Friday, July 29, 2011

GREATER VICTORIA Sports Hall of Fame - 2011 Inductees | NowPublic News Coverage

GREATER VICTORIA Sports Hall of Fame - 2011 Inductees NowPublic News Coverage

1974/75 LONDON BOXING CLUB  soccer team one of the
2011 inductees to the Greater Victoria sports hall of fame.

The Victoria London Boxing Club folded in 1976 and was
replaced by the VICTORIA ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION.

MEDIA INDUCTEE, MAX LOW

Max Low, a well respected journalist and reporter is another
solid choice as a 2011 inductee.  Step back to 1980 and LOW
was an important media rep that would report the revival of
the BC DIAMOND BELT CHAMPIONSHIPS. Two of his
 columns appeared in February 1980 and one titled
"Young boxers eager while vets look back" managed to
connect the 1980 tournament with the 1967 and 1968
tournaments through the memories of past members
and mentioned some of the former boxers including
Dave Wylie, Freddy Fuller, Frank Scott, Wayne Boyce,
Dick Findlay, Kalman Santosi, Clint Page, Les Vegas,
Bill Taylor, Ken Alexander, Brian Zelley, Brian Gray,
Ted Webb, Jerry Winters, Greg Gunfer, Marijan Kolar,
Jamie Phils, Don Staab, Wes Craven, Larry High and
Melvin Harris.

Also mentioned were possible entries in the 1980 
tournament such as Perry Evans, Lance Mitchell
and Gary Robinson.

Monday, July 25, 2011

ZELLEY'S CANADIAN BOXING NEWS and VIEWS

CANADIAN BOXING NEWS and VIEWS begins August 1, 2011

Due to the demand, and limited sources this post will try to cover the Canadian
amateur and professional boxing scene during the month of August.


The GM ROSS' CANADIAN BOXIANA
According to Gregg, the blog will be on hold
for awhile while he is involved in other pursuits.

At the present time, he is also listed as an administrator  for the
 BRITISH COLUMBIA AMATEUR BOXING HALL OF FAME.


BOXING BC
Will be holding a replacement AGM in August 2011, the one in
July had problems and disputes.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

TRAGIC BOXING STORIES

LOST WARRIORS and TRAGEDY: by Brian Zelley
                                   From - Tragic Boxing Stories - 
                                            East Side Boxing

Throughout the history of boxing there have been hundreds
of stories of tragic persons in the sport of boxing,  Somr have
died as a result of  ring tragedies such as BENNY KID PARET,
DAVEY (the  Springfield Rifle) MOORE, and JOHNNY OWEN.
Others have died in tragic accidents such as ZORA FOLLEY,
EDDIE HADDAD, ROCKY MARCIANO and   JACK JOHNSON. 
Others have been killed by the  violence of murder, suicide
or under  strange circumstnces.   Then there was the 1980 USA
boxing team tragedy when a plane crashed and exploded in
Poland. \

DAVEY S. MOORE - Featherweight Champion
        (from Find A Grave - http://www.findgrave.com/











Some lived after a ring death but paid a price with regret
such as GEORGIE SMALL- EMILE GRIFFITH - MAX BAER. 

EMILE GRIFFITH - Welterweight and Middleweight Champion 
Selected by "Boxing Illustrated" - The Best of the Sixties

Emile was fighting Benny Paret for the welterweight title in 1962
when it ended in tragedy.  Despite the inner turmoil, Griffith 
continued to defend the title, then after a victory over Texan
MANUEL (Manny) GONZALEZ, Emile faced and defeated
Middleweight Champion DICK TIGER.

                        THE EMILE GRIFFITH STORY  

ZORA FOLLEY,  EDDIE MACHEN,  SONNY LISTON
and OSCAR BONAVENA who would have guessed that tragedy
 would hit all four.


EDDIE MACHEN (1932 - 1972)


I first remember EDDIE MACHEN from his 12-round bout with
former heavyweight champion FLOYD PATTERSON in July 1964. 
 It was interesting  looking back in old magazines about the
 boxing journey of Edward Mills Machen of California. 


 Then in 1972 came the announcement
 that he died from a fall in San Francisco.


During the late Fifties and Sixties, Eddie was a fine boxer
and fought many of the top boxers including a bout with
the soon to be heavyweight champion SONNY LISTON.
Despite and injury, Eddie was able to go the distance with
Sonny.   Another of his opponents a couple of times was
another tragic boxing warrior named ZORA FOLLEY.


May 1981 in the "Big Book Of Boxing" published by
G. C. London Publishing Group, publisher Stanley Weston
included a story about the late Eddie Machen titled:
"EDDIE MACHEN: THE SAD LIFE OF A 
HEAVYWEIGHT CONTENDER
(remembering one of the '60's best).



Monday, July 4, 2011

1984 BC WINTER GAMES

BC WINTER GAMES - FORT ST JOHN: By Brian W. Zelley

(In the March 1984 issue of the BC AMATEUR BOXING NEWS
I reported on the opening ceremony and the boxing results.  Sadly, the
Games do not have boxing anymore, but for many years it was one of
the top attended sports.)