Tell me about Denny Moyer

I mentioned this once before. Vicky LaMotta and Edna Robinson were on a talk show with Bonecrusher Smith's young wife. This must have been around 25 years ago. Go figure this. We know that at times when Sugar and Jake would be upset with their wives,the girls became sparring partners. A busted lip. A black eye.Some loose teeth. After years of putting up with philandering and getting knocked around they left.

Well on this show Vicky and Edna are runnin' this by Mrs. Bonecrusher. A very pretty and modest girl. If memory serves me,I think The Bonecrusher graduated from college. He might have met his wife there. Anyway Mrs. Bonecrusher is getting nervous from listening to these two recall their former husbands chaotic treatment of them.. Edna and Vicky are getting more and more turned on as they tell of their husbands abuses.
"When being married to a fighter,they'll let you know who's boss,"said Vicky.
"That's right. And if you make a fuss,you'll get belted a good one,"said Edna full of excitement.
"Yes," a energized Vicky said. "I remember Jake letting me have it if I got him upset."
By this time the young bride is almost in tears.
"Oh don't worry honey,"said Edna. "That won't happen to you."
By now both Vicky and Edna had come down to Earth to see that they had upset the girl.

The point to all of this is that women who go for fighters,at least some of them,are turned on by the violence. Even if sometimes if it's at their expense. Fighting turns them on. It turns me on to think that it turns them on.

Amen.

 

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Irish Bob Murphy vs Henry Brimm


"Hey Tony,don't you ever take a day off?"
"I haven't taken more than a week off since George's father opened the Arizona in 1945."
I remember Tony Panza when I was a kid settin' up pins in the bowling alley that was through the little hallway that led from the bar. Tony ran the bowling alley and George Radovich handled the bar. Between the bar and the bowling alley there was a small kitchen. George always made sure he had some 'ol gal in there cookin' up lunches. I'm not kiddin' ya',they were the best home cooked meals down at the beach.Pork Roasts,mashed potatos,corn on the cob,salad. Dishes like that that stuck to your ribs. Everyone affiliated with the Arizona Cafe was some kind of Serb. They all went to the Serbian church and married Serbians,drank Vodka by the gallons,spoke Serbian and hated Tito's guts. They all belonged to the "Serbian Defense League." One time I asked George Radovich.
"What the hell is the Serbian Defense League?"
"We sit around and get drunk on Vodka and talk about invading Yugoslavia",laughed George.

Well George finally had to break down and get "automatic pin setters" because too many pin boys like myself were getting hit in the noggin' by the pins flying around. After that Tony Panza moved inside and tended bar. The Arizona was like a historical museum in a way. There were old pictures on the wall of the beach and the Arizona Cafe. But the ones that interested me the most were the pictures of "Irish Bob" Murphy. George handled Murphy when he was an amateur just gettin' out of the Navy. There was always an "Irish Bob" Murphy story to go around. I've run a few by you,but here's a fresh one.

Tony's tellin' me this artist comes into the bar one night and draws one of these" charactertures" of George behind the bar. George likes the artwork and commissions this guy(I think it was all the booze you could drink)to do one of these "charactertures" of everyone sittin' at the bar. Tony told me on this night the place was really packed. All the local crowd was there. Well Michaelangelo is workin' his way down the bar doin' his artwork and every body is pleased as punch. At the end of the bar is Murphy sittin' there with his then manager Travis Hatfield. The way Tony told it was like this.

DaVinci works his way up to Murphy and says he's going to paint his picture. Well I don't think Picasso knew who Murphy was because if he did he'd known that Murphy was one of those "bad" drunks. Tony said Murphy gave him a sneer and sad"Why not?"
Well Rembrandt is paintin' up a storm and gets finished painting Murphy. He holds up the finished product in front of his face and asks Murphy his opinion. Next thing you know Murphy's fist comes crashing through the guy's painting and lands against his nose. Norman Rockwell is layin' there unconscious on the bar room floor with Murphy's painting next to him. Hatfield,who's been drinkin' with Murphy all night,turns to Murphy and says,"I guess you didn't like it?"

The Arizona Cafe is closed up now. George died a while back,Murphy broke his neck in '61 in a motorcycle accident. Tony's around,but with the Arizona gone,I assume his days will be numbered. But you know what?After that guy painted all those pictures of everybody at the Arizona that night,George hung them all up behind the bar. Even Murphy's picture. But Murphy's picture was held together in two by Scotch Tape. To think they had to use Scotch Tape to put that Irishman together. I bet that made him sore.

 

This is from the mouth of Tony Panza down at the Arizona. The way he ran it by my me was like this. During the early 50's the LA. Rams used to come down to the Arizona to hook up with George Radovich,the owner, and do some sport fishing. George knew these guys when he played for the San Diego Bombers semi pro football team after the War. There was Waterfield and Van Brocklin,"Crazy Legs",and "Skeets" Quinlan to name a few. They called it their summer training"regimen". They'd all go sport fishing and swig beer all afternoon and return to the Arizona for more beer drinking until closing. Then the drunkest would volunteer to drive the rest of the athletes to Tijuana for sessions of beer guzzling interrupted by an occasional shot or two of tequila. After quenching their thirsts,the athletes would consider which whorehouse would be appropriate to top off their night of frivolty.

If "Irish Bob" Murphy was pretending he was a bar stool at the Arizona after the Rams had depleted the Pacific Ocean of fish,well,how do they say it? The more the merrier. Well after an afternoon of training on anchovies and Budweiser,the Rams swim into the Arizona and find Murphy sittin' at the end of the bar feelin' no pain. Well the fellas' are old chums and now they decide to go a few dozen rounds with the Irishman. And I don't mean pugilistic rounds. After all that comeraderie and beer drinking ,the fellas decide they should be goodwill ambassadors and take a little trip down Mexico way.They decide to invite their boxing buddy Murphy. Bob doesn't have a reputation for being a prude and jumps right in with both feet. Murphy's the drunkest so he ain't lettin' none of those softy pigskinners drive. He'll lead the way if he has to average a hundred miles an hour to get there.

The athletes arrive in this foreign land and now have to make a decision. What high class establishment should they grace with their presence? Tonight it will be a debaucherous adventure in the "Boom Boom Club". The waiter escorts the athletes to a front row table so they'll have an excellent view of the entertainment on stage. A review of professional female dancers,who after the third song,are dancing wearing only their high heel shoes.This happens after the stage crew dims the lights to give an atmosphere of lust and enchantment. You see the "Boom boom" has a flair for the drunk and horny athlete.

Well each athlete has a "hostess" sitting on his lap and the drinks and the lies are flowin' harder than Niagra Falls. That night the "Boom Boom" is full of happy degenerates who want to see someone more out of it than they are,do something really stupid and idiotic. Did somebody say "Murphy?"

Like I was tellin' ya' Murphy has a reputation for not being a prude and here's the evidence. The way Tony told it to me was like this.


It was around three in the mornin' and it was time for the "Boom Boom's" star attraction to take center stage. Direct from the "Boom Boom Club" and Tijuana it was the one and only "Pocahantas". Yes,I said "Pocahantas". She would come on stage wearing a little g string,pasties ,her high heels ,and a head dress. By the third number the band would be playing something provacative like "Mama Inez",the professional stage crew would lower the lights,and "Pocahantas" would be dancing with nothing on but her high heels and her head dress.

Tony told me that Murphy said something to the other athletes about "this is the woman I'm gonna' marry" or something similar. Now he's set himself up.
"Well if you're gonna' make her your wife,get up there and dance with her." They think it was Van Brocklin who yelled that.

The next thing you know our light heavyweight hero is on stage doing his impression of the mambo with "Pocahentas". By this time the crowd is goin' berserk and they're telling Murphy to take his clothes off. The medley gets to the third number. The lights dim. "Pocahantas" could now be called "Little Beaver"and Murphy is wiggling in front of her with his arms over his head.

Tony Panza again. He tells me that "Pocahantas" and the "hostesses" have this routine they work on some guy like Murphy who gets on stage trying to steal the act. "Pocahantas" moves Murphy towards the edge of the stage. From behind one of the "hostesses" pulls out a ream of toilet paper and tries to get it inside that part of Murphy's posterior where they slap on the mustard. Murphy thinks that he's being tickled or something. The crowd starts growing anxious and hysterical because they know something is going to happen. Well"Miss Slight of Hand" works the toilet paper in there and Murphy is dancing around with this long white tail. Everyone is goin' nuts and Murphy is believin' that either he's a really good dancer or he's more sexy than "Pocahanras" For the coup de gras,"Miss Slight of Hand" pulls out a match and lights the toilet paper on fire. The roof is about to blow off the joint and now Murphy is seriously thinking about giving up boxing and landing a job at the "Boom Boom"as an exotic dancer. Well the fire shoots up the toilet paper like a hot fuse. At first Murphy jerks, Then he feels the fire cooking his rump roast. Murphy starts screaming. Like that ,the lights go on. "Pocahantas" runs off the stage and there's Murphy not knowin' whether to scream,cry,or hit the nearest person in the mouth. All that time everyone's howlin' so loud you can hear them from the Zoo.

I was tellin' ya' before about how these guys would call their summers at the Arizona,their training "regimen". I know today athletes train more sophisticated. Weights,aerobics,stretching,cardio,nautius machines,state of the art chemicals all superivised by doctors and nutritionists. But when I think about that story about that training"regimen" at the "Boom Boom Club" in Tijuana that night,I don't think today's modern scientific methods are as fun,or as funny.

 

It was after Murphy got his jaw broken by Clarence Henry. Murphy was winnin' the fight,but Henry gets one in and Murphy lands in the loss column. After that fight Murphy was not a happy fighter. You could never say Murphy was much of a goodwill ambassador. The joke at the Arizona was that Murphy once punched Dale Carnegie in the mouth. He was drinkin' more and starting to get on people's nerves. He's spending more time in the Arizona than down at the gym, and that ain't doin' Murphy's career no good and its startin' to effect Radovich's business.

One night Murphy's in the joint and he's bothering everyone. When someone ,let's say,would leave the bar to go to the bathroom,Murphy would pull the bar stool out from under the guy after coming back. The guy would go to sit down and fall on the floor. Well George had had enough.
"Murphy,you're gonna' have to leave. You're gettin' everyone upset and you're hurting my business."

Well Murphy don't say nothing to George because Murphy respects George. George handled him and brought him along in the amateurs. Murphy looked to Radovich as a big brother. Murphy walks out with his head down looking like a puppy who got scolded. As Murphy is walking out the door,the beer guy comes in to make his deliveries. He's got cases of beer loaded on his hand truck and goes to the store room to put the cases away. The beer guy then goes out to his truck and comes runnin' back inside.
"Someone stole my beer truck!"

Just then everyone starts hearin' police siirens out in the street about a block or two away. Seems that Murphy,when he was leavin',decided to do the beer guy a favor and gets in his truck to finish making his delveries.The beer guy left the keys inside the truck.See,Murphy's not so bad a fella'. He wanted to help. The problem was Murphy tried to turn the corner goin' around 50 and rolls the beer truck. Well the beer truck is on its side and there's beer spewin' all the way down to the beach. But it was all apropos. You see, it was a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer truck. Honest.

Anyway, that's the way Tony Panza told it to me.

 

SLY MONGOOSE

Boxing,jazz,food,and women were 'ol Arch's priorities of thought as I could tell. Not necessarily in that order. I'm sure he switched them around when the mood told him. However as his beard grew more gray,his involvement with kids I think edged into that category. It was something he could give back.His life experiences. What he had seen. That was important to him.

I used to watch him fight on TV when I was a kid. The first Durelle fight might have gotten more people hooked on boxing than any other fight of that decade. When I finally stumbled upon knowing him a little many years later,I don't think boxing was as much a preference as teaching what he had learned from his life as a boxer.

Archie Moore believed that a man's word was the the most valued commodity a person could acquire. I'll pass this along again because the person who told me this story recently passed away. Bobby Rodriguez was a kid in San Diego when Moore was about to fight Marciano for the title. Bobby grew up in the fields in the San Jouquin Valley picking lettuce with his parents to help make things meet. While Bobby was working in the fields he came down with TB.

Bobby was sent to the TB ward at County Hospital down in San Diego. Archie Moore(for whatever reason)came to visit the patients. Bobby told me everyone was excited. Just seeing Archie smile made all the sick kids happy.

Well Archie promised those kids he'd win the heavy weight title. And when he won that title, he'd come back and show the belt to the kids. Well we know what happened.

But Archie came back anyway. He'd promised the kids he'd return,but he wasn't wearing the crown. Bobby told me that Archie felt he had let those kids down. Hell,those boys were just happy to see their favorite fighter.

Bobby used to own the Elbo Rest Bar in National City. i bet he had told that story more than a thousand times. And I bet he loved to tell it. When I last saw Bobby he was in the death grasp of diabetes. You knew it was going to get him. Then a few months ago I saw the "For Sale" sign on the door. The panaderia guy next door said that Bobby had died. The family was selling the place.

Too bad the panaderia guy didn't have the key. I wanted to sit at the bar with a cold one and have Bobby run that story one more time by me.

 

A STANDING OVATION

Everytime I saw Archie Moore at the fights across the border he got a standing ovation. I've talked about it before,but one time in particular I remember because Sugar Ray Robinson was fighting the main event against a local by the name of Memo Ayon.The fight was at the old bull ring downtown. They tore it down because they thought it was unsafe. Wasn't strong enough to hold the weight of the crowd. Well they were saying this in 1964 when Sugar Ray was climbing into the ring against Memo Ayon.

My dad took me to that fight. I knew I'd never see Robinson in a live fight again. I'd settle for him in a Mexican bull ring. Robinson lost the decision that night even thouigh I thought the Mexicans rigged the verdict like they rig their elections. But getting back to Moore.

The crowd hated Sugar Ray .As soon as he walked down to the ring,the whistling and racial slurs filled the air. But then they introduced Archie Moore. I didn't see him sitting ringside,but when he rose up,the crowd rose with him. He got the biggest applause. He always did down there.Archie wasn't cocky. Wasn't a show off. A genuinly humble person. Mexicans like that in a foreign fighter. Especially a black fighter.I know Joe Louis fought a couple of exhibitions against Godoy in Mexico. They were probably standing for Joe also. Whether Olivares was on the card or Vicente or any of the local heros,if Arch was at ringside, the crowd was on their feet.

Archie fought one time in Tijuana. I didn't see it,but I guess he put the trial horse Howard King away in the first frame. I assume the crowd was on its feet that night long ago too.

 

Before Mexico's money started to become devalued in the mid 70's Tijuana had some great fight cards. I remember seeing Saldivar,Olivares,and Napoles just to mention a few. I remember watching Olivares fight a non title go against a Japanese challenger in the old downtown bullring sometime in the early seventies. The place was packed to the doors. Olivares was at his peek as popular as Chavez was in his day. The crowd was animated and loud. Watching a big fight with a Mexican champion in those days in Tijuana was something else.

I remember dead snakes being tossed into the ring and old pairs of women's underwear with dried blood in the crotch being thrown around as well=honest. Well on that night Archie Moore was at ringside and when he got introduced to come into the ring 10,000 crazy fans all rose and gave him a standing ovation for 5 minutes. He blew a kiss to each side of the ring and the aficianados went wild. Then they introduced Olivares and he got a good hand but nothing like the Ol' Mongoose. No standing ovation. Moore fought a non title fight in Tijuana and knocked out Howard King.

But it was more than that that won the hearts of Mexican fight fans. Ol' Arch was a gentleman,with love in his heart for everyone. He could tell interesting stories always with a twinkle in his eye and a philosophic lesson to be learned. African American fighters were never really embraced in Mexico that much. Joe Louis was an exception. Ali was to fight an exhibition down there but he knew he wasn't that popular so he cancelled out. I saw Sugar Ray Robinson get booed when he fought Memo Ayon. Davey Moorre had to run out of the ring with his trunks and gloves on after knocking out Kid Irapuato.

Hedgemon Lewis had to do the same after stopping the Mexican welter champ at the Jai Lai Palace. I had an old time Mexican friend who owned a small bar in Tijuana. One night when I walked in he said he had an artist paint portraits of the great Mexican fighters . There on the wall with a small light over each painting was Kid Azteca.Joe Becerra,Lauro Salas,Olivares,and Jose Napoles. In the middle of all of them was Archie Moore.

 

Shorty Hogue was a great fighter. Archie Moore was a little green, and he was having stomach problems. When Moore was losing to Hogue, it's not like he was beating any other top fighters. Eddie Booker had his number back then, too. Although their first two fights were even in rounds and scored draws, they would both be wins for Booker using modern scoring. And in their third bout, Booker knocked him the f

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ck out and put him in the hospital.

Moore would have been in the hospital for weeks if Eddie Booker hadn't heard that he wasn't getting a blood transfusion because he was black, and donated blood to Moore himself (they were the same blood type). Charley Burley sure as hell had his number back then, as well. Basically, Moore was so poor that he didn't have time to train. He often had to work, just as Burley, Booker, Hogue and Booker did.

 

I said I knew Archie Moore when he was running his boys club in San Diego. He always displayed a hopefull and positive outlook on life and when he looked back on his past(especially his marrages) it was nothing worse than a bitter sweet little shake of the head. What a pleasant man. A real gentleman who never talked down to you. Always patient and made you feel like he enjoyed talking to you. You wanted to revisit him because he welcomed your presence.

Another one,Mantequilla Napoles. I've posted before that he was my personal favorite. I saw him fight in Tijuana and LA a lot,but figured I'd never meet him. My wife has family in Tijuana and one day when I was down there (around 1985) I saw a billboard saying Mantequilla Napoles and his tropical music group were going to perform at a club on Revolution St. So I decided to go and introduce myself.

Well this club,The Rio Grande,wasn't exactly Caesar's Palace. It was upstairs,the linoleum floor was cracked,cigarette stained walls ;something out of one of those film noir 50's movies. I get there around midnight and the crowd is starting to fill up and I think everybody was drunk and loaded before they got there. No one was checking for guns or knives at the door so I figured the crowd felt comfortable. I see Napoles and his band up on the bandstand and all I know is that they played loud. Napoles is no Dizzy Gillespie but he was really getting into it.
I figure I got to make up for lost time so I'm drinking double shots of tequila. After 4 or 5 Jose decides to take five. The artists go to a room in the back to repair so I follow along. I open the door,I don't know what I was about to say,but Jose says to me in Spanish to get my ass inside. I'm sitting with the artists and here comes the booze,the drugs and nobody knows who I am. Everybody is passing everything around and having the time of their lives. I'm really getting f----- up and as I go to say something to Jose they get up and go out to play music again--real real loud this time. I see a girl with lots of makeup and big tits and figure she would like to dance or something.
Next thing I know some guy goes flying by my feet in the prone position. 3 or 4 guys jump on top of him behaving in a rude and inappropiate manner. A couple of cops come running in ,I guess to help out, and now they're getting the poop kicked out of them. I guess Napoles and the artists have been through this before and they start playing "the Gillette Blue Blades Song" I haul ass down the stairs. I'll introduce myself to Jose some other time.I hear glasses breaking and Napoles and the artists are still playing as I get out to the street.
When you asked if I ever knew of a fighter who was not depressed.I figured Napoles might qualify.

 

Archie Moore had a training camp up in the foothills outside San Diego in a small town named Ramona. When I worked for the County of San Diego years later,I'd drive out that windy road to see what was left of the place. The few wooden houses were empty. The area was nothing but sage brush and tumbleweeds rolling along with the wind. Moore was still alive,but I think he had sold the property.

Moore would tell the story of how a young Cassius Clay was sent to him as a teenager to develop his boxing skills at that camp.I had always thought that Moore wanted to show Clay how to box like him,but Moore told me different. Moore knew Clay was going to grow into a heavyweight,so Moore told him,"Why dance around at that weight,when I can show you how to get better leverage on your punches so you can knock guys out?"
Moore said that Clay was hard to train. Didn't listen much. Besides he wanted an entourage around to feed his ego. Clay wanted to look stylish in the ring,more like Sugar Ray Robinson(later Robinson refused to train Clay when he was asked). Archie said that many of the things Clay was doing in the ring were unnecessary. Moore also said that Clay didn't want to earn his keep like the other fighters who were training at Ramona. He refused to do chores like the other guys. Moore told him there was a reason for it. Moore wanted to see if Clay would follow directions. Moore told him there'd be a time in a fight when your trainer may ask you to alter something. Would you be able to follow directions and adapt?

I don't know if many people know this because Moore was a very positive person,but Archie didn't like the taunting before his fight with Clay. Moore thought it didn't show any class. Aileen Eaton offered Archie $35,000 for the match. Moore was hurting for dough and asked for a $25,000 in advance. After that fight Archie told me ,after taxes,he wound up with practically nothing.

Moore said that fight made him feel worse than after losing to Marciano. Archie figured he'd be in for a tough battle,but that he hated losing in 4 rounds. Clay predicted,"Moore will fall in four". Archie told me he didn't want to add to Clay's predictions. What also depressed Moore is a lot of people thought he went in the tank. They thought his poor showing validated that assumption. Moore reflected his thoughts to me at his boy's club. "Imagine", he said to me,"After all I've given to boxing. How could anyone think that me?"

 

Not boxing related but thought I would post nonetheless, funny little story:

Here's a good one. One time my car broke down in Logan Heights ,right in the heart of the ghetto. I call my father to come over and give me a ride home. Well he gets there and parks his car across the street. My father is pushing 80 years of age and doesn't walk or see that well anymore. He gets out of the car and starts hobbling across the street not even checking for cars. Just like that a car load of gangsters all wearing blue in this lowrider pull right up near my father. I thought they were going to run him over. I'm yelling at my father,but he's lost half his hearing as well. The driver of the car leans on the horn. My father looks at them as he hobbles by and gives them the "finger" He then yells at them to "Go f--k your mothers." I'm tellin' myself this is where me and the old man die.

What do you think these thugs do? They all bust out laughin'!!
"All right old man! Right on!"
Like I said, lookin' scary is impressive enough sometimes.

 

What does all of this have to do with Denny Moyer?

 

Well THIS has alot to do with Denny Moyer

--click on link--

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Nothing, but on the previous page I had mentioned how I would post storys about other fighters besides Denny in this thread seeing how other posters are enjoying them so far. I`ve go more on Denny and the Moyers, but since I am looking thru my files which frankly I haven`t done in years I keep coming accross all kinds of cool storys and incidents which I feel like sharing with everyone here.

However I don`t feel like digging up old Luis Rodriguez, Archie Moore, Jose Napoles threads just so I can post storys about them on threads in which they were being discussed, so I just post them here instead. Now if you don`t care to read them thats fine, but I think some of the other folks here are enjoying them a lot, or maybe I am wrong? **** it, no more of my bs storys to clog up this thread then, feel free to post your own thoughts on the Moyers Klomp, the stage is yours.

 

great posts RB really enjoyed tem