The Beast of Stillman's Gym, Part 5…TOLEDO

Published

13 years ago

January 26, 2012

Springs Toledo

beast 6 Holyoke Valley Arena, 1940s

PART 5: IN THE MADHOUSE

The uneven borders of Holyoke, Massachusetts appear on a map as a near-perfect fist with the middle finger sticking up.

Abandoned factories and textile mills looming over man-made canals remind locals that their city was once an industrial giant. Their city now has nearly three times as much violent crime as the national average and its median household income is only about half the state average. Irish Catholics built Holyoke though only 17% of their descendents are left. Over 44% of the folks today are Hispanic; still Catholic, still tough. Old mill towns seem to insist on both.

The Great Depression sent the mills spiraling into bankruptcy. That left working men with idle hands and a lot of testosterone looking for something to do. Boxing was big in Holyoke, even during the lean years -–especially during the lean years. On Monday nights, roughneck fathers would take roughneck sons over to the Valley Arena on South Bridge Street. It was an education. Monday night was fight night.

The arena was originally a gas house until Homer Rainault converted it in 1926. It was rebuilt after two fires in ’43 and ’52 and lasted until 1960 when it went up in flames so high they licked the sky. The Rainaults put on boxing shows popular enough –-and at 40 cents a ticket, cheap enough to warm 2,000 seats on the floor and two balconies. Golden era fighters would come in by way of New York and take a room over Kelly’s Lobster House, which was only a five-minute walk from the arena.

THE SMOKE

Holyoke knew Cocoa Kid well. He had made a career storming around the continental United States and stopped off at the Valley Arena nineteen times. His first appearance was on September 19^th 1932. He “made a hit,” according to the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram and “proved himself a superior boxer with a stinging left and nasty right hook.” His last appearance was on March 25^th 1946. It was Bert Lytell who made a hit that night. Cocoa Kid made a target.

Bert hammered the sentimental favorite, knocking him down twice; a left hook in the third sat him down in the middle of the ring for a nine-count and then a right in the fourth sent him flying for another nine-count. Fans were “amazed,” said the Transcript-Telegram, “as Lytell weaved in front of him, protruded his chin and dared him to swing.” It was “the worst shellacking” of his long career though his pride never let him flinch from it. Bert knew that this reeling figure, his former mentor at Stillman’s Gym, was once as fast as he was and mercifully slowed down. Spectators closest to the action said that he seemed to be pulling his punches at the end.

Four months later Bert flew down to Puerto Rico with Tiny Patterson and defeated him again on his native soil. In July 1947, the pair met for the third time in New Orleans. Battered into semi-consciousness, Cocoa Kid was saved from himself by his corner before round seven. It was an act of mercy cheered by the thousands in attendance.

THE MECHANIC

By the summer of 1945 it had been almost a decade since Holman Williams and Cocoa Kid first swapped leather. Williams was outmaneuvered over thirteen engagements, but had just defeated the aging phenomenon in May. Charley Burley was Williams’ other great rival. Those two fought for the seventh and last time in July, and Williams won. A long-termer in the madhouse that was Murderers’ Row, Williams would eventually meet every member a total of 36 times. He was also one of history’s great road warriors: Between August 1944 and August 1945 he fought 17 times in seven states and chalked up a travel estimate of 22,196 miles.

Williams may have wondered about this fighter that old-timers were calling the second coming of Tiger Flowers. As he measured him from across the Coliseum ring he may have noted a stronger resemblance to Battling Siki. The young man’s arms extended well past his robe’s sleeves and his jaw looked like something salvaged from a scrap heap and attached with a dog bone wrench.

Oddsmakers in “The Big Easy” made Williams a slight favorite over Bert Lytell despite the reports that he had big problems with southpaws. This one proved to be the toughest he ever met. The affair was described as torrid, with Bert burning up the ring and maximizing confusion by boxing at long range. Williams stopped digging in his own toolbox and reached for Jake LaMotta’s: “Equalize the fight by keeping on top [of him] because then you don’t know the difference between a southpaw and a right-handed fighter,” LaMotta said, “that’s how you make it even.” And that is precisely what happened. Williams took over on the inside and fought him to a draw.

Bert said he was nursing a fever. A twelve-round rematch was set for two weeks later and he was feeling mean. “Williams is such a local favorite that he is allowed to get away with unfair tricks. The surest way is to knock him out, or at least down several times. That’s what I am going to do Friday night,” he snarled to the Times-Picayune, “I’m going after him and unless I beat him decisively or knock him out I don’t want the decision.”

For seven rounds, he got mean all right. Holman was “almost hopelessly beaten” as Bert crowded him and concentrated his attack on the body. Pete Baird was ringside and saw strategy forming even then –-Holman, he surmised, “figured that sooner or later Lytell would weaken from the fast pace he was setting.” The eighth round was the turning point. As Bert started to sputter, Williams had a light bulb moment and starting throwing left hooks to his ribs. These allowed him to slip under Bert’s right hands and debilitate what was left of him at the same time. With William’s cheering section ringing in his ears, Bert barely survived the last two rounds and lost the referee’s decision.

The beast fled north to lick his wounds. He returned to Holyoke to outclass a triple champion from Cuba before heading to Baltimore to face another member of Murderers’ Row. Aaron “Tiger” Wade was treated to both faces of Bert Lytell –-one “constantly on the move” and the other tattooed to his chest. This time the referee voted in Bert’s favor, though the two judges at ringside gave the duke to Wade. The Baltimore Sun reported that Wade “failed to live up to his nickname” and “won by the barest whisker.”

Madison Square Garden sponsored Williams-Lytell III in Valley Arena. Williams was guaranteed $2,000 for the fight. Modest though it was for a professional of his caliber, the matchmaker claimed that it was “the biggest pay-off to any single fighter by the arena in 12, yes, 15 or even more years.” Williams had earned a decent purse. Since their last battle, he had rallied and climbed to the number-two spot in the rankings. The local press souped things up by referring to him as “the uncrowned king of the middleweights” and charging that Sugar Ray Robinson, LaMotta, and middleweight champion Tony Zale were avoiding him.

The truth was he had over 150 professional fights by then and his body was breaking down.

He entered the ring a 2½ to 1 favorite with a weight advantage of six pounds. But Bert was on a rampage. Williams was assailed from three ranges, outboxed as well as outpunched. He could do nothing to fend off the southpaw; even the lug wrench that used to be his right hand was in pieces. Before the bell to begin the eighth round Bert was seen bounding up and down in his corner. This victory would launch him up the middleweight ladder. “He beat me in New Orleans,” he said in the dressing room afterwards, “yes he beat me fairly and squarely, but I wanted to win that one tonight.”

Williams was practically wheezing when the time came to declare the winner of the 1-1-1 series in 1947. It was a main event at Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, “an all-Negro July 4 ring show” with seats reserved for white fans and a brass band playing at intermission. Bert intended to retire his rival. “Those who saw what he did to Cocoa Kid,” said the Times-Picayune “realize Holman is in for it.” They weren’t wrong. At the end of the fourth, Williams misjudged a hook whistling in from the wrong angle and crashed to the canvas. As the referee reached the count of “nine” the bell rang. Williams was still lying there “out cold, flat on his back” when his seconds came rushing out to help him to his corner and revive him. Only a second-to-none skill set pulled him through the next eight rounds.

Before the verdict was announced, Williams walked over to Bert and lifted his glove.

“THE KING OF ‘EM ALL”

Charley Burley was at the peak of his powers in August 1946. He was the second-ranked middleweight in the world and probably could have thrashed the sitting champion and the first contender. When he met Bert in Millvale, Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quipped that Burley would not only have to take on a “formidable foe,” he would also “be forced to come up with a defense for a woman’s wiles.” Tiny Patterson was there and heads were turning when that short and shapely frame swiveled by.

Bert forced the action while Burley seemed distracted, content to counterpunch and peck at a cut that opened under the southpaw’s right eye. When Bert surged in the fourth and tenth rounds, Burley slowed him down with a debilitating hook to the stomach. The fight was anything but dramatic. One newspaper began its coverage with a cry of “Ho-hum!”

Bobby Lippi, a friend of Burley, claimed that there was plenty of drama before and after the bout. He said that they were playing cards the night before and every half hour the phone would ring. When Burley picked up the receiver, he was abused by whoever was on the other end. They suspected these calls came from someone in the Lytell camp. Lippi also claimed that Bert absorbed a beating that the press somehow missed, that he showered after the bout, got dressed, and sat shell-shocked on a bench with “no idea where he was.”

After the loss to Burley, Bert would have six more fights before the year was out, four of them against light heavyweights who outweighed him by ten pounds. His first bout in 1947 was against a light heavyweight who outweighed him by eleven pounds. That was easy –-The Ring Record Book missed his last bout in 1946 where Sammy Aaronson said he took on half the police precinct in Brooklyn. The Holyoke Transcript-Telegram corroborated Aaronson’s story when it mentioned “some fine embroidery on his scalp” and described it as a “criss-cross” scar that Bert suffered after “a dance hall melee.”

A middleweight who requires a riot squad to subdue him and beats up light heavyweights for fun was tough enough for Willie Schulkin of The Boxing News to dare Burley to fight him again. Burley, the so-called “king of ‘em all,” accepted the challenge.

Lytell-Burley II was held the same night Curtis “Hatchet Man” Sheppard met Jimmy Bivins at Philadelphia. Both bouts were important ones: Sheppard was being considered to challenge for Joe Louis’s crown while Burley was penciled in for a shot at Gus Lesnevich’s light heavyweight crown. Several weeks earlier, Burley contracted pleurisy and the original date of the rematch was rescheduled so that he could recover; whether or not that was a factor in the rematch is anyone’s guess. Either way, Bert staggered Burley twice in the early rounds and was “pushing him all over the Coliseum ring” while the crowd sat in stunned silence.

After getting even with the most dangerous member of Murderers’ Row, Bert returned to the garage on King’s Highway in Brooklyn where he used to work –-and bought it.

____________________________

The Row was willing, but champions weren’t and Bert Lytell was beginning to feel like the ugly girl at the dance. More idols totter as our man is forced to find larger prey in PART 6 OF “THE BEAST OF STILLMAN’S GYM.”

The graphic of the Holyoke Valley Arena appears with courtesy of imagemuseum.smugmug.com.

Information regarding Holyoke and the Valley Arena found in city-data.com, creatingholyoke.org, and Boxrec Boxing Encyclopedia. “The Smoke”: Reading Eagle 2/11/46, Holyoke Transcript-Telegram, 9/20/32, 3/21,25,26,27/46 and 4/9/46, Times-Picayune 5/19/47; Passenger manifest, Pan American Airways, inc, 8/1/46 San Juan to NYC; “The Mechanic”: Miami News 4/27/46, Times-Picayune 8/16, 17, 18/45; 7/4,5/47, Holyoke Transcript-Telegram 4/13,16/45; “Tiger Wade”: Baltimore Sun 10/1,2,3/45. “The King of ‘Em All”: Daily Times 8/3/46, contracts pleurisy, AP 7/17/46, The Sun 2/17,18/47, Boxrec encyclopedia, and Harry Otty’s Charley Burley and the Black Murderers’ Row, p. 275, 277-8. Lytell’s purchase of King’s Highway Garage is mentioned in The Berkshire Evening Eagle, 9/4/1947.

Springs Toledo can be contacted at scalinatella@hotmail.com“>scalinatella@hotmail.com.

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Springs Toledo

Skylar Lacy Blocked for Lamar Jackson before Making his Mark in Boxing

Published

10 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Skylar-Lacy-Blocked-for-Lamar-Jackson-Before-Making-his-Mark-in-Boxing

Skylar Lacy, a six-foot-seven heavyweight, returns to the ring on Sunday, Feb. 2, opposing Brandon Moore on a card in Flint, Michigan, airing worldwide on DAZN.

As this is being written, the bookmakers hadn’t yet posted a line on the bout, but one couldn’t be accused of false coloring by calling the 10-round contest a 50/50 fight. And if his frustrating history is any guide, Lacy will have another draw appended to his record or come out on the wrong side of a split decision.

This should not be construed as a tip to wager on Moore. “Close fights just don’t seem to go my way,” says the boxer who played alongside future multi-year NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at the University of Louisville.

A 2021 National Golden Gloves champion, Skylar Lacy came up short in his final amateur bout, losing a split decision to future U.S. Olympian Joshua Edwards. His last Team Combat League assignment resulted in another loss by split decision and he was held to a draw in both instances when stepping up in class as a pro. “In my mind, I’m still undefeated,” says Lacy (8-0-2, 6 KOs). “No one has ever kicked my ass.”

Lacy was the B-side in both of those draws, the first coming in a 6-rounder against Top Rank fighter Antonio Mireles on a Top Rank show in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the second in an 8-rounder against George Arias, a Lou DiBella fighter on a DiBella-promoted card in Philadelphia.

Lacy had the Mireles fight in hand when he faded in the homestretch. The altitude was a factor. Lake Tahoe, Nevada (officially Stateline) sits 6,225 feet above sea level. The fight with Arias took an opposite tack. Lacy came on strong after a slow start to stave off defeat.

Skylar will be the B-side once again in Michigan. The card’s promoter, former world title challenger Dmitriy Salita, inked Brandon Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) in January. “A capable American heavyweight with charisma, athleticism and skills is rare in today’s day and age. Brandon has got all these ingredients…”, said Salita in the press release announcing the signing. (Salita has an option on Skylar Lacy’s next pro fight in the event that Skylar should win, but the promoter has a larger investment in Moore who was previously signed to Top Rank, a multi-fight deal that evaporated after only one fight.)

Both Lacy and Moore excelled in other sports. The six-foot-six Moore was an outstanding basketball player in high school in Fort Lauderdale and at the NAIA level in college. Lacy was an all-state football lineman in Indiana before going on to the University of Louisville where he started as an offensive guard as a redshirt sophomore, blocking for freshman phenom Lamar Jackson. “Lamar was hard-working and humble,” says Lacy about the player who is now one of the world’s highest-paid professional athletes.

When Lacy committed to Louisville, the head coach was Charlie Strong who went on to become the head coach at the University of Texas. Lacy was never comfortable with Strong’s successor Bobby Petrino and transferred to San Jose State. Having earned his degree in only three years (a BA in communications) he was eligible immediately but never played a down because of injuries.

Returning to Indianapolis where he was raised by his truck dispatcher father, a single parent, Lacy gravitated to Pat McPherson’s IBG (Indy Boxing and Grappling) Gym on the city’s east side where he was the rare college graduate pounding the bags alongside at-risk kids from the city’s poorer neighborhoods.

Lacy built a 12-6 record across his two seasons in Team Combat League while representing the Las Vegas Hustle (2023) and the Boston Butchers (2024).

For the uninitiated, a Team Combat League (TCL) event typically consists of 24 fights, each consisting of one three-minute round. The concept finds no favor with traditionalists, but Lacy is a fan. It’s an incentive for professional boxers to keep in shape between bouts without disturbing their professional record and, notes Lacy, it’s useful in exposing a competitor to different styles.

“It paid the bills and kept me from just sitting around the house,” says Lacy whose 12-6 record was forged against 13 different opponents.

As a sparring partner, Lacy has shared the ring with some of the top heavyweights of his generation, e.g., Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He was one of Fury’s regular sparring partners during the Gypsy King’s trilogy with Deontay Wilder. He worked with Joshua at Derrick James’ gym in Dallas and at Ben Davison’s gym in England, helping Joshua prepare for his date in Saudi Arabia with Francis Ngannou and had previously sparred with Ngannou at the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas. Skylar names traveling to new places as one of his hobbies and he got to scratch that itch when he joined Whyte’s camp in Portugal.

As to the hardest puncher he ever faced, he has no hesitation: “Ngannou,” he says. “I negotiated a nice price to spend a week in his camp and the first time he hit me I knew I should have asked for more.”

Lacy is confident that having shared the ring with some of the sport’s elite heavyweights will get him over the hump in what will be his first 10-rounder (Brandon Moore has never had to fight beyond eight rounds, having won his three 10-rounders inside the distance). Lacy vs. Moore is the co-feature to Claressa Shields’ homecoming fight with Danielle Perkins. Shields, basking in the favorable reviews accorded the big-screen biopic based on her first Olympic journey (“The Fire Inside”) will attempt to capture a title in yet another weight class at the expense of the 42-year-old Perkins, a former professional basketball player.

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Mizuki Hiruta Dominates in her U.S. Debut and Omar Trinidad Wins Too at Commerce

Published

2 days ago

January 18, 2025

David A. Avila

Mizuki-Hiruta-Dominates-in-her-U.S.-Debut-and-Trinidad-Wins-Too-at-Commerce

Japan’s Mizuki Hiruta smashed through Mexico’s Maribel Ramirez with ease in winning by technical decision and local hero Omar Trinidad continued his assault on the featherweight division on Friday.

Hiruta (7-0, 2 KOs), who prefers to be called “Mimi,” made her American debut with an impressive performance against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez (15-11-4) and retained the WBO super flyweight world title by unanimous decision at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

The pink-haired Japanese southpaw champion quickly proved to be quicker, stronger and even better than advertised. In the opening round Ramirez landed on the floor twice after throwing errant blows. On one instance, it could have been ruled a knockdown but it was not a convincing blow.

In the second round, Ramirez again attacked and again was met with a Hiruta check right hook and down went the Mexican. This time referee Ray Corona gave the eight-count and the fight resumed.

It was Hiruta’s third title defense but this time it was on American soil. She seemed nervous by the prospect of getting a favorable review from the more than 700 fans inside the casino tent.

For more than a year Hiruta has been training off and on with Manny Robles in the L.A. area. Now that she has a visa, she has spent considerable time this year learning the tricks of the trade. They proved explosively effective.

Though Mexico City’s Ramirez has considerable experience against world champions, she discovered that Hiruta was not easy to hit. Often, the Japanese champion would slip and counter with precision.

It was an impressive American debut, though the fight was stopped in the eighth round after a collision of heads. The scores were tallied and all three saw Hiruta the winner by scores of 80-71 twice and 79-72.

“I’m so happy. I could have done much more,” said Hiruta through interpreter Yuriko Miyata. “I wanted to do more things that Manny Robles taught me.”

Trinidad Wins Too

Omar Trinidad (18-0-1, 13 KOs) discovered that challenger Mike Plania (31-5, 18 KOs) has a very good chin and staying power. But over 10 rounds Trinidad proved to be too fast and too busy for the Filipino challenger.

Immediately it was evident that the East L.A. featherweight was too quick and too busy for Plania who preferred a counter-puncher attack that never worked.

“He was strong,” said Trinidad. “He took everything.”

After 10 redundant rounds all three judges scored for Trinidad 100-90 twice and 99-91. He retains the WBC Continental Americas title.

Other Bouts

Ali Akhmedov (23-1, 17 KOs) blasted out Malcolm Jones (17-5-1) in less than two rounds. A dozen punches by Akhmedov forced referee Thomas Taylor to stop the super middleweight fight.

Iyana “Roxy” Verduzco (3-0) bloodied Lindsey Ellis in the first round and continued the speedy assault in the next two rounds. Referee Ray Corona saw enough and stopped the fight in favor of Verduzco at 1:34 of the third round.

Gloria Munguilla (7-1) and Brook Sibrian (5-2) lit up the boxing ring with a nonstop clash for eight rounds in their light flyweight fight. Munguilla proved effective with a slip-and-counter attack. Sibrian adjusted and made the fight closer in the last four rounds but all three judges favored Munguilla.

More Winners

Joshua Anton, Tayden Beltran, Adan Palma, and Alexander Gueche all won their bouts.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Published

4 days ago

January 16, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.

Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.

Hopefully the worst is over.

Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.

Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.

“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.

He knows talent.

Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.

Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.

Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.

Can Trinidad reach world title status?

Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.

It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.

Mizukii Hiruta

Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.

Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Boxing and the Media

The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.

Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.

Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.

Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.

MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.

Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.

Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.

It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.

Photos credit: Lina Baker

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