUARY HAPPENINGS: 

 By Btian Zelley

Step back in time to February 1966
and in the black and white pages of
"Boxing Illustrated" and there was
an article by E. M. Orlick titled
"It Happened In January" that
covered many interesting moments
to take place in boxing during the 
month of January including
championship fights and various other interesting happenings
including the last professional fight of champion Fritzie Zivic
on January 17, 1949 with a ten round victory over Eddie Steele
in Georgia, and Virgil Akins victory over Tony DeMarco in
an elimination bout to fill the welterweight title left vacant by
Carmen Basilio.  

Some of the title fights included:
1932: Johnny Jadick wins a 10-rounder over Tony Canzoneri
to win the Jr. welterweight tiutle.
1939: Joe Louis stops light-heavyweight champion John Henry
Lewis to retain his heavyweight title.  
1964" Pone Kingpetch outpoints Fighting Harada to regain the
flyweight title. 

Beyond 1966:
1967:  Emile Griffith retains the middleweight title with a 
decision over Joey Archer.

1968:   Howard Winstone stops Mitsunori Seki in nine to
win a piece of the featherweight title and in the flyweight
division Chartchai Choinoi stops Efren Torres in Mexico.

1969: Bob Foster scores a first round win over
Frankie DePaula in light-heavyweight action, in featherwight
action it is Johnny Famechon over Jose Legra in London.*

The Seventies:

*Johnny Famechon would lead the charge in the Seventies 
with his victory over Fighting Harada in featherweight 
action in Tokyo, but there would be others to add some
magic moments to the Seventies.

* In action in 1972 was Joe Frazier and his stoppage of 
Terry Daniels, but in January 1973 it would be 
George Foreman who would win a sensational victory
over Smoking Joe with two rounds of destruction.

*But, there would be a lightweight destructive force
that would stop Jimmy Robertson in five at Panama City
and that would be in the person of Roberto Duran.  And,
fast forward to 1977 and it would be Carlos Palomino who 
would defeat Armando Muniz in Los Angeles action, but 
Roberto Duran would still be in action to stop one
Vilomar Fernandez  in 13 rds. at Miami Beach, and in 
1978 Duran would unify the lightweight title with a 
convincing win over Esteban deJesus in  Vegas.

*To close out the Seventies, Wilfred Benitez would
defeat Carlos Palomino in San Juan.

The Eighties:

* Some of the champions that would see action in one of the
January's of the  '80's would include middleweight champion
Marvin Hagler, jr. middleweight Wilfred Benitez,  lightweight
Arturo Frias. jr. middleweight Davey Moore  jr. lightweight
Roger Mayweather  and lightweight Ray Mancini.  By 1985,
there would be Donald Curry, Rocky Lockridge, with others
to follow such as Tim Witherspoon, Hilario Zapata, and the big
one in January 1988 with Mike Tyson over Larry Homes in four.
and to close out the last January in the Eighties it would be
Meldrick Taylor inaction

The Nineties:

*  It would be another new decade, and some of  the                                  January moments would include a cross-section of                                           new and old fighters . 

Carlos DeLeon,  Virgil Hill, Prince Charles William,  Luis Mendoza,
and many more such as IRAN BARKLEY  and MELDRICK TAYLOR.








Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Boxing's November ring classics

November Ring Moments: 

- by Brian Zelley.

The Fantastic Fifties:

*The month of November provided a few title fights around the globe.

For the west coast crowd, one of those bouts would feature one of 
their own ART "Golden Boy" ARAGON would face JIMMY CARTER
in a lightweight title fight in Los Angeles.  At the end of 15 rounds it
was the champion Carter who would get the decision in 1951.  In
November '53 Carter would go to another fighters home base, but
the results would be the same with Jimmy winning against the
Canadian ARMAND SAVOIE at Montreal.


On Nov. 1, '50, Islington's own TERRY ALLEN, the former world
flyweight champion would face the new champion DADO MARINO
for 15 rounds in Honolulu.  

*Then came a fight to remember when JOHNNY BRATTON faced
welterweight champion KID GAVILAN.  In  an earlier fight, Bratton
suffered a broken jaw, but that had no effect on his perfomance
on Friday the 13th , November '53 at the Chicago stadium.

*1/955 - CARMEN BASILIO, the new welterweight champion, would
give former champion TONY DEMARCO  a rematch in Boston
 and win by a stoppage in round 12.

1956 - FLOYD PATTERSON, the middleweight Olympic gold medalist
was now a heavyweight and would win the vacant title with a great
victory over light-heavyweight champion ARCHIE MOORE.


The Sizzling Sixties and the November happenings:

BANTAMWEIGHT BOXER from BRAZIL would set the stage
for the Sixties ring action when he held a piece of the 
bantamweight title with a victory over Eloy Sanchez in
November 22, 1960 in Los Angeles. And his name was
EDER JOFRE.  But, fast forward to 1964 and it was 
WILLIE PASTRANO winning big in Manchester, England
against TERRY DOWNES.  And, in November '65 the
old gave way to the new when heavyweight champion
MUHAMMAD (Cassius Clay) ALI defended his title
against fomrer two-time champ FLOYD PATTERSON.

There would be other good fights in that year with
Carols Ortiz over Ismael Laguna, and Fighting Harada
over Alan Rudkin. And in 1967, champion DICK TIGER
would stop ROGER ROUSE in a light=heavyweight bout.


November 1970:

Two important fights would kick-off November 1970:
CAROS MONZON stops NINO BENVENUTI and
JOE FRAZIER stops BOB FOSTER.


The Ground Level: the novice juniors.

*Far removed from the world champions such as 
MUHAMMAD ALI to EDER JOFRE,  are those 
amateur boxers at the ground level when many are
often in their first tournament such as that which took 
place on November 5th., 1983 at the Boxing BC
training centre in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
The tournament  was the 1983 Bronze Gloves for 
junior novice boxers.

Following the competition, the boxer to be selected as
the "Bronze Boy" was Queensborough Boxing club boxer
CLINT DUMAIS.  The runner-up as the best boxer was
from the Kingsway boxing club of Vancouver and his name
was MIKE MARRELLO, and the best bout was against
Daryl Dickson of Williams Lake vs David Slack of the
Langley/Aldergrove club.  One of the novice junior boxers
that 11 years later would be part of Canada's Commonwealth
Games boxing team would be ALLAN BAYNE.  Ringside officials
in that novice tournament would be:
Bert Lowes, Sid Knopp, Rudy Bianco, Larry Krangle, Brian Zelley,
Lindy Lindmoser, Jack Mellor, Vic Murdoch, Earl Vance and
Bob Necombe.


Back To The World Stage IN THE EIGHTIES:

It was just the previous month in October 1980 when a kegebd
fell and theat was when LARRY HOLMES stopped "The Greatest:
named MUHAMMAD ALI in 11 rounds.

But, for the champions and contenders, there would be many
interesting bouts throughout the eighties with the first big
name fight in November 1980 took place in New Orleans and
Sugar Ray Leonard would defeat Roberto Duran in a 
welterweight title fight and in a split title division of the
lightweights JIM WATT would stop SEAN O'GRADY and
HILMER KENTY would stop V. Fernandez. And, in 1981
MICHAEL SPINKS would stop VONZELL JOHNSON in the
light-heavyweight division. 

In November 1982, lightweight RAY MANCINI would stop
Duk Koo Kim in Les Vegas.  And has the decade continued
there would be others engaged such as MARVIN HAGLER  and
HECTOR CAMACHO.  And in the heavyweight division it was
LARRY HOLMES rolling along whn he stopped BONECRUSHER
SMITH in November 1984

BACK TO THE THIRTIES 

* But, we must travel back in time for see the legends of boxing in action.
In November 1930 TONY CANZONERI woudl defeat KID CHOCOLATE in
a lightweight bout in New York City while featherweight champion 
Bat Battalino was winning in Chicago.  An in 1933, it was light-heavyweight 
champion MAXIE ROSENBLOOM earning a victory over the aging 
MICKY WALKER.  To close out the thirties, it was 1939 when the great
BLLY CONN would outbox GUS LESNEVICH to retain the light-heavyweight
title