By kiki
On Monday, October 25, 1976: Frankie and I worked at a Ford dealership (paint shop) in Alhambra, Ca. That morning during our coffee break, I told Frankie that during our lunch hour, I would see Don Chargin at the Olympic Auditorium to see if I could set up a six-round fight for him for that coming Thursday night.
I left Alhambra at about 11:30 AM. got to the Olympic Auditorium about 25 minutes later. As I parked the car, I thought about how hard it had become to get Frankie some fights. His record stood at 4-1 with 2 knockouts. The one decision loss was an out-of-town (Stockton, Ca.) fight against Reynaldo Zaragoza, which just about everybody in the house thought Frankie had won.
As I entered the Olympic, I hoped that I wasn't again wasting my time as I had been doing lately in talking to Chargin. I climbed the stairs to his office, and as I got to the door, I could hear Harry Kabakoff saying, "What are we going to do, Don? Castillo won't fight Cruz."
"We'll find somebody for him to fight, so don't worry, Harry," I heard Don say. As I walked in, I could see that Harry looked like he was about to start crying, but he smiled an ear-to-ear smile when he saw me walk in.
"Is your boy ready to fight?" Harry asked me.
"Yes, that's why I'm here, to see if I can get Frankie a six-round fight," I answered.
"How about Thursday night in the main event?" Harry asked.
"Against who?" I countered.
"Chango Cruz."
"C'mon, Harry. Cruz has had 12 fights with 8 KOs; Frankie only has five fights. By the way, what happened to Castillo?"
"Castillo got sick, so they say. I think they are afraid to fight my new champ," said Harry.
I turned to Chargin and asked him about getting a six-round fight, and he said that none of the local fighters wanted to fight Frankie and that it was too expensive to bring in out-of-town fighters for a six-round fight. At that point, Harry jumped in and told me to forget about a six-rounder and to take the Cruz fight. Chargin said, "Frank, we'll pay you XXX dollars."
"I don't know, Don. As I said, Frankie has only had five fights and has never gone more than seven rounds. This would be a ten-round fight against a guy with 12 wins, 8 by knockout. I don't want to put Frankie over his head," I said to Chargin. Harry again jumped in and said they would pay us more than they first offered. After going around for about an hour, seeing the offer go up a few more times, and being told not to worry about the weight, I accepted the fight.
I returned to the shop and told Frankie to go home and that he was fighting the main on Thursday. "Who am I fighting, Pops?" he asked.
"You are fighting Chango Cruz, Mijo," I said.
"But Pops! Cruz has 12 wins and 8 by knockout. I only have five fights. What happened to Castillo?"
"Castillo got sick, mijo. Now go home; I'll see you at the gym," I told him.
I wasn't sure that Frankie would beat Cruz, but I was convinced he wouldn't get hurt. After all, Frankie had been boxing since he was six years old.
Frankie won by ninth-round knockout, and days of worry, hassle, and chewed fingernails turned into joy and great memories…Harry didn't talk to me for about six months after that.
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