A First Time For Everything: Telefutura Experience
by
Coyote Duran
1/17 - So it's Friday night and I'm driving to Chicago to see my
first live fight, an 8 Count Productions/Top Rank Inc./One in a Million Inc. joint. (Thank you, Bernie, Luke and Julius!!) I leave early enough at 5:00 PM because I figure the doors open at 6 and that'll give me plenty of time to get into Chicago with time to spare. And since I'd be getting there early enough, I could throw back a couple of beers and have 'em out of my system by the time I needed to leave. Like I said, I was driving. Everything is gonna go swell, right?
Let me tell ya something, kids: MapQuest blows. Big time. It's been a long time since I've driven to the Aragon. 14 years to be exact since the last time, which was a Bad Company/Damn Yankees show (Say what you want, the Yanks rocked!), so I needed a refresher course. Enter MapQuest. You'd think from the previous crap-tastic experiences I've had with MapQuest, I would've learned, but noooooooo. I just had to subscribe to my somewhat stubborn "Coyote-logic" and give MapQuest one more chance.
Big mistake.
Long story short: I'm coming from Aurora and after 50 minutes of driving, I find myself driving toward Elgin. Yeah, that Elgin. Home of the mental health facility and my future residence if I didn't correct where the Hell I was going and quick. So after finding the right direction for I-90 that I needed, I was on my way.
Sonner or later, like 7:30 sooner-or-later, I finally get to the Aragon Ballroom (or "Brawlroom" as we used to coin it in "the old days") on Lawrence Ave. and parking was a bitch! It took me about 20 minutes to find a suitable parking spot where A) My truck wouldn't get towed away and B) The street was welll lit enough to discourage the local ruffians from "doing a little shopping", if you know what I mean (Wink, wink.). After successfully parking somewhere slightly south of Milwaukee, I made in into the venue just in time for the co-main event, an 8 round scrap between local Chicagoans Miguel "Macho" Hernandez (14-2 with 9 KOs) and "Marvelous" Shay Mobley (8-4-1 with 2 KOs). Well, since I hadn't gotten there early enough, I couldn't get a press seat but, really, there wasn't a bad seat in the place! After grabbing a beer and parking my butt in a seat with my notebook and a digital camera that, up out of nowhere, decided that it just wasn't gonna work, it finally hit me.
I was actually at a live fight for the first time.
Mind you, it wasn't some shitty little smoke-filled club. The Aragon has since undergone some radical design and rehab changes (unlike my low-life brother who would never think of going to rehab) and looked magnificent and very well-lit. Between rounds of a very one-sided battle that Mobley was convincingly owning, I took in the sights and marveled at the interior architecture of the building along with everything else you'd miss on television. Not just sights either. It was all so different. The smack of the gloves. The crowd reaction. The beverage and round card girls (Especially the blonde number with the short hair that looked like a young Lois Ayres. If you know who Lois Ayres is, you know what I'm talking about......Oh yeah.). The cornermen doing their work. Families from all backgrounds and fans of all ages. It was a lot to take in and I enjoyed every second of it.
The electricity of it alone was enough of a distraction, but enjoying the fight had an entirely different dimension of its own. Being that this fight and the main event were a Solo Boxeo Miller telecast on Telefutura, it would be fun to watch the tape later and see what the camera did, which what I noted earlier was a one-sided scrap that the hungry Mobley dished out. Knowing that his record wasn't terribly sparkling made him a dangerous man who would let his hands go and hurt Hernandez on several occasions. After the smoke cleared, a very disappointed crowd would see an elated Shay Mobley's (who won by scores of 79-73 and 78-74 twice, also mirroring my scorecard) hand raised in victory giving "Marvelous" a revitalized future as well as a win over a serious local prospect.
With a break in the action, I figured I'd make the round and try to meet some people. Y' know, shmooze. Well, what you don't see while ther cameras are off is that not a lot of people have the time to "shmooze" because they're either involved in conversations with others or running around doing important stuff. One of my big goals of the night was to meet ring announcer Lupe Contreras and maybe even get a photo with him (Big ups to Lupe!). As you already know, my camera retired for the night after I arrived so the photo op was out, for certain. I would also find that Lupe is a really popular cat. Someone always had his ear and Lupe was always involved in conversation with someone. Sure, I could've cut in like a rude bastard but I learned from meeting Richard Roeper at a Train concert last year (Some rude little puke cut in like I didn't exist and started a conversation with Richard while we were discussing Mystic River. Dick.) that it's the least cool thing you could do. Plus with out even meeting Contreras, I could tell that when he talks to you, he talks to you. The cat just seemed good to the people and that was cool with me. Maybe next time.
Originally, the main event was to feature Ricardo Castillo (brother of The Ring Magazine World/WBC Lightweight Champion Jose Luis Castillo) vs. Edel Ruiz. The fight was cancelled and the crowd was treated to a substitute main event which wasn't all that bad a deal. "The Conqueror" Arturo Morua (21-6-1 with 13KO's) from Guadulajara, Jalisco, Mexico would face veteran James "Too Sweet" Crayton (34-19-2 with 20KO's), Las Vegas, in a 10 rounder. Prior to his facing Crayton, Morua would upset the likes of Omar Weis and Carlos Maussa to secure the minor WBO Latino junior welterweight strap so beating a strong gatekeeper like Crayton certainly would be another step up the ladder to bigger and better things.
I take my seat again after many failed attempts to seize airborne souvenir ball caps shirts and posters (But there wasn't a souvenir stand.....Curious.) launched by young ladies who worked for the promotion and open my notebook ready to jot down my thoughts. I've gotten really good at notetaking while watching fights and not watching what I'm writing (Next time, I'll bring my laptop and get there early enough to sit closer.....). The main event gets ready to roll and eveything and nothing what I expected . It was all different from the other side of the TV screen. When Lupe Contreras belts out his famous "Quien es mas macho?" line, you feel it and you apprerciate it a whole helluva lot more, I'll tell ya. Referee Genaro Rodriguez is a looming, stoic presence unaffected by the "trivialities" of beautiful round card girls and television cameras. He's there to do a job and that's it. Genaro's a much smilier, relaxed man off-the-clock as well as a bit taller than me than I realized!
It was strange seeing it his way. The rounds seem shorter. The in-between round recovery time seems shorter. Hell, most of the time, I didn't even hear the bell sounding the end of the round! The opening rounds were just nuts. Morua established a mean jab and aggressive body shots. The second and third heats, specifically, showcased Morua's love for combinations. "The Conqueror" would often set up and hard right with firm, fast double jabs and make Crayton almost always reluctantly work a defensive plan.
Chants of "Mexico" and "Jalisco" echoed from the crowd and ricocheted off the walls and ceiling and spurred Morua but "Too Sweet" would soon learn to ignore them. Crayton would become the counter-puncher and slowly but surely, Morua's plan of attack would become effective, but minimized, nonetheless.
Before you knew it, it was over. Not by knockout, but by a fair decision. The judges' scorecards read 97-93 twice and 95-95 awarding the majority decision to Arturo Morua much to the visible dismay of James Crayton. My card read 96-94, Morua.
The walk-out bouts were pretty much walk-out bouts and I didn't stay 'til the end. you never can tell what traffic's gonna look like but I didn't want to take chances. Leaving at 11:00's fine with me. As I walked out in to the cold night (and it was cold, brother!), I reflected on what this night meant to me as a fan. Not everyone knows who James Crayton or Arturo Morua or Miguel Hernandez or Shay Mobley or Joe Lynch or Carlos Molina are. It just mattered that they were there. Fighting it out as if they were on HBO, Showtime or a pay-per-view straight out of Madison Square Garden.
And if their performances weren't enough to make you feel what this sport means to them, then when you looked around the Aragon you would know because it meant something to the people who paid to walk in and enjoy this night of fights. The kids who screamed their lungs out for their favorites to walk out victorious and safe. The old men smiling and punching in synch with their faves of the night as if duking it out with some imaginary opponent. The round card girls within sighing distance and the majesty and command of one of the best ring announcers in the sport. I couldn't give a damn if the mainstream sports media never hears (or even cares) of nights like these. The people who count in the ring and in the crowd will.
I suppose maybe my enthusiasm for live fights may die down a bit after I've seen a few hundred or so. All loves and passions can dull after time. But at least I got to experience what seeing the sport live is really like. The electricity and atmosphere of the sport is what the at-home viewer unfortunately misses out on. And I got to be part of it.
And I hope to again, soon. But next time, I'll bring a decent camera and I'll make sure I have a good charger for my laptop. To those who were generous enough to extend the invite this time, I'll be early next time. Cross my heart.
But I'll be damned if I ever use MapQuest again.
Coyote Duran can be contacted at coyoteduran@talkingboxing.com
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