R.I.P. Jerry Pellegrini, Last Vestige of a Golden Era of Boxing in New Orleans

Published

2 years ago

July 14, 2022

R.I.P. Jerry Pellegrini, Last Vestige of a Golden Era of Boxing in New Orleans

The showdown that the boxing world is most anxious to see, Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence “Bud” Crawford for the fully unified dominion over the 147-pound weight class, remains stuck in bickering hell, with no signed contracts. That dream bout is an updated version of the better-late-than-never (maybe) pairing of superstar welterweights Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao in 2015, which most now can agree would have been more competitive and consequential had it occurred five years earlier.

In boxing, as in life, timing is everything.

But sometimes what the far-flung global masses want, or think they want, is best illustrated when restricted to a particular city and a particular moment, with little more than neighborhood bragging rights at stake. As author Thomas Hauser once said of the rubber match pitting Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in the “Thrilla in Manila,” so much more was at stake for the heavyweight legends than the championship of the whole wide world. Ali and Frazier, he noted, were fighting for an even grander prize — the championship of each other.

One of the most important time-and-place fighters of my adolescence and young adulthood, former welterweight contender Jerry “The Boxing Barber” Pellegrini, was 78 when he passed away on July 12 in the New Orleans suburb of Chalmette, La. Although his wife of nearly 60 years, Helen, told me she had not seen a death certificate listing her husband’s cause of death, she believes it was from complications of pulmonary fibrosis, which for several years had slowly been draining Jerry of his former vitality.

Millions of fight fans mourned when Ali, 74, finally was outpointed on June 3, 2016, by the opponent against whom we all are destined to lose. It was much the same when Smokin’ Joe, 67, threw a last left hook at that unconquerable foe and he, too, took his eternal 10-count on Nov. 7, 2011. But while it can be presumed that far fewer followers of the sweet science will take note of the earthly exit of a fighter of more modest accomplishment, Jerry Pellegrini leaves behind not only Helen, but four children, eight grandchildren, three great grandchildren (with another one coming) and a diminishing number of devotees who still fondly remember what he had been as a must-see attraction on New Orleans’ semi-bustling fight scene of the mid-to-late 1960s. I was one of those fans of the “Boxing Barber,” whose big overhand right always seemed more potent than his modest 28-12-1 record, with 12 knockouts, might now suggest.

As a native New Orleanian and the son of a onetime welterweight who once appeared in the main lead-in bout of a card headlined by the great Archie Moore, I was drawn to boxing as a child, watching the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports Friday night fights with my father. And when flickering, black-and-white images on our old Philco TV set proved insufficient to satisfy my boxing jones, Dad took me to amateur shows at St. Mary’s Italian Gym in the French Quarter, where the venerable Whitey Esneault tutored, among others, future world champions Willie Pastrano and Ralph Dupas before turning them over to Angelo Dundee. Other building blocks in my boxing education came at the Municipal Auditorium, where I could study the starkly contrasting styles of welterweight main-eventers Pellegrini. who would rise to a No. 3 world ranking, and Percy Pugh, a shifty technician who made it all the way to No. 1, only to be denied a shot at then-champion Curtis Cokes.

New Orleans, which once had been a hotbed of boxing, had lost at least some of its allure as a pugilistic destination in the ‘60s, so much so that Waddell Summers, then the boxing writer for The Times-Picayune, wrote that “When Whitey Esneault died (at the age of 76, on Jan. 20, 1968), the Golden Age of boxing in New Orleans was laid to rest in St. Roch No. 2 Cemetery.”

But Mr. Summers was a bit premature in shoveling dirt on the fight game’s grave in the Crescent City. New Orleans fighters who would go on to fight for world titles included light heavyweight Jerry Celestine, lightweight Melvin Paul and super lightweight John “Super D” Duplessis, and another native, Regis “Rougarou” Duplessis, would win the WBA and IBF super lightweight belts, along with the WBC Diamond 140-pound crown, although he and his family had relocated to Houston in escaping Hurricane Katrina, so perhaps the city of his birth can only partially claim dibs on his accomplishments.

It was Pellegrini and Pugh, however, who regularly filled the 5,000-seat Municipal Auditorium in those unenlightened times, with black fans sitting on one side of the ring and white fans on the other. It was inevitable that the two would square off, which they did twice, Pugh winning a close 10-round unanimous decision on Sept. 21, 1967 (my 20^th birthday) and then lifting Pellegrini’s Southern welterweight title on a 15-round UD on March 3, 1968.

“The first fight should have been called a draw, but the second one he outscored me after 15 rounds,” Pellegrini told me for a story I authored in 2014. “Percy was a good fighter. He was No. 1 in the world.

“But you know, Percy had white supporters and I had black supporters. I think people rooted for me because I got a lot of knockouts and they rooted for Percy because of the way he could move. But we both filled up the auditorium.”

Pellegrini (pictured below in a recent photo with his wife Helen) was paid a career-high $8,700 for the Pugh rematch, which wouldn’t even qualify as pocket money to someone like Mayweather, and even that got thinned by what went to his trainer and manager, not to mention the tax man.

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“That was a lot of money back then,” said local promoter Les Bonano. “But imagine if those guys were fighting today. A fight like that might have wound up in the Superdome or New Orleans Arena (now Smoothie King Center) and televised by HBO or Showtime.”

Unfortunately for both Pellegrini and Pugh, neither the Superdome nor the Smoothie King Center existed then. Neither, for that matter, did HBO or Showtime. And the window of opportunity for both fighters – who had come to respect one another professionally and like one another personally – would soon close.

Pellegrini would go just 9-7 after the Pugh rematch. He might have soldiered on, but his power hand, his right, was worsened to a point where an operation might soon have been necessary, a prospect that the barber side of him was disinclined to risk.

“I stopped fighting in 1971 because I had busted my hand all up,” he told me in 2014. “The doctor wanted to operate on it, but I was a barber by trade and I didn’t want nobody cutting on my hand. I might not be able to use my shears or a straight razor. So I retired.

“But 10 years in that ring … I thank God I came out in pretty good shape. Not everybody does. They stay too long because they can’t let it go.”

Pugh – whom I once described as “maybe the best pure boxer to come out of New Orleans” – couldn’t let it go. His blinding hand and foot speed incrementally diminished, he lost his last 10 bouts and 13 of his last 16 to finish with a 47-30 record and just five wins inside the distance. My arguments to get him elected to the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame unfortunately have fallen on deaf ears, members of the selection committee who never saw him box looking only at that less-than-impressive record, paucity of knockouts and concluding that his numbers just didn’t qualify for a plaque to be hung in the Caesars Superdome.

“Tat-tat-tat, that’s how fast I was,” Pugh, a product of New Orleans’ impoverished Lower Ninth Ward, told John Reid of the Times-Picayune for a story that appeared in 2000. “I could bounce, move and stick my punches. A lot of people didn’t see them coming.”

They say bad things come in threes, and maybe they do. Percy Pugh was 81 when he passed away on Jan. 20 of this year, and Les Bonano, who did make the GNOSHOF cut in 2021 after swimming against the current for a half-century, was 79 when he took his departure from this this mortal coil on May 22, also this year. Now Jerry Pellegrini, whose own boxing journey so notably intersected with those of Pugh and Bonano, also is gone.

Perhaps Waddell Summers’ pronouncement of 54 years ago, premature then, applies now: “When Jerry Pellegrini died, at 78, on July 12, 2022, following Percy Pugh and Les Bonano, the Golden Age of boxing in New Orleans was laid to rest.”

One of the best things about going onto the boxing beat at the Philadelphia Daily News was to become immersed in the city’s rich boxing history and heritage. How could one city have four of the world’s top 10 middleweights at the same time? That I wasn’t there for the glorious primes of Bennie Briscoe, Eugene “Cyclone” Hart, Bobby “Boogaloo” Watts and Willie “The Worm” Monroe is something I will always regret. If I had a time machine to transport me back to that golden – no, diamond – era, I’d visit it often.

Not being so fortunate, I had to satisfy myself for being there when Jerry Pellegrini and Percy Pugh did their down-home replication of such welterweight extravaganzas as Leonard-Hearns I, Trinidad-De La Hoya and Mayweather-Pacquiao. History might not long remember Pugh-Pellegrini, but I was there and it was enough to make an indelible mark in that part of my mind that has been cordoned off for favorite boxing memories.

RIP, Jerry. Thank you for being my friend, and for providing me with some of the incentive to go the distance.

Bernard Fernandez, named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the Observer category with the Class of 2020, was the recipient of numerous awards for writing excellence during his 28-year career as a sports writer for the Philadelphia Daily News. Fernandez’s first book, “Championship Rounds,” a compendium of previously published material, was released in May of last year. The sequel, “Championship Rounds, Round 2,” with a foreword by Jim Lampley, is currently out. The anthology can be ordered through Amazon.com and other book-selling websites and outlets.

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Emanuel Navarrete and Rafael Espinoza Shine in Phoenix

Published

1 day ago

December 7, 2024

Phil Woolever

Emanuel Navarrete and Rafael Espinoza Shine in Phoenix

PHOENIX – Saturday was a busy night on the global boxing scene, and it’s quite likely that the howling attendees in Phoenix’s Footprint Center witnessed the finest overall card of the international schedule. The many Mexican flags on display in the packed, scaled down arena signaled the event’s theme.

Co-main events featured rematches that arose from a pair of prior crowd-pleasing slugfests. Each of tonight’s headlining bouts ended at the halfway point, but that was their only similarity.

Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete, now 39-2-1 (32), defended his WBO Junior Lightweight belt with a dramatic stoppage of more-than-willing Oscar Valdez, 32-3 (24). The 29-year-old champion spoke of retirement wishes, but after dominating a blazing battle in which he scored three knockdowns, his only focus was relaxing during the holidays then getting back to what sounded like long-term business.

“Valdez was extremely tough in this fight,” said Navarrete. “I knew I had to push him back and I did. You are now witnessing the second phase of my career and you can expect great things from me in 2025.”

“I don’t really know about the future,” said the crestfallen, 33-year-old Valdez. “No excuses. He did what he wanted to and I couldn’t.”

Navarrete, a three-division titlist, came up one scorecard short of a fourth belt in his previous fight last May, a split decision loss to Denys Berinchyk. This was Navarrete’s fourth Arizona appearance so he was cheered like a homeboy, but Valdez was definitely the crowd favorite, evident from the cheers that erupted as both fighters were shown arriving in glistening, low rider automobiles.

Both men came out throwing huge shots, but it was Navarrete who scored a flash knockdown in the first round, setting the tone for the rest of the fight. There was fierce action in every frame, with Navarrete getting the best of most of it, but even when he was in trouble Valdez roared back and brought the crowd to their feet. He got dropped again at the very end of round four, and Navarrete sent his mouthpiece into orbit the round after that.

When Navarrette drove Valdez into the ropes during round six it looked like referee Raul Caiz, Jr was about to intervene, but before he could decide, Navarrete finished matters himself with a perfect left to the ribs that crumpled Valdez into a KO at 2:42.

“He talked about getting ready to retire soon so I told him we had to fight again right now,” said Valdez prior to the rematch. There were numerous “be careful what you wish for” type predictions of doom and he entered the ring at around a two to one underdog, understanding the contest’s make or break stakes. “Boxing penalizes you if you have a lot of losses,” observed Valdez. “It’s not like other sports where you can lose and do better next season. In boxing, most people don’t want to see you again after a couple of losses.”

What Valdez might decide remains to be seen, but even in defeat he proved to be a warrior worth watching.

Co-Feature

After their epic, razor-close encounter almost exactly a year ago, it was obvious Rafael Espinoza, and fellow 30-year-old Robeisy Ramirez should meet again for the WBO featherweight title belt Espinoza earned by an upset majority decision. Espinoza turned the trick again this time around, inside the distance, but it was more anti-climactic than anything like toe-to-toe.

The 6’1” Espinoza, now 26-0 (22), was the aggressor from the opening frame, but 5’6” Ramirez, 14-3 (9) employed his short stature well to stay out of immediate danger and countered to the body for a slight edge. The Cuban challenger avoided much of their previous firefight and initially controlled the tempo. The crowd jeered him for staying away but it was an effective strategy, at least at first.

Espinoza connected much better in the fifth round and looked fresher as Ramirez’s face rapidly reddened. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere in round six, Ramirez took a punch then raised a glove in surrender. Whatever the reason, even looking at Ramirez’s swollen right eye, it looked like a “No Mas” moment. Replays showed a straight right to the eye socket, but that didn’t stop the crowd from hooting their disgust after ref Chris Flores signaled the end at 0:12.

***

Richard Torrez, Jr, now 12-0 (11), displayed his Olympic silver medal pedigree in a heavyweight bout against Issac Munoz, 18-2-1 (15). Torrez, 236.6, found his punching range quickly with southpaw leads as Munoz, 252, tried to stand his ground but looked hurt by early body work that forced him into the ropes. He was gasping for breath as Torrez peppered him in the second, and Munoz went back to his corner on unsteady legs.

Munoz’s team should have thought about saving him for another day in the third as he ate big shots. Luckily, referee Raul Caiz, Jr. was wiser and had seen enough, waving it off for a TKO at 0:59.

“I don’t train for the opponent,” reflected Torrez, who isn’t far from true contender status. “Every time I train, I train for a world championship fight.”

***

Super-lightweight Lindolfo Delgado, 139.9, improved to 22-0 (16), and took another step into the world title picture against Jackson Marinez, now 22-4 (10), 139.2.

On paper this junior welterweight matchup appeared fairly even, and Marinez managed to keep it that way for almost half the scheduled ten rounds against a solid prospect but Delgado kept upping the ante until Marinez was out of chips. The assembled swarm was whistling for more action after three tentative opening frames, as Delgado loaded up but couldn’t put much offense together.

That changed in the 4th when Delgado connected with solid crosses. In the fifth, a fine combination dropped Marinez into a delayed knockdown and a wicked follow-up right to the guts finished the wobbly Marinez, who had nothing to be ashamed of, off in the arms of ref Wes Melton. Official TKO time was 2:13.

In a matter of concurrent programming, Saturday also held a lot of highly publicized college football and basketball games which likely detracted from the larger mainstream audience and media coverage this fight card deserved. That’s a shame but you can’t fault boxing, Top Rank, or any of the fighters for that because, once again, they all came through big time in Phoenix.

Photos credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Brooklyn’s Richardson Hitchins Wins IBF 140-Pound Title in Puerto Rico

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1 day ago

December 7, 2024

David A. Avila

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A change of champions took place as Richardson Hitchins rallied from a lethargic start to wrest the IBF super lightweight title from Australia’s Liam Paro by split decision on Saturday in Puerto Rico at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan.

Brooklyn has another world champion.

“I’m just happy to be a world champion,” Hitchins said.

Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) proved that his style of fighting could prevail over Paro (25-1, 15 KOs) who had previously knocked off another Puerto Rican champion, Subriel Matias.

Both fighters expected a different kind of encounter as Paro immediately started the fight with constant pressure and short, precise combinations. Hitchins had expected a different attack and seemed hesitant to pull the trigger.

“I couldn’t get my timing,” said Hitchins. “I thought he was going to put the pressure on me.”

Soon Hitchins ramped up his attack.

After Paro had jumped ahead with a constant strategic attack, Hitchins slipped into second gear behind a sharp right counter that found the target repeatedly.

Things began to swing in the Brooklyn fighter’s favor.

Those long arms came in handy for Hitchins who snapped off deadeye rights through Paro’s guard repeatedly. Soon the southpaw Aussie’s eye began to show signs of damage.

But Paro never quit.

Aside from using quick counters, Paro began firing lead lefts and the occasional right hook and uppercut. But seldom did he target the body. Slowly, the rounds began mounting in favor of the Brooklyn fighter.

Perhaps the best blow of the fight took place in the ninth round as Hitchins connected flush with a one-two combination. Though stunned, Paro trudged forward looking to immediately counter.

He mostly failed.

Still, Paro knew the rounds were not one-sided and he could close the distance. The Aussie fighter did well in the 11^th and 12^th round but could not land a significant blow. After 12 rounds one judge saw Paro the winner 117-11, while two others saw Hitchins the winner 116-112 for the new IBF titlist.

“He’s a hell of a boxer,” said Paro who loses the title in his first defense. “It’s not a loss, it’s a lesson.”

Other Bouts

A battle between Puerto Rican featherweights saw Henry Lebron (20-0) out-battle Christopher Diaz-Velez by decision after 10 action-packed rounds.

In a lightweight fight Agustin Quintana (21-2-1) gave Marc Castro (13-1) his first loss to win by split decision after 10 rounds.

Welterweight Jose Roman Vazquez (14-1) defeated Jalil Hackett (9-1) by split decision after 10 rounds.

Photo credit: Melina Pizano / Matchroom

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A Six-Pack of Undercard Action from the Top Rank Card in Phoenix

Published

1 day ago

December 7, 2024

Arne K. Lang

A Six-Pack of Undercard Action from the Top Rank Card in Phoenix

Top Rank promoted a 10-fight card tonight at the NBA arena in Phoenix. The undercard included welterweight standout Giovani Santillan and a bevy of young prospects.

Based on his showing tonight, Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez is a prospect on the cusp of being a contender. A high-octane fighter with ring smarts that bely his tender age, the 22-year-old Gonzalez pitched a near 8-round shutout over Argentina’s Gerardo Antonio Perez, advancing his record to 12-0 (7). Although Gonzalez was forced to go the distance after five straight wins by stoppage, Perez, an Argentine who had never been stopped and was better than his 12-6-1 record, had a granite chin.

LA junior bantamweight Steven Navarro improved to 5-0 (4 KOs) with a second-round stoppage of Gabriel Bernardi (7-2). Navarro had Bernardi, a Puerto Rican, on the canvas twice before referee Raul Caiz Jr waived it off.

In a welterweight contest slated for “10,” Giovani Santillan improved to 33-1 (18 KOs) at the expense of Fredrick Lawson who retired on his stool after only one round. It was a nice confidence-booster for Santillan who took a lot of punishment in his last fight vs. Brian Norman Jr, a fight that Santillan was expected to win. However, tonight’s win should come with an asterisk as Lawson, a Chicago-based Ghanaian, is damaged goods and ought not be permitted to fight again, notwithstanding his 30-6 record. (All six of his losses, including the last three, came inside the distance.)

In a welterweight contest slated for six rounds, 19-year-old SoCal prospect Art Berrera Jr advanced to 7-0 (5 KOs) with a second-round TKO over Juan Carlos Campos (4-2) who fights out of Sioux City, Iowa. Referee Wes Melton lost his balance as he stepped in to stop the one-sided affair with a nano-second remaining in round two and went flying into the ropes, but was seemingly unhurt.

In a major surprise, Cesar Morales, a former Mexican national amateur champion, lost his pro debut to unheralded Kevin Mosquera, a 23-year-old Ecuadorian. A flash knockdown in the opening minute of final round factored into the result. The judges had it 39-36 and 38-37 for Mosquera (3-0-1) and 38-38.

The night did not start well for Morales’ trainer Robert Garcia who had five fighters in action tonight.

In the lid-lifter, 21-year-old Las Vegas lightweight DJ Zamora, a protege of the late Roger Mayweather, improved to 15-0 (10 KOs) with a second-round stoppage of Argentine import Roman Ruben Reynoso (22-6-2). Zamora put Reynoso on the canvas in the opening round with a left to the solar plexus and knocked him down in the second round with a counter left to the chin. Reynoso made it to his feet, but had no beef when the fight was waived off. The official time was 1:56 of round two.

Bouts involving former Olympians Lindolfo Delgado and Richard Torres Jr plus two compelling world title rematches round out the 10-fight card. TSS correspondent Phil Woolever is ringside. Check back later for his post-fight reports.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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