And if not, any details on when and how he died? OK, first post: By way of introduction, I'm obviously not a boxing expert, but a film buff. And this site seems to have a very large and ACTIVE knowledge base, so from time to time, I might have some question about a boxing-related person (trainers, promoters, referees, etc.), mainly trying to identify them, or get some vital details on them.
If Chickie Ferrara hadda married Conway Twitty...Y-you know, depending on the legalities and if there's any hyphenation there, you know...
Well there was a great female band singer Kitty Kallen who married Conway Twitty...Her married name was Kitty Twitty !:happy
I used to see Chickie Ferrera train fighters at Stillmans Gym in the 1940s. He today would be over 100 years old, so I assume he is dead...
Unfortunately this great trainer/cut man did pass away in the 80's. He was my favorite uncle in my family. His wife Benita, my aunt, lived in their family home until her untimely death many years later. He is now survived by his daughter Michelle.
Wow, can you give us some insights into his career as a trainer. I am interested in learning how they did what they did. There's not much I can find on his career.
Uncle Chick was drafted by the New York Yankees, but my great grandmother would not let him sign with them because of the travelling involved. He then turned to his second passion, boxing. He brought himself up through the ranks of the boxing world and was a self learner. He taught himself along the way. He was buried with Scott Frank's championship belt. He worked closely with Dundee and when Cassius Clay changed his name to Ali, he also switched the people in his staff.
The memory I will always have of Chickie Ferrara was when he worked the corner of Ron Lyle the night he fought Ali for the title. Complaining bitterly of the 11th round stoppage, he wailed into the cameras (this was live network TV), "What does the ref think this is, a four-rounder?"
I used to see your uncle Chickie Ferrara at Stillmans gym many times training fighters along with Whitey Bimstein, Freddie Brown, Charley Goldman etc. He and the other guys were all first rate boxing trainers in the 1940s....
Here is a list of some of the fighters Chickie worked with during his long career, and I am not alone in my opinion that he should be in the Hall of Fame. Rocky Marciano Floyd Patterson Muhammad Ali Jimmy Ellis Oscar Bonavena Jerry Quarry Ron Lyle Duane Bobick Boone Kirkman Thad Spencer Bobby Cassidy Eddie Mustafa Muhammad Tommy Bell Johnny Busso Ismael Laguna Vilomar Fernandez Joe Alexander Jorge Jose Fernandez Rubin Carter Nino Benvenuti Carlos Hernandez Gregorio Peralta Joey Giambra Eduardo Lausse Juan Carlos Rivero Ezzard Charles Ingemar Johansson Wilf Greaves Luis Manuel Rodriguez Willi Besmanoff Earnie Shavers Dick Tiger
I knew Chickie a little bit and liked him. I remember one day, while training Dick Tiger, I noticed that Tiger would hold a mouth full of water in his mouth for the full round of hitting the speed bag. I asked Chickie about it and he said, " Tiger has a habit of keeping his mouth open an breathing thru his mouth. If a fighter get hit with an open mouth, he can get his jaw broken. Hence, in training Tiger kept water in his mouth, so he couldn't breath thru his mouth". It was Chickie that figured out that solution and it worked.
Yes, When Cassius converted to Islam, he got rid of all the Caucasian people on his staff except for Dundee.