Bouncing Checks

By kiki


I've always said that I would never let my boys fight for nothing, and they never did, but our checks bounced once.

In 1983 Don Fraser called me and said he was the matchmaker for a couple of guys who had taken the Olympic Auditorium over after Aileen Eaton retired. Said they had a USA TV channel date and asked if I was interested in fights for Frankie and Tony on the card. I told him, "of course, I am interested" We talked about money and opponents, Juan Escobar, who many believed got robbed against the great Salvador Sanchez for Frankie, and Rocky Montoya for Tony, at 10Gs each. Then, agreeing on the details, I saw Fraser at the auditorium to sign contracts.

With contracts signed, the boys who had already been in the gym had 3 weeks to get themselves in great shape, which they did. Weigh-ins were on the morning of the fights; everybody made weight.

That night Frankie had the most brutal fight of his career. He took an ass whipping in the first 4 rounds from Escobar. After the 4^th round, I told Frankie I was giving him just one more round, and if he didn't show me something, I would stop the fight, and he agreed. So, with lumps on top of lumps, he went out and won the 5^th round, the 6^th round, and every round there-forth, dropping Escobar late in the 10^th and final round to clinch a split decision.

Tony, making his first start since the Howard Davis robbery, was not happy about just getting 10Gs. I told him that not every fight he had would be a Howard Davis-type payday. He fought and won a unanimous decision, but his mind was elsewhere.

The boys got their pay minus my cut. The next day we went to the bank and deposited our checks. A few days later, we got a notice from the bank that the checks had bounced. I called the flakes that promoted the fights, and they told me to run the checks through again, we did, and they again bounced.

Now it was 2 weeks after the fights, and our checks still had not been made good, and the flakes were promoting another show at the Olympic Auditorium. I called Joey Olmos, the CSAC head guy in the Los Angeles office, on the upcoming show. I explained our situation to Joey, and he told me to meet him at the weigh-ins. I did. Joey announced to the fighters scheduled to fight that night and their managers at the weigh-ins. Unless we got our money by 5 PM, there would not be a show that night.

The flakes called me to the side and told me they would give me new checks on the spot. I replied to them that I would accept nothing less than 3 certified checks. They had till 5 PM to come up with the checks, and they did. They also promoted their last show that night. Soon they were gone in the wind, never to be seen or heard from again. I wonder if the boxers that fought on their last show got their money.