Category Archives: History

Jack Dempsey Museum, Manassa, Colorado / MEMORY

October 9, 2023David Martinez, Heavyweights, HistoryDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

It was in August 1975, when traveling back to visit my relatives in various locations in the state of New Mexico, I ventured north for an unbelievable experience, a visit the birthplace of Jack Dempsey, Manassa, which is located in the southern part of Colorado, in the “San Luis” Valley.

Upon my arrival, I located a log cabin style house in the middle of town, that was actually moved to this city park location in July 1966, and was refurbished in honor of Jack Dempsey. The interior walls were lined with photos and mementos of Dempsey’s brilliant career.

The Curator there was so wonderfully nice and was amazed at my focus and interest, that he thinking I lived nearby, offered me a job there as a tour guide. Then he did something that was truly amazing, removing the actual gloves from a display case that Dempsey wore in the Luis Angel Firpo fight (September 14, 1923) so I could wear them while posing for a picture.

Unfortunately, I had a misfortune happen regarding these photos. In November 1983, while moving from my old house to my new house, it started to rain that day and the water got into the U-Haul trailer we

were towing and into my nicely framed photos. I cried and was so upset and disappointed beyond belief. The photo of me wearing those gloves was the one most damaged.

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Shorty Padilla – Not To Be Forgotten

September 12, 2023David Martinez, FLASHBACK, HistoryDavid Martinez

FLASHBACK — On January 12, 2022, exactly twenty months ago, I published this article on a story line from my youth. To date, that piece has attracted many readers. The numbers were amazing with many “likes” and positive responses, so I feel obligated to post it in this ENCORE version for those who may have missed it. It is also my pleasure to share this article for those that remember the first publishing so that they may enjoy it once again.

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

As a young boy back in the early 1960’s, I met an older man who intrigued me. He would come in to get his haircuts at my father’s barber shop – his name was Tim Cobos.

He knew boxing very well from his era which started in the 1920’s. I never forgot that he told me the three greatest boxers he had ever seen (I can’t remember the order) were Benny Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Joe Louis. Those were his greatest, but his favorite was a local Santa Barbara, California boxer, Albert Lopez Padilla, who was nicknamed Shorty.

Tim knew Shorty personally and attended many of his fights from 1946 to 1949. Shorty fought at such Southern California venues as the historic Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium, Santa Monica Ocean Park Arena, San Diego Coliseum, San Bernardino Arena, Whittier Arena / Pico Rivera, and the Mission Arena in Santa Barbara.

Shorty was born in Pueblo, Colorado, on May 19, 1925, the youngest of four brothers and one sister. His family migrated from city to city to earn a living. They settled in Brawley for a time and in 1928 made their home in Goleta, California, a small community north of Santa Barbara.

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Jose Manuel Urtain vs. Jurgen Blin / Fight and Memory

July 15, 2023David Martinez, Heavyweights, HistoryDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

Back in the mid-seventies, I met a wonderful older man, Emil DeLoreto, who at the time had been following my boxing articles when I was a boxing beat writer for my local newspaper, the Santa Barbara News Press. Emil was much older than I, born in 1910, and he witnessed some of the great boxers in his days and would tell me about many of the fights that he attended.

One fight in particular was on June 20, 1970, in Barcelona, Spain, between Jose Manuel Urtain and Jurgen Blin.

The bout was a scheduled 15 round European Boxing Union (EBU) heavyweight championship fight, with Urtain defending his title that he won in April 1970 by knocking out West Germany’s Peter Weiland. Coming into the fight, Urtain was undefeated with 28 straight wins and all 28 by knockout. Blin, however, would certainly be Urtain’s toughest opponent.

As Emil described the fight, Urtain started fast and took the early lead with a constant barrage of hard punches. Blin came into his own having a huge round 8, hurting Urtain and nearly knocking him out, as the German was looking strong.

Round 10 was exciting, as both fighters went down for counts of eight. Urtain went down first by a smashing right hand punch to the jaw. Then it was Blin that dropped to the canvas as Urtain delivered a left and then a right cross to the head.

They both fought hard, with blood streaming down their faces as the bout ended, going the full 15 round distance.

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First World Title Bouts Held in Different Countries of the World

June 11, 2023David Martinez, HistoryDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

ARGENTINA – Pascual Perez vs. Leo Espinosa, Buenos Aires, January 11, 1956

AUSTRALIA – Tommy Burns vs. Bill Squires, Sydney, August 24, 1908

BRAZIL – Eder Jofre vs. Piero Rollo, Rio De Janeiro, March 25, 1962

CANADA – Jim Ferns vs. Matty Mathews, Toronto, May 24, 1901

CUBA – Jess Willard vs. Jack Johnson, Havana, April 5, 1915

ENGLAND – George Dixon vs. Nune Wallace, London, June 27, 1890

FRANCE – Tommy Burns vs. Jewey Smith, Paris, April 18, 1908

FINLAND – Davey Moore vs. Ollie Maeki, Helsinki, August 17, 1962

GERMANY – Harold Johnson vs. Gustav Scholz, Berlin, June 23, 1962

GHANA – Sugar Ramos vs. Floyd Robertson, Accra, May 8, 1964

IRELAND – Tommy Burns vs. Jem Roche, Dublin, March 17, 1908

ITALY – Al Brown vs. Dom Bernasconi, Milan, March 17, 1933

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Marco Antonio Barrera / Training Camp

June 6, 2023David Martinez, HistoryDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

A month prior to the June 22, 2002 Marco Barrera vs. Erik Morales WBC Featherweight Championship, held at the MGM Grand Arena, Las Vegas, I spent a grand weekend at Barrera’s training camp in Big Bear, California.

I covered the weigh-in and the fight itself in Las Vegas, but it was actually the training camp that I was simply delighted to attend as an in-house guest.

Barrera won a unanimous decision, which was the second bout of a trilogy between these two great Mexican warriors.

In their first bout, Barrera lost a split decision on February 19, 2000; and in their third bout, Barrera won a majority decision on November 27, 2004. Ironically, each fight was at a different weight class, with their first at super bantamweight (122), their second at featherweight (126), and their third at super featherweight (130).

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The Greatest Boxers From Mexico and the United Kingdom

May 1, 2023David Martinez, History, RankingsDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

Throughout my many years of research, I have developed a deep interest in ranking boxers on the greatness of their respective careers.

I rank the fighters, from different eras, at their height, peak, prime, and pinnacle of their careers, and not necessarily by who can beat whom or who fought whom, and regardless of their ring records.

Here’s my “pound for pound” top dozen (12) retired boxers from two of the most popular boxing parts of the world, with professional ring records listed.

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Boxers Never Knocked Out

April 13, 2023David Martinez, History, RankingsDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

There have been many boxers who were never knocked out in their respective careers in the ring.

Here’s my assessment and ranking (in order) of the top thirty-five retired fighters “pound for pound” who never suffered a “KO”, including (in parenthesis) the total number of bouts each fought in their professional careers.

1 – Eder Jofre (78)

2 – Carlos Monzon (99)

3 – Barney Ross (79)

4 – Rocky Marciano (49)

5 – Marvin Hagler (67)

6 – Gene Tunney (67)

7 – Pancho Villa (105)

8 – Floyd Mayweather Jr. (50)

9 – Salvador Sanchez (46)

10 – Ricardo Lopez (52)

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Sugar Ray Robinson … Greatest EVER

November 16, 2022"Sugar" Ray Robinson, David Martinez, HistoryDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

I have been asked many times “who is the greatest boxer of all time in any weight division at the height of his career” and that answer is the easiest for me to come up with – Sugar Ray Robinson. I could go on and on about his career but I will go on record to say that at his pinnacle years he was clearly the best. I was fortunate to meet him at a local amateur boxing show, promoted by my friend Art Carbajal, in 1986 where I was a referee for the kids. It was truly a highlight that stands out in my over sixty plus years of being associated with the sport of boxing. The photos I am including here, along with an excellent highlight video, are Sugar Ray with my daughter Laura who was just 9 years old at the time, as well as Ray with his wife Millie. To shake his hand, get his photo and an autograph that evening will forever live in my mind. I am also including the Sugar Ray Robinson postage stamp which was introduced in April 2006.

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Oddities In Boxing

October 25, 2022David Martinez, FLASHBACK, HistoryDavid Martinez

*** FLASHBACK *** This article piece originally appeared on www.dmboxing.com on April 10, 2019

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

Boxing has certainly had its share of odd events. In no particular order of preference here are ten that have always stood out to me.

1 – November 6, 1993 / Las Vegas, Nevada … Holyfield vs. Bowe II, a fan James Miller lands by parachute into the ring during round 7 causing a 21 minute delay in their heavyweight championship fight.

2 – December 4, 1912 / Paris, France … Georges Bernard fell asleep at the end of the sixth round during his middleweight title fight with Billy Papke.

3 – September 13, 1975 / Caracas, Venezuela Luis Etaba defeated Rafael Lovera by 4th round knockout to win WBC junior flyweight title, only to learn afterwards Lovera had never fought a professional fight before and only fought that one fight in his career.

4 – December 13, 1887 … “Nonpareil” Jack Dempsey retained his middleweight title by knockout in the 45th round over John Reagan. The bout took place in two rings. It Started in Huntington, Long Island and after the ring was flooded by nearby river, in the 8th round, both fighters boarded a tug boat and continued their bout 20 miles away in another ring.

5 – January 15, 1977 / Las Vegas, Nevada … Howard Smith wins a 10 round decision over Henry Clark. In round one, the original referee (Ferd Hernandez) suffered a epileptic seizure causing a fifteen minute delay before new referee (Richard Greene) was brought and the fight resumed. On a side note, prior to becoming a referee, Fred Hernandez boxed professionally and once scored a 10 round split decision win over an aging 44 year old Sugar Ray Robinson in 1965.

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