I would like to take this opportunity for my website fan base, to share a feature story article written by Mark Patton that appeared in the Santa Barbara (California) News-Press newspaper, regarding my recent induction into the California Boxing Hall of Fame.

David Martinez
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Martinez Honored For His Tale Of The Tape On Boxing History

David with family (l to r) grandson Nico; daughter Laura; son-in-law Tate

photo by Bob Quackenbush
Mark Patton, News Press Senior Writer

September 26, 2007 7:01 AM

David Martinez used to relish his childhood trips to the Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park, but not to take any of the rides 뿌리깊은 나무.

“Back in the ’60s, before the park added all the new roller coasters, it had a little, log-house museum for boxing,” he recalled. “Al Nelson was the old boxing historian who ran the place, and I was mesmerized every time I went in there.

“They had things from Rocky Marciano, Jack Johnson, Jim Jeffries — all the greats.”

Martinez is now among their select company 무협지 다운로드. The native Santa Barbaran, who took up Nelson’s passion as a boxing historian and collector, was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame on Saturday at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City.

“I remember Al telling me, ‘Learn your trade well and gifts will come later,’ ” he said, “and Saturday was a big gift for me.”

Martinez, 59, has followed the sport of boxing as a journalist and analyst ever since completing a tour of duty in Vietnam with the U.S Sap gui download. Navy in 1969. He’s written for his hometown News-Press as well as many other publications, and currently covers the fight game for RingSports Magazine. He also served for 10 years as a director of the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

“I’ve been so blessed to have the opportunity to do this, and to have taken this path in boxing,” he said. “I thank God, because it is a passion.”

He estimates that he’s seen 2,500 bouts in his lifetime, sometimes sitting through nine fights a night.

It all started for Martinez when his father and uncle started bringing him to Los Angeles to see the fights at the Olympic Auditorium, the Forum and the Sports Arena.

“I was about 12 or 13, and I was so intrigued by it all,” he said. “I wanted to take it to a different level with my writing, and the passion just grew and grew. Now I even have my own Web site (dmboxing.com).

“At a time when most kids are collecting baseball cards, I was the odd nut collecting boxing memorabilia.”

His collection of nearly a half-century has converted his Santa Barbara home into a museum that rivals anything Nelson could put together at Knott’s. It includes a film collection of nearly 6,000 fights.

“David’s collection is wall-to-wall, and it’s everywhere in his home,” said Don Fraser, president of the California Boxing Hall of Fame. “He has things in his bathrooms, his bedroom, all the walls in the kitchen, the garage.

“There are a lot of people interested in boxing and collecting and whatnot — we have several here (in Los Angeles) — but I don’t think they match David’s energy and interest.”

Martinez’s collection includes a nearly 100-year-old cigar box with a picture of Jim Jeffries on the cover.

“He was the original Great White Hope who fought Jack Johnson (in 1910),” he pointed out.

Martinez, a 1966 graduate of Santa Barbara High, served as a boxing judge and referee for five years. He has also promoted the sport in Santa Barbara for many years, volunteering at boxing shows throughout the years at Casa de la Raza, the Primo Boxing Club and the Police Activities League’s Santa Barbara Boxing Club.

He arranged and helped bankroll a local appearance by super bantamweight champion Willie Jorrin in 2001.

“He came in and put on the sweats, hit the bags and sparred with a couple people,” Martinez recalled. “What really thrilled me was to see how excited the kids were. There were probably 175-200 people there, and most of them were kids.”

He’s currently working on a deal for another Santa Barbara exhibition featuring Sugar Shane Mosley, who has a title fight looming on Nov. 10 against Miguel Cotto.

Mosley was among 11 fighters — Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas included — who were inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame with Martinez on Saturday.

“The thing about David is that he’s a genuinely nice guy,” Fraser said. “You run across guys who do this sort of thing to make money, but he’s not looking for something for himself.

“He does all this out of the goodness of his heart.”

It is called a labor of love by Martinez, who has worked for 36 years at Caltrans as a transportation engineering technician.

Some of his expert observations:

• Best fighter — Sugar Ray Robinson: “Pound-for-pound, he was the greatest. They created all the different weight divisions because of him.”

• Most underrated fighters — Carlos Monzon, Vicente Saldivar and Harry Greb.

• Best boxing movies — “Raging Bull” (1980) and “The Set-Up” (1949): “After watching ‘Raging Bull,’ I asked my wife if she’d like to see it again with me. There was a lot of vulgarity in that movie, and she said, ‘See it again ? Are you crazy?’ But I did go back and watch it again myself just because it was so well done, and I wanted to get all the intricate details. ‘The Set-Up’ was a great, low-budget, underrated movie starring Robert Ryan that most people have never even heard about.”

• Best fight witnessed — Tommy Hearns vs. Marvin Hagler, 1985: “Hagler knocked him out in the third round. I liked it because it had so much action, and also because I had so much respect for Hagler’s work ethic. He was one of the great middleweights, and his weight never fluctuated.”

• Biggest upset witnessed — Jose Luis Garcia vs. Ken Norton, 1970: “Garcia knocked him out, and Norton went on from there to beat Muhammad Ali (in 1973).”

• Worst fight decision — Carlos Zarate vs. Lupe Pintor, 1979: “Zarate lost his bantamweight championship (in a 15-round decision) to his fellow Mexican countryman (and was so upset by the call that he didn’t fight for another five years).”

“But you know, everyone has an opinion,” Martinez added. “When somebody argues that Joe Louis was the greatest boxer of all-time, I tell them, ‘Hey, that’s great! I respect your opinion.’ ”

For Martinez, after all, it’s the fight game itself that’s the greatest.