True Magazine's 1962 BOXING YEARBOOK

1962 BOXING YEARBOOK, my Review:  By Brian Zelley


The feature article and front page was focused on "THE ARCHIE MOORE Story".
But there were other good articles and stories as follows:
"The Fight That Patterson Can't Win" by Barry Gottehrer, re. 
*"is Emile Griffith For Real" by Glen Stephens,
*"The Pride Of Paul Pender" by Bill Liston
*"What's Ahead In Boxing" by Lee Greene
*"Davey Moore, The Hungry Champ" by jack Zanger
*"Cockiest Kid In Boxing" by Bill Surface  re. Cassius Clay
*"Honest Fighters Finish last: by Jake LaMotta
*"The Marciano of Canada" by  Rex macLeod re George Chuvalo
*"The Man Who Smashed Frankie Carbo" by Walter Wager
*"Life and Loves Of Magnificent Mick" by John Lardner re. Mickey Walker
*"The End Of a Fighter" by Dick Schaap,  re. Sugar Ray Robinson 
*"It Happened In Sports" by Jimmy Breslin re Joe jacobs and the
bet on the "Benny Valgar vs Johnny Kilbane" fight during the "Roaring Twenties".


"WHAT'S AHEAD IN BOXING"
The review and preview of the different divisions starts with a story about
Sonny Liston and one of his pranks.  Photos included Floyd Patterson landing
the fight stopping  right hand on Ingemar, Archie Moore landing a smashing
right hand on the forehead of Giulo Rinaldo. a Robinson vs Fullmer close-up,
Emile Griffith blasting Benny Paret to the deck, Dave Charnly cros parrying a 
Joe Brown straight left. and Davey Moore blasting an opponent to the deck.  


Gotta love Jake laMotta's highlight paragraph:
"I'm not trying to whitewash myself.  I was a thief, I threw a fight,
 I did two terms in jail and lucky  I wasnt a murderer.  But those rats
 that run boxing made me look like Little Lord Fauntleroy".
The LaMotta story begins with two tough lower East Side of New York
having a street fight  They were both 12, and after awhile someone
broke-up the fight so it ended as a draw betweein the two who
would become middleweight champions LaMotta and Rocky Graziano.
  

"The RING", April 1982, the Zelley review

My Review of "The RING" magazine, April 1982

Good magazine with a lot of interesting stories and results.

On the local level, there was a report on pro boxing in 

Victoria, BC in a show promoted by JOE REDDICK.

it featured JERRY (Mack Truck) REDDICK with

a victory over JOEY KEENE.  On the undercard

Vancouver's MIKE OLAJIDE Jr. stopped one

Johnny Gaines

In Nanaimo, John Furlong promoted a card that 

featured GORD RACETTE vs one RUDI LUBBERS,

Darryl Penn of Portland defeated  Vancouver's 

Johnny Herbert.

In another Victoria card, as reported by JIM JOHNSON,

DALE GRANT ko'd Jesse Avila.  Two of the other bouts

saw Mike Olajide  win a bou in thre and in another

jAIME OLLENBERGER stopped Victoria boxer PERRY EVANS

in the fourth round. 

THE FEATURE STORY 

The main story along with a fold out phote was WILFREDO BENITEZ."

OTHER STORIES:

One of interest was by Barney Nagler titled:

"The Tragedy Of Boxing Comebacks:

British Commonwealth Ratings 

Champions:

Trevor Berbick, Lotte Mwale, Tony Sibson, Herol Graham, 

Colin Jones, Obisia Mwankpa, Barry Michael, 

Azumay Nelson, Paul Ferreri and Stephen Muchoki.    

MY PHOTO IN BOXING ILLUSTRATED

 A MAGAZINE OF MY OWN;  by Brian Zelley
I never expected to get a photo of me in one of the top boxing magazines of
the Sixties and Seventies, but it was nice.  The photo was included with a
letter that I wrote concerning the revival of amateur boxing in Victoria, BC.

Long before the internet, the only real way to stay in touch with boxing at
the International amateur and professional level was through the many
boxing magazines.  Some were better than others, and some like
"THE RING MAGAZINE" often had details of amateur competitions
from Golden Gloves to International tournament.  However, I did 
send the results of a mid-sixties bronze gloves tournament held in
North Vancouver and they published the report.  I believe it was the
1966 tournament because Nanaimo boxer Rick Johnson was a 
champion.  It would have been that magazine that I used when
I included the champions and finalists in the May 1985 issue of 
the BC Amateur Boxing News.


The names of the boxers:
Michael O'Reilly, Ken Smith, Danny MacDonald, Aaron Shields, 
Ronnie Way, Larry Bienvenue, Happy Seigner, David Kirby, 
Wayne Gordon, Ken Archibald, Dave Way, J. Hutchinson, 
Robbie Grant, Gary Bridal, Rick Johnson, Ian Harding, 
Michael Stanley, Uwe Blank, Norm Nicholson, Kelly Barrows, 
Gerry Chu, Eric Anderstrom,  Richard Gallant, Richard Watts,
Don McKenzie, Bob Scharff, Allen Ranger, Gary Van Buskirk,
Gary Trainor, Ed Milligan, Keith Carney, Don Young and 
Ken Watson. 

"BOXING ILLUSTRATD', March 1960, review

BOXING ILLUSTRATED March 12, 1960:  by brian zelley

Introduction:
This issue of Boxing Illustrated had
some very interesting articles plus
ring ratings for the period ending
January 1, 1960 by the National
Boxing Association.


The feature article was by 
Ray Robinson but there were 
other articles that tourched
on Tony Canzoneri, Ad Wolgast.


Ring Rankings by the NBA:
Champions:
Ingemar Johansson, Archie Moore, Gene Fullmer, 
Don Jordan, Carlos Ortiz, Joe Brown, Harold Gomes,
Davey Moore, Joe Becerra and Pascual Perez.


Some of the contenders:
Eddie Machen, Mike DeJohn, Harold Johnson, 
Spider Webb, Henry Hank, Denny Moyer,
Kenny Lane, Dave Charnley, Flash Elorde,
Harold Gomes, Joe Medel and Johnny Caldwell. 

"BOXING ILLUSTRATED" Review Feb. and March 1968

"BOXING ILLUSTRATED" Review March 1968:  by brian zelley

The key part of this issue of the magazine was an annual
review of boxing in 1967 and Carlos Ortiz  was selected as
Fighter Of The Year.  There was also a section on British
boxing with an article by Reg Gutteridge titled:
"Mickey Duff - The Pure Pro"


In stories about former boxers, there was an excellent one
by Desiree Harris Steiner titled:
"FREDDY MILLER - GLOBE TROTTING CHAMPION"
-  about former featherweight champion Freddy Miller  who was
described as one of the most active boxers in ring history with
237 bouts and only 26 losses. Freddy won a portion of the title
with a victory over Tommy Paul in 1933.  His recorded first
pro fight took place in 1937 with a victory over Chester Drown.


In articles about active boxers, one was on the popular boxer
Raul Rojas in an article by Jeff Walton titled:
"Rojas Outpoints Herrera  To Win Another Crown"


In the British Review of 1967 a number of boxers received
a mention with the first mentioned being heavyweight
Henry Cooper.  But, others were not left out with 
mention  and photos of Jimmy Revie, Brian Hudson, 
Brian McCaffrey  and Johnny Cooke.   Also, there was
the monthly listing of Commonwealth champions and
contenders.,  In the bantamweight listing Walter McGowan
was the champion as at December 20, 1967 with the top
five contenders being:  Alan Rudkin, Lionel Rose, 
Evan Armstrong, Brian Packer  and Sean McCafferty.
Canadian boxers in the rankings from heavyweight to 
flyweight were: George Chuvalo, Ed Talhami, Jimmy Meullier, 
Dave Downey, Joey Durelle, Billy McGrandle, Les Gillis, 
 and Jackie Burke. 


BI,  February 1968:
For Pacific Northwest fight folks and fans, one of the
important articles was about Eddie Cotton in an
article by Jack D. Hopkins titled:
"THE OLD WARRIOR HANGS 'EM UP"
(Eddie Cotton calls it a career at forty-one)
Eddie had fought both Harold Johnson  and
Jose Torres  for the light-heavyweight title.

Also, covered was that heavyweight tournament that
saw Jimmy Ellies move into the final following hes
victory over Oscar Bonavena.  Ellis would face the 
winner of the Jerry Quarry vs Thad Spencer fight,.

For Canadian, it was a welcome sight to see a story
about  Billy McGrandle in an article by Lew Eskin.
According to Lew, he was expected to go to Las Vegas
to cover the Dick Tiger vs Roger Rouse title fight, but
when Edmonton promoter Mitch Klimove asked him to
referee the Canadian featherweight title fight between
Billy McGrandle and Jackie Burke, Eskin did and 
he had many positive things to say about Billy.

AMATEUR BOXING - England
In the March 1968 issue of Boxing Illustrated there was
a group photo of  London's "Brixton amateur club" with
their instructor Tiny Ryan.  

TRUE'S "BOXING YEARBOOK" 1959

Review of "1959 BOXING YEARBOOK": by brian zelley

As to be expected, the yearbook would focus on the results of 1958.

VARIOUS ARTICLES 

as listed on the contents page:

.Inside Carmen Basilio by Murray Goodman

.How a manager can louse up a fighter by Jimmy Breslin

.They Love Those American Bucks by Rolly Charest 

.A Man Named Joe Brown by Jack Newcombe

."You Gotta Fight Dirty" by Fritzie Zivic

.What's Ahead In Boxing by Bill McCormick

.The Late Blooming Mr. Akins by Howard Cohn

.Big Gun From Cut and Shoot by Frank Godsoe

.Tale of the Ancient Archie by Ray Robinson

.King of the Alley Fighters by John Lardner

.It Happened In Sports by John Lardner

The "What's Ahead In Boxing" section covered 15 pages

and looked at the champions and the division.  The 

champions were:

Floyd Patterson, Archie Moore, Sugar Ray Robinson,

Virgil Akins, Joe Brown, Hogan Kid Bassey, 

Alphonse Halimi and Pascual Perez.

The Alley Fighter story was about HARRY GREB/

the most interesting line was:

"For 13 savage years he took on the world's best fighters,

and licked them all.  Not bad for a man that was nearly blind."

Another good line related to one of Greb's bouts with Gene Tunney:

"In their first exchange of blows, in the opening round 

Harry Greb broke Tunney's nose in two places, and blood 

began to pour from it like wine from a bottle

1963 EDITION BOXING YEARBOOK

TRUE'S 1963 BOXING YEARBOOK REVIEW:  By Brian Zelley

The True Magazine wa published by Fawcett Publishing Inc
and the Boxing annual was edited by Lee Greene.  Contributing
writer were Bob Howard, Bill Libby, Steve Hughes, Barry Gottehrer,
Myron Cope, Jim Scott, Jack Zsnger, Mitch Brryand,  Charles Samuels
and the Brownsville Banger story by Jimmy Breslin (a 1961 reprint).

Some excellent articles included: 
.What Makes Carlos Fight, re. Carlos Ortiz
.Make Way For Skeeter, re. Wilbert McLure
..Emile Griffith Comes Fighting Back,
.Look Out World! here Comes Cassius,
.The Bitter end Of The Brownsville Banger, re. Georgie Small
.The Case Of the Reluctant Heavyweight, re. Eddie Machen
.Trouble Is A Guy Named Joey, re. Joey Giardello
.The champ with A chip On His Shoulder,  re. Harold Johnson
.They Never Called Him Champ re. Gene Tunney


OI all the stories, the Georgie Small story by Jimmy Breslin 
was a sad story about Georgie's life after the death of his 
friend Lavern Roach following their fight.  The standout 
line by Georgie Small to Jimmy was:  


"I wanted to be a fighter.  My whole life I wanted to be a fighter.
I want to get a whole gang of money.  And see what happened?
I'm broke and sick.  I got my wife broke  I ruined everything.
I guess the only thing  i ever did  in my whole life was kill a friend of mine."

'BOXING ILLUSTRATED' review

THE BEST OF "BOXING ILLUSTRATED'": by BrianZelley

looking back through the pages of the issues of "Boxing Illustrated" 
there are many old stories, ring ratings and photos that kept the 
sport of boxing alive with those monthly magazines.  The first
issue that I purchased was an issue in 1964 with Eddie Machen and
Floyd Patterson on the cover, but I purchased old used copies the
best that I could including a 1960 issue with SUGAR RAY ROBINSON.


MARCH 1982:  1981 REVIEW ISSUE
The March issue were always worth getting because they had
a review of the prior year and selections of best categories.
The 1982 issue was no different, the only thing that changed 
were some of the names.  The cover of 1982 featured the 
Fighter of the 1981 Year.  BI picked SUGAR RAY LEONARD.
they called 1981 Sugar Ray's Year.  Runner-ups for fighter of the
year were Arguello, Sanchez and Benitez.


Two boxers that received "Comebacks Of The Year" 
were JIMMY YOUNG and GERRIE COETZEE.


Tragic News reported was the motorcycle death of 
former bantamweight champion ARNOLD TAYLOR.
An unsung middleweight contender named was one
ROBBY EPPS.  An from British news there was the 
report of the retirement of DAVE "Boy" GREEN.

BOXING ILLUSTRATED, August 1978
Featured on the cover was LARRY HOLMES and the lead story
"Larry Holmes: A Gifted Jab An the Gift Of Gab"
the lead photo in the story was one of Ken Norton, Don King and Larry.


Another good story was about British champion JIM WATTsigning-up
with London manager TERRY LAWLESS and references to other Lawless 
fighters Ralph charles, John Stracey, Maurice Hope,  and Charlie Magri. 


Another article on ROBERT DURAN  that points the finger that he is
the best lightweight champion ever - a complete package.


BOXING ILLUSTRATED - July 1978


Front cover included LEON SPINKS and WILFREDO BENITEZ.
writer Reg Noble did an article on a possible Duran vs Arguello bout.


BOXING ILLUSTRATED = November 1977
a great piece was the story about who are todays top 10 boxers?
In the "Reader's Rights" section there was a contribution by 
Brian Zelley on page 62.  Of course that is me, so what was I
on about?  it was signed Brian Zelley of the Victoria Athletic
Association and focused on the ongoing JUHAMMAD ALI 
controversy about his standing   in the Sixties, I placed Ali 
third behind Griffith and Jofre, and in the Seventies, I placed 
him fifth behind Monzon, Napoles, Foster, Duran.  Also,
 i changed my earlier third placement to move Carlos Ortiz 
ahead of Ali in the Sixties.


BOXING ILLUSTRATED - January 1966


The magazine was much different in the Sixties with
the likes of Abe Glick, Lew Eskin, and Ben Greene.


In the 1965 issue a lot of British content such as the
story by boxer FRANKIE (Tiger) TAYLOR saying
"Why I Want Winstone"

OUTSTANDING BOXING ARTICLES

MY PICKS OF GREAT BOXING STORIES:  By Brian Zelley

'10 Months That Shocked The word"
Harry Rosenthal, "Boxing Life", March 1653
(The story of Henry Armstrong winning three world titles).


"5 Most Exciting Fights of 1952" in "BOXING LIFE" 1953
Graziano - Robinson, Gavilan - Dykes, Marciano - Walcott, 
Gavilan - Turner,   Salas - Carter

"Emile Griffith: A Tiger In His Closet"
John F X Condon, "Boxing & Wrestling", March 1964
Publish Post
."Every Fistic Great Has A Style Nemesis"
by Ted Carroll, "The RING"magazine, June 1964


"Rocky Marciano's Toughest Opponent"
By Bob Waters, "International Boxing", August 1973


"Obscure Champ Bud Smith Takes Final Count
In Cincy Shooting", Jack Welsh, "Boxing Illustrated", Oct. 1973.


"Eder Jofre's amazing Record"
"Boxing Illustrated", October 1973

"Jack Sharkey - his stature grows"
.Pat Leonard, "Boxing Digest" October 1980

"The Ten Best Fighters In The World Today"
"Big Book Of Boxing", May 1981.
Wilfredo Gomez, Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler,
Alexis Arguello Yoko Gushiken, Eddie Mustafa Muhammand
Wilfredo Benitez, Larry Holmes and Aaron Pryor.


"Latin Champions", a special isssue, Spring 1981
.A Complete History of Latin Fighters with half page
profiles on many Kid Chocolate to Betulio Gonzalez.
Some of the many: Jose Napolez, Carlos Palomino, Roberto Duran,
Pascual Perez, Efren Torres, Sixto Escobar, Ruben Olivares,




'WILFREDO BENITEZ: THE KING OF STYLE CONQUERS DURAN"
from 'KO BOXING", June 1982.  The issue also featured a full color
centerfold of WBC Junior Welterweight Champion Saoul Mamby of NY.

The "BIG BOOK OF BOXING" magazines

"BIG BOOK OF BOXING" Review:  By Brian Zelley

Introduction

The Victory Sports series by G.C London Publishing Corp.

publishes a series of excellent magazines under the eyes of 

Stanley Weston.

FEBRUARY 1977, review

Included some fine articles such as:

"The Lost Art Of Body Punching",

"Zamora and Zarate" - Bantamweight champons,

"The Night They Put A Tarnished Crown

On Jimmy Ellis; Head",

"The Wildest Title Fight In History",

"The Greatest Fights Of The Last 25 Years"

Greatest Fights (1951 - 1976)

.As should be expected the fight for 1958 was

the light-heavyweight title fight between Archie Moore 

and Yvon Durelle that took place on December 10th.

.The 1962 fight featured middleweight champion

GENE FULLMER vs. DICK TIGER.  It was a wild

fight that saw Tiger win the title.

,The 1969 title fight saw Ruben Olivares win the 

bantamweight championship from Lionel Rose.


NOVEMBER  1975

Good cross-section of articles on Joe Frazier, Clyde Gray,
Emile Griffith Joe Louis, Sandy Saddler and Bobo Olson.
British Heavyweights and Jack Slattery.


The article on Emile Griffith was titled
"EMILE GRIFFITH - BOXING'S 'IRON MAN'"

1965 BOXING

"BOXING & WRESTLING" magazine review:  By Brian Zelley

A "Complete Sports" publication with the outstanding LOU SAHADI
as the editor.  The authors of the various articles included:
Lester Bromberg, Archie Moore, Herb Elk, George Girsch,
Jerry Prater, Robert  D. Willis, and  Jerry Prater.


From my reading chair the best article was
"EDER JOFRE: WORLD'S GREATEST FIGHTER"


The sub heading narrative said it all:
"Eder Jofre's rule over the bantamweights is absolute.  He's undefeated 
in 49 pro fights and his combination of power with class is unmatched
by fighters today."


In the opening paragraph of the story, the article compared him to 
the ex-heavyweight champion ROCKY MARCIANO who was also
undefeated in 49 pro fights.  And MSG promoter Harry Markson
had positive things to say about Jofre, "He's the complete fighter
-exciting, capable, just awfully good."


Another good article of interest was by Lester Bromberg:
"JOEY ARCHER:  UNCROWNED MIDDLEWEIGHT 
CHAMPION."  The first major reference in the story was
the fact that Joey had scored victories over Rubin Carter
and Dick Tiger, and the assumption that champion
Joey Giardello was ducking him.
NOTE - Years later there would be Lou Sahadi's
"BOXING SCENE" magazine

BOXING ANNUAL review

BOXING ANNUAL 1963:  By Brian Zelley

A boxing annual for 1963, number 1 issue, was published by

"Whitestone Publications Inc." and had some interesting articles

by the following:  

Hugh Barry, Claude Lewis, Barry Gottehrer, Jim Scott,  Phil Pepe,

Eddie Brennan, Bill Libby, Barney Nagler, Jack Powers, Al Stump,

and Paul Gallico.  Editor was Les Greene and President  Georgr Free.

THE NON-HEAVYWEIGHTS

Much of the publication was devoted to heavyweight boxing, but

there were some good articles about other boxers.

"The Tiger's 11-year Hunt" by Pepe

Interesting article about Nigerian boxer DICK TIGER winning

the Middleweight title from GENE FULLMER at Candlestick

Park in San Fransisco.

"The Gypsy Champ" by Bill Libby

A story about world featherweight champion DAVEY MOORE.

The article included a photo of Davey's title fight against the

Finnish  champion OLLI MAKI.

Quote from WILLIE KETCHUM, "I've seen the real greats of 

the division and I've never seen any in their best days that was

better than Davey."

THE HEAVYWEIGHTS

The various articles included were about EDDIE MACHEN

and DOUG JONES along with FLOYD PATTERSON, 

CASSIUS CLAY and SONNY LISTON.

Also, Barney Nagler listed his top ten greatest heavies:

Jim Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmonds, Jim Jeffries, Jack Johnson,

Sam Langford, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney,

Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and Sonny Liston.