Why does nobody talk about Mickey Walker?

[Willie Pep 229]

Looks like our friend went bye bye. It's only a matter of time before a trolling alt reveals themselves.

Didn't see what he did. Maybe Bat banned him just on principle; maybe Bat's a Minority Report precog and just saw it coming.

[JAB5239]

I had the pleasure one night to be Hank Kaplan's guest at his house/museum/mentally ill hoarder, in old Miami.

He was a great guy and we talked much Dempsey. Doc Kearns illegimate son was with us. Both were really gracious guys.

Anyway, he took me on a tour of his home and I was flipping through some boxes when I realized he had no less 20 autographed photos of Duran. Then another 20 of Leonard, and on and on, one fighter after another. Great fighters for decades had given him signed photos, but he wasn't the type of guy who would sell them, you could tell he had a problem with hoarding.

He passed about ten years ago now but I have no clue what his family (daughter) did with all those artifacts. But if one could track her down maybe it's time she shared his treasure with the rest of us.

That is very, very cool. Not the hoarding part, but everything else. Kaplan was a boxing encyclopedia. Just to listen and learn would be great.

[billeau2]

Circa 1975

I once stumbled into a Catskill bar an encountered three old ***ish men sitting at an old dank bar.

I pointed to a worn photo behind the bar and said to my friend, that's Benny Leonard, "the ****** wizard "

That was all it took, the old men bought me a beer.

Speaking of ***ish old men... two older ***s pass a Christian church where there is a sign: "convert today and get 100 bucks." Well one ***ish guy says to the other, "I'm gonna do it!" the other guy says "are you serious?" Lo and behold guy comes out of the church, his friend says "did they pay you the 100 bucks?" Guy says "You ***s... all you care about is the money." (My friend Scott told me this one, we are both devoted fans of Rodney Dangerfield and Hennie Youngman and trade blurbs).

[billeau2]

Funny you say this, again jarring my memory. I grew up in RI. My father seemed to know everyone in the state and him owning a bar he would take me along during the day when he'd stop by a friend's bar (there were plenty of them) or other bars to see what they were doing and how he could raise the bar. Anyway, back then I can remember walking into many old dive bars, you know the ones that smell like old beer and cigarettes as soon as you walk in, and there were always pictures of boxers on the walls. Being many Italians in RI there were a lot of pictures of Italian American fighters. But there were plenty of others as well. You said a few days ago I've haven't mentioned what I do for a living. I'm also in the bar business, and I try to follow my father's footsteps for success and stay friendly with everyone and visit other places. My point with this, you don't go into to many places anymore where fighters adorn the walls.

You don't see such pictures and even when you do... There used to be a real Nativist, vis a vis, the new minority on the block streak, in boxing... Tribal... But in a nice way. It was based on mutual respect, compassion and rites of manhood, with a view to those who had tremendous gifts to speak for a majority. This is one reason I am a fan of fighters like Ward and Progriase who associate themselves with their home town.

Well... Baltimore is home to one of the greatest Karate men, fighters to grace this earth. Riley Hawkins has been a reprentative of all that is strong and noble in the ******, using his karate skills to mentor and feed the youth. This is a man who taught uncompromised... I know because I came up under one of his students... You fought hard and there was no give... Yet if a kid needed a meal and Riley had to? he would be without a shirt so that kid could eat... Riley is a Black man who learned his craft in the military, like a lot of great teachers from his generation (the korean war)... He set up roots right away in West Baltimore (Tank would know Riley I would bet my last dollar). Anyway, in a documentary a filmmaker is with a local and they go into a Black bar establishment in West Baltimore where there is a picture of Jim Kelly (the famous Tae Kwon Do movie actor) on the wall... The local rightly asks the bar man "why not Riley? what you got Jim Kelly up there? what he done for B'mre?" I could not agree more.

[billeau2]

Real cool.

Rhode Island? I spent a week there one afternoon. -- Lol -- Had to drive up my Grand ma from Jersey for a funeral.

But yea, lots of paisanos there. Lots of Christian Arabs as well. A real Eillis Island area.

I grew up in an Ellis Island small town in Jersey. Next to us was a white-white Methodist/Christian town.

The local newspapers once pointed out that our small town of 5K (Irish-Italian-Pol-***,) had seven liquor outlets (between bars and package stores,) and only one Church (St. Lukes)

While the white-white small town right next to us had the exact opposite, one liquor outlet and seven churches.

And that one liquor license was grandfathered in, and once the owner died the town would go "dry "

Rhode Island is a good place to own a bar.

Sheesh... talk about. I was born and raised in the middle of New York City, and eventually gravitated towards Buddhism...You know the state well pep, I was in a monastery in Mnt Tremper near Woodstock. A Zen monastery. Well I married a girl from Louisiana, a place New Yorkers have an innate fear of, along with Georgia and all the south until Florida. Eventually I learned to love the place, like ?Strange Glove admonished us to love the bomb right? lol But religious diversity? In new york there is a Tibetan monastery in Staten Island... In Louisiana? Religious diversity is when a baptist moves next door.

[JAB5239]

Sheesh... talk about. I was born and raised in the middle of New York City, and eventually gravitated towards Buddhism...You know the state well pep, I was in a monastery in Mnt Tremper near Woodstock. A Zen monastery. Well I married a girl from Louisiana, a place New Yorkers have an innate fear of, along with Georgia and all the south until Florida. Eventually I learned to love the place, like ?Strange Glove admonished us to love the bomb right? lol But religious diversity? In new york there is a Tibetan monastery in Staten Island... In Louisiana? Religious diversity is when a baptist moves next door.

Good stuff!

[QueensburyRules]

- - Anyone have or seen any of Mickey artwork? Beauty in art in the eye of the beholder, but he was reputed to be a decent artist at very least sorta like Juggarnaut Joe Joyce...

[cyril layman]

Walker in some pretty esteemed company at middleweight.

Middleweight Ratings
1. Harry Greb (609)
2. Ray Robinson (575)
3. Carlos Monzon (527)
4. Marvin Hagler (493)
5. Mickey Walker (448)
6. Stanley Ketchel (446)
7. Bob Fitzsimmons (377)
8. Bernard Hopkins (256)
9. Charley Burley (251)
10. Marcel Cerdan (248)
11. Jake LaMotta (223)
12. Tony Zale (206)
13. Tiger Flowers (202)
14. Sam Langford (195)
15. Roy Jones Jr. (170)
16. **** Tiger (168)
17. Ezzard Charles (148)
18. Mike Gibbons (137)
19. Freddie Steele (131)
20. Tommy Ryan (108)

1.Ray Robinson 2.Hagler 3.Bernard Hopkins 4.Harry Greb 5.Carlos Monzon Robinson didn't move up to Middle weight until he was 29 years old & would go on to win the middle weight belt 5 times & did so at a time when there was only 1 belt to fight for so you had to beat the best to win it & defend against the best to defend it.Hagler the name says it all.Hopkins 20 consecutive title defenses still a record for the 160 pound weight division.Hopkins was great at making suppose ally great boxers look bad.Greb was a great boxing 160 & up but never elite fighters like Hagler,Robinson or Hopkins.Robinson is the reason P4P came about.