March 12th

Same day events that happened in boxing history
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straycat
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March 12th

Post by straycat »

1959- In the first world Jr. Welterweight title bout contested since 1946, Carlos Ortiz becomes Puerto Rico's second world champion boxer, knocking out Kenny Lane in two rounds to win the vacant world title, at New York.

1960: Donny LaLonde born. (March 12, 1960 in Victoria, British Columbia)
from Winnipeg, Canada. His nickname is "Golden Boy" after the Golden Boy statue atop the Manitoba Legislative Building of his home town of Winnipeg.
A victim of child abuse while growing up, he won the vacant WBC light heavyweight title in November 1987, stopping Eddie Davis in two rounds in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. After defending the title once, against former champ Leslie Stewart, by fifth-round TKO in May 1988 (also in Trinidad), it was on to the 'big time' in Las Vegas, facing boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard in November of that year. Lalonde was offered more money for agreeing to fight at 167lbs instead of his regular 174, which left him weakened. Lalonde shocked many, even himself, as he floored Leonard in the early going, but Leonard came back to wear down the Canadian and brutally stop him in the ninth round.
Lalonde continued to fight, but challenged for a world title only once more, losing a decision to Bobby Czyz in May 1992 for the WBA cruiserweight title. His only other 'big-name' opponent was North Dakota's Virgil Hill, whom he fought in July 2003. Hill, however, won a 10-round decision in the Manitoba-North Dakota 'international border match'. Whether Lalonde fights again is yet to be seen.
Inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1990.

1977- Pipino Cuevas KO 2 Miguel Campanino, Mexico City. Retains WBA Welterweight Title.
One of the greatest wins of his career, Campanino boasted an impressive record (84-4-4), including a thirty-two fight winning streak.
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ScapposeJohn commenting on Shane Mosely possibly being unaware he was taking PED's wrote: Likewise. It reminds me of President Clinton saying that he smoked weed in college but never inhaled. Yeah..........right.
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Post by straycat »

Passed Away On This Day

2001- Boxing writer Phil Berger, 59, dies of cancer in New York.

Berger authored more than a dozen books on sports and entertainment, including collaborating with heavyweight champions Joe Frazier and Larry Holmes on their autobiographies. His other books include "Forever Showtime -- The Checkered Life of Pistol Pete Maravich" and "Miracle on 33rd Street," the New York Knicks' championship season of 1969-70.
He was the boxing writer for the New York Times from 1985-92, and also wrote for Esquire, Playboy, Sport and the Village Voice.
Berger authored the screenplay for the movie "Price of Glory," which was released last year. It told of an ex-boxer who channels his disappointment in a single-minded quest for boxing championships for his three sons.
Born in Brooklyn, Berger grew up in Stamford, Conn. He is survived by his daughter, Julie, of New York; his mother, Fanny, of Delray Beach, Fla.; a sister, Cynthia Darling of Laurel, Md.; and a companion, Veronica Vera.


1959- Carlos Ortiz W 15 Kenny Lane, NYC. Wins vacant World Super Lightweight Title.

1973- Kuniaki Shibata W 15 Ben Villaflor, Honolulu. Wins WBA Super Featherweight Title.

1977- Pipino Cuevas KO 2 Miguel Campanino, Mexico City. Retains WBA Welterweight Title.

1988- Jose Luis Ramirez W 12 Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker, Paris. Retains WBC Lightweight Title. One of the worst decisions in boxing history.

2000- Gilberto Serrano KO 5 Hiroyuki Sakamoto, Tokyo. Retains WBA Lightweight Title.

2001- Boxing writer Phil Berger, 59, dies of cancer in New York.

2005- Markus Beyer W 12 Danny Green, Zwickau, Germany. Retains WBC Super Middleweight Title.

2009- Takahiro Aoh W 12 Oscar Larios, Tokyo. Wins WBC Featherweight Title.

2009- Hozumi Hasegawa KO 1 Vusi Malinga, Hyogo, Japan. Retains WBC Bantamweight Title.

Born On This Day

1960- Donny LaLonde (born Donald Drew Lalonde in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada)
etired professional boxer. His nickname is "Golden Boy," after the Golden Boy statue atop the Manitoba Legislative Building in his boxing home town of Winnipeg. Lalonde held the WBC Light Heavyweight Championship from 1987 to 1988.
Lalonde was one of four children. His father, a salesman, left the family when he was three. When his mother remarried, Lalonde accepted his stepfather immediately. However, when he was eleven, his stepfather started to become abusive. It began when Lalonde saw him beating up his mother. "I jumped on his back to stop him, and he hit me," Lalonde said. "After that, it just seemed easier and easier for him to do that."
When Lalonde was fifteen, he ran away from home. He was tired of school and tired of the beatings. He worked odd jobs around Kitchener and Winnipeg. He first walked into a boxing gym when he was seventeen. He got into boxing "to try to reestablish self-esteem, respect, pride," he said. "Boxing is a way of doing that." Lalonde had an amateur record of 11-4 and turned professional in 1980.
Lalonde won his first four fights and then lost a six-round decision to Wilbert "Vampire" Johnson in March 1981. They had a remacth seven months later, which Lalonde won by a second-round knockout.
In 1983, Lalonde won the Canadian Light Heavyweight Championship, knocking out Roddie McDonald in ten rounds. He defeated McDonald even though he had a smashed middle knuckle on his right hand and was recovering from surgery on his left shoulder, which he first separated when he crashed into the boards while playing hockey in 1977.
Over the years, the shoulder had separated some thirty times and had become so loose that he was able to pop it back into socket himself. To prepare for his fight with McDonald, he underwent an operation in which doctors inserted a pin to bind the joint, which severely restricted his ability to raise his left arm. It affected Lalonde's style: He would paw with his left, looking to set up his powerful right.
In 1985, with a record of 19-1, Lalonde fought Willie Edwards for the NABF Light Heavyweight Championship. Edwards stopped Lalonde in nine rounds.
At the end of 1985, Lalonde hired Dave Wolf as his manager and Teddy Atlas as his trainer. Lalonde went 8-0 with Atlas as his trainer, but they clashed in temperament and style. "He ran things like an army camp," Lalonde said. "I'm more of a free spirit." He and Atlas parted ways, and Lalonde hired Tommy Gallagher and Bobby Cassidy as his new trainers.
In his first fight with Gallagher and Cassidy, he outpointed Mustafa Hamsho on May 7, 1987. His next fight was for a world title. On November 27, 1987, Lalonde knocked out Eddie Davis in two rounds to win the vacant WBC Light Heavyweight Championship in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. His first title defense was also in Port of Spain. On May 29, 1988, he knocked out former WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Leslie Stewart in five rounds.
On November 7, 1988, Lalonde fought Sugar Ray Leonard at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was by far the biggest fight of his career. Lalonde's purse was six million dollars. They fought for Lalonde's WBC Light Heavyweight Championship and the newly created WBC Super Middleweight Championship, which meant that Lalonde had to make 168 lbs. Some were concerned that moving down from the light heavyweight limit of 175&lbs;lbs would weaken Lalonde, but he told HBO's Larry Merchant after the fight that he had no trouble making weight, and he felt great on the night of the fight.
Lalonde's size and awkwardness troubled Leonard. In the fourth round, a right hand to the top of Leonard's head dropped him for just the second time in his career. Early in the ninth, Lalonde hurt Leonard with a right to the chin. Leonard fired back and hurt Lalonde with a right. He drove him to the ropes and unleashed a furious assault. Lalonde tried to tie up Leonard, but got dropped with a powerful left hook. He rose but was soon down again, and the fight was stopped. Leonard won his fourth and fifth world titles.
After Leonard vacated the WBC Light Heavyweight Championship, Lalonde was scheduled to fight Dennis Andries for the vacant title on June 24, 1989 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Shortly before the fight, Lalonde shocked many by retiring. "I just don't have the desire to hit people anymore," Lalonde said.
Lalonde returned to boxing in 1991. After four straight wins, he fought Bobby Czyz for the WBA Cruiserweight Championship on May 9, 1992 in Las Vegas. Czyz dropped Lalonde in the first round with a left hook. Lalonde got up and survived the round, but for the rest of the fight, Czyz continued to come forward and land effectively with left jabs and hooks. Czyz retained his title with a twelve-round unanimous decision.
After losing to Czyz, Lalonde was inactive for four years. He returned to the ring and won three straight fights, then fought a six-round draw with Kevin Pompey in 1998. Lalonde stayed out of the ring again until 2002. After three consecutive wins, Lalonde fought former two-division champion Virgil Hill in Winnipeg on July 7, 2003.
In the first round, Lalonde fell into the ropes after getting hit by a left hook. The referee ruled it a knockdown, but Lalonde said the fall was due more to bad footwork. Lalonde spent most of the fight backpedaling and looking to land his right hand. Hill controlled the fight, landing frequently with jabs and hooks while avoiding Lalonde's powerful right. Hill won by a ten-round unanimous decision. It was Lalonde's last fight. He finished with a record of 44-5-1 with 36 knockouts.
In 2006, Atlas published his autobiography, Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man. In the book, he revealed that he came close to murdering Lalonde. "When he made six million for Leonard, it tore me up," Atlas wrote. "It made me murderous." If Lalonde had not fired Atlas and he had been with Lalonde for the Leonard fight, Atlas would've gotten 10% of Lalonde's purse, $600,000.
Atlas described getting a gun and going to Lalonde's apartment building in New York. After getting buzzed into the building by another tenant, Atlas went to Lalonde's apartment and knocked on the door. "If he had opened the door, he was dead," Atlas wrote. "I would have pulled the trigger, turned around, and walked away." However, there was no answer.
Atlas waited through the night for Lalonde to return, periodically phoning the apartment. When he finally got through, Lalonde's girlfriend answered. When asked if Lalonde was home, she said yes. Atlas hung up and started making his way over to the apartment. Somewhere along the way, for whatever reason, Atlas changed his mind.
Lalonde knew nothing about it until the book came out, and a friend told him about it. "It actually didn't surprise me when I heard it," he said. "Teddy got into fights with trainers and fighters quite a bit when I was with him. he may not be the most stable person walking around."
Lalonde lived a modest lifestyle post-retirement, he rode the bus with a fellow named Bill, they chatted and told stories of the past.

1970- Katsuya Onizuka (born Takashi Onizuka in Kitakyushu, Japan)
Former WBA Super Flyweight champion from Kitakyushu, Japan. Onizuka was an extremely popular boxer in Japan, creating a boxing boom in Japan during the early 1990s along with Joichiro Tatsuyoshi.
Onizuka began boxing in middle school, entering a local boxing gym to begin training. He won several high amateur boxing tournaments in high school, but lost a match in his senior year against Hiroshi Kawashima, who would later win the WBC Super Flyweight title. Onizuka had already been accepted to Kinki University, but decided to turn pro after being battered in a sparring session with Hiroki Ioka, who had just become the WBC Minimumweight champion. He entered the Kyoei boxing gym in Tokyo, and made his professional debut in 1988 as a flyweight.
Onizuka quickly built up his record, and won the Japanese Super Flweight title in October, 1990, which he defended three times before moving on to challenge the world title. His first world title match came in April, 1992, fighting Thanomsak Sithbaobay for the WBA Super Flyweight title, which had been vacated by legendary Thai boxer Khaosai Galaxy. Onizuka won a close 12 round decision, the first of the series of controversial wins in his career. Akinobu Hiranaka also won the WBA Super Lightweight title in Mexico the same day.
He defended his title for the first time on September 11, 1990, winning by TKO in the 5th round. This would be his only non-decision win in world title fights. He fought Mexican fighter Armando Castro three months later for his second defense, and won an undisputable victory. This fight was the height of Onizuka's career.
Onizuka's third defense came on May 21, 1993, against Korean fighter Jae-Shin Lim, who had previously fought with the alias, "Kotaro Hayashi." Onizuka was predicted to win easily, but the challenger pummeled Onizuka throughout the fight, and Onizuka barely won by split decision. Two of the three judges of the fight were Japanese, and had both scored the bout in favor of Onizuka, making the fight one of the worst and most obvious cases of a hometown decision.
After his controversial fight, Onizuka fought Thanomsak Sithbaobay for the second time, and made his fourth defense by another close 12 round decision. He made a fifth successful defense by 12 round decision on April 10, 1994, despite having been knocked down for the first time in his professional career in the 5th round. Onizuka finally lost in his sixth defense on September 18, 1994 against Hyung-Chul Lee, where he was trapped in the corner and beaten relentlessly for over a minute by the challenger. The referee finally stopped the fight in the 9th round, and Onizuka lost his title after two years of controversial defenses. He was found to have a detached retina in the right eye after the fight, and announced his retirement. Onizuka explained that he had actually suspected an injury in his right eye over two years ago, but had kept it to himself to avoid being forced into retirement. His record was 24-1-0 (17KOs).
Onizuka lived away from boxing for a while after retirement, but now trains young boxers at his boxing gym in his hometown, Fukuoka. He often appears on TBS boxing broadcasts as a commentator. Fans were reminded of Onizuka's controversial wins when Koki Kameda won a hometown decision to become the WBA Light Flyweight champion in 2006. Both Kameda and Onizuka were trained and managed by the Kyoei boxing gym, and Onizuka has appeared as a commentator in several of Kameda's fights.
Ĩ ÁM ŚŤŔÁŶČÁŤ ÁŃĎ Ĩ ÁPPŔŐVĔ ŤĤĨŚ MĔŚŚÁĞĔ
>^^< ŚŤŔÚŤ!
ScapposeJohn commenting on Shane Mosely possibly being unaware he was taking PED's wrote: Likewise. It reminds me of President Clinton saying that he smoked weed in college but never inhaled. Yeah..........right.
KSTAT124
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Re: March 12th

Post by KSTAT124 »

SIXTY YEARS AGO:

March 12, 1956-

Toronto, Ontario, Canada-

Former Canadian lightweight champion Arthur King (61-11) returned to the ring after an absence of 2 years and 3 1/2 months with a 10-round, unanimous decision over veteran welterweight contender Chico Vejar (63-6-2).

Modena, Emilio Romagna, Italy-

EBU European heavyweight champion Franco Cavicchi (41-2) stopped Werner Wiegand (32-13-5) in the 8th round of a scheduled 10-round, non-title bout.

Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico-

Up-and-coming future lightweight contender Al Neverez (21-3-3) unanimously outpointed Cesar Saavedra (58-27-6) over 10 rounds.

New Britain, Connecticut, USA-

Future two-time World heavyweight champion and future Hall of Famer (IBHOF, WBHF) Floyd Patterson (28-1) stayed active with a 2nd round TKO with journeyman Jimmy Walls (19-42-2). It was Walls' 12th consecutive loss and his last bout before he announced his retirement.

Providence, Rhode Island, USA-

Future World junior lightweight champion Harold Gomes (34-3) unanimously outpointed Jimmy O'Brien (29-28-6) over 12 rounds to retain the New England featherweight title.

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