Thursday, August 18, 2011

THE MIKE KENNEDY BOXING JOURNEY

MIKE KENNEDY a boxer's story: by brian zelley


THE FIRST ROUND: the introduction

As I LOOK BACK TO THE eighties MIKE KENNEDY was one of the
boxers of British Columbia that quickly showed he had ability and desire.

Mike joined the Victoria Jaycees boxing club founded by
 LOU BUJDOSO in the late Seventies.  Some of the one
 time coaches for the Jaycees were Bujdoso, Brian Zelley,
 Mike Sartori, Paul DeLuca and Barnes.

Aside from MIKE KENNEDY, some of the other boxers
for the Jaycees in the late Seventies to the mid Eighties
were KIT MUNRO, KIRK RANNERIS, AUGUST DOS REIS,
DEAN DELUCA, PAUL DELUCA, PAUL WADE,
RON OGDEN and many more.

ROUND 2 -  BC TOURNAMENT WIN

RING ROUND-UP:  1983 S.I.N. October 22nd.

In prelim action Victoria's Mike Kennedy earned  a victory over
MIKE PARSONS of the Prince George Spruce Capital club,
then moved into the finals with a victory of the Shamrock boxer
EDDIE LEE.

Other Victoria boxers were:
Lyle Ritchie,  Paul Wade, Ian Middleditch,  and Augusto dos Reis.

Some of the other boxers from various clubs were the likes of:
Ray Abraham, Tod Hatley, Tim Cessford, Jesse Kaellis, 
Duncan Murdoch, Tonka Young, Isaac Gock, Jason Trottier,
Terry Dermott and Kelowna's Mark Smith.

Ringside Officials:
Bert Lowes, Fred Fuller, Sid Knopp, Rudy Bianco, Larry Krangle,
Jack Mellor, Brian Zelley, Lindy Lindmoser, Bill Gurvich Allen Young
and Vic Murdoch.  Glovers:  Tommy Yule and Gordon Miller.

ROUND THREE - the Victoria Club Show

NOVEMBER 13, 1983 MIKE WINS

As reported in the December 1983 issue of the
BC Amateur Boxing News it was one of the regular
club shows hosted by the Victoria Jaycees and this one
took place at the Gordon Head Recreation Centre.

Mike Kennedy would face the capable Scott Cessford of the
Parksville-Qualicum Boxing Club operated by Smith and Sacho
in the main event.

Other Victoria boxers in action were:
Augusto dos Reis, Ian Middleditch, Scott Wood,  Lyle Ritchie,
Kirk Ranneris, Kit Munro, Paul Wade and Paul DeLuca.
Other boxers will represent Ladysmith, Parksville, Richmond
and the Queensborough boxing club of New Westminster.

Some of the other boxers were:
Tony Willis, Paul Bottomly,  Jay Grewal, Clint Dumais, 
Rick Cox, Dave and Lyle Hendrickson, Brent Lackie, 
Robert Lowe, Tim and Scott Cessford and Troy Taylor.

Officials were:
Head official:  Brian Zelley
Others:  Bob Perry, Howard Curling, Ian Weir and 
Tom Turnbull while gloving was handled by Steve Bsrnes.

It was a good afternoon for boxing and MIKE KENNEDY 
would do an excellent job in the main event with Cessford.

ROUND 4: 1984 BC GOLDEN GLOVES

KENNEDY  would be one of many that would compete in the
Senior and Intermediate Golden Gloves and would be one
of four good senior welterweight boxers.  The other three would be
GERALD PETERS, KEN SMITH and AL HARPER.

Other well known names that competed include Dale Walters,
Lee Gauthier, Willie Currie, Alex Angelomatis, Joe Pendry,
Deep Butter, Cody Redford, Peter Paskie, Lawrence Rolfe,
Roman Grimared, Glen Quocksister and many others.
Golden Boy for the tournament was MIKE O'CONNELL
of the Hastings Community Centre Boxing Club.

OFFICIALS - Bert Lowes, Fred Fuller, Rudy Bianco,
Sid Knopp, Vic Murdoch, Larry Carney, Earl Vance,
Jack Mellor, Larry Krangle, Brian Zelley, Rick Brough,
and Robert Newbrook. 


The Mike Kennedy Boxing Story:

According to Mike, his story is a work in process but below is
a sample of the cover for the story:

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.)