A Top Featherweight Contender

By kiki

A long time ago, a top featherweight contender was fighting in Tucson, Arizona. At the morning weigh-in, his opponent, whom only his mother can remember his name, was deemed unfit to fight that night. The promoter, Flores, whose last name is all I can remember, was pulling his hair because his main event had fallen apart. But, not to worry, Jimmy "Super-manager" Montoya rode to the rescue with his cape flying in the air.

Jimmy walked up to promoter Flores and told him, "don't worry, don't worry, I'll take care of things."

Jimmy then walked out of the hotel where the weigh-ins were being held and stood on the sidewalk looking at the people passing by 'nope too big, nope too small,' thought Jimmy as he eyed a couple of guys passing by, he then spotted a guy walking across the street that looked to be about 125 pounds. Just like the top featherweight contender's weight!

"Hey, you" Jimmy yelled at the guy.

"Who, me?" answered the guy.

"Yeah, you," replied Jimmy.

The guy then crossed the street and walked up to Jimmy

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"You wanna make some money?" Jimmy said to the guy

"How much?"

"$500.00", Jimmy told him.

"Who do I have to kill?" answered the guy.

"You don't have to kill the guy; you just have to fight him," Jimmy responded.

The guy then asked Jimmy if by fighting he meant boxing.

Jimmy said yes, that it was boxing, and that he would fight a top featherweight contender.

The guy told Jimmy that yes, he would fight the top featherweight contender.

Jimmy asked the guy if he had ever fought, the guy replied that, yes, but that only in the streets.

"Okay, but remember you are fighting a top featherweight contender," Jimmy told his new fighter.

"I don't care who I fight; for $500.00, I'll fight King Kong.

Jimmy took the guy into the hotel and introduced his "fighter" to the commissioner. A quick over by the doctor, and he was given a boxing license.

Later that day, my boxing partner John Martinez and I were in our 4th-floor room of the hotel we were staying at, looking out the window that faced the hotel's back parking lot; we were watching Jimmy with the mitts on teaching his new protégé how to jab.

That night the protégé took the top featherweight contender into the early rounds of the ten-round fight before the referee stopped the fight.

After the fight's promoter Flores had a party at his desert hacienda. I spotted Jimmy and his protégé huddle in a corner talking, and as I was walking up to them, I heard the protégé ask Jimmy "poppy, poppy, when do we fight again?"

My Friend Charlie Ortega

                                              Charlie and I

By kiki

I have made some friends on Facebook. Friends like Randy De La O, Ruben Lucero, Rene Ramirez, Bob Smith, Phil Rice, Jeff Bumpus, Jerry Cantu, Frank Aragon, Hernan de la Torre, book author Gene Aguilera, Filmmakers Steve Debro and Robert Benavides, the Ortega brother's, Charlie and Big Ron, and the list goes on. But unfortunately, in 2017, I lost one of the friends mentioned above, Charlie Ortega.

Charlie, who was short in stature, but had the heart of a lion, was in his own way a very unique kinda guy; he was the kind of guy that when he walked into a room, everybody took notice because he owned the room. He was animated and loud, but not in an annoying way. - Charlie and I had become good, if not close, friends in the six years we knew each other. We would every so often get together for Menudo at La Indiana Restaurant in La Puente, Ca. Sometimes we would meet with some of the fellas I mentioned above, but most of the time, it would be just us. 

Charlie became a favorite and legend with La Indiana's staff and patrons. The waitresses loved him and always asked me, "Is your friend Charlie coming?" - I remember telling him once that he and I were meeting for Menudo and that the restaurant didn't open till 9:00am. Well, around 8:30am, I got a phone call from him: "Frank, I am here" I asked him what he was doing there so early, and I also asked him if he was going to wait until they opened. "Wait outside? Hell no; I'm inside drinking a beer" I then asked him how did he get inside if the place didn't open till 9:00, and he said, "I knocked on the door, and the cook let me, and he served me two Coors," And that became Charlie's routine whenever he visited La Indiana. Did I say he was unique?!

Charlie would order a bowl of Menudo con pata, three or four soft tacos, and two Coors; he ordered his beer by two's. Once his Menudo was served, he would put the tortillas chips in the Menudo and insist that I eat the pata that he had ordered; I would decline; since I, too, had ordered Menudo con pata. He would never eat the tacos; he would try to get me or his brother Ron to eat them or take them home. The Coors? Did I say he drank two at a time?. Didn't I say that he was a unique dude?

                             Charlie, Big Ron, and I at La Indiana


La Indiana staff loved Charlie as he always had them in stitches with his unique funny way. He would, in his broken pocho Spanish, ask one of the waitresses for a date; she would tell him that she was married; he would then say to her, "Okay, so just give me your phone number; I promise not to call when your husband is home" of course it was all banter on his part. Charlie, too, had a way with the patrons. He would talk to them as if they were longtime friends. After eating, he and I started talking about boxing; he loved boxing. Charlie brought up former world lightweight champion Mando Ramos. He got so animated in describing Mando's fighting style that he got up and started shadowboxing on the restaurant aisle. While throwing left jabs, he asked an old man sitting in the booth next to us if he knew Mando Ramos. The old man answered him, "Yes, I know Ramos, but he couldn't have beaten my man" At that, Charlie turned to me and said, "he knows boxing" He then asked the old man who his man was, the old man replied, "the Golden Boy, Art Aragon, do you know Aragon?" Charlie replied to the old fella that he knew of Aragon but never saw him fight. "Aragon was before my time, but Aragon was my dad's favorite fighter," I think that Mando Ramos was Charlie's favorite fighter.

At the California Boxing Hall of Fame: Frank Baltazar, Ruben "The Maravilla Kid" Navarro, Charlie Ortega, Frankie Baltazar Jr., Big Ron Ortega, Dwain Brown, and in front, Randy De La O

I invited Charlie and Ron to sit at my table at the California Boxing Hall of Fame a few times. The first time I asked them, Charlie said, "I'll go, but I have to sit with you" I told him that, of course, he was sitting at my table, "I know, but I wanna sit next to you" He did. Charlie was on cloud nine as he met the famous fighters that attended the CBHOF luncheon. 

I miss my friend and his animated persona. He was a truly unique man!