On the links with the Champs!
“Nice swing!” was a comment I heard throughout the day at the World Boxing Hall of Fame’s 8th Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament held Monday at the Montebello Golf Course and Quiet Cannon Banquet Hall in Montebello, California.
WBO/NABO lightweight champ Ruben Castillo was the chairman of the fundraising event. “Big Ru” was kept busy from the get-go signing in all the players and creating the foursomes (with each team assigned a celebrity) that came out to compete.
With clear blue skies over a lush green course, over 120 participants enjoyed 18 holes of golf at this yearly fundraiser for the non-profit organization. Boxers, Olympians, baseball players and jockeys stepped up to the tee and gave it their best shots. With the official invite touting “Come out and play with the champs,” the group more than made good on their promise. Dressed out in golf apparel instead of satin trunks–and wearing golf gloves instead of boxing gloves–I noticed that the registration area was made up of a large posse of champions of the ring. At this competition, you really got to mess with the best!
Joining Castillo were many of his compadres from the canvas, including heavyweight Henry Tillman (Olympic gold medalist), WBA welterweight champ Carlos Palomino, two-time world champion Bobby Chacon, light flyweight Paul Gonzales (Olympic gold medalist and Pan Am Games silver medalist), WBC featherweight champ Danny “Little Red” Lopez, IBF Inter-Continental light middleweight titlist John Montes, NABF lightweight champ Ruben Navarro and popular L.A. fighter Danny Valdez.
There were also a couple of Dodgers, Kenny Landreaux and Frank Sandoval, joining the lineup of golf carts waiting for the shotgun start, along with two champs from the world of horse racing. Matt Garcia and the legend himself, Laffit Pincay Jr. also took to the fairway in this star-studded golf tourney. Comedian Willie Barcena came out to show his support. And another very special guest was Joel De La Hoya, older brother of the “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya who grew up from nearby East L.A.
And the tournament wasn’t just for the men. There were all-female golf teams with several women players taking part in the competition as well. Christine Ramirez was just one of the ladies I met while the hustle and bustle of the morning registration was going on in the background. She showed me her newest golf clubs as she playfully put on an oversized boxing glove.
As the rows of golf carts begin to fill up, the players then put their best game faces on. During the 18 holes spread out around the L.A. suburb of Montebello, participants had several fun pit stops along the way. There was the energetic “Chula’s” booth where Stephanie, Ranessa, Carmen and Jennifer handed out tequila shots and cheesecake bites. The pretty squad was representing Chula’s Restaurant and Sports Bar in Ontario, where they told me they get a loyal boxing following from the area. And since this was a boxing group, there were a lot of “body shots” given and taken at this popular booth too! But some of these body shots may have involved tequila and not the normal punches expected!
Another popular place was Hole #12 where Tasty Flames catering had a unique and delicious set up for the golfers. Coming all the way down from Bakersfield, Carlos Tijerina and chef Ronnie Villasenor offered up beef and pork BBQ for the hungry competitors. They stayed up all night marinating the meat with extra TLC for this BBQ. As the champs enjoyed the feast, I tried my hardest to find out the ingredients in their secret barbecue sauce, but to no avail. The hot sandwiches were the perfect meal for the fierce competitors on the links as they continued to play on. Fighter John Montes’ wife, Melinda, and several other volunteers also drove around the hills with cold drinks for the golfers.
One of my personal highlights of the day was chatting with the jockeys, Matt Garcia and Laffit Pincay. The fact that I (at five feet tall) could see eye-to-eye with the diminutive athletes was a bonus. But it was really a treat to meet these two heroes of horse racing, especially with the Kentucky Derby happening this weekend. When the legendary Pincay retired, at the time he was the winningest jockey in history–with 9,530 victories! The popular Panamanian jockey also won the Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby. I asked him if he was an avid golfer. “No, not really,” he said with a chuckle. “Matt asked me to come today and I thought it would be fun to try.” Then with a twinkle in his eye, he added, “See? I’ve never really golfed before.” I looked down at where he was gesturing and instead of golf shoes, the race track superstar was sporting thick black cowboy boots! But as he took an iron out of the bag, Pincay tried his luck at the tee and was having a good ‘ol time.
While hanging out with the friendly jockeys, I also witnessed one of the funniest moments of the day. Boxer John Montes had told me that he had brought some joke golf balls along for fun. These special balls appeared normal, but when hit they would explode into a huge cloud of chalk. He first tested them out on Henry Tillman and Mando Muñiz and then we waited for his final victim–Bobby “Schoolboy” Chacon. Bobby’s companion, Rosie Legaspi, told me that he used to golf a lot and was actually pretty good at it. Indeed, the former featherweight was taking the game seriously, decked out in white golf shoes and jaunty white cap. Normally a jokester, Chacon patiently took time lining up his shot while we all waited for the special ball to be hit. Bobby took a couple of practice swings and then connected solidly as the golf ball exploded with a whack. He looked stunned, thinking maybe he really did it hit the dimpled ball that hard before he realized he’d been had. The good-natured pug cracked up as the jockeys got a big kick out of it too.
While we continued tooling around the course I watched the champs hitting shots down the fairway. A few were novices, but many were accomplished golfers who are passionate for the game. Team Joel De La Hoya would play on to win the championship trophies for this 2010 tournament and in between holes, I had some time to catch up with Joel. Oscar’s older bro is a very talented athlete in his own right. He also boxed, played baseball and showed his skills with 
the clubs. Many people stopped to greet De La Hoya while also inquiring if Oscar will ever come out of retirement. “No,” his sibling responded with a smile. “He’s busy with everything and enjoying his family right now.”
Besides the all-important braggin’ rights for first place, which Joel and his three pals would later claim, there were also closest-to-the-pin and longest drive competitions and a hole-in-one contest to win a shiny new red car. Following the tournament an awards ceremony was scheduled featuring a dinner with raffle prizes, live auctions, comedy acts, and ballet folklorico.
While roving around the tees, I had also met the raffle prize girls making the rounds. The guys were hoping they were going to be their cute little caddies, but the two Spearmint Rhino models did a bang-up job selling a lot of tickets for the fundraising raffle to be held after the tournament. Board member Frank Martinez was in charge of this drawing that included a boatload of prizes–literally. One lucky winner was going home with a big white boat, just one of the bounty items up for grabs. “It’s going really well; we have some really nice stuff. There’s a lot of great Lakers items, a Magic Johnson poster,” Martinez commented. “We also have a Manny Ramirez autographed bat, signed jerseys, baseballs and more. Everyone’s having a great time–they all told me they’re really enjoying themselves.”
WBHF Executive Treasurer Josie Arrey-Mejia echoed the feeling, “The live auction’s just starting, so now it’s getting really, really fun. It’s been a great day.”
Besides Martinez, Arrey-Mejia, Head Chairman Castillo and his sponsors, President Muñiz, and tournament Co-Chairman Alan Santana, others from the WBHF Executive Committee, Golf Committee and board members in attendance included Eugene Prieto, Steve Harpst, Ricardo Flores and Raymundo Camacho.
The organization’s president and the “uncrowned welterweight champ” Mando Muñiz told me during a break in the action, “We have a big turnout! Ruben did a great job with this, he and Alan Santana are both worth their weight in gold.” We also saw Castillo’s wife, Cindy and Arrey-Mejia working non-stop as the crowd grew. “The committee worked really hard and without Ruben’s wife and Josie, well…we couldn’t have done it without them either!”
For the fighters who competed yesterday, they really went the distance. But this time it was 18 championship holes instead of 12 championship rounds. Check out these exclusive pics from the fun day of golf with the boxing champs on the greens!
Photos by Michele Chong
