I think I can rule out Lou Bailey, but Jimmy Woody looks like he could indeed be the guy. (Bearing in mind I only saw him for about thirty seconds three years ago, and have to imagine him forty years younger...)
I looked up Cookie Wallace, but he's too thickly built (this guy was built more like Joe Louis in his '51 comeback) and his jawline is way too strong. Amusingly, Wallace looks like the T-1000 from Terminator 2 midway between morphing from Jim Kelly to Mike Tyson.
I definitely considered that possibility, but something about this guy intuitively struck me as legit. Living is Los Angeles, you come across a large number of both posers and genuine big shots and former big shots. I once knew an old guy who claimed to be a former stuntman, and he had pictures of himself on set with Steve Mcqueen, Ryan O'Neal and other celebrities to prove it, but he also claimed to have been a CIA assassin and had fake intel briefs typed up to "prove" it, complete with a red "CLASSIFED" stamp that was probably the product of something stolen from some prop department. Living in LA you meet bull****ters like this all the time.
I knew the chances that I'd figure out with any confidence who this fellow was were slim, but I also knew people would at least have some intriguing suggestions. Thanks.
I'm dubious a bit because he couldn't give his name clearly to you. Was he understandable in the rest of the conversation ?
He tried to give his name and as I said I asked him to repeat it several times. We were also walking down a crowded sidewalk during heavy traffic. If you take a look at this interview it'll give you some idea how hard it was for me to make out what the guy was saying: This content is protected