The World Boxing Council (WBC) Legends of Boxing Museum held their second Induction and Awards Ceremony this past Saturday, saluting the first WBC Continental Americas champ to be inducted, John Montes, Jr., and presenting Lifetime Achievement Awards to Chuck Bodak, Freddie Roach, Tony Rivera and Carlos Avilas. The event took place in their new museum, located on the grounds of the American Sports University in San Bernardino, Ca., where over 300 attendees witnessed the festivities.
Veteran cutman Chuck Bodak spent decades in and out of the ring, but in his free time he loved to spend countless hours carefully creating his unique collages; decorating caps, watches and rings that he would give away as gifts. Suffering a stroke in August of last year–his left side now partially paralyzed–he cannot design his custom jewelry anymore.
 
 
But thanks to this new museum, his “treasures” are now on permanent display in a special case that showcases his handmade items, as well as a bronze statue by sculptor Steve Harpst that Bodak received
at the gathering. This tribute to the boxing icon touched many in the audience, including family friends
Dick Marconi, Ray Marconi, and nephew Bob Bodak, who traveled from Indianapolis, In. to be part
of Chuck’s ceremony.
Now in his 90s, the stroke may have sidelined his speech but not his spirit, as the once boisterous cutman for Ali, Hearns, Holyfield, De La Hoya and other various champions posed for photos, occassionally managed to say a few comments and in his trademark move, gave the crowd the “bird”–the middle finger salute! Speaking in a hoarse whisper, he expressed his appreciation, “I’m excited to be here.” When asked if he was happy about the Lifetime Achievement award bestowed upon him, the colorful cutman exclaimed, “Hell, yeah!”
The museum’s Chairman of the Board Rudy Tellez now gets to emulate one of his earliest and most valuable mentors, Don Fraser, the esteemed former promoter and publicist. Fraser is founder and president of the California Boxing Hall of Fame and holds his yearly induction awards to honor the fight game’s best in the business.
“If it wasn’t for Don Fraser, I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now,” explained Tellez, who first met
Fraser while Tellez was still in dental school, “Don gave me the opportunity to make Joey Olivo a World Champion by giving us our first break at the Forum. He’s one in a million. He’s a big mentor to me and I owe him a lot.”
Also known as the “Mouthpiece Doctor,” Tellez sandwiched the museum event between a Telefutura WBC Latino title bout in Tucson on Friday night and a trip to Mexico with Dr. Joe Noriega on Saturday afternoon for an Erik Morales fight night. The two had to leave right after the acceptance speeches to rush down south.
But the awards luncheon was in good hands and well organized, as the WBC Supervisor Tellez can count on a group of hard-working young guys that have really strived to make the new museum flourish in a short amount of time. This WBC Legends of Boxing “Dream Team” includes Jaime Ochoa and Vincent Johnson, both Co-Chairmans, Eric Casillas, V.P. (from the Chicago headquarters), Angel Ochoa, Executive V.P., Teresa Marquez, Executive Secretary and many other dedicated individuals who work together to make these events run so smoothly.
Ochoa expresses, “We have the same vision, determination and goal to create this museum. It’s growing faster than we even anticipated. In the next year, we’ll be wall-to-wall with memorabilia and we’re happy to be part of history. We may have to open a second building soon,” he says excitedly.
Fellow Co-Chairman Vinnie Johnson cannot hide his enthusiam for their burgeoning museum and at Saturday’s event said, “We had some great people helping us today. And the inductees have all contributed so much to boxing. Chuck and Freddie are legends, Avilas has done a lot for the sport, predominantly for the Hispanic fans, and Montes gave us so much excitement when he boxed.” Johnson was born near Gary, In., where Chuck is from, and says, “Chuck worked with a lot of people I knew while growing up and we have a lot of connections. He trained a lot of champs that were my heroes. I’m happy he’s getting an award.”
During the awards ceremony, their museum garnered even more boxing history, as new inductees Montes, Bodak, and June’s inaugural inductee Rodolfo “El Gato” Gonzalez all generously donated their prized boxing robes, trophies, framed artwork, signed boxing gloves and vintage posters that, during Saturday’s luncheon, were enshrined in glass cases for public viewing. Longtime boxing fan and supporter Bert Murrieta graciously donated a pair of red gloves autographed by Alexis Arguello and Jake “The Raging Bull” LaMotta.
A funraising raffle was also held for Joann Montes, former wife of John Montes, who is looking forward to traveling to Mexico to undergo treatment for breast cancer. The benefit was festive and had all the warmth of a family gathering, as the boxing community came together for a good cause: To honor boxing veterans and champs while also helping out a fellow fighter’s family in need. As homemade cake was passed around, all of the fighters in attendance signed autographs and posed for photos, including Danny “Little Red” Lopez, ’84 Olympian and Gold Medalist Paul Gonzales, Frankie Duarte and Ruben Castillo.
The bonds between all the fighters, trainers and cutmen go way back, as Montes, Jr. remembers flying to New Orleans in 1978 with Danny “Little Red” Lopez for the Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks fight in the Superdome, “I was only 18. I remember sitting next to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was just a weighlighter back then. I also remember somehow ending up marching in a parade in the streets of New Orleans. I was dancing…tap dancing somehow! It was great,” the boxer laughs.
New award recipient Tony Rivera, who was recently in Ricardo Mayorga’s corner during his battle with Shane Mosley, says during his early days of his career, “I really admired Chuck Bodak while I was coming up. He and Norm Lockwood are two that I’ve always looked up to and still do.” Next month, Rivera will be teamed up once again with Marco Antonio Barrera, as the “Baby-faced Assassin” will
be fighting for a lightweight title in China.
The bronze statues given to these newest honorees were designed specifically for the October 11th celebration, by boxing trainer and sculptor Steve Harpst. The boxer and artist has close ties to Chuck Bodak. The Burbank Boxing Club founder promotes an International boxing show in Canada and took Chuck there twice as a guest of honor, “Chuck was so funny. He’d ‘hold court’ in the airports–the fans would swarm him and he loved to talk to them all. Chuck would never turn anyone down.”
The Marconi brothers also purchased an additional bronze for Chuck from Harpst’s line of bronzes.
They chose a bronze statue entitled “The Victor” and as Dick Marconi presented this statue–depicting a triumphant boxer with his hands held up in victory–to Chuck, as Marconi said with emotions rising,
“This IS Chuck!” Marconi was in his early teens when he first met Bodak and the cutman was both inspirational and instrumental in helping Dick and his brother, Ray while they were growing up.
Now the three have come full circle, as the Marconis are assisting Chuck during his “12th Round”
of his long and illustrious life.
Eric Casillas, on his way back to Chicago today, spoke of Saturday’s ceremony and fundraiser, “The crowd stopped when Chuck entered the room. It was a beautiful sight. Everyone had a joyous time. The inductees’Â achievements and accomplishments are stand up in the world of boxing. It was a day of absolute honor and recognition for these lifelong contributors to boxing.”
Story and photos by Michele Chong