Good Read: The Little Bird that Killed

The Little Bird that Killed by John Chavez Feb 10, 2012 - The date was February 12, 1957. The site was the Hollywood Legion Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The main event would feature two featherweights squaring off named “Irish” Tommy Bain and Ricardo “Pajarito” Moreno. It was a highly anticipated match-up as both men featured terrific, crowd-pleasing fighting styles. The capacity crowd of over 6,000 spectators would await nervously as their favorite fighter would make their way to the ring. Don “War-a-Week” Chargin would recall, “Those were the days in boxing when the fans would appreciate exciting fighters with or without perfect records. This match-up between Bain and Moreno was the type of fight young fight fans of today could compare to James Kirkland vs. Alfredo Angulo on paper.” Bain was a fighter that had originally resided from the East Coast but after having shown a great deal of toughness and a string of exciting performances at the Hollywood Legion, he would quickly cultivate a loyal fan base leading up to his bout with “Pajarito”. Moreno would cultivate most of his early career within Mexico making regular newspaper headlines with the dynamite he carried in both hands. “Pajarito’s” signature for many of his bouts were early round knockouts over perceived durable opponents. Bain-Moreno would end in the third round with two knockouts. A double knock-out but not involving two fighters... just one. “Pajarito’s” punching power would prove too much for Tommy as he would put the East Coast native out for the count with a right hand. He would then look to follow up with a left hook that would miss Bain completely but hit referee, Frankie Van squarely on the chin knocking him out cold. The crowd erupted in amazement as this hard-punching featherweight known as “Pajarito” would exude the type of punching power that was such a rarity in the lower weight classes. Chargin states, “He made such a big hit in that fight. The next day in the Los Angeles Daily Mirror they would run with a huge headline stating “A Killer is Loose!” "A Killer is Loose!". He was such a great, terrific puncher but in some of his subsequent bouts he’d fight valiantly but would essentially call it a day when things got real rough. Jose Luis Cotero would give him a pretty good licking and Hogan Kid Bassey would pull off a huge upset when “Pajarito” would quit against him. However... there was no doubt that Moreno could punch like hell!” Following the the media accolades of being such a huge puncher, suffering a few career set-backs, and being labeled as a “quitter” from a few performances, “Pajarito” Moreno would proceed to tinker with alcohol and illegal substances. In 1958, following his one round knockout loss to the ultra-talented Davey Moore, Moreno would return to Mexico and continue fighting without proper guidance as boxing was his livelihood to make ends meet. He would continue to have ups and downs with the bottle, drugs, and the boxing ring and by 1964 he was relegated to complete boxing journeyman status in Mexico. In 1965, Chargin would visit Mexico City in order to sign a promising young fighter. While taking a stroll through the vibrant, gritty city, one pan-handler in particular would approach him looking for spare change. To the dismay of Chargin, the pan-handler had the feint recognition of a familiar face. Don states, ”A guy came up to me looking completely ragged, dirty, almost as if he hadn’t eaten for weeks. I take a closer look at him and what do you know? It’s “Pajarito” Moreno. He looked like a complete bag of bones to be honest. I felt so bad that he had ended up like that. The impression he had made on me with his punching power almost a decade earlier led me to believe that he still might have a chance to turn it around. Through the interpreter I asked him... Do you think you can still fight? He responded with a very eager “Yes” and we made plans to move him back to the states to make another run at it.” Chargin continues, ”I brought him to San Jose, California to get a complete physical and make sure he would be okay to make another comeback. I made sure that he received some proper nutrition in order to get his health right and would then move him up to San Francisco to train at Newman’s gym with Petey Alvarez. I was well aware of his reputation as a quitter but felt that with the right match-ups he could still shine and make a much better living than he had been in Mexico.” http://theboxingtruth.com/article.php?id=2055

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February 20, 1965 was the date in which “Pajarito” would begin his United States comeback run against a game but limited Benny Burton. The bout would be a co-main event at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. As the Moreno-Burton bout began, Chargin had hoped to see flashes of a young “Pajarito” with his wicked hooks and thudding punches. Unfortunately the opposite was true. The limited, non-punching Benny Burton would knock him down very hard in the second round. Flashes of Pajarito’s fights with Cotero and Bassey would rear themselves in Chargin’s head. Chargin states, “I felt bad. I thought that we had gotten the perfect opponent for him in Burton being that he wasn’t known as a puncher. I really wanted to see "Pajarito" make another run at it and when he dropped in that second round, I thought that everything had gone down the drain.” “Pajarito” was literally looking at his last chance to make a living in boxing fly out the window should he not be able to make the count. In certain instances, past results are relatively accurate indicators of how the future results will pan out. Not this time. “Pajarito” would bite down on his mouth-piece, drag himself up off the canvas by climbing up the ropes and proceeded to beat the hell out of Burton. In fact, he would knockout four of Burton’s teeth eventually leading him to quit on his stool in the fifth round of the dramatic affair. Chargin states, “It was about as dramatic as you can get. Usually people think that a guy dragging himself up the ropes to beat the 10 count is just in the movies but this actually happened here. It’s as if “Pajarito” knew that this was his last chance to make it... you could see it on his face as he got up. Then he proceeded to regain his old form and threw bomb after bomb at Burton. His fans were so pleased with the outcome that they stormed the ring and wouldn’t let him out. They eventually carried him on their shoulders back to the dressing room.” Following his U.S. return to the ring, “Pajarito” would go on an absolute tear over the next 8 months scoring nine eye-opening, headline making knockouts over hand-picked opposition. At this point in time in 1965, another featherweight by the name of Flash Elorde would be dominating tough opposition in the Philippines and the Bay Area press had been clamoring for an Elorde-Moreno showdown. Chargin states, “We had everything all set between Flash and “Pajarito” to fight for the Featherweight title at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in 1966. Anything less than a complete sellout would have been a disappointment. Unfortunately for one reason or another, the Elorde side would end up pulling out of the bout 4 weeks prior to the event. I was so bummed for multiple reasons. I knew Moreno would earn a great payday from the bout and I had already spent a good chunk of non-refundable money on logistics for the fight.” Chargin continues, “As soon as I knew that the fight was off between Elorde and Moreno, I called Jackie McCoy (in Los Angeles) and asked him if we could use his fighter, Raul Rojas who had been a great featherweight with a strong fan base out of Los Angeles. Since I had already put down a deposit at the Cow Palace, I figured that with Moreno’s following we could still do very well with a high quality opponent. I told Jackie, I can’t give Rojas a high guarantee but if he’s willing to go on percentage of the live gate we can make a deal. Being a great friend of mine... I knew Jackie would help me out.” A few moments later, “War-a-Week” would receive a call from a powerhouse promoter from Los Angeles named Aileen Eaton. Eaton said, “From everyone I’ve talked to, you’re supposed to be a pretty sharp guy. What the hell are you doing putting a LA fight in San Francisco?” Chargin responds, “Well... I’m not a Los Angeles promoter.” Eaton states, “If you want to be a 50-50 partner in Rojas-Moreno you can be a Los Angeles promoter.” Chargin would cover the phone and explain the situation to his business partner/wife Lorraine Chargin. Lorraine said, “Well, what do we have to lose at this point? She’s right, it’s an LA fight.” Chargin responded to Eaton with, “Ok. it’s a deal.” At this point, everyone would come out of the woodwork to insult the Chargins telling them that Aileen Eaton was a crook and that they’d be lucky to see 20 percent of the bout proceeds let alone the 50 percent they had agreed to. Chargin states, “Nothing could have been further from the truth. Aileen took care of us from the outset and was very fair throughout the entire promotion. At one point when we were in Los Angeles visiting prior to the fight, Lorraine got sick and Elaine would send her to her own personal doctor that would end up being our family doctor for a very long time.” The bout between Rojas and “Pajarito” Moreno, would end up selling out completely at the Olympic Auditorium (capacity 10,400) in Los Angeles on March 17, 1966. Unfortunately the bout itself would end prematurely in the third round as Moreno would suffer a deep gash over his left eye leading to a doctor stoppage. At this point, “Pajarito” had started to revert back to his less than sober ways as the fallout of the Flash Elorde fight had been a tremendous letdown on his psyche. Following the Rojas bout, he would frequent many of the rough drinking establishments throughout San Francisco as he started a down-ward spiral that would eventually lead to the end of his boxing career. Chargin recalls, “I could see the change in him after the Elorde fight was called off. It was sad to see as he was just starting to really gain the paydays and notoriety that we both wanted for him. He was so focused and trained so hard when the Elorde fight was supposed to happen. As soon as the fight was called off I started to get the calls. In fact, one night while I’m getting ready to go to sleep at my apartment in Oakland, I received a phone call from the owner of this notoriously rowdy bar in San Francisco. The guy tells me, ‘Don... “Pajarito” is going a bit nuts buying round after round for the entire house.’” Chargin continues, “In my head I’m not too concerned since back then a ****tail would go for 50 cents. I figured each round might run $20 or $25 bucks. The owner tells me that the bar is packed and that every round is costing Moreno $300 dollars. I shake my head... jump in the car and head across the bridge to pick up “Pajarito”. Sure enough, I show up and he’s drunk as hell laughing his ass off about the whole thing. I take him to his house and in a drunken stupor he promises me that he’ll never do this again.” A mere three days later, Chargin received another late-night call but this time from “Parajito’s” trainer Petey Alvarez. Alvarez says,, “Don, I have bad news. Moreno got drunk and went crazy. He really put a beating on a cop out here in San Francisco. I know a group of guys on the police force that are looking for him right now. If they find him they will kill him for sure. We need to get him out of town as soon as possible.” “War-a-Week” jumped out of bed and drove right across the bridge to pick up “Pajarito”. When he arrived the drunken featherweight puncher was howling with laughter. Chargin states, “It was all a big game to him. He was laughing the whole time. When I pick him up he has a huge bag of greasy chicken wings with sauce dripping everywhere. I told him that the cops were after his head and all he could do was chomp on the wings and throw the bones in the backseat. It was like that the whole ride to Los Angeles. He was crazy as hell.” Following “Pajarito’s” altercation with the S.F.P.D., he would rellocate to Los Angeles for the remainder of his U.S. boxing career. He would go on to lose via second round knockout to Raul Rojas in the rematch that would sellout the Sports Arena (18,000 capacity) in Los Angeles. (Aileen Eaton would again include Chargin as a 50-50 partner on the rematch between Rojas and Moreno when there was nothing contractually stating that she needed to do so. Aileen and Chargin would eventually go on to form the strongest tandem in California boxing history as they would produce high quality boxing events on a weekly basis from the 60's to the 80s without interruption.) At this point the thunderous featherweight puncher known as “Pajarito” was essentially done with the sport of boxing. He competed a few times more making the featherweight limit by starving himself rather than training or running. The story of “Pajarito” Moreno is a classic boxing tale of highs, lows, and all the madness in between. PS. The nickname “Pajarito” means “little bird” in Spanish. http://theboxingtruth.com/article.php?id=2055

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