Junior Golden Gloves Finals 1965

Wrapping the hands of one of my junior fighters, Romulo "Boy" Ventura, facing the camera is Frankie Baltazar; the little guy is Tony "The Tiger" Baltazar. 1965

By KiKi

I had Romulo "Boy" Ventura fighting Andy "The Hawk" Price in the open division of the 1965 Junior Golden Gloves finals at the Valley Garden Arena. Both were around 12 years old at the time. Andy entered the ring first; we then made our way to the ring, and once on the ring apron, Boy turned around and waved to his family and to the crowd; he then put one leg over the bottom rope to enter the ring, and that's when he saw "The Hawk" shadow boxing and looking like a miniature Sugar Ray Robinson, Romulo then turned around and looked me in the eye and said to me "I don't feel like fighting tonight after all."

I gave Romulo a shove into the ring and told him, "he looks pretty, but can he fight?" Romulo fought a great fight that night, giving Andy a good scrap before losing by a decision.

Romulo never fought again, and Andy had a stellar pro career.