Tony Baltazar

Welcome. Are you the same "KIKIBALT" 4eyes mentioned in post #11 as the father/trainer of Tony and Frankie on this old thread over four years ago? (And don't mind Flea Man, a good egg but something of a wise ass.) Always interesting to see new life breathed into a long dormant thread by a knowledgeable fresh contributor.

 

Yes I am. My name is Frank Baltazar, I am Frankie and Tony's father. I also have a third son, Bobby, that boxed pro back in the '80's, though he only had six pro fights, his record is 6-0 with five kos.

Flea Man?. Well can't take a man that uses "Flea Man" as his username to seriously, can you?

 

Frankie Baltazar's Last Fight


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 Boyd 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…


Frank Baltazar

 

http://westcoastboxersofyearsgoneby.blogspot.com/

Check out my blog...

 

Great story, Mr. B!!! Tell us some more!

 

"Going To The Fights....1951

By Frank Baltazar

Eddie Gomez was watching a boxing match on a nineteen inch TV when his dad, Rudy, came in the house and told Eddie.
“Eddie, look what I have here”.
“Pops, did you get some tickets for the title fight?”
Eddie had been bugging his pop to take him to see the Art Argon vs Jimmy Carter lightweight title fight at the Olympic Auditorium for some time, his pop thought that Eddie; been twelve years old was to young to go to the fights.
“Yes, Eddie, I bought four tickets, your uncles, Tony and Ray, will be going with us. Now I hope your mom doesn't get mad at me, she too thinks you are to young to go to the fights”.
Eddie's mom, Lupe, was not too crazy to see Eddie going to the fights, but she did agree with Rudy; that their son would be disappointed if he was not allowed to go with his pop and uncles, so she gave her okay for Eddie to go.

Eddie couldn't wait to find his best friend, Cheno Diaz, to tell him the good news. He found Cheno tending his two cows and one goat at a nearby pasture.
“Cheno, my pops is taking me to see the Aragon and Carter title fight”.
"Gee Eddie, you are lucky, I wish I could go”.
“I'll ask my pop if he can get another ticket for you. Cheno, you think your mom and pops would let you go?”.
“I'll ask them” said Cheno.
Eddie ask his pop if he could get a ticket for Cheno.
“Yes, I'm sure I can get one, Eddie, you tell Cheno, that if his mom and pop say its okay for him to go; we'll take him with us”.
Next day in school, Eddie told Cheno the good news.
“Cheno, my pops said that he'll get you a ticket if your mom and pop say that's its okay for you to go”.
“Eddie, mom and pop said I could go as long as your father was going, they trust your father, but not your uncle Ray, they say he is crazy, that he himself will get into a fight at the fights”.
“Yeah, uncle Ray is a bit wild, especially when he is drinking beer, but pops won't let him drink too much, he'll be okay”.

Two weeks later, they all piled into Rudy's 1946 Dodge and headed west on Washington Boulevard. Eddie and Cheno were so excited that they couldn't sit still and it was starting to bug uncle Ray.
“If you kids don't sit still, we are going to stop and drop you off here; and you are going to have to wait for us to pick you up after the fights” said uncle Ray.
“Leave them alone Ray, they are just excited to be going to the fights, after all, its their first time to see boxing live. You remember when you went for the first time and you got all crazy on us?, wanting to fight everybody there” said uncle Tony.
“Yeah, but I was drunk; and let me remind you that I was doing okay until that big guy cold-**** me and knocked me on my ass” uncle Ray laughed.

The area was so pack that they had to park 3 blocks away. Eddie and Cheno were shadow boxing as they walked up 18th Avenue.
“Hey Eddie, Cheno, you two want to become fighters, because if you do, I'll train you guys” said uncle Ray.
“Ray, what the hell do you know about training fighters? asked Rudy.
“Hey, Rudy, I have fighting experience”.
“Yes, you do but, its street fighting experience, an I don't think you ever won a fight”
“At least I've never been ko, always finish on my feet” laughed Ray.

As the group approached the front entrance of the Olympic, they started seeing movie and boxing celebrities hanging around the sidewalk of Grand Avenue.
“Cheno! There's John Wayne and Pedro Armendariz” said the excitable Eddie.
“And over there is Rosemary Cooney and her husband Jose Ferrer” said uncle Tony
“I see Tommy Campbell, Frankie Muche, Bob Murphy, Enrique Bolanos and Freddie Babe Herman over there talking to two men” said Cheno
“That's Cal Eaton and Babe McCoy they are talking too, they are probably talking about upcoming fights” said Rudy.
Before entering the Olympic, they all bought the Knockout program from Speedy Dado. Eddie and Cheno started getting autographs on their programs to show their friends in school the next day.

They found their sits in the second to last roll in the peanut gallery. No sooner had they sat down when rolls of toilet paper started flying around, soon some ladies underwear were flying by. Eddie and Cheno started making paper plane and would fly them down to the ring.
“This is fun, Eddie, thanks for bringing me” said Cheno.
“Thank my pop, Cheno, he is the one who bought your ticket”.

The fighters for the first fight came in the ring. Rudy, Tony and Ray started betting on the fights, they would bet one dollar on the white or black corner, what ever fighter went to the corner they had, that was their bet.
The first fight was won by Al Galindo over Bobby Brewer, Rudy and Tony won a dollar each, Ray lost a dollar.
Second fight was between Joey Gurrola and Sammy Figueroa.
“Cheno, see that big guy in Figueroa's corner? That's big Jake Horn, he's a great trainer” said Eddie.
The fight ended in a draw.
“Guess it didn't help Figueroa having Jake Horn in the corner, did it, Eddie? Said Cheno, as he threw a roll of toilet paper.
“He didn't lose did he?” said Eddie.
“Well no, he didn't”.
.
After a couple of more fights it was time for the main event, Art Aragon and Jimmy Carter would be coming into the ring soon.

Aragon looking weak is the first to come into the ring.
“Aragon is going to lose” said Eddie.
“How do you know? Asked uncle Ray.
“Look how pale he looks, I read in the Mirror that he was having trouble making '35” said Eddie.
Carter comes into the ring looking great. After both fighters have been gloved in the ring they are introduce by Jimmy Lennon , referee Mushy Callahan calls the fighters to the center of the ring for their instructions.
The fight started fairly even for the first four rounds, from the fifth round on it was all Carter who won an easy 15 round unanimous decision.
Right after the fight ended uncle Ray wanted to leave.
'Okay guys, our guy lost; so lets get out of here”.
“No! We have to stay and watch Keeny Teran fight Bobby Garza, they are fighting a six rounder” said Eddie.
“Ray, Keeny is the toast of the town, we have to stay and watch him fight” said uncle Tony
They stayed and watch Keeny win a unanimous decision.

On the way home Uncle Ray asked Eddie and Cheno if they wanted to fight.
“Guys, if you want to fight, I'll train you, after you train for a couple of months; I'll take you to the downtown CYO where Johnny Flores run the boxing program, I'm sure we can get you some sparring. Johnny is my friend and he'll help us out.
“Ray, you don't even know Johnny Flores” said Rudy.
“Well maybe not, but I know where the CYO is at” laughed uncle Ray.

Next day at school Eddie and Cheno were the toast of the school as they were holding court with their friends.
“You should have seen Aragon land that left hook of his” said Cheno as he threw a left hook.
“To bad he didn't landed it enough” said Eddie.
“He was too weak from making weight”.
“He was” agree Eddie.
“But you should have seen that little Keeny Teran” Eddie and Cheno said in unison.
“Guys, Cheno and I are going to start training next week, my uncle Ray is going to train us” said Eddie.

 

Awesome! Keep em coming!

 

Don't mind me Sir, just not often that a first post involves an old thread being bumped....was insinuating you may be an alias, sorry about that ;-) Glad to have you on board :good

EDIT: Can't take me seriously because of my name?!?! Because abbreviated names are so much more respectable :-(

To be honest, only thing that was odd was your choice of first thread, as I say, now I know who you are (and big respect!) it makes sense.

 

Welcome to ESB Frank!

 

The famous Olympic Auditorium

This content is protected

 

Thanks for the welcome guys...

 

Frank, it's great to have you here, as always with anybody directly linked to the history of the sport.

Hey man, I didn't want anybody taking me seriously when I first became a member here! That's the whole reason I selected the the user name I did after careful deliberation back in April 2007, and it's worked like a charm when I've needed it to. (Sort of a backlash against all the self aggrandizing monikers I was seeing here.) People who know me find out that's the nom de guerre I use here, and burst out laughing. (Besides, posters immediately started calling me "Duo," a nickname I was instantly fond of. All these years later, people here still have trouble spelling "Duodenum" correctly.) Mr. Magoo usually calls me "Deen," because of a foreign born professor he had who pronounced that part of the anatomy as the "duo-DEEN-num." So I and others have had a lot of fun with this handle of mine, and I've reinvented a whole new identity in cyberspace from my personal life because of it. (Other wildly disparate user names have added to the entertainment.)

 

Which reminds me of a username I recently encountered on youtube on many of the fights I found recently it was BaltazarBrothers or something like this , so it is you again ?

 

Yes..

 

well , not really a newbie then . but after u reach 50 posts it will change automatically to 'Journeyman' I think , and then on and on
good to have the solid people in the thick of the business , do you know a way besides wbva to find Orlin Norris fights ? and reggie johnson vs antonio tarver ? and mccall vs tucker ? and mccall vs douglas and douglas vs fergusson and mccall vs fergusson etc ? many fights are absent still