Rival Gangs Clashed at the Olympic Auditorium in 1968[Story]

[mrpain81]

Rival Gangs Clashed at the Olympic Auditorium in 1968[Story]

by John Chavez

Jun 17, 2010 -

108th and Broadway in the heart of South Central Los Angeles was the location of Bill Slayton's gym. It was a neighborhood that was infested with numerous gangs who regularly plagued the area with everything from petty crimes such as pick-pocketing to down-right murder.

Following the Watts riots of 1965, Los Angeles had become a very ethnically divided city in which tensions between Hispanic and African american gangs would run extremely high leading to multiple boiling points.

Broadway gym is where many of the top prize-fighters of the time were training and would continue to perfect their craft. Unfortunately many of the training sessions would regularly be interrupted with disturbances from gang members causing loud distractions within the vicinity of the gym.

Bill Slayton, the owner of the gym never felt particularly threatened by any of the gang members who caused these problems due to the fact that he had seen many of them grow up from small children. He'd seen many petty arguments and differences between rival gang members escelate into numerous deaths. Slayton knew that their violent and disruptive nature came more from a lack of direction in their lives than anything but still felt the need to address the issue.

Feeling that the tension was running thick due to the encounters between two rival gangs... one hispanic, the other African American, Bill decided to give promoter Don Chargin a call.

"War-a-week" was working his usual long hours at the Olympic Auditorium when he heard the phone ring.

Slayton says, "Don, I have an idea I want to run by you. It's going to sound a little crazy but you have to hear me out."

Chargin responds, "Shoot!"

Slayton states, "I want you to help me prevent some murders from happening."

Chargin asks, "What? How can I help out with something like this?"

Slayton says, "These kids around my gym... gang members. I've seen them get in alot of fights and posturing recently. I can tell something bad is about to happen. Somebody is going to get killed soon with these two gangs if nobody does anything."

Chargin asks, "What do you propose we do about it Bill?"

Slayton responds, "I want to take the leaders of both of these gangs and put them in the ring in one of your cards. I know that you have a good relationship with the California commission to get them to sign off on something like this. I can negotiate a temporary truce between both gangs in the lead-up to the fight which should take the heat off both sides for a while. Do you think you can help me out with getting this done?"

Chargin says, "I can definitely give it a shot. My only concern is what if one of these guys hurts the other in the ring... (Slayton cuts in laughing) "Don't worry Don! These guys are harmless... trust me. I've seen them grow up and they can't fight a lick let alone hurt each other."

Chargin says, "Ok, let me give it a shot and I'll let you know what happens."

"War-a-Week" would then give the California State Athletic Commission a call explaining the potentially volatile situation that could be alleviated with their assistance. The CSAC was all ears when Don explained that potential murders could be avoided if they sanctioned the bout (giving them positive press in the process) but would only agree to do so if all the necessary paperwork and medical requirements were completed as if it was a legitimate professional debut for both gang leaders.

Don would then inform Bill Slayton that they had received the "green light" from the commission to proceed with the match-making of the two rival gang member leaders.

Slayton was ecstatic at the news being that it'd help alleviate some of the tensions that had been running high within the neighborhood and as he estimated... provide quite a few laughs in the process.

Two days later, both leaders of both gangs would be separately escorted to the Olympic Auditorium to meet in "War-a-Week's" office to discuss the "prize-fight". Slayton would bring the leader of the African american gang nicknamed "Ghost". "Ghost" was a well built middleweight who wore a perpetual scowl on his face. A trainer from Slayton's gym would escort the leader of the hispanic gang named "Peanut" who was another well built middleweight.

Don would look both guys square in the face and say, "Ok guys. This is a very serious affair we have here. We're treating this fight in the same manner in which we treat all of our top level prize fights. I know that both of you represent your gangs so we'll need you guys to make sure that none of your guys bring in any guns, knives, or weapons of any kind into the venue on fight night. While you guys might think that you're in some sort of shape thinking it's only a four round fight, I suggest you guys get in the gym to work on your craft a bit."

Both "Ghost" and "Peanut" would roll their eyes at Don muttering... "I'm gonna kill this bastard!" (referring to their rival)

Both parties would then sign the contract to square off against each other in a four-round fight within a matter of 3 weeks.

It was more than evident that there was a legitimate hatred that both men had for each other and that blood would be shed... in the ring, or so they thought.

Knowing that both rival gangs would be in attendance to support their leaders, Chargin came up with the idea to separate both factions by discounting tickets to them only if they mentioned their loyalties as they bought their tickets. This would the ensure that both gangs would be located on opposite sides of the Olympic Auditorium to alleviate the stress of both factions getting into altercations with one another during the fight card.

One week passed and Chargin received a phone call from Slayton... "Don, we have a problem."

Don thought... (oh geez, I hope neither guy pulled out of the fight, I actually want to see these guys go at it now.) Don asked, "What's the issue now?"

Slayton says, "Both Ghost and Peanut want me to work their corner for the fight and they're not budging. What do you think we can do about this?"

Don responds, "Why don't you just work one guy's corner for 2 rounds and work the other guys corner for the other 2 rounds? We'll flip a coin to decide who gets you for the first two and who gets you for the last two."

Slayton laughs, "That sounds perfect! I'll tell these two knuckleheads what we've decided and go from there."

Continued.....

http://www.theboxingtruth.com/article.php?id=1811

Good read.

[mrpain81]

In the week leading up to the fight, the box office reports were that the fight between "Peanut" and "Ghost" was a hot little ticket on it's own. Gang and family members who normally didn't attend fights at the Olympic had purchased tickets to support their leaders as the build-up on the street was strong.

Don states, "The night of the fight, you could tell both guys were getting a little nervous. They understood what they had gotten themselves into and that it was either now or never to back up all the posturing that had been taking place."

"War-a-week" scheduled Peanut vs. Ghost as the second bout of and 8-bout card. In these days... the boxing fans at the Olympic would show up early in order to enjoy an entire night of boxing. By the time that both rival gang leaders made their ring entrances, the crowd had been worked up into a complete frenzy.

Both gang leaders entered the ring with the look of pure killers scowling at each other with the indication that this fight would not last the four round distance. Prior to the initial bell sounding, Peanut and Ghost looked like two bulls in the corner just waiting to unleash their wrath on each other.

The first bell rang... DING!

The two gang leaders charged out at each other with great fury and anger then... nothing. Flurry after flurry of non-effective misthrown "punches" if that's what you can call them. It took about 45 seconds for the entire crowd at the Olympic Auditorium to start jeering at the spectacle that was the fight. For a crowd that was very educated having seen well-crafted prize fighters perform their science countless times, the spectacle of watching two untrained gang-****ers fight in such an ineffective manner caused the jeers to flow freely as the beer from the taps.

As the first round closed, both fighters staggered from exhaustion to their respective corners and the crowd whistled with glee.

Bill Slayton could barely contain himself with laughter as he worked "Peanut's" corner. Having trained numerous legitimate contenders and future world-champions, Bill found it relatively pointless to give any directions to the gang leader. He almost couldn't contain himself with laughter at the thought of seriously giving instructions.

The bell for the second round started and what was once two eager, ferocious gang members who had a deep disdain for one another turned into two less than willing combatants. They slowly approached each other and held each other as heavyweight fighter John Ruiz was famous for. Excessive clinching and very little punching was the course of the fight.

In fact, Don secretly had the time-keeper shorten the last two rounds to two minutes rather than three minutes in order to alleviate both guys from collapsing from complete exhaustion.

The jeering and whistling would continue until the final bell sounded.

Instead of pounding their chests with pride and proudly strutting around as both gangs and gang leaders did prior to the bout, their heads hung low and their demeanors were akin to that of a broken soul. The fight had accentuated the fact the gang leaders were nothing more than perpretators of tough guys rather than being legitimate fighters. It exposed the fact that without their weapons and numbers, the gangs had much to be desired in terms of intimidation as the general public knew legitimate fighters from seeing them perform for years at the Olympic.

The fight itself ended in a draw.

It ended up taking alot of steam out of the gang rivalry as the once much feared leaders lost virtually all of their luster in just a short ten minutes.

Don Chargin said, "It was one of the most amusing spectacles inside a boxing ring I've ever seen. I remember seeing the leader of the Hispanic gang, Peanut a year or so after the event and the guy couldn't even look me in the eye. I think it just went to show that great fighters don't need to act tough to infact be great, great tough fighters. That spectacle provided a good deal of laughs between myself and Bill Slayton for quite a few years even up until today."

While the eventually the gangs would continue to feud in South and South Central Los Angeles... for one amusing night at the Olympic Auditorium, the beefing would cease and truth would be exposed.

The boxing ring exposes the truth in every man.

truth@theboxingtruth.com

What you guys think?

[willhouse]

That was a good story. Thanks for posting it

[killacash]

Interesting and funny.

[Shanks]

good read.........

[jri9d0]

That was a real good read, it's almost a coincidence that both combatants were of middleweight stature.

[Left2body]

Nice story for a second I though it was a Scully story.

[mushahadeen]

Rival Gangs Clashed at the Olympic Auditorium in 1968[Story]

Was it anything like this?

[Sin City]

cool story. it would end in a draw too.. lol
I bet they both figured they were gonna get each other out in the first round and the rounds were "only three minutes anyway"
I've heard that before.. lol

[mrpain81]

The fight must have looked like most UFC fights

Sloppy stand up with the fighters gassing after 3 minutes.