Ricardo was born in the small mining town of Chalchihuites in the state of Zacatecas on February 7, 1937. He left school to work as a metal breaker at the mines. Later he went to Mexico City where he worked as a parking lot attendant before turning to boxing. He did not fight as an amateur.
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Daniel Victor Kirkman took his 1st breath in Vallejo, California on February 6, 1945, where his father was stationed in the Navy. Upon his discharge from military service, Oehm Kirkman moved his family back to Renton, Washington where his grandfather first settled in the 1880’s. A suburb of Seattle, Renton would become the laboratory that would produce one of the most exciting boxers to emerge from the Pacific Northwest in sports history.
It was a beautiful sunny day at the end of May, as I drove east on the Mass Turnpike looking for Exit 25 to South Boston.
Jose (Toluco) Lopez was born Jose Lopez Hernandez on June 21, 1932 in El Oro, Mexico. He was nicknamed “Toluco” after the city of Toluca where he began his fistic career.
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Back during the 1950s, the most fertile breeding ground in boxing had to be a section of North Philadelphia known as Strawberry Mansion. Gil Turner, Jimmy Hackney, Sugar Hart, Charley Scott, Von Clay, Bob Cofer, Stanley “Kitten” Hayward, and Len Matthews were all products of this neighborhood.
German Ohm was born of German ancestry on May 28, 1936 in Mexico City, Mexico. He was raised in Ciudad Lerado. Leredo is a little town in La Laguna where there are thousands of fig trees. Ohm spent his early youth as a fig planter.
Eddie Owens had an outstanding amateur career, never losing a bout in Western Massachusetts in over 35 fights.
Driving through the rain soaked streets of Brockton; I was searching for a little diner where I’d meet Mike Pusateri. Bob Benoit, who I had interviewed in a previous IBRO article, told me George’s Café had great food. I found my destination on 228 Belmont Street, George’s took up half the block and had 2 spacious parking lots. Entering this posh Italian American restaurant I stepped into a different era; it was the 1950’s.
Stefan Redl was born in Heregsalva, Hungary on March 5, 1933. Stefan was the only boy in a family of three. His father Frank and mother Katherine were of German descent.
