By kiki
In spring of 1973, the Southern California Coaches and Managers Association and I took a Los Angeles amateur boxing team to the state Capital, Sacramento, for a box-off against their local champs. Our heavyweight was a part-time amateur boxer, Jo Jo Torres, whom's life ambition was to be a playboy. But for the Torres vs. Ward fight, it was, for the most part, a forgettable trip in which we lost 7 out of 10 fights. When JoJo found out he was fighting Ward, who was known to be the best amateur heavyweight in California, if not the best in the country, I could see it in his eyes that he would've rather be dancing some salsa at the Zenda Ballroom in L.A. then in a boxing ring in Sacramento.
The fight
In the first round, Jo Jo went down from what seemed like a grazing right hand. Down on one knee, he kept looking at the canvas as the referee counted. I could see that he wasn’t going to get up, even though he could have. As the ref was about to count nine, I jumped in the ring and stopped the fight to help him save face. As soon as I jumped in the ring, Jo Jo jumped up and asked me: “why did you stop the fight? I was going to get up” “of course you were,” I said. As we were flying back home, he kept telling anyone on the plane that would listen, “I was going to get up” Of course he was!
The fight
In the first round, Jo Jo went down from what seemed like a grazing right hand. Down on one knee, he kept looking at the canvas as the referee counted. I could see that he wasn’t going to get up, even though he could have. As the ref was about to count nine, I jumped in the ring and stopped the fight to help him save face. As soon as I jumped in the ring, Jo Jo jumped up and asked me: “why did you stop the fight? I was going to get up” “of course you were,” I said. As we were flying back home, he kept telling anyone on the plane that would listen, “I was going to get up” Of course he was!
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